Valentine's Day

Yesterday was Valentine's Day. I'm not a big fan of Valentine's Day. I don't hate it, I just don't think that it's a good reflection of how you feel about your significant other. You should show each other love every day, not just that one day. So then I think that I don't want to make a big deal of it. I told Jake not to get me flowers. And the night before Valentine's I regretted it. I wanted flowers - Angie's husband brought some in to work to leave them on her desk for Angie to be surprised Valentine's morning and I wanted that too! I dropped a couple hints {Jake had no hope of picking up on them - they were VERY vague} but wasn't holding my breath.

Valentine's morning, Jake came home late from work because he had a meeting. I was thinking "yeah right - you bought me flowers" but he came home empty handed. So then I thought maybe he hid them on the washer by my purse. I get ready for work, walk out to look and nothing is on the washer. He kinda sighed and was like "oh shoot - I forgot to get you a card" and then I was crushed. I had bluntly told him that I wanted a card. I like cards. I can keep them. And they can be mushy and help me be a bawl baby on days I feel emotional. So when he said he didn't get me a card, I was bummed.

Leave for work, walk in and I'm talking to Angie as I walk to my desk, telling her how bummed I was that I missed seeing her reaction to her flowers on her desk. And then I walk around the teller line and look at my desk and there were FLOWERS!! And a note on my keyboard addressed to "wife" {Jake always calls me wife, I call him husband. Started when we were dating - he called me girlfriend and I called him boyfriend}. I got so excited and out loud was like "GOOD JOB JAKE!!" even though he wasn't here haha. He text me right then and was like "haha I fooled you". Yes, he sure did. Good job babe!!

My desk - flowers on my chair, note on my keyboard

Close up of my card. It was SO Jake, but also very romantic and cute. I love that he doesn't get cards that sound nothing like something he would really say. It makes it that much more real. And I can keep it FOR-EV-ER {pronounced like on Sandlot}

My flowers once I took them home and put them in a vase

View of my flowers from up top

But then, I realized that I hadn't got anything for Jake. Yeah whoops. So I went and got something at lunch for Jake to surprise him with when I got home.

Wrapped all cute with the note inside it

Opening the gift up - there was tissue ALL over the bed {he woke up just as I got home}

What I got him - beef jerky, a monster, almond joy, snickers & a watch {which I am returning haha. He doesn't like watches and I knew that but I was thinking he might want one - not so}

Then we tried to figure out what we were going to do for dinner. The plan was that we do Cafe Rio - order take out, go pick it up and bring it home to eat together. I called to order while I was still at work and the wait time was almost 2 hours. 2 hours!!! So yeah there went that idea. We ended up ordering take out from China Express, the little Chinese place by our house. The wait was still 45 minutes but that's not too bad for Valentine's Day haha.

Jake got Orange Chicken, I got a shrimp stir fry {bam for making a healthy choice!!!} with ham fried rice, egg rolls & cream cheese wontons

Me & my Valentine

He was so not wanting to take pictures haha

After dinner, we watched "The Office". Perfect night for us - dinner at home while watching TV together. It's very us - nothing fake and overly cheesy for a day that is devoted to commericalized love. But Jake gets the best husband ever award for how well he surprised me. He seriously did AWESOME! I feel so lucky to have married him :)

100 Years & Counting

This past weekend was my winter party for work. Usually it's at the end of January but they pushed it back a few weeks this year because {drum roll please} it's our 100 year birthday!!

I feel so lucky to get to work for a company that I love. They give back to the community, they treat their employees like gold, but most importantly, I love how they treat customers. If the day comes that I no longer work for the bank {I am hoping to stay on 1 day a week once we have kids but we'll see}, we will still bank here! I absolutely LOVE my bank!!

The party was at Thanksgiving Point this year, like usual, but it was best dress! Last year was a luau theme and the year before was a western theme. Both years we could wear jeans but this year we dressed up!

My outfit - I am loving zebra right now!

Jake was so tired, it was hard to get him to wake up {he worked OT the night before} but he got up and got dressed up too. He even ended up wearing his suit jacket since his hoodie he normally wears was dirty {that may or may not have been intentional haha}.

