Hello 30s!

Welp... I've entered a new decade, and I certainly received quite a welcoming! I was VERY SURPRISED with a great party on Saturday afternoon! Keith and very special friends in Melbourne have apparently been planning this party for a while, and they managed to keep it from me and surprise me with a BBQ at the beach. I was NOT an easy person when it came to this party, and apparently they nearly gave up on the surprise part of it many times during the planning. As it was, I arrived at my party mad at both my mom and my husband because of the tactics that they had used to get me to the beach, until I realized that it was all for my party! When I finally realized what was going on, I was thrilled! I'm so lucky to have friends and family who love me so much!

Sunday, my birthday celebration continued with a very late brunch at IHoP courtesy of my mom, then a very nice dinner at my favorite restaurant, The Yellow Dog Cafe, with Keith, Jill, and Ben while mom babysat Belle. After that we returned home to open presents from my family. On Monday (my actual birthday), I got lots of phone calls and emails wishing me Happy Birthday. Did I mention how lucky I am? :)

During this past week, my mom has been down visiting and she was such a help with Annabelle. Thanks to mom I was able to get out for a "girls spa day" with Jill and I decided to try another day of the garage sale (another one of the things that almost caused the party planners to throw in the towel). Keith was actually out of town last week, so it was great to have mom visiting to keep us company. Belle loves having her "Grammy" around, and you can tell that she recognizes her!

Belle's Uncle Jason's band, Heartland, is doing great! Their song, "I Loved Her First" is sailing up many charts, including the Billboard charts, iTunes, Jeff Foxworthy, and more! They've almost finished their full CD and hope to release it in September.

Last week my cousin Olivia competed in a horse-riding competition which resulted in her being ranked nationally! I don't know much about horse-riding and Olivia left for vacation soon after the competition so I don't know the details, but it sounds like she did awesome and this has opened the door for some great opportunities for her! Congratulations O!

Right now I'm up in North Carolina where we're visiting with the Gallers. Mike recently got a job with Bank of America up here, and Keith had the opportunity to train a group here so Belle & I tagged along so that we could see the Gallers' new house, see how much Leah has grown, and just hang out with the Mike & Angelle. :)

I've uploaded quite a few new pictures, so head over to our photo gallery to see what I've been up to!