Archive for birthday
Happy Birthday to my sweetie!
It’s Travis’ 24th birthday today. I have a hard time believing that all this time, he was just 23. That seems so…young. He said this morning that he felt old…like he’s halfway between highschool and 30 (that’s what he would always tell me to make me feel bad about being older than him…by a year and a half).
I already gave him his birthday present (he wanted to open it on Sunday). I bought him a polo for work, a Avalanche t-shirt, and new headphones for his iPod. He was pumped.
To celebrate, we are going to have some people over tonight. We invited our whole care group, plus a few other friends from church. How many will actually show up, I have no idea. But hopefully people do or else, I know Travis would be sad. I even made his favorite cake–strawberry shortcake. And this year, I made real shortcake from scratch, not angel food cake from a box. 
The strawberries are still frozen though and we’re using Cool Whip. Ah, well. Good enough.
I am very thankful for this day, the day my amazing husband was born. I love him and appreciate him so much. There are so many different things I love about him… he is thoughtful, sweet, handsome, funny, smart, handy, wise, athletic, loving, playful and more. But most of all, I am so blessed by the way he loves me. He will do things differently just because he knows I like them done that way. I can echo Faith Hill’s song… “It’s not right, it’s not fair, what you’re doing over there. Someday I’ll find a way to show you just how lucky I am to know you. Ooo, I love the way you love the way you love me. There’s nowhere else I’d rather be. Ooo, to feel the way I feel with your arms around me. I only wish that you could see the way you love me.”
Reading a book the other day, the author said that the way you know a certain person is The One is that they make you want to be a better person. I pondered that for a moment, trying to think of the ways Travis makes we want to be a better person. I realized that the way Travis makes me want to be a better person is not through his hobbies and activities (sorry, no desire to go ice fishing or drink beer with the guys like he does) but through the way he loves me. The way he is understanding and forgiving when I really don’t deserve it. The way he chooses to do things for my benefit and happiness instead of his own. The way he takes care of me when I’m sick, hurt, or sad. The way he tells me that I’m beautiful and a good wife when I’m struggling to believe that’s true. The way he reflects the love and grace of Christ, who is the Ultimate Husband.
My husband isn’t perfect. But he is an amazing man, a wonderful husband, and my very bestest friend.
My birthday sandals
I wore them to work today! I thought they might give me blisters when I first tried them on but I wore them all day long, and did a decent amount of walking to the bathroom, the printer, and across the hall, so I think they’re going to be ok! Still won’t be wearing them to the airport or the mall… but I can wear them to weddings and church!
Here I am with my new shoes:
Me and my golden birthday shoes
Vacation in Minnesota
*Sigh.* I love summer in Minnesota. Being back here makes both Travis and me wish somewhat that we didn’t live in Colorado. But I keep reminding myself that 7 months out of the year, I am VERY glad that I live in Colorado because of the weather and all the stuff to do. But you can’t beat Minnesota lakes in the summer. Even though there are lots of mosquitoes and humidity, I still love this state in the summer. It just smells a certain way and it reminds of me of growing up.
I did have a great birthday. Very lowkey but it was a lot of fun. We went tubing and skiing on the lake again and went fishing in the evening. We caught about 15 sunfish total and kept about 8. We fried the fish the next morning for breakfast (they were actually really good, even though I’m not a huge fan of fish for breakfast). After eating our burgers, salad, and corn, we started a bonfire right next to the lake. Around 10:30, we went back inside and had cake and ice cream. It was a very good birthday!
On Wednesday morning, Travis and I woke up to a good ole Minnesota thunderstorm. I LOVE thunder and lightning when it’s lightly raining outside. We left for Nevis, MN, around 10 AM after eating breakfast and cleaning the kitchen up from the night before and got up to Nevis, where his parents live, around 1:30. We played baseball in Nevis with his younger brother, nephew, and Mom and then went to see Wall-e, which was really cute. I also opened my presents from Travis and his family–Travis gave me a pair of sandals from Victoria’s Secret that I really wanted
My birthday sandals--I got the gold ones.
and his family gave me a gift certificate to Target (which I’m going to use for house stuff!!) My parents’ present to me came about 3 months ago in the form of a Coach purse which I am loving.
