Happy Birthday Landon

Happy Birthday Love.

 I hope your 27th year is just as exciting as your 26th.  Your 26th year started in China and ended in California, a few stops in-between, and picked up a baby along the way.  It will be a tough year to top,  but I'm sure we are in for many more adventures this year!   You are amazing and have done so much to make your goals become a reality, your life progress deserves celebrating,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you!

Today Landon woke up to this-

I know, he turned 27, not 7, but I thought it was fun. 

Capri thought making Daddy's cake was fun.

I love how she's trying to hold the spatula with her foot in one of the pictures

Landon had a 3 hour lunch with his co-workers to celebrate his birthday and they also wanted to go out before their boss returns from India on Monday.  Yesterday Landon got to meet the President of Cisco for his birthday, I guess Cisco does a monthly birthday breakfast which is cool.  After Landon finished work, we met up with the Cushman's, Samuelson's, and Hoopers to BBQ at the park.  The Samuelson's are leaving tomorrow to go back to Michagan so we had one lasts good-bye with them.  They have been fun friends and I am so glad we have been able to get to know them and learn from their examples of kindness.  They are another one of those awesome couples that the world is lucky to have! We came  home from the BBQ to open presents and the Landon cuddled with Capri.  Landon is in need of new clothes so hopefully I can talk him into going shopping tomorrow to pick out a few more birthday things.  Landon is so simple and easy going, he doesn't care about clothes and is content wearing the same things until they are about to fall apart.  In fact, I can't remember the last time we went shopping for Landon!  I just wish I could convince him to spend the money on himself.

Above is Landon's birthday treat request: chocolate covered cookie dough

Our friends Jordan and Brooke have inspired me.  They take birthday celebrations serious and have an entire "Birthday Weekend" filled with lots of presents, fun activities, eating out, and friends.  It made me realize that birthdays should be a big deal.   Landon and I have always said we don't need anything special, but let's be honest, who doesn't love a little birthday love and a day all about them?  Your family members are worth celebrating and should feel loved and special everyday, but why not one big celebration too?   Now that we have Capri I've been thinking about the traditions I would like to start and how I can make her childhood birthdays memorable.  I want birthdays to be fun for the birthday boy or girl, but also exciting for the entire family.  Lynn Jackson made up a birthday song for her family and I love it!  The Jacksons also go all out on birthdays by decorating the house (even the outside), making the day all about the birthday person, and each person at the party tells one thing they like about the birthday boy or girl.  I forgot to do that tonight, but I think Landon would have been a little embarrassed.   Last year when we were in China I had a little extra time and wrote a list of 26 reasons to celebrate Landon here and  added number 27 below.

27. I love watching you be a Dad.  It warms my heart to see you put a smile on Capri's face as soon as you're in sight.  She absolutely adores you. I love that you come home for lunch as often as you can just to hold her and squeeze her.  It's apparent that you would do anything for your girls and have been a wonderful Dad in these few short months already.  Your love for her is sweet and you defiantly have something together that no one can touch.

Happy Birthday Landon.... let the birthday festivities continue!

Pitchers come to Cali!

Landon’s family visited over the weekend and it was too short! Sharman, Linda, Adam, Monica, and Cambrie all stayed with us. We were out and about most of the time so it didn't even feel crowded. Adam’s girls are in New Jersey visiting Corie’s family so he came alone, and Court & Kelli let Cambrie come along for her first trip away from home!   Cambrie is so good with Capri, I hope we end up living close so we can have her babysit soon.  It felt like a mini vacation for me since Capri was getting so much attention and love from Grandma, Aunt Moke, and Cambrie.  Friday we headed straight to Carmel to spend some time on the beach and do the 17 mile drive. Don’t mind our wind blown hair.  Saturday was a San Francisco day. Landon and I made Sharman come on our 16 mile run with us while everyone else got a head start in the city.  We ran on the Los Gatos Creek trail and It wasn’t too difficult, but it did seem like it took forever to finish since we had to stop for Capri a few times. Usually Capri does pretty good on our runs, but she was needy this time.  We love running with “Coach,”  it’s a great therapy session and we solve so many problems while running and talking.   We met the rest of the family at Giradelli Square and had an Italian dinner on the wharf.  It was colder than we hoped for (always is!) so I bought Capri the cute owl hat.  I'm sure she was fine, but I liked the excuse to buy it.  After church on Sunday we enjoyed our apartment amenities, relaxed for a bit, and then went to Stockton to visit Chris and Geniel.  Geniel is just like Linda and it's fun to see the sisters together.  We ate delicious breakfast food for dinner and played botchy ball at the park. Busy and great weekend.  We were sad to see Landon's family go so soon, but it won't be long before we see them in Utah for Dave Earnhardt's wedding and before we head back to Arizona for Landon's  last and final Trimester at Thunderbird, yippee!

This Week....

I don't know why, but this M-F week flew by.... maybe because it was filled with fun things.   Our time in California is disappearing before our eyes and Capri is getting so big.  We have lots of great friends here and it seems like there is something fun going on daily.

Monday:  Bachelor Party at Andrea's with yummy treats and funny commentary.
Tuesday:  Pool Day!  I host and usually 10-15 moms come with their kiddos. Ran our fastest minute mile yet- 7:24.
Wednesday: Capri and I wore our stripes to shop the sales with Paige at the mall.  We found Capri and Aubrey matching swimsuits at H&M for $1.... yeah baby! Then met Daddy for lunch at Applebees.  Ran 7 miles on a new trail, we actually ran our last 4 minutes in the dark because we got such a late start.
Thursday: Grocery shopping (which is fun for me).  Picked up Tori to go see the hubbies play in a work basketball tournament and enjoyed their catered BBQ.  Later that afternoon I went to the  park for a photography class put on by my church.  Met up with another group of church girls for a running activity preparing for the stake 5k & 10k.  Landon worked out, played basketball, and folded all of the laundry when I got home, love him.
Friday:  Lunch break lunch date at California Sourdough with the Hoopers and Samuelson's.  Best. Bread. Ever.  After work Landon and Craig lifted weights while Tori and I hung out, then we went to Red Robbin, the boys fixed our flat tire, and then back to our place for dessert.
Saturday:  Yucky morning, between waking up late, tire problems, and traffic we didn't get our run in. We are going to make up for it Monday.  Jordan & Brooke, and Dallin & Kayla came over and hung out by our pool, then we went to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory to celebrate Jordan's birthday.

Despite our bummer Saturday morning, it was a great week and we can't believe we only have 4 more weeks left here!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JORDAN!