Yee-Haw, I'm 30!

So, although my birthday was on August 6th, we finally got around to celebrating it yesterday. And my party was much better than my actual birthday. My Grandpa passed away at 11:45 the night before which made me very sad, and made for a very late night. I didn't hit the sack till probably 3 am. Then I had a migraine and was miserable with allergies for the next 3 days. I was pretty discouraged about what "30" was feeling like for awhile. I wasn't feeling much like celebrating, but Rick and Mattie Rae especially went out of their way to make sure my birthday wasn't overlooked amongst all the funeral sadness and planning.


While we were in Gridley at the end of July, we had dinner with some of our good friends Blane and Lena Sannar. Blane served his mission in Honduras and makes the most wonderful tacos. This time he taught me how to make the tortillas and I've been so excited to share my new recipe with my family ever since. So, we get to my Mom's and are getting things ready, and my mom can't find her tortilla press. What will I do now? Rick gives me one of my birthday presents and says "I hate to have you open this early..." I open it and it's my very own tortilla press! Woo hoo! So I made the tortillas, Mom made the shredded pork, Wyn made the Pico de Gallo, Mattie Rae crumbled the Queso Fresco and Rick made the guacamole. My grandma came over to have dinner with us. Although she is not a fan of tacos, she loved these (and even said so!). I asked my mom if we'll ever go back to our traditional way of making tacos. She said "NEVER!" What a success!



Mattie Rae and Rick made my requested dessert: Cookies and Cream Pie. I love Oreos, and I found that "Jello" has a new flavor of cookies and cream. It is so delicious. So, for my simple dessert we put the pudding in an Oreo crust, topped with whipped cream and topped with Oreos. Rick even bought special "shimmer" candles. It was divine. After cake was PRESENTS!

I was very surprised and the gifts I received (I love surprises). The first gift I opened was from Braxton. It was a brown bandanna. Interesting... Then I opened up one from Dad. It was a belt with a small belt buckle...almost western style, but still cool. Then Shan'l's gift was a new shirt that also had a sort of trendy-cowgirl style. Mom and Wyn's gift was a cowgirl hat! I'm seeing a theme here... Then mom takes the cowboy boots that were holding flowers for our table centerpiece and says if they fit I can have them. Then Mattie Rae gives me an envelope and the card inside says:

Murdock Ranch

Come to the ranch

for a night of

horseback riding and

a dutch oven dinner

on

August 28th, 2008

at 4:00

Mattie Rae has been asking me what amazing thing I'm going to do to celebrate my 30th birthday. She said I had to do something I've always wanted to do or go see something I've always wanted to see. I don't have many big amazing goals like that (or the money to make them happen), so I've been stumped as to what I should do.

Mattie Rae knows that one of the things I want to do before I die is ride in a cattle round-up. But in order to that, I have another goal of becoming comfortable around and riding horses. So Mattie Rae used her connections to find someone who is willing to teach us to saddle and care for horses and ride them whenever we want. Then she coordinated everyone to get me some cow-girl clothes for the event! What fun! And I was so tickled that everything they picked for me was something I liked (cuz I'm not a fan of purple jeans with no back pockets-style cow girl clothes).

Have I ever mentioned how Mattie Rae is so thoughtful and good at making dreams come true? Well, she is. She knows how to make people feel loved.

I think Rick actually liked spreading my birthday out over almost 3 weeks. I think he liked having a little extra money from his working in California, too. He took me out to dinner on my birthday and also bought me a new TV, helped me re-arrange the living room furniture, got me a car charger for my cell phone, and fixed my vacuum. I think I like having extra money in August and spreading my birthday over 3 weeks. I think I'll try it again next year...