My Birthday Weekend

Thanks to everybody for your birthday wishes. I tried to stay off the computer (or at least the web) for most of the weekend, so I didn't get your wishes until today...which helped extend the fun. Thanks. :)

The weekend was great.

Friday night Lynette and I went to a surprise birthday party for a friend. It was pretty fun...filled with food, dancing, and zaniness. :)

Saturday began with a luxurious laying in (I'd say "sleeping in", but with kids getting up between 6 and 7, sleep doesn't always happen). I rolled out of bed around 10 and the day began. We pushed through Saturday chores and got the house tip-top shape. We had fun playing some board games (Jason's been begging to play Simpson's Clue for a few weeks). We walked up to the video store and picked up some cheesy vids for the kids. Then we spent the afternoon relaxing a little bit before going out to dinner. I was in the mood for Barbeque, but we didn't want to drive too far, so we thought about trying out the new "Texas Roadhouse" in town...but they had a ~90 minute wait. So, we hit up Lone Star Steakhouse for a rollickin' good time. :)

Sunday we slept in a little bit, but not too much since we had to get ready for church. Lynette was speaking in church, so she was a little nervous (despite the fact that she always does fabulous when speaking). I went home teaching before church which left her to finalize things with the kids (not sure if that was good or bad for her jitters...took her mind off the talk for a few anyway). After church (Lynette's talk was great, by the way), we had Lynette's family over for a birthday dinner. With my birthday this week and Jason's next week, we decided to split family get-togethers over both weeks. So Lynette's fam came over this past Sunday and my fam will come over next Sunday. Dinner was good and the kids had fun playing with their cousins until "past bedtime."

Monday was also pretty relaxing generally...though we had 3 extra kids around the house for most of the day so things were a little hectic in that regard. I tried to punch through my homework reading (~100 pages of Darwin's "On the Origin of Species")...didn't quite finish...it's slow reading for some reason. Monday afternoon, the mechanic called and told us our van was fixed (the "check engine" light has been on for about 4 months and we haven't been able to get it off through our methods...hopefully this $500 fix will do it). Later in the day we went over to help clean the church. Then after dinner, we went bowling as a family which was pretty fun. I'll have to get some pix up before long (and the hilarious video of Andrew dancing after his turn...very funny).

So that was my birthday weekend. Relaxing, fun and great. Oh, in terms of gifts, Lynette picked up some roses for the table. I got a big book of Jim Christian's art. Then a couple of shirts and some money. One of the shirts features two unicorns...beneath it is the message "Hey Charlie, we found a map to candy mountain!" The shirt brought instant giggles from those "in the know."

If you're not 'in the know', then you MUST watch the video below. It's one of those polarizing clips (I think you either love it or hate it and go "huh?"). I'm on the "love" side...it makes me laugh every time I see it.