Ruby's Blessing and Krystal's Birthday Weekend Extravaganza!

My birthday was on a Sunday this year, which means we celebrated all weekend instead of just one day. (Who am I kidding? I always celebrate for the entire month of February, haha!) Anyways, Friday night Aaron took me to Texas Roadhouse (my favorite restaurant) for some much needed steak and shrimp.

After dinner we went and walked around Barnes and Noble Bookstore. (Aaron must have been feeling brave, he knows how I am in bookstores.)

Saturday morning I got to go thrift shopping for the first time, with several of my amazing homeschool mom friends. We are pretty much Dressing Your Truth groupies, haha!, and so we were on a mission to find inexpensive clothes that fit our Types. There were two Type 1s, two Type 2s, and two Type 3s in our group. (All our Type 4 friends prefer to shop alone, true to their Type!) It was so fun! We went up to American Fork to check out Tags and DI. I was so impressed. I found some awesome finds. My favorite though, was an army green courderoy bomber's jacket, with brass zippers, and fur collar. It's awesome! Abercrombe and Fitch brand and it was only $9. I also found some great sweaters, some hoodies, another jacket, a pair of pointy toed shoes with buckles, and a sweet sweater vest with a fur-lined hood. Sweet!

Sunday morning we blessed our sweet little Ruby Aveline Swan. Lots of family members from both sides came. Aaron did a good job on the blessing. The things that stood out to me were: That she would be blessed with a keen mind. And that she was named after 4 generations of strong women who she could look to as examples in her life.

Ruby's great-great-Grandma Roberts crocheted her blessing dress.

Our family selfie on Rue's blessing day.

 Church was kind of like the Swan Family Show, haha. We blessed Rue, and then Aaron had to speak in sacrament meeting, and I taught the lesson in Relief Society. There was a lot going on and a lot to get ready for. I felt like my lesson got off to kind of a rocky start, but that it ended well, and that the comments from women in the class enriched it and made it meaningful.

After church it was time to party like I was turning 29! Everyone came back to the house for birthday dinner, presents, and cake and ice cream. (The yellow sweater is one of my thrift finds.)

We had ham and salad and rolls, with a delicious made from scratch German Chocolate cake and ice cream for dessert. Look, I'm 281! Or....we didn't have a #9 candle, one of the two. :) I love my husband's problem solving skills. Haha!

Aaron totally surprised me in the present department by getting me a Blendtech. Totally didn't see that one coming! I've been wanting one for ages, but didn't think it was even in the realm of possibility. I'm so excited to start blending things.

I was so grateful for all the family members who came down to celebrate this double special day with us. I love my family, and I don't get to see them nearly as much as I want to. We kind of forced them all into coming to my birthday party by combining it with Ruby's blessing, but hey, I'll take it.