On Thursday, we went fishing at the crack of down. I caught a 3-4 lb. smallmouth bass, along with a bunch of small panfish. Travis and Matthew (his bro) caught some Northern pike. We didn’t keep anything. After eating breakfast, Travis, Matthew, Drew (his nephew who lives with Trav’s sis in NC but is up here for a month), Beth (his mom), and I all went to the World of Christmas, which is an amusement park. We rode the bumper boats (where I got soaked!) and the go-karts; walked through a maze; had water wars (I got soaked then too!); jumped on a bungee cord thingy; and played mini-golf. It was a lot of fun. Then Travis and I drove an hour and a half to Grand Rapids, where his dad, Al, has taken a new job. Beth and Matthew will move there as well but they’re still working on buying a house. Al gave us a tour around his workplace (a redi-mix plant where he’s a manager) and around the town of Grand Rapids.
Yesterday, Travis and I slept in to about 8:45 and then ate the continental breakfast at the posh hotel that his dad is staying at. Al’s hotel suite is bigger than our apartment in Boulder! The hotel is brand new too so everything is really nice. We took showers and hung around the hotel for a while and then drove back to Nevis. We went fishing again, Travis, Matthew, and Drew in the fishing boat, and me and Beth in the canoe. We caught a bunch of small sunfish and kept 3 but ended up throwing them back because 3 isn’t enough to fillet and fry. After dinner, Travis and I drove to Park Rapids (about 20 min away) to visit one of his friends from HS, Jesse, and his wife, Emily. We toured their business and new house and caught up. It was fun.
Today, we have been kind of lazy. It was raining all morning so we just hung out inside, took a tour of the state land around their property that is being logged, played Bocce ball, read, took a nap, etc. It’s good to have a lazy day or two on vacation.
But I can’t believe that it’s already Saturday and tomorrow we fly home. It’s bittersweet–bitter because the end of vacation is always sad and we won’t see Trav’s family again maybe until October (if they come to my bro’s wedding in August, we’ll see them then too). Sweet because we’ll see my family again in August but also because in the meantime, we get to move into our new house!! Now that our vacation is almost over and I have the house to look forward to (and we saw Jesse and Emily’s new house last night), I am getting really excited about moving in and decorating. There’s a lot we want to do and our only limitation is money. (Ah…money.) But my mom’s gift and Beth’s gift have definitely helped!!
Ok, I’m done now.
It’s my birthday!
I am officially 25 today so that means I can finally rent a car without any additional fees…I’m really pumped about that. Travis and I are on our vacation in Minnesota right now, which makes this birthday extra special because I get to spend it with my family. I haven’t spent my actual birthday with my family in about 4 years. When I turned 21, I was with friends. When I turned 22 and 23, I was at Summer Beach Project in Myrtle Beach, SC. When I turned 24 last year, I was with Travis’ family. So finally I get to spend it with MY parents (and my husband)!
To celebrate, Travis and I went on a run this morning (exercise is good!) For breakfast, we had smoothies and banana/blueberry pancakes. We are going to go boating and tubing around Pine City (where my parents’ lake cabin is) and then jetskiing later. For dinner, we’re going to have burgers, strawberry salad, corn on the cob, and pineapple cake (all by my request). I thought about going out to dinner but then, we can go out to dinner in Colorado anytime–how often do we get to grill out at the cabin by a lake? Never!
So I think it will be a great birthday. I’m okay with it being chill and relaxed. I’m 25 now–an adult. I have to act my age, right?. Not!!!
Just a side note: yesterday we took the boat out and Travis and I went waterskiing (at different times of course). He’s pretty good at slaloming. I, on the other hand, am not. I can get up on two skis pretty quickly and can even cross the wake without falling down (except right when I got up yesterday for the first time, my dad went around a turn and I went outside the wake against my will and ended up falling on my butt and getting a water enema. OUCH!!! It hurt so badly that I could barely move. But it didn’t stop me from trying to slalom!) I tried to slalom by dropping a ski and then by just starting with one. Neither worked. I did a couple faceplants and my arms got a workout but I didn’t get up. Oh well, tubing is more my thing anyway.
