Best Birthday Ever

I turned 30 on Thursday and had a great day thanks to friends and family. Debbie asked if I could come over for lunch and surprised me with a party! It was a lot of fun hanging out with the ladies from church and all their kids. Thanks Debbie!!! Then Brad took the afternoon off and we drove to Spokane for an afternoon of shopping. It was such a fun day I didn't want to go to bed and have it end. I feel blessed to have had 30 great years with all my friends and family.

The Turtle

This week has been great. We started putting Ella to bed in her room and she's sleeping through the night (meaning I don't have to feed her)! I would have done it sooner, but I was too lazy to walk all the way upstairs if she woke up plus it was nice having her close.

The funniest thing is a couple of nights around 4am she woke up and wouldn't go back to sleep on her own so one of us would go up there and every time we would find her on her back with her arms and legs flailing around like a turtle on it's back. Yes, I'm a bad mom and let her sleep on her stomach, but she's figured out how to roll over to her back and it makes her really mad because she can't roll back. Once we roll her back over she instantly goes back to sleep. We were wondering if we could Velcro her tummy to the sheet to keep her from getting "stuck" on her back.

Her favorite toy right now is a paper towel. She will put it in her mouth and shake her head back and forth like a puppy.

I Heart USA

Ella and I just returned from an actuary conference in Toronto. On the way there we stopped in Minneapolis for the weekend to see our friends Rachel, Brian and Adam. It was a nice, relaxing weekend before continuing our journey on to Toronto. My mom met us in Toronto to watch Ella while I attended the meetings. It was nice to see my mom and be able to hang out with her, but I can't say I fell in love with Toronto. There really wasn't anything interesting to see, the people weren't that friendly and it was kind of expensive. We wanted to make it to Niagra Falls, but ran out of time. On the way home we had a layover in Minneapolis where I realized I left my wallet laying on the seat in the Toronto airport. Yesterday I got ahold of their lost and found and they had it (minus the cash)! I was so happy to not have to go through the hassle of replacing everything. While the trip was good, I was glad to be back in the good ole USA.

Adam is about to be a big brother and I think he's going to do a great job




Here's Ella and I in front of St. Andrew's Cathedral


And my mom and Ella in front of the old courthouse