Turning 40!

I am officially 40.  It doesn't feel that different, but I find myself saying "I'm old!" all the time now.  That's probably not a good thing.

My family all came into town the weekend before my birthday and I KNEW something would be up, but I wasn't really sure what to expect.

On Saturday morning, I'm told that we're all having lunch at a new place.  I thought it was odd because my parents aren't big lunch eaters since they like to wake up late when they're here.  They told me the reservation was for 11:30am, so I got everybody ready and we left.  According to Google Maps that morning, our ETA was going to be 11:35am and B said, "Whoa, it takes 20 minutes to get there?" That should have been my first clue.  I mean, B never ever cares if we are going to be late to something.  I, on the other hand, am always freaking out and nervous about it.  (Yes, we are a match made in heaven.) But I didn't really give it a thought and we arrived at the restaurant, I opened the door and my family and a bunch of my closest friends yelled "SURPRISE!!" I couldn't believe it!  Honestly, I had no idea.  Everyone played it so cool.  I told them that they all deserve Academy Awards.

The long table was decorated with painted glass jars with pictures from my long past. It was all so cute! Great job, Aunt A!

So we all chatted and ate delicious brunch food (and you all know I LOVE breakfast food!).  I had the eggs Benedict (yum!) and I tried a bunch of other food and it was all wonderful.  

Then there was a beautiful and scrumptious raspberry lemon cake.  It was all heavenly!

Then V hands me an iPad with a speaker and J says, "This is a gift from all of us."  It was a video of a lot of my closest friends and family, near and far, wishing me a happy birthday!  Some sang, others told funny stories, others had sweet words.  It was AMAZING.  I totally had tears in my eyes...and y'all know I don't shed tears easily!  It was the best gift ever.  Just to feel loved like that.  I'll never forget it.  The cherry on top was that B wrote and sang a new song for me.  He said that at this rate, he's averaging about one song per decade (since he wrote and sang one for me when we got engaged).  It was so very sweet and super catchy too.  What an amazing hubby, huh?

On my actual birthday, B and the kids played hooky and we had a blast!  The kids made me breakfast in bed...yum!

Then we all went on a family hike...even my parents!

Poor Aunt A and Ah-Gong had the worst allergies during the hike, but they made it through.  It was a beautiful day and just a fun hike.  

Then we went bowling before we had dinner all together.

And we ended the night with a macaron cake...yum!!  

This was the best birthday yet!  I don't even remember my 18th and 21st birthdays.  Honestly, I don't.  But this one...this one I will remember forever.  Thanks, everyone, for a sweet and memorable birthday. I'm so blessed to have family that would spend so much time to put together something like this...the party, the video, the pictures, the song. I can't believe that I can have all this.  God is good.  Really really good.