Doesn't he look so nice?!

We saw a few of the people I used to work with in PG and then went to find the table that Dustin had saved for us. Of the 6 employees that came to the party {Rachelle's son had a basketball tournament so she wasn't able to come} only 4 of us were able to sit together. Next year, we'll have to come early enough to save 2 tables next to each other. Maria & her husband & Justin & his girlfriend Alex sat with friends in other branches.

My manager Angie & her husband Don Dee

My work BFF Lindsey & her husband Spencer

Dustin & his wife Janine. He's the branch manager and over loans

The stage all decked out

We had salads and then they brought out the food. I forgot to ask for a vegetarian plate, and I learned my lesson...

Red meat. And chicken on a bone. The 2 meats I HATE the most!!

But....

They brought me a vegetarian plate!! It was really yummy!

And then they brought us a really yummy angel food cake/cheesecake dessert. Delicious!!

Me & Jake

After dinner they recognized all the employees who had been there for 5, 10, 15 & 20 years. Lindsey & Dustin from our branch both hit their 5 year mark and got watches! I'm only 3 years away from getting my watch haha.

Then they showed a slide show of the last 100 years and all the things that have happened. The bank came out before a LOT of big things - it's kinda weird to think of the bank being that old! They passed out books talking about the banks history and had all the employees turn to page 100... where there was a crisp $100 bill! Awesome bonus & surprise after a wonderful dinner!

I am very grateful for my job. I don't think very many people love their job as much as I love mine!! Lucky me!!

Bookworm...

The day before my birthday, I finished the Harry Potter books. I flew threw the last 2 pretty quick - I think it was about a week. I'd read the first 5 a LOT of times so I didn't re read those. And then I was like "dang what am I going to read now?!" until my mom reminded me that I hadn't read "Reached" yet.

It's book 3 in the "Matched" trilogy. So I opened it and started to read it. Totally forgot everything I had read in the first 2 books - read those about 8 months ago. So I got my hands on the first one {Matched} and read it in about a week - that's the week Clint came home. And then I got the second book {Crossed} on the phone in the Nook app. Read that in about 3 days. Finished it on a Saturday afternoon, but the 3rd book was in my desk at work and the bank had already closed so I had to wait until Monday to read it. First world problem right? So I get to work Monday and started it. Was on page 354 when I went to bed. Finished it the next day at work at lunch. Which means I finished the series.

It's a pretty good series. 3rd book was kinda disappointing but I liked it. First one was my favorite. They are a young adult fiction - easy read, super clean & about the government controlling everything we do - in the future. {Cough cough}

But now I am outta books! Or so I thought! One of the girls I used to work with, Lisa {who is now a stay home mommy to her adorable twins} told me about the uglies books. Uh what? The first one is called "Uglies". Who calls a book that?! But I was intrigued and bought all 4 books on Half.com for under $12! I will always be an eBayer at heart, regardless of the fact that working there was absolute hell. Anyway, I got these books.

So I brought one to work yesterday {Tuesday} along with "Reached" in case I finished one book and needed another to read. I did end up finishing "Reached" so I started "Uglies". Came home from work, went to Costco, and then came home and read while Jake was finishing Young Mens before we went to Cafe El Lago for a dinner date. I was on page 154. So I read roughly 350 pages both Monday and Tuesday.

Get to work today, and I just HAD to keep that streak going. In order to read that many pages, I would have to finish "Uglies" today. So guess what? I finished it. 

I like these books!! And I am really glad I bought all 4 books and they are all sitting at my house so that I can read them back to back and not have to wait for shipping or for them to be released {gasp!!}.

I am seriously addicted to reading right now. So onto the rest of the "Uglies" series, and then I think I am going to read "The Hourglass Door{?}" series. And then I might read "The Work and The Glory" series. Yeah I have a lot of books ahead of me. But I am SO loving that I am reading again. I always really liked to read and the last few years, I started watching more TV and reading less. Now, I don't watch much TV but I read like a crazy person - obviously.

I'll keep you posted on how fast I get through the rest of the books in the "Uglies" series!

