Birthday Day

Last Thursday Jared woke me at 6 am as he was leaving to give me my first birthday present. Since I was incoherent, I didn't say much. But when I woke up, I saw that it was a spa gift certificate to Mainspring, which is under the Good Earth in 0rem. It sounds great- a 3 hour deal where you have a sauna, massage, facial, etc. He knows I love any spa treatment, anytime. Thank you Jared! In this photo are also cards from Austin (printed it off the internet) and Olivia. So cute.





Later, I went out to meet my friends Kaylyn and Stacy for lunch, and was so disappointed when the snow and wind started blowing. Nevertheless, we had a great lunch at Thai House in Lehi. We had some great Som Tam, Sticky Rice, Pumpkin Curry, and Phad Thai. They both gave me nice presents and cards. It was really fun. The whole time we were there, I was trying to figure out why our server looked familiar to me. I figured it was just a Thai thing- that he looked like lots of other Thai men I had seen before- so I didn't say anything. We went to pay our bill and I had to ask him, "You look really familiar, do I know you?" I hate asking that question, but... What surprised me was his response. He said, "Did you serve a mission in Thailand?" I said "yes" He said, "Are you Sister Maher?" Ha. Can you believe that? I thought to myself, "Why didn't you say anything all this time if you recognized me?" Oh well, I guess he was shy. It turns out his name is Nung (like the number 1) and he is from Si Sa Kaet. Lindy, Jamie, do you guys know him?

After lunch I didn't really know what to do with myself. I didn't plan well at all. I think I was in a weird mood. Mom told me to go out for the day but I just didn't know what I felt like doing. I should have gone to the day spa that Jared gave me the gift certificate to, but I didn't bring it with me. I guess I assumed that it was too short of notice but I should have tried. I finally decided to drive up to N*rdstrom Rack since I never get to go there and I had no kids with me! Hooray. I ended up going to Target at Ft Union, quickly popped into World Market, then went to the Rack. I was very disappointed and didn't find anything, despite my digging and sorting (not a big fan of that kind of shopping). By the time I left, I was driving though the wind and snow, all I wanted to do was go home and have a night with my family. Jared had planned to take me out to dinner, which I would normally JUMP at the chance to do, but tonight I just wanted us all together.



I picked up a few ingredients on the way home. We all made little homemade pizzas and calzones. I love putting my own stuff in there- spinach, pesto, artichokes, ricotta, etc. We made some at Kaylyn's house a month or so ago, and they were great. It sounded good.





The kids enjoyed choosing their own things, spreading on the sauce, cheese, etc. Ashley really got into it. She doesn't miss a thing- if they spread their own sauce, she was going to do it too. She was so cute trying to fold the dough into a calzone. I just love this photo of the 3 of them.



I made one of my favorite cakes. It's a high maintenance cake. The opposite of a Betty Crocker box cake. It's a Jamie Oliver recipe I saw in a magazine. I love it. It sort of resembles carrot cake. It has honey, orange zest, almond meal, walnuts, cinnamon, egg whites, etc. The frosting is mascarpone cheese (one of my fav things in this world), lime zest, chopped pistachios on top. (I used walnuts here) It was a little too wet- our oven isn't very consistent- but still good.



We let Olivia choose the "family movie," as the kids call it, that night. She chose Shark Boy Lava Girl. Ok, not my favorite. Not even close, but it was her birthday the following day, so she got to choose. We had a nice night. I felt very lucky to have such a beautiful family to celebrate with. Jared, Austin, Olivia, and Ashley, I love you all!