More Birthday Fun...

Bright sun outside the LDS Chicago Temple.

Ethan's birthday was today, and now we're both 28. Yay! I prefer it when we're the same age, even though I don't mind that I'm older than him. hehe Is that a contradition? We had such a fun weekend, and it was kid free (a very rare occurrence these days). We went on a bus trip to the Chicago Temple with the congregation from Marquette. Just a quick trip - Friday at 5pm to Saturday at 12am. However, this was the longest we've ever left the kids, and only the third time for Anna and second for Benjamin. Long story short - the kids were perfectly fine, and they had fun. I, the worried/nervous mommy, was so surprised that little Ben-Ben was okay. He's more shy than Anna, but apparently had enough time to warm up to family before this. I talked with them both multiple times, and Anna always told me how much fun she was having. But today, she was a little more hug-y, sweet, complimentary, and a tad more sensitive than normal...so I think she missed us deep down. Ahhhh...sweet. I missed my sweeties, but considering how well it went, I think we're totally ready for a longer time away from them. We'll see when we can work that out. Probably not for awhile. Oh well.

The temple was so uplifting and needed. The trip and bus ride were tons o' fun. There were many friends of ours on the trip and it was great to catch up and bond. Meghan and Jake (my bro. and sis-in-law) went as well, and it was so good spending more time with them, sharing snacks, Meg and I having a singing session, getting silly as the trip wore on, and having an awesome game of euchre in which the in-laws (Jake and I) beat the Rayhorns (Meg and Ethan). It's funny, but when you have a rare break from the kids, anything seems exciting and special. Even a back to back seven hour bus trip. I loved it.

I love this picture of Ethan and Katherine. Eth is SO excited it's his birthday. hehe We were at the Rayhorn's this evening for celebrating. KC made these delish pies for her big brother...so sweet. Anna asked him numerous times, "Daddy, is this the best birthday you've ever had?" She dictated the most thoughtful birthday note, and helped pick out his presents. Anna loves helping people celebrate their birthday. Oh, and Ethan even got in some good games of ping pong, in which he mostly dominated. Nice. A good day!

I love Ethan so much...in case I haven't mentioned that in previous posts. He's the perfect man for me; I am blessed to be his friend and wife-y. And our sweet potatoes are lucky to have such an awesome daddy! So in honor of him and his birthday -

Things I love about Ethan: so handsome, thoughtful, his dimples, smarty pants (I love that he knows so many random facts and loves to learn and read), funny and clever, makes me laugh, responsible in so many ways, dedicated (to his family, to his religion, to his education), I respect his opinions and LOVE having discussions and friendly debates with him, I love the way he dresses (not important, but I like his style), that he sings to our kids at night, that he makes up fun games to play with Anna and Ben-Ben, that he leads us in family prayer every night, his smile and his voice, he stays up to talk to me even if he's very sleepy, he is understanding when I am overwhelmed, he is calm when I am anxious and worried, he kills spiders and does other various scary or gross things, checks on the kids in the middle of the night, gives me massages when I'm hurting or had a hard day, always drives because I don't like to even though I'm the biggest back seat driver ever, likes when I cook healthy meals for him (as opposed to being disappointed), runs and bikes and finds races to participate in, love his serious side, love his silly side..... I better stop now, but be assured, there are many more things I love and appreciate about Ethan. He is my perfect match. Happy birthday babe!