A long time ago in a land far away, we used to be at the cabin every year for my birthday. Every summer there's two weeks where my whole family gets to go up and be at the cabin all together- it's the best. It used to always be in July and so we would have a "July Birthdays" birthday party for me, Soren, and Anna Rose that had a Funfetti beach themed cake (with the Star Wars action figures from the playroom) and then a giant shaving cream fight on the beach with all of the cousins. It was my favorite thing. But then everyone grew up and now there are summer camps and jobs and family trips and our family cabin time has been pushed back to August so we don't have the July Birthdays birthday party anymore. It's kind of a bummer.
Maybe we can bring it back to life when I come home from Alaska.
One time I was at Girls' Camp for my birthday and I was supposed to climb Tablerock that day but had previously visited the Driggs Emergency Room the night before and was now trapped in a boot after falling at the ropes course.
Yay. That was a bummer birthday.
For the past few years, I've convinced my family to make the hour trek into Grand Teton National Park with me so we can go eat pizza at Leek's Pizzeria out on Jackson Lake. It's the best.
On my birthday last year, Mama Laura and I went to Persephone Bakery for breakfast before we drove over the Teton Pass and she dropped me off at Quickwater Ranch to be on the LTeam there for two weeks. Rebekah (one of the other LTeamers) made me a
Jell-O mosaic birthday cake and the LTeam and I took a photo shoot with sparklers and ate an entire bulk box of Goldfish crackers.
On Friday afternoon Mama Laura, my dad, and I drove down to Logan because we had planned that I would go to the temple on my birthday to receive my endowment before leaving for my mission in a few weeks. I didn't think that I realized how much I loved and missed Logan until we came through those last few corners in Logan Canyon. LOGAN IS SO GREAT PEOPLE!
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| I know- we are the cutest family you've ever seen. |
We all ran a couple of mission errands like Best Buy for a camera and Costa Vida for a pre-birthday dinner & dessert before dropping my dad off at our hotel while Mama Laura and I went clothes shopping. Boys have shopping limits- it's about two hours max (on a good day when they're not hungry). Then we stopped by Chugz really quickly so Mama Laura could experience it's greatness. We had to bring my dad back a cookie and Wendy's Frosty so he wouldn't feel left out.
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| Reasons I can't live in Utah in the summertime: this photo was taken at 9:00pm and I would melt like an ice cream cone. |
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| I converted Mama Laura to the Chugz lifestyle. I think it was the chocolate chip cookie that snagged her. |
Before we went back to the hotel for the night, I convinced Mama Laura to drive around the Logan temple with me one last time. It was so pretty all lit up and reminded me of all of my roomies and I's late-night drives around the temple. Living a five minute's drive away from the temple was one of the most amazing blessings of my freshman year experience at Utah State. I think it took a few months for me to actually take advantage of this blessing, but the temple is SO amazing you guys! I wish that the Rexburg temple was five minutes away from my house! It's not- it's like two hours away. Boo.
On Saturday morning, I had a fabulous birthday breakfast of Best Western breakfast bar oatmeal. Yay. Just kidding, it was kinda gross but whatever. Mama Laura, my dad, and I headed up to the Logan temple after breakfast and I was able to receive my endowment there. Because of the sacredness of what goes on inside of the temples, I can't share very much with you. But I will bear testimony of Heavenly Father and the infinite LOVE that He has for each of us. He has a plan for each of us and is always cheering us on, even when we make mistakes and fall down. I love the temple at the feeling of peace that it brings to me. The temple helps me keep on going, especially when the going gets tough. After receiving my endowment, I feel even more ready to start my mission in Alaska and know that Heavenly Father will be with me every (icy) step of the way. The temple is amazing.
After the temple, we went to Beehive Grill for lunch (and really amazing root beer) then ran a few more mission errands before heading back home. We stopped in Bear Lake to get raspberry shakes and corn dogs at Zipz.
You can go back to my very first post for a throwback story of these shakes (@ashlymills).
Another awesome thing about birthdays is the overwhelming amount of love you get through texts, Instagram posts, tweets, and all that stuff. Birthdays rock. I am seriously so lucky and am completely surrounded by the greatest support crew in the whole world. So thank you everyone for believing in me, inspiring me, and loving me. I am the luckiest girl in the world. Yay for 19!
Love, Caitie
