Mom's 70th birthday

Every once in a while, life smiles on you and gives you a nearly perfect day. My mom turned 70 this November, and to commemorate it, all five of her kids surprised her for an all-day party. Jenn and Adrienne "lured" her down from Cove Fort and her missionary duties, saying that they wanted to do a session at the temple with her. Which they did. But when they returned to the house, Russ, Ben and I were there too; complete with 70 balloons each with a favorite memory of Mom tied to it from family and friends.

Then we watched a video montage Jenn put together with all of our families singing, "I am a Child of God", before heading off to the "Escape Room"- a new experience for most of us. It's nice to shake things up a bit! Then we went out to eat for dinner, all the while singing along in the car to all of our old road trip favorites. "Rubber ball", "Tower of Strength", "100 pounds of clay" etc. After dinner we went back home to have some delicious cake and ice cream and open presents. Even though Ben and I had the drive back north ahead of us, it was hard to have the night end. So we watched some home movies together downstairs before heading home.

It was pretty much perfect. I didn't even mind the drive down and back in such a short amount of time because I got all this great one-one-one time with my brother, which never happens. It was so fun to talk all the way there and back. It may seem odd that my Dad wasn't there, or that our spouses weren't there, but they sacrificed to watch kids etc so that the original 5 and Mom could have this time together. I will cherish this day for a long, long time. I feel so lucky to have grown up alongside the siblings I have, and under the watchful care of my parents-some of my best friends.