Category: birthdays

Birthday Weekend

So I know that I just posted about watching what I eat…but tonight N and I are eating dinner here.  I can’t wait!  In my defense, it’s to celebrate my birthday.  🙂

The funny thing about this birthday is that I get an extra year of being 32.  You see, somehow I got mixed up and for the last year I’ve been telling people that I’m 32 when I was actually 31.  (I know–I sound like a complete moron.)  But I think I can trace my confusion back to spending my 30th birthday in an airplane flying over the international dateline to Korea.  The anomaly apparently threw off all subsequent birthdays.

Anyway, so this weekend we’re going to fit in a little celebration with the kids in between watching sessions of my church’s worldwide conference on tv.  There are two sessions on Saturday and two on Sunday.  I like listening to the messages from our leaders and prophet and it’s also a relaxing break from our normal weekend hustle.  The little nap I usually manage to take is also very relaxing (shhh!)  🙂

When I was growing up we had to get dressed in our Sunday clothes and go to our chapel to watch conference via satellite broadcast.  But now thanks to technology and living in the heart of Mormondom, we get to stay at home and watch in our pajamas.  Hooray for progress!

MeeMaw’s Birthday

My mom is in town to attend BYU’s Women’s Conference with some of her friends. Earlier this week was her birthday so my sister Jan, who is an AMAZING cook, whipped up some tasty Korean food and I picked up a Costco cake (I have ambitions but am sadly basically useless in the Korean kitchen).

Singing “happy birthday” and blowing out candles proved to be so much fun that the grandkids wanted to have turns at it too.

Multiple times 🙂

E Turns Three!

E’s third birthday was over the weekend. E is nuts for balloons so I surprised him with a bunch and then that evening we had a pretty low-key celebration: the three of us went out for dinner and then back to the house for cupcakes and presents.

It’s hard to believe that it’s already been three years since E was born. Maybe it was just the pregnancy hormones but I was surprised by how sentimental I felt about this birthday. E’s just such a great little guy. We feel so grateful to have him in our family.

Birthday Dinner

We’re having a great time here in Pusan but sadly I haven’t figured out a way to download pictures from my camera yet.

But before we left I uploaded some pictures of the birthday dinner N treated me to while we were in Vegas. It was the first time I’d been to a schmancy French restaurant and it was delicious.

Mussel soup

Basil langoustine fritter

Roast Chicken Thai-curry style

The most adorable selection of tarts EVER

I’d like to think that the hours I’ve invested watching Top Chef adequately prepared me to fully appreciate the food which was delicious. I don’t think I embarrassed myself but then again I did keep whipping out my camera to take photos of the food which is pretty tacky. (I told myself that since it was Vegas no one cared–they’ve probably seen a lot worst.) I just wanted to document the occasion because it was such a rare treat.

Hopefully I’ll located a memory card reader and have some pictures to share sometime soon!

One Year Older?

We made it! After an epic journey consisting of two international flights (Salt Lake to Tokyo and then Tokyo to Pusan) we arrived in Korea. For the most part E did pretty well. There were a few hours in the middle of the SLC to Tokyo flight where he kind of lost it because he was exhausted but couldn’t fall asleep. But for the most part he held it together remarkably well. And then he slept from Tokyo to Pusan.

The funny thing about our flight over here is that my 30th birthday kind of got swallowed up by the international dateline. We left the U.S. on the morning of my birthday but it was late at night the next day when we arrived in Korea. So…maybe I’m still technically 29? (Just kidding…I actually have no problem with being 30.) I feel remarkably blessed in my life and I’m looking forward to my thirties.

We crammed in a quick birthday celebration before we left. I made a dairy-free chocolate pie which went over well (E couldn’t wait until we got back from Vegas so he had a few slices early).


This is one of the richest dairy-free desserts I’ve had (Thanks to my friend Jenn for recommending it) and I definitely think it’s worth trying if you have dairy-limitations. The idea of using tofu can be kind of off-putting but I added some orange extract and it tasted like a chocolate orange–yum!

Happy Birthday, N!

N recently had a birthday and so E and I made him some egg-free, dairy-free chocolate cupcakes. After feeling rather down about E’s food allergies last week it made me happy to watch E lick the batter bowl clean like a normal kid. (E was also a big fan of said bowl-licking.) And the cupcakes were really quite good.

(I know I know–he’s getting a haircut later this week.)

Happy birthday, N! You are the best.