Birthday pedicures & a shopping trip

I am a girly girl. You know this. So when my mom asked if we she could take me to get pedicures for my birthday, I was ALL over that idea!! We set up the appointments for the Saturday after my birthday {February 2} and started out our date with a shopping trip to the new{er} Outlets in Lehi at Traverse Mountain!

My mom hadn't been there yet, so of course we had to go. I've been quite a few times - only bought a couple things and most of them were Christmas presents but I absolutely love going there. We went into Chico's first - my mom's favorite store. She found a whole outfit that was SUPER on sale - score!! And then, we went to Coach. Bad idea. I love Coach. Like a lot. And I have been in the market for a new purse. So yeah, I bought one. My first real coach purse. It was reguarly $350 ish, then 50% off of it and 30% off of THAT price. So super on sale - $120! I asked when I was paying for it what the return policy was, in case Jake was upset that I spent so much, and they said I could bring it back for life as long as I kept the receipt. So I bought it!

Mom & her Chico's bag!

My coach bag!! The purse is inside the bag haha. I didn't pay $120 for THIS bag :)

And then it was off to Brick House Retreat in Sandy for our pedicures. My mom LOVES that salon and goes there for everthing - hair, nails, massage, facials - all of it! It's a really nice salon - definitely feel VERY pampered while I am there!

Getting ready to soak my feet :)

My nail polish was almost entirely grown out - only a little bit left on my big toes. Good thing I was getting that remedied!!

Mom relaxing in her massage chair :)

My finished product! I got mint green. SO not like me - I always, always, always get pink. Absolutely LOVE the mint green though - I will be going to buy this color nail polish so that I can do my nails this color in the future!!

It was really fun and relaxing to spend some time together, especially doing such girly things. My mom is one of my FAVORITE shopping buddies!

After we left the salon, I took her home and went to Jake's parents house to go see Jake, since that's where he was hanging out at. I felt really bad about how much I spent on my purse and switched all of my stuff out of my new Coach purse and into one of my old bags so that I could take it back. Jake said it was fine though - I could keep the bag. So then I put all my stuff back in the Coach bag haha. But after about a week, I realized that I just didn't love this Coach bag enough to justify how much I spent on it. If I spent that much on a bag, it had better be the greatest bag known to man kind. The most I had ever spent on a bag before was $70 and that bag is the BEST bag ever. It's currently my Sunday bag because it can hold all my Relief Society binders and still look super cute. And I wanted to LOVE my new bag, not just kinda like it. So this past Friday, while I was on a 2 hour lunch break {trying to avoid overtime} I braved the snow storm we were having and went to find a new bag.

The Coach bag

And I found one, at Bella Ella Boutique in American Fork on State Street. I walked in and it was one of the first bags I saw. They had it in flat black & purple. I carried the black one around the store while I looked at the clothes and to see if any other purse jumped out at me, and to see if they had that purse in other colors. And then, I parked in front of a body mirror and checked out the black and purple purse. I was really leaning towards black - matches everything. But I have SO many "neutral" purses, time for a new one. Time for something that is different. I got mint toes for goodness sakes. I'm going all out, pushing boundaries. So I got the purple bag.

Kind of an awkward picture... It has 2 straps on it, and a BILLION pockets. Seriously, there are empty pockets because I don't know what to put in them all. SO many pockets!! And I love the color. And it can hold SO much stuff! Awesome bag!!! And it was LOTS cheaper than the Coach bag!!

After I jumped back in my car - it was snowing really hard!!

I braved the snow a little longer and went to the Coach store and returned my old purse. They were just as good about returning it as they said they would be, so maybe someday I'll buy a purse from them. Probably not, but maybe. I've been "McClellanized" - I just couldn't stop thinking about how much money I had spent on something that wasn't needed, and that I didn't love. And now I love my new one! So I left for lunch with one bag and came back with another bag. Pretty productive lunch break right? And I "made" $80 bucks for taking the one back and buying the new one!! Feeling pretty good about that :)

In a rut

I bet you've noticed I am blogging a lot more. Goal is to do 17 posts a month - that'll get me at my goal of 200 by the end of 2013. So I have been blogging about everything we do, everything I read, blah blah. I stopped blogging about my weight loss because it wasn't as exciting each month - only losing a few pounds a month didn't seem like anything to blog about. Until it hit me - my weight loss slowed down once I stopped blogging about it. I don't think thats a coincidence. When I know that I don't need to "report" my month on my blog, I have been SERIOUSLY chillin' on my results. Lots of cheating, on the weekends mostly. Lots of days of sleeping in. Lots of eating more calories than I know I should during the week. Equals not lots of weight loss. So guess what - time to start talking about it on the blog again.

