Birthdays and Easter

Sorry I've been such a slacker lately. We've had various illnesses and what not going on the last few weeks, so our life hasn't been all that exciting, with a few exceptions.

First off was a celebration for Kirsten (one of my roommates from Hawaii and the girl who introduced me to Jason) because it was her birthday. Harrison (another friend from Hawaii) drove down from Idaho so that we could all celebrate together. We ended up going to dinner at Benihanas and had a lot of fun! Although, I still think I prefer Tepanyaki's food.

After dinner, we headed back to our apartment to chill for a while before phase 2 of the birthday celebration. We watched a movie and dyed Easter eggs! I have spent the last 3 Easter's with these people, though our group gets smaller and smaller each year. Jason even consented to come and dye an egg!

Then, once we'd cleaned up we headed back into Salt Lake to watch a Pink Floyd laser show at the planetarium. I'm not a fan. For some reason the laser effects really mess with my sense of motion and made me pretty light headed. It reminded me a lot of how Star Tours at Disneyland always makes me feel...

On Easter Sunday we spent time listening to General Conference. This is always a highlight, and this time was no exception! I love the spirit and feeling listening to the men and women of God brings into my home and life. Conference also brings about another tradition. Each time Conference rolls around, we gather together with my dad's family for a dinner. Part of this dinner includes a session where everyone shares their favorite Conference talk. A great tradition that helps tie us together as a family.

The next day we ended up kidnapping my cousin Rachel to go and play games at her brother Derek's new (to him) house. It was a great chance to get out of our house and be with different people. We took a tour of Derek's house, played games, ate pizza, and had a great time! Unfortunately none of us noticed the snow start falling, so getting home was a little precarious, but we made it nonetheless!

Finally, last Wednesday was Jason's birthday. I hadn't been planning on doing very much other than going out to dinner since I had already given him his big gifts (golf clubs and lessons). But, the night before, he mentioned how much he loved how creative I was last year and that he would rather have something more like that than a fancy dinner. So I had to put on my thinking cap and do some last minute shopping!

Unfortunately he really wasn't feeling well and ended up working from home that day. I got up early and made him some chocolate chip muffins before I left for work. Then I came home and made him a candygram and wrapped up some other little gifts. We spent some time opening these in addition to ones his mom sent over.

I was thinking about going mini-golfing (to tie in the theme of his gifts) but neither of us were feeling up to it that night. So, we ended up going to dinner at Macaroni Grill (courtesy of his mom) and ended the night relaxing at home with some homemade banana cream pie. Happy birthday Jason!