Birthday Fun

Turning 40 turned out to be super great! So many people made my day special and reached out. It really was so nice. It was a little more attention than I normally like on my birthday but I totally felt loved which was nice.

One of my basketball players, Alex, had a birthday the day before. She is also my TA so I got her and my other TA lunch and we hung out. We had a basketball game on the 11th and my team killed it in the game. Alex's parents brought cookies for the team after the game and it was fun to celebrate her. I am including this because I have a cute picture of my team that I love!

I adore these girls and so it was fun to celebrate our last home game win with them!

My birthday was the next day and we had another tournament game. My day started with friends and co-workers wishing me happy birthday and being very kind. My team came into my first period class and sang Happy Birthday. they were so cute so I snapped a picture.

These 9th grade girls have been some of my favorite. I really did feel very spoiled all day. My team lost, which was a total bummer, but other than that the day was great.

Ben and his kids called and sang me happy birthday which was a definite highlight.

Emily and Shaanta had me over for dinner after the game and it was fun to hang out with them and play a couple of games. Shaanta gave me the best present and wore a high bun while we hung out:)

My birthday was on a Wednesday. Since I had a basketball game I worked. I decided a month before that I would take Friday the 14th off. Then I would have a four day weekend!!!! Friday came and I was so excited to spend my morning with Jana and Erica. they agreed to hike up Rock Canyon with me and sled down. It was a beautiful morning. Going on a Friday was awesome because there were not very many people up the canyon on a week day.

We hiked up two miles and then got ready to sled down.

 I love this hike in the winter. It was such a gorgeous day.

 I am so lucky to have these girls in my life still. And lucky they live so close!

 The top half of the hike was so fun to sled down. We were able to go a long ways without stopping. It is hard not to smile when you are sledding down a mountain.

The last mile before the parking lot was crazy. It was straight ice. We could not stop ourselves. That made it a little scary as we were sledding down. Luckily no one got hurt and we still had fun.

After the hike and sledding we went back to Erica's and sat in the hot tub. That was a great Friday for me!

My mom, Sam, Amanda and kids met me at  my house after hot tubbing. It was fun to hang out with all of them. The weather was nice and we played outside and had dinner.

Then on Sunday we did a family dinner at Dan's. We had delicious burrito bowls. It was another great evening. Like I said I felt very spoiled this year and had a great birthday!

Ice Skating

Andrew and Emerson have wanted to try ice skating ever since we went to Disney on Ice. I wanted to make it happen. I love doing new things with these cute boys. I had the boys stay the night at my house on the Martin Luther King holiday. We woke up early and went to my basketball practice. The boys were awesome while we practiced. They ran and ran on the sidelines and were actually really fun to have there. Andrew had to put on a jersey:) So cute!!!!

 After practice we headed back to my house and played some Domino Spinner. We were waiting for the ice rink to open.

We got to the rink a few minutes before the two hour session. We were all excited!!!

There was quite the line. It took a while to pay and get skates. Once we were ready we hopped on the ice and skated the entire time. These boys were champions. We spent the entire session skating with no breaks. They did so good.

I loved the little helpers you can rent.

 It took a little while but they started to get the hang of it. I think they thought it would be a lot easier. It was fun to watch them figure out a new skill.

 By the end Andrew was ready to try it on his own. He did a great job!

After skating we grabbed some pizza and headed back to my house. We wanted to swim still but I told the boys they had to take naps. Emerson was falling asleep while eating his pizza. They were both sooooo tired. I had to wake them up for basketball and then we had played hard all afternoon. They don't usually take naps but they were both out.

 I slept too. I finally woke them up from their naps so we could also go swimming. They were still tired so that maybe wasn't the best choice. We then went to the rec center and swam really hard before I had to take the boys home for the night. It was a SUPER fun day.

I wanted to take the boys ice skating one more time this winter because they had just started to learn. On Presidents day we had another opportunity to try skating again. This time Amanda joined us and it was so fun. We went  to the Gallivan center and the boys did great. This time they both skated on their own.

 Andrew had a couple of pretty hard falls but he kept trying which was great.

 It was a fun day. Amanda also made yummy beef stew and rolls for dinner. My mom was in town and Dan joined us as well. It was a good evening.