Someone is having a birthday...

Today is Jesse's (my soon-to-be-husband) 29th birthday!

Thank you for loving me and being my best friend. I'm so excited to marry you and have you be mine for eternity.
Happy Birthday, love!

Birthday Weekend: Part 2

For the second part of the birthday weekend I'm going to sum it up in pictures...

Raven Run where we went to hike on Saturday the 10th...view of the Kentucky River.
Taking a picture of Jesse taking a picture.
Winnie the Pooh ice cream birthday cake from DQ.

Beautiful flowers from Jesse
The delicious cake Brenna made me. Yum!
The present from Jesse! (Don't mind the messy background).
Brenna and Jesse lighting the blazing inferno...
I got them all out in one blow. :)
Cutting the cakes."Natasha,

I love you
more than
Pooh loves Honey

and
more than
Tigger loves
Bouncing.

So when your feeling gloomy like Eyeore, worried
like Piglet or lost in a hundred acre wood. Remember someone loves you
I DO"
Thank you for all the birthday wishes! It was a good weekend. As my mom always says, I have a knack for spreading my birthday celebration out over a few days...in this case, a whole weekend!

Birthday weekend: Part 1

Wow, what a weekend! I have so much to say and not enough words to express it all...this weekend has been wonderful, sad, reflective, and bittersweet all at the same time.

Friday the 9th-my birthday:
As Friday evening rolled around we were undecided whether to celebrate my birthday out or go for a night hike in Berea as planned (which was the Friday night activity). We decided to go on the hike, and as Jesse came to pick us up, his arms were full of a bouquet of flowers and an ice cream cake from DQ! What a wonderful present!

When we arrived at the Pinnacles, there was an ampitheater which we went to look at...a guy in the group told me to go down the steps to look at it better. When I turned around the group started singing "Happy Birthday" to me. Sneaky Jesse, who told me he didn't say anything about my birthday! It was a nice surprise.

The hike, about 2-3 miles, was a little steep (and muddy) at times, but once we got to the top the view of the city was beautiful and peaceful! Jesse and I had a little bit of time to sit and reflect and it was wonderful. I'm so glad we all went. Once we got back it was about 11:30 and we all decided to save cake for Saturday since we were tired.

Saturday:
Jesse and I decided to head out to the Arboretum (even though it was officially closed due to the football game, he got in because he's the horticulturist there!) to look at the bird house exhibit... we painted a birdhouse together and Jesse wood burned one so we entered them both (it's a fundraiser for them). I have pictures, but I can't find my camera cord! Arrrr. Jesse told me as we were leaving that he hopefully would have my birthday present finished by the evening. I told him I thought the flowers and ice cream cake was my present!


As Jesse was under a tree retrieving a heart nut to show me, he must have bothered a wasp nest since he got stung twice- once each on two of his fingers. As he came back out he told me to hurry away from the tree since a few of them started chasing us. Hurting Jesse- the nerve of that wasp!

After the Arboretum we headed out to Raven Run for a 4 mile hike.
As we were driving there, I mentioned to Jesse that I sometimes miss being a kid and doing kid things like running around sprinklers, bike rides, and playing outside with no cares in the world.

When we got to Raven Run the weather was perfect and it was lovely spending time in nature with Jesse. It took us about 3 hours to go four miles which is pretty slow considering some people run a 15 minute mile... but, in our defense we stopped to play in the streams, look at plants and trees, take photographs, play Three Billy Goats Gruff on some bridges we found ("who's walking on my bridge?"), and pick up buckeyes (which I eventually had to put back. Sad). Jesse took some wonderful nature photographs and also one of me as I was playing in a stream. It was fun how the hike made me feel like a kid again.

After the hike we went to Olive Garden for a birthday dinner. When I got home Brenna, my sister, had presents waiting for me. Such lovely birthday gifts- a pair of fuzzy socks, Twix bars, little notepads, and two wall phrases to hang up in our new apartment once Jesse and I are married.

Later that evening after resting for a little bit, Jesse came back over for ice cream cake and chocolate cake which Brenna made. As he was walking up the steps he was carrying something in his arms....

Post 2 coming soon...hopefully with pictures.

Two in One

Happy Birthday to my dear sweet sister!

(Photo shamelessly taken off my mom's blog)

And......

Happy Father's day to my dad!

Birthday wish!

(My mom as a child with a doctor's kit)

Today is my mom's birthday.

She is a wonderful mom.
I know, I know what you're thinking...
that is what daughters are supposed to say.

But it's true.
She really is the best mom in the world.

Because she's mine!

Happy Birthday, Mama! I love you!

P.S. You can go here and wish her a happy birthday comment on her blog if you want. But, shh, don't tell her I sent you. It'll be our little secret. :)

Birth-Day

I was born on this day, a few years ago at about 2:30am.

As I think back on my life up to this point, I'm grateful for the sacrifice of the woman who gave birth to me- my mom. I'm thankful that she endured on my behalf in order to bring me into the world.

Dear Mama,

Thanks to you I have the opportunity:

To learn and grow.
To love others and be loved in return.
To breath in the freshness of each new day.
To eat (and we all know how much I love doing that!)
To feel gratitude for the gospel in my life.
And so many other blessings that would not even be possible if I weren't alive...

And so, on this day of my birth, I wish to thank you for the special gift of life that you've given me. I appreciate it more than I think you will ever know.

Thank you for giving birth to me and Happy birth-day to you!

Love,
Natasha

P.S. to my readers: If you would like, you can check out my mom's blog here!

Happy Birthday!

It seemed like just yesterday that my sister was small, but the years have flown by and now she is a young woman.

Today is her birthday!

I love you, my dear sweet sