My Birthday!!

Today marks 41 years since my birth. I am starting to feel old as I watch my kids grow. I can't believe Jared is 18 years old. I remember when I was 18. It was just a little while ago. I remember it like it was yesterday. It was a fun time of my life. There's so much that has happened since then, including getting married, going to school and graduating from BYU, being pregnant and giving birth to 5 children, getting through each of their 1st years (those were some hard years), moving into our home, and now having them all in full-time school and working. I'm feeling so much happier and content now but am struggling to adjust to the changes. I guess life is no more busy than it has always been, just different.

Everyone has been great today. I was able to sleep in a bit this morning and Eric made french toast for breakfast along with the traditional candle in each. Since we had such a busy week, our house was a mess. We had a huge mountain of clothes that needed folding in our room and another huge mountain waiting to be cleaned along with stuff strewn everywhere, dishes that needed to be done, dirty floors, etc. Usually our tradition is that the birthday person gets a day off. Well, that was not a very good expectation since my greatest wish is a clean house. So, I told everyone this morning that I would really like to have peace today and everyone's help getting things cleaned up. We worked hard this morning. I folded all the laundry and helped pick up while the rest of them did their parts. The house looks so much better. Now Eric and the kids are outside doing yard clean-up (mowing for the last time, cleaning out the garden, etc.) while I continue to keep the laundry going and resting in-between. I'm a happy camper.

We haven't done any gifts or the like yet. I'll have to report on that later, I guess.