Monday, June 27, 2011

Celebrate Good Times, come on!

The past year has been the best year of my adult life. I'm 31 years old, and I'm finally very happy and comfortable with my life. In the past year, some remarkable things have happened...
we moved into our new home and I absolutely love it,
I've become comfortable with my role as a mother,
I got a new job as an elementary music teacher and a new calling as a Gospel Principles Sunday School teacher and both of these teaching roles have made me grow tremendously,
my marriage with Josh has been amazing,
and the friendships that I've developed have been extraordinary.
I've truly loved this past year...

Last June, I was depressed and upset and stressed. I didn't get the job I wanted, I was mad at my best friend, I was moving into the new house and cleaning out the old house practically all alone. And last July, I had a horrible fight with my husband and left for a few days. I was miserable. But, that was the turning point for me. At that low point, I looked at my life and decided to make a change. And after being so low, I can now recognize and appreciate what my life is now and the goodness that it is filled with.

Part of my change began last fall, when I decided to make each good moment a memorable one. I wanted to make happy times become special celebrations, and the theme song in my mind has been "Celebrate Good Times" all year. Part of the lyrics are:
There's a party goin' on right here
A celebration to last throughout the years.
So bring your good times and your laughter, too
We gonna celebrate your party with you.
Come on now
Let's all celebrate and have a good time!

In the last 9 months, we've been a part of many wonderful parties and celebrations, but the most memorable ones for me were the birthdays celebrations that I helped create for some of my closest friends. Each of these birthday celebrations have brought sincere joy to my life, so to help me remember them, I'm writing some of the details from these parties.

Josh's birthday was in November. The night before Josh's birthday, I took him to eat his favorite meal of steak at his favorite restaurant in Salmon: the 28 Club. After dinner, we went to the hot springs with Amanda, John, Shari, and Jamie. I got a little out of control with some of my comments and the conversation that we had that night is still referred to whenever we go to the hot springs now and I still get made fun of! The next day, I made pumpkin cheesecake for Josh and he opened his gifts, and that afternoon we had our friends David and Gina and their family come over for dessert and games and we had a good time. I loved Josh's birthday so much, I think maybe even more than he did!

Kevin's birthday was in December, the week before Christmas. For Kevin's birthday, Amanda convinced John, Jamie, and I to join a bunch of Kevin's old co-workers at a birthday party lunch for him at Bertram's Brewery Restaurant. Kevin and his old co-workers all fit into the enclosed reserved nook part of the restaurant, but the 4 of us didn't. So we sat at a table next to the room, and kept talking and laughing and trying to feel a part of the real party. The worst (or funniest) part was when we were singing the Happy Birthday song to Kevin. I accidentally blurted out, super loudly in a harmonizing octave: "Happy Birthday dear Jaw...". I don't know if I was going to say Josh or John, but halfway through the name, I realized it wasn't the birthday boy's name, and everybody else quit singing mid-sentence and Kevin didn't even get the whole song sung to him because of my blunder!!! We still joke about that one, too. That night, Amanda and John and I joined Kevin's family birthday celebration at his home. He opened presents, we ate cake & ice cream, and we sang karaoke in his living room. And that night, we sang the Happy Birthday song again to Kevin, and this time I got it right! (sorry about the cell phone camera quality)

Amanda's birthday was in January. For her birthday, we ate dinner at the Junkyard Bistro with a big group of friends. There was Amanda, Josh and I, Shari and Jaime, Kevin and Melissa, and John and his old friend Josh that none of us had ever met. We laughed and laughed during dinner, and we ate dessert afterwards. Then we walked to the Inn for karaoke and dancing. We danced for several hours and had a glorious time together. Shari, Jaime, Kevin, and Melissa had to leave early, but the rest of us stayed until the Inn closed at 1am. And when we walked out of there, we were so hot on that cold night that the steam was rolling off of us! It was literally cascading off of John's friend Josh! It was a hysterical sight to see! We had so much fun that night that Amanda and I didn't want the night to end, we kept calling it the "Best. Birthday. EVER!".

John's birthday was in May, and it was a 2-day event in Boise. Amanda and I decided going into it that we would allow John to choose whatever activities he wanted to do, and we would go along with it. This was hard for me because I'm a control freak, but every time I wanted to do something different, I just said out loud (to remind myself) "It's your birthday, so you get to do whatever YOU want!". We went jeans shopping with him for hours in the mall, and then we had dinner and dessert at the Cheesecake Factory (our favorite) with our friend Rob. That night, the four of us went dancing at a dance club and met a new friend, JQ. After dancing, we went down the street to a pizza joint for a midnight snack of greasy pizza slices! And the five of us tried to stay up all night, which turned out to be an impossible feat. The next day, we went for our first-ever lunch at Five Guys. And that evening, we went to a Japanese party for a friend of Rob's where there were so many kinds of sushi that I didn't even know existed. (p.s. I hate sushi.) After that, JQ and John and Amanda and I went to IHop for some real food, and we serenaded the waitress because we were the only ones in the restaurant. Then we went karaoke-singing at a bar, and dancing at the Balcony (which was packed), and we ended the night with a midnight snack of hot dogs from a hot-dog stand in downtown Boise. John said it was the best birthday he'd ever had! It was 2 days packed with fun and laughter and food and friends. It was absolutely perfect. (more bad-quality cell phone camera photos)

I love happy memories, I love happy birthdays, and I love my friends! AND...I love creating happy memories with my friends on their birthdays! It's truly brightened my spirits this year, and reminiscing about the celebrations puts a smile on my face every time! I can't wait til the next one!

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