my birthday

This birthday felt like the longest one ever.
The day before (6th) one of doug's cousins from Iowa came to town, Theresa, with her husband Lester. We took them to the wild horse for a small taste of Nashville, They loved it!
We took a small tour of 2nd avenue, and I think they wanna come back for a longer visit!


Her sister Julie arrived at 3am with the car they had purchased on ebay, with her husband Matthew.
Andrew pretending it's his car, Matthew (julie's matthew) hugging him.
So the next morning (my bd) we had a small family reunion. Only my oldest 3 had ever met this branch of the family and that was 18 years ago! Ashley cooked breakfast for us all! Julie gave me a card that played "she's a brick house". So I started the day feeling not so old and fat!
After Church we went out to eat at a local Chinese buffet. Both my brother-in-laws, (Jason) even went with us. Neither enjoyed it or really wanted to be there. After all the Titans were kicking off. But I am grateful for the effort.


When we got back home my dad and brother Joe were here. Renee had made me a surprise gift, a chair she had custom painted and recovered the seat. It is really beautiful. My mom had baked a gooey butter cake, a family favorite. I'd requested Jason A's mom bake me a carrot cake, so even with a broken knee she had done that for me. So we had cake and ice cream.

Later that night our good friends and adopted family, the armstrongs, came over to teach us the art of fondue. Stephanie had bought me a fondue pot 2 years ago for christmas that has never been used. So we had steak, chicken, shrimp, cheese with bread and apples n veggies, white and dark chocolate with lots of fruit.
We didn't get pictures during their visit, Jeff, Celia, Austin and Caroline, thanks for coming! Amber also invited her "boy toy", Adam. Yes she calls him that in his presence. You all would really have liked it if I had a picture of him! He's kinda cute. I hope he doesn't read this..Amber knows he's cute, she referred to him in the beginning as "that hot guy". Best part, he helped clean up! Took out trash, wiped off the table, cleared off the table. I didn't know guys still did that without being beaten and nagged!
Anyway, it was a great day in many ways. The absence of Evette was felt greatly. She made each birthday in this large family special by making us talk about the birthday person and any memories we had about that person. We didn't do it this year.
To explain a picture or two, I asked, and Amber reluctantly gave me a foot massage! It was great.
Andrew is so funny, this is his, what do you want Stephanie? face. They were admiring the Mercedes Theresa bought on ebay.

This is Matthew's face when he thinks Andrew is really going to drive! (He's 13.)This is blake, wearing Brette's dress. The other girls were trying on prom dresses and he had to dress up as well. My chair from Renee is in the background.