That time I turned 30

I can commiserate with Jack on having a lame January birthday because I likewise have a lame January birthday! 

Bad news: I turned 30. 

Good news:

And here are some other Internet sentiments about 30 with which I concur:

I mean, I don't actually hang out with 20 year olds on a regular basis but I will count my cute 15/16 year old Sunday School kids in this. Sometimes I catch them staring semi-blankly at me during class while I plead with them to just make Good Choices, haha. 

Yeahhhh, I tried to come up with an alternative that fits me, but quirky is the closest I could come...

I don't know if this is the actress Michelle Williams or the Destiny's Child Michelle Williams, but either way I think it's a good reflection of how comfortable I feel at 30. I'm super confident in who I am and how I look and what I'm doing with my life. (Also I apologize if anyone else now has 'Say My Name' stuck in their head. No? Just me then...)

I figured my 30th birthday deserved some sort of crazy recognition and I randomly came up with a 5k. I mean, what?? I don't even know, but the idea hit and I ran with it (get it? I' d apologize, but I'm old now so making lame jokes is basically expected).

I really just wanted a fun activity where we could be outside but not freeze, anyone or no one could come, and orange could be heavily incorporated. And it worked! The rain mostly held off and super fun friends showed up and it was so perfect.

Probably the best surprise was Kautri showing up with her darling baby Elise! I hadn't seen her forever (or even met Elise) because I am The Worst at keeping in touch with people, and I seriously had to blink back tears when I saw her car pull up. As it was I did some sort of awkward leaping dance across the street; I think screaming was involved as well...

Chuck was a helper and took this picture of the run/walk participants, most of whom were smart enough to retreat into the garage for hot chocolate and snacks after the first mile:

The crazy girls stuck it out though! Don't even get me started on Nycole and Emily, who ran almost all of it. Some people. I jogged a bit, walked a lot, and definitely turned around early every lap, haha.

 Some of my sweet best friends participated from a distance, Holly in Seattle and Courtney and Gloria in Utah:

Who are these people? And how on earth did I get lucky enough to cross paths with them??

Love these girls so much. If any of them invite me to a party in the future where physical exertion is required, I will seriously consider attending (but really, who does that? So weird).

The boys (and Carma! dang it, still not used to that...) were good sports and wore orange, although Clyde insisted that the bball on his shirt counted.

That night my mom and Carma and I went out and about to run some errands took a three generation picture afterwards. Fun fact: my grandma Carma only had one daughter, born just before she turned 30. My mom only had one daughter, born shortly after she turned 30. And now I only have one daughter (not subject to change), born a few months before I turned 30! I love figuring out weird stuff like that.

Some more shots from the rest of Saturday and Sunday (my actual birthday): Carma wanted to stay up late, so we watched some Pride and Prejudice. Start 'em early, you know? And then she woke up awesome early the next morning, obviously to make sure she was the first one to wish me a happy birthday. My sweet boys sent me back to bed after a while and brought me breakfast. We had a little party in Sunday School and I made the kids smile for a picture. My class changed a bit at the beginning of the year (I lost the 16 year olds and gained some 14 year olds) and I just love them all. Aaaand my cake! We ran out of time on Sunday, so we were cutting into it right when the Priests showed up for their quorum presidency meeting, so good timing on their part ;).

Oh, and I definitely dressed Carma in a bunch of orange for church that day; I'm not super looking forward to when she's old enough to dress herself...

It was such a fun birthday weekend - serious thank to Chuck for supporting me in my crazy plans and making everything come together so well. And of course, thanks to everyone for wishing me a happy day! 30 is pretty stellar so far!