19 Special Things About My Birthday

1. My mom cooked a delicious dinner of some of my favorite foods and made this super yummy blueberry cake (a fulfilling birthday cake without chocolate! :)

2. A trip to the Farmer's Market

Fresh vegetables are so beautiful! And I just love those blue flowers! (Can't remember what they're called...)

3. A picnic at Park Ave

4. The most gorgeous day a person could ask for!

5. My family :)

6. Trains! Gabe has taught me to love trains, and I can't help but think of him whenever I see one.
7. Tali Rose

She's so crazy, and I love it! She gave up attending an all-day youth group event just so she could be with me. :) In the first picture, she's successfully catching a piece of kettle corn that I threw at her.

The card she gave me was filled with purple glitter that went flying everywhere when I opened it (thanks, Tali! ;) and these fun adjectives that she thinks describe me.

8. A phone call from Jenna that I just received while writing this. :) Not to mention a wonderful song from Jessica and all the other sweet calls and messages I received.

9. Speaking of phone calls, I was able to talk to Zach and Jeremy (currently traveling the country). It was the next best thing to them being here. :) Miss you guys!

10. Adventure!

After our lovely picnic, we ventured back to discover that our car was dead. Thankfully, some nice people let us borrow their jumper cables (of course the jumper cables couldn't be found the one time we needed them!) and we eventually got going again.

Carissa's new car rescued ours

11. On the, flip-side, I'm so thankful for a most relaxing day! I was doing stuff all day, but none of it was part of my weekly routine, so it was wonderful!

 

12. My sunday school class today!

13. My favorite sunday school teacher (that would be you, Sierra! :) and the time we get to spend together each week. I guess during busy seasons of life, time spent with some of your best friends changes form. I'm thankful for any I can get. :) Love you, Sia!

14. Sprinkle doughnuts! Mmmmm. I realized later that the sprinkles were hiding chocolate. Oh well. =/

15. Tristan's intensity and hard questions: "Why did God let evil come into the world?"

Boy! If that doesn't prepare you for parenting, I don't know what does!

16. Time spent with some of my favorite kids yesterday. Ty and I walked over to Gabe and Sophie's house to find their whole family (minus Hannah) enjoying the beautiful day and each other. We stayed and played for a while. It was wonderful. 

(I was super sad my other kiddos weren't home when we tried to stop by!)

17. Another amazing dinner made by Tsukasa! Thanks, Tsu!

18. Tyler and his sweet gift

First of all, isn't this a crazy candid shot? Ha ha! (Proof Ty was hogging all the popcorn, minus the pieces Tali and I were throwing)

It says "19 Special Things About Jessie" and there are 19 roses each with a special thing attached. :) I've included some of my favorites.

Apparently when I talk I add "sound effects" to my stories. I never noticed it before Tyler pointed that out.

Also one of my favorites...

My dad took the liberty of adding this one...

Which brings me to # 19...

19. After we jumped the car, we girls and Ty piled in the van. All of a sudden, a blindfold was tied around my head!

We drove for a while, and when we finally stopped they let me out and Tyler led me into...

No worries, I didn't get a tattoo...

But I did get a nose stud!

In case you're wondering, I left my Dad's addition to Tyler's gift on there, because he is indeed a terrific dad! I've been after him for more than 2 years to allow me to do this, and he finally said I could! I totally didn't expect this kind of surprise for my birthday.

It didn't really hurt (obviously there was some pain), and it's been so painless that I keep forgetting it's there! I didn't even have trouble sleeping on my left side last night. I was going to put up a picture, but the stud is really so small that it's hardly visible! As soon as there's a good photo, I'll post it.

Well, I've been struggling with all these pictures for a long time now, so I'll wrap up this post. All in all, my birthday exceeded any and all expectations! It was best day ever!