I started a DoTerra cleanse - talked about that last week. It cleans out everything in your body - toxins, gunk - stuff you do not want in there. I was so excited to do this cleanse to give me that extra push to get the last few pounds off. As of last Monday, I was at 163.8 pounds. That's 3.8 from original goal, and 18.8 from the adjusted goal. And then I ate SUPER bad between my birthday, Clint coming home, Super Bowl and spending so much time away from my kitchen and my routine. I went 4 days in a row without a workout. I didn't know I could even do that haha. Apparently it's not as imbedded in my routine as I thought. And I got on the scale this past Monday and weight 174.0. Yep, I gained 10 pounds in a week. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! I sucked drinking my water, so I figured it would go down after a day or two. On Tuesday, same thing. In fact I think it said 174.2. Oh good. So it ISN'T just going to fall off. Great. I busted my butt for months and in a week gained 10 of it back. Talk about guilt tripping myself. I have been SO hard on myself this week, and I hadn't really realized that until this morning after I finished my workout.

I did Fire 55 today - one of my favorite Turbo Fire workouts. It's 55 minutes of SUPER intense cardio. It is SO hard. I love it though. The music rocks. The stuff she says to motivate you is awesome. I love the choreography. I just feel like I can't breathe when I'm done. And today was no exception - it was just as intense as ever. I'm doing my cool down stretch, sweat dripping off my face, and I realize that in my mind I am saying some pretty negative stuff to myself - that I didn't go hard enough, that I didn't burn enough. That I need to do another workout tonight. Wow wow wow. I NEVER talk to myself like that - it's always super cocky conceited things I say in my head "you did AWESOME you sexy beast! Way to go Ash - you seriously rocked it out!" and then today "I totally suck". Time to write down some goals, time to stop beating myself up. Time to get back to how I was before Thanksgiving.

Since Thanksgiving, I lost 1 pound. Because I would lose, gain, lose, gain, lose, gain. You get the idea. I wanted to lose over Thanksgiving. Didn't. Wanted to lose over Christmas. Didn't. Wanted to lose over my birthday. Gained. I'm frustrated with myself. I was SO close to my goal and I've taken a few steps in the wrong direction. I'm not 300 pounds - I caught myself before it got to that point. But I have definitely been screwing up lately and it's time to go back to "lose" mode.

I ate a lot more calories each day in January than normal - I was eating around 1800. Used to eat around 1400. Because I figured I could eat more and still lose, just at a slower rate. Well yeah that's kinda true, except I didn't stick to calories on weekends, skipped workouts so it makes sense that I was at the exact same weight at the end of the month. And I think I binged two or three times in there. Yeah makes me feel better knowing my body isn't broken - I know EXACTLY what I did wrong last month to not see the scale move.

So this month, the scale is moving. This morning, it was at 170. I think the next 7 pounds {to get me back to where I was last Monday} will come off faster than normal - it won't take 3.5 weeks to lose it {since 2 pounds a week is safe}. So by the end of February, I want to be at 160. On the dot. Goal now is 150. Yeah 145 would be nice. I know people who started at the same weight as me and ended up in the 130's. Awesome for them. That isn't my goal. 150 is goal. And then tone tone tone tone tone. I'm still doing ChaLean Extreme, so I am already working on the toning but I want to lose a little bit more weight too. Once I'm at goal, I will be strength training more often but right now I am keeping with my cardio/strength training schedule I created.

