Chocolate Glow Sticks, Please...

Today I turn 34. 

And just to solidify my spot as the most complicated or maybe even contradictory girl in the Universe...

I feel old.

I feel young.

And a few more other things just to be completely self-indulgent/introspective, on this, the anniversary of the day I was born...

I love these babies that are in our home.  I watch them sometimes and just get overwhelmed with emotion.  I can't believe how they have changed our lives in the best possible ways.

I cuss.  Frequently. Sometimes in quiet response to my little holy terrors.

I am passionate about words & stories and I take my responsibility as the official memory-keeper of our family very seriously.

I like to buy stuff.

I life to make stuff.

Sometimes I'm just fed up with stuff.

I believe in God somethin' fierce and my relationship with him is a huge part of my life.

I read fashion magazines all the time.

I dream of living in fields of grain in the shadow of our mountains with no neighbors and lots of acreage, a half dozen chickens, two horses and a cow.

I love Costco.  Their produce makes me giddy.

Sometimes I feel so strong I think I could run the world.

Other times, I want nothing more than to hold my Ryan's hand and let him guide me through it.

I feel full of gratitude.

I strive to achieve more.

I am a pleaser.

I am an independent soul.

And today,

I am a 34-year-old mom.

With a leftover slice of chocolate cake that was decorated with glow sticks courtesy of my favorite boy in the entire land... Ryno, you still knock my socks off.

Family birthday cake picture?  Nailed it.  :)

P.S. The big little men colored pictures for my day then opened their carefully colored envelopes for me so I wouldn't have to lift a finger.  Me with yellow hair and slightly taller than the little circle with limbs that represented them with their yellow hair.  It was exactly what I always wished for.

And thanks to Ry's family who came in with the win - dinner, cake, gifts & fun after hosting an all grandson sleepover this weekend so the mister and I could make a quick romantic getaway.

Not for the faint of heart, I tell you.  Thank you!

34... I think we'll get along nicely.