Happy B-Day Audrey (32!)

My 32nd Birthday was one of the loveliest of my life.

First off, my mom ordered a cold front just for me. It showed up on my doorstep the afternoon of the 6th wisking away the mild, stuffy, and humid air and bringing in the brisk 50 degree TX temps. 

In the morning just as I was pulling on some pj pants to come downstairs Tim and Samuel surprised me with a yummy breakfast in bed. Score!

Once my breakfast was enjoyed we commenced with normal getting ready for school activities. The kids got ready quickly and played marvelously until it was time to go!

Once they were dropped off Grant and I headed out the door to take him to pre-school. Despite stand still traffic for 45 minutes and arriving to pre-school over 30 minutes late I did not allow my happy feelings to be dampened. 

Grant was dropped off and I enjoyed a morning of successful Christmas shopping (happy feelings enhanced by the lovely over cast and brisk weather!)

I went to lunch with my very good friend Michelle who made me these lovely cupcakes:

They were truly, the best cupcakes of my life. Made from a gluten free mix (Pamela's brand). I do not care that it is a $7 box of cake mix. I will buy this and use it for all cupcakes from now on. The texture and firmness of the cake just might be worth dying for. 

When I arrived home and picked the kids up from school happiness continued. Their homework was a breeze! We all went outside to enjoy the afternoon air and met the flower delivery man who had a gift from Harry and Dianne:

They are gorgeous, I totally love them!

We had a great afternoon bike riding, and visiting the neighbors outside. 

After this my parents and sister Laura showed up for dinner. My mom made my favorite cheese enchiladas for dinner and baked custard for dessert. 

Totally forgot to buy candles. No biggie, a lighter will suffice. Plus the kids thought it was awesome!

Present time!

The kids had gone out shopping and were super excited to watch me open the gifts. They had picked out Allegiant (the last book in a series that I have been reading), a box of candy turtle, and a book light :) Thanks kiddos! Thank you also to Laura for a coupon for a picnic with you and to my mom and dad for the Visa gift card. Can't wait to go shopping!

Also, my Young Women's president Connie stopped by the next day and dropped off a present for me. A beautiful white eternity scarf, chocolates, and my favorite snack...hot fries! Love you Connie, that was so sweet! 

Sadly Tim could not be there to celebrate. Lame work responsibilities. No complaining from me though! We went out on a date last night to make up for it. Yummy dinner at Chuy's and a trip to Lowe's where we picked out my b-day present from him: a new chandelier for our entryway. Yay! 

The presents were all super lovely and extremely appreciated, but my day was made absolutely lovely by all the people in it. I feel very blessed to have such a wonderful family, and great friends. Thank you everyone for filling my life with so much joy!

Time Our For Women

Last weekend my mom and I took a weekend trip up to San Marcos to attend Time Out For Women. We had such a fabulous time!!!

It was awesome to spend some mom/daughter time together. We headed up early afternoon on Friday to get settled into our hotel. About an hour before the event we decided we would need some snacks to get us through. We headed out in search of an HEB.....and slammed right into I-35 rush hour traffic. We spent about 30 minutes on the access road just getting to the next exit. This is where we decided a Valero station would have to suffice. We picked out our snack: nuts and ice cream. We got back to the hotel just in the nick of time for the opening presentation. Once we got our seats I back to the lobby in search of some gum. What do you know, I found their little coffee shop. Full of snacks. Including nuts, and ice cream. :)

Here's Justin Cash

I really wish I had gotten pics of all of the presenters. Some of the ones I remember are Virginia H. Pearce, Kris Belcher, Mercy River, D. Kelly Ogden, Mary Ellen Edmunds, Richie Nornton, and T.C. Christensen. They were all excellent! I especially enjoyed Kris Belcher, Virginia Pearce, and Mary Ellen Edmunds.

Mom with her massive "sandwich"

After the evening event we found our HEB where mom purchased yummy bread and cheese to get us through the night. 

The next day...

 Conked out in the hotel lobby in between sessions.

Too bad we had already checked out of our room!

 Fun little booth they had set up to snap some pics:

TOFW was totally fun and quite spiritually uplifting. We saw tons of people that we knew which was great and we had an all around wonderful time together. 

Bonus: the San Marcos outlets were right next door so we enjoyed a Saturday afternoon of shopping and found some great deals!