Calories - I'm going back to no more than 1500 a day. Preferrably around 1400, but it depends on how intense my workout was that day. I am LOVING my heart rate monitor - I have been burning a minimum of 450 calories a workout - usually its around 550 or 600. Plan is no less than 450. If I haven't burned that many by the end of a workout, then I gotta keep going or I will have to workout when I get home and I HATE that, so it means I REALLY have to push myself during my hour workouts in the morning.

I am really cracking down on my eating - really following the "Eat Clean" diet from Tosca Reno. It works man. If you haven't read that book, read it. Now. Amazon, Half.com, Wal Mart - I don't care where you get it but read it. My body feels SO different today {Thursday} than it did on Monday {when I was recovering my eating hangover of last week}. Eating HEALTHY, clean, natural foods helps. And yeah, I eat a TON of food when you look at it all laid out because healthy clean foods are usually pretty low calorie. So I get to eat a LOT of food and still stay at my goal calorie number.

Ice Cream is getting "banished" to the weekends. I bought some low fat creamies & skinny cow ice cream sandwiches at the grocery store last week and had been eating at least one a day, if not more. Not anymore. One of Fridays, one on Saturdays. If I work out that day. So if I skip Saturdays workout, I skip my ice cream sandwich. And they are only 140 calories for the sandwiches, 105 for the creamies, so it won't undo my work I have been doing all week. Before, I would go to JCW's or Arctic Circle for ice cream on the weekends. Yeah don't worry, that's only like 1000 calories. And that's assuming I don't get any food.

It feels really good to realize why the scale isn't moving - why my clothes aren't getting bigger. I am not doing anything to lose, I have been doing enough to maintain. Until last week, then I did enough to gain. Gah. But I learn from my mistakes - mistakes are proof you are trying. And I am trying. And from here on out, I am going to lose again.

I bought a pair of Lucky jeans a week ago at Costco. For $30. I LOVE Lucky jeans - always have. I had a pair in high school that I liked, but there was this pair - the "wonders" that I REALLY wanted and my mom told me if I got to goal size {29 or a size 8} she would buy them for me. Well, it never happened. I had a pair of 30's I got online and they fit - barely. But they didn't fit. They buttoned. Barely. I wore a hoodie over them to hide my muffin top. And that was ok in my mind, then. Not anymore. I want my jeans to fit, and look good, while I'm getting dressed and I don't have a shirt on to cover my muffin top. I want my clothes to FIT. And those 10's fit pretty well right now - by the end of February, they are going to fit AWESOME. By the end of March, they are going to be lose. And by the end of April - April 30, they are going to be too big and I am GOING to be wearing size 29 Lucky jeans. And I am GOING to weigh 150 pounds. I'll do a post every Friday about how the week went. Because doing it once a month was too long - I would forget. And doing it on Friday will help me stay focused for the weekend. Since it's Thursday today, I won't post tomorrow but next Friday - be prepared for pictures and updates and for that number on the scale to have DROPPED!

Quarter of a century

Last Wednesday, I turned a quarter of a century old. That was way bad English but you know what I am trying to say. I'm 25! I was born at 2:22 AM, so when I woke up I was officially already 25 years old. Started my day with a workout, since I ate SO bad the night before at Golden Corral with my dad. I ran on the elliptical and did Push Circuit 2 {weight lifting}. I had to get a picture of my pony tail though - it looks like a mustache!!

Yep, I worked out on my birthday.

After my workout, I made me some breakfast and got my 4 legged son out to give me birthday kisses. He wasn't happy about having to go potty in all the snow - it DUMPED during the night, which made my drive from my dad's house the night before SUPER fun. Not. First time I have actually missed the Jeep. The Mazda is an awesome car, but not so awesome in the snow.

I love when the backyard snow is perfect with no footsteps in it :)

My breakfast I made for myself - scrambled egg whites with reduced fat sharp cheddar cheese & salsa on a low calorie high fiber tortilla with guacamole on it. YUMMMMMY!!!!

Jake came home and talked with me while I got ready for work and then I started the trek to work. Ok the snow wasn't that bad, but it was worse than I ever remember it being on my birthday. Except when I was 8. There was TONS of snow that year - that was the day I got baptized and it was SO bad. Anyway, it's been a long time since I had this much snow on my birthday.

My awesome desk all decorated!! Thanks Saratoga {cough cough Lindsey}

It was a nice slow day at the bank - I got to just enjoy it being my birthday and not be rushed. Because I finished Harry Potter the day before, I didn't have anything to read so we all just talked :)

I took my mom to lunch at Won Won Wok - delicious and super fun!

Me & my mom after lunch at Won Won Wok

I got a Facebook account again that day so that I could feel the love from my Facebook peeps. Facebook birthdays rock. And yes, I have spent too much time on Facebook already. Not as bad as before, but more than I would like to be spending. Hence why the blog has been slightly neglected the past week. But I'm back!

One of my favorite Facebook messages - love my in laws!!!

After work, I raced over to Popper's school for her orchestra concert. I missed her last concert because I got there late, so that was NOT going to happen again. I made it with a few minutes to spare. She did awesome!

She's in the back with the long hair. Go Popper!!

Jake couldn't find us in the huge school but found us right after she was done. That school {Westlake} is seriously gigantic! Glad I didn't go to school somewhere that big - high school was hard enough already!

The 3 of us :)

Popper had a few of her guys friends playing in the snow and one of them threw a snowball at her. Well Jake, being the big brother he is, had to one up them, so he picked her up and dropped her in a snow bank...

She was thrilled - can you tell? She was SO wet from the snow - it got down her coat and everything. Made me grateful all over again that I don't have older brothers, even though I always wanted one while I was growing up.

Then we headed off towards Tucano's! I got a free meal there, so of course we had to use it before January was over. We got on Pioneer Crossing and started towards Provo. That is, until the car died.

Jake was driving, so I didn't realize what was wrong with the car - just that it was slowing down. It kinda felt like when the anti lock brakes came on, so I just figured we were in ice. Until Jake freaked out that we were running out of gas. Oh yeah, hey Jake we need to get gas before we go to Provo...

See - it was on my To Do List - we needed gas!!

So yeah, we ran out of gas on the side of the road. Went to call Jake's parents and my phone died. It is a REALLY good thing Jake was with me or I would have been so in trouble! I don't have a phone charger for my iPhone 5.... Must remedy that. So Jake called his parents and after laughing at us they said they'd be right over. About 10 minutes later, they realized they were looking for us on 2100 North, not Pioneer Crossing so they started towards us... Until Danny's {my father in law} truck died. It ran out of anti-freeze. It has an awesome hole in it. So yeah, now they {him & Dustin, Jake's brother} were stranded too. So Mom & Grandma came to rescue Danny, and Dustin got in his Tahoe and came to rescue us.

I was laughing so hard. Seriously, what an awesome stream of events in one night. I had a coat, Jake had a coat, we weren't hungry, we had a blanket - so we were safe and warm. Just wanted to get our car working again. Jake was worried the battery might die since we were listening to Pandora but I knew it'd be ok.

Where we were stranded...

My "oops" face haha

So Dustin gets there and they put gas in the car and we're all laughing. Dustin goes to turn the car over. Dead battery. Jake was right. And I was wrong. That shouldn't surprise me - Jake is always right. So we go to get the cables out of the trunk. Except they aren't in the Mazda - they're in the truck. So now I am starting to think this isn't so funny. Dustin had cables though - thank heavens. So they jumped the car...

And it started! Dustin followed behind us to the gas station in Lehi by McDonalds to make sure we made it. Isn't he awesome?! Seriously - so nice of him to leave the nice warm house and come rescue us. I was super embarassed. Can't believe I forgot to get gas!

0 miles until empty...

Way past the red mark... Whoops

So we get gas and then we went to Tucano's. I was thinking we would be the last ones there, but they were open until 10 and we got there at 9:15 so there was still lots of people there. Food was awesome, as usual. I pretty much just ate the pineapple and the salad bar. I found out that you can get the salad bar and for $1 get unlimited pineapple and vegetables, for those of us who don't want the meat. I might have to do that next time!! Jake had me try a chicken heart. Oh sick. I could TOTALLY go vegetarian after that. I ate something's heart. SICK!!!

After Tucano's

We got a piece of cheesecake to go and went home. Jake shoveled the driveway while I ate my cheesecake and played with Max. And then we watched TV on the couch together. It was an amazing birthday, and an eventful day. I'm officially a quarter of a century old. I don't feel old. In fact, I feel younger than ever. Wish people would start thinking I looked 25 though... People always think I am older than I am. It was awesome when I was younger, ready for that to go away. But oh well. I don't feel old and that's what counts!

P.S. We went a pretty good amount of time on the side of the road before anyone pulled over. Kinda surprised me - I thought that being in Utah, more people would stop and see if we needed help. We even got passed by a few sheriffs and they didn't stop. But we did have 2 people stop - a guy in a Toyota Corolla & a guy in Dodge Ram. The guy in the Corolla was going the opposite way on Pioneer Crossing, saw us, turned around and we said we were ok, so he drove to the next light and turned around to keep going the direction he was originally headed. Thought that was AWESOME - what a good Samaritan!

A new tradition

So a few months ago, I got this idea. I tell everyone I saw it on Pinterest, but I can't remember if I really saw it on Pinterest or if I made it up and was too embarassed to say that so I told people it was on Pinterest... Either way - got this idea that for my birthday, I should get my parents a gift or I should take my parents out to eat, instead of them taking me out. Without them, I wouldn't have a birthday. Why am I getting celebrated when all I did was stay alive through labor? They got me here on earth and kept me alive {sometimes I am truly amazed - that is a SERIOUS accomplishment since I can be quite a pain in the you-know-what, especially through my teenage years}. So my mom & I decided I would take her to lunch on my birthday and I took my dad to dinner the night before my birthday.

I had wanted to go the "gift" route and give them something... I wanted to be pregnant for my birthday and give them the gift of grandparenthood. What an awesome way to announce it right?? Yep grandparenthood isthat's a word. But nope - not pregnant. So had to settle for taking them out for food :)

My dad has been SUPER sick - he had a double ear infection and strep.  Then he got pneumonia with a little bit of ear infection left and the beginnings of bronchitis. Awesome right?? That's how our dinner date came to be - he needed a ride to get his newest prescription and I decided to take him out to eat afterwards. Jake was at Young Mens, so it worked out perfectly to be a daddy daughter date :)

While we were standing in line at Smith's I saw this - hilarious!!! It's the band "One Direction" advertising for MaxFresh tooth products - because they make you beautiful. Name of their song right now is "That's what makes you beautiful". Hilarious. Probably not as funny now that I explained it. But I thought it was awesome!

Got my dad some essentials to help him get feeling better - crackers, OJ, Kleenex, wheat bread & toilet paper :)

Then we went to Golden Corral - his favorite restaurant

Ok I was doing AWESOME at eating healthy that day. I got a huge salad first, and I probably would have been ok calorie wise if I had stopped there. But nope I didn't. I was looking at my plate after round two and it was ALL carbs. No protein or fiber at all. And then topped it off with like 6 pieces of fudge. Epic diet fail there. EPIC.  I resolved to do better the next day - not so much. Last week was bad for my eating. BAD. Thank heavens it's over and I am back on track. My body was HATING me by Friday.

Anyway, back to my date with my dad.

After we were done at Golden Corral I drove him back to his house and helped him carry his stuff up the apartment. Once we got up there, he was coughing so hard he couldn't breathe. Kinda scary. I hope he gets feeling better soon!!

Love my dad :)

On my birthday, my mom & I went to lunch at Won Won Wok. It's a little Chinese & Japanese Restaurant here in Saratoga Springs. We got the exact same thing - teriyaki salmon with California sushi rolls & egg drop soup. Didn't eat my salad because it was doing the backstroke in Ranch dressing. Seriously, it was drowning in dressing. But the food was delicious!!  

My gorgeous mom eating her lunch!

I love this tradition and can't wait to do it again, both for my parents and for Jake's parents. I want to do a card or a letter next time too - something that says how much I appreciate all they have done for me in my life and for helping me have a birthday. Especially my mom. She went through a really long labor and I was a SERIOUS pain to get into this world. Yay for starting an awesome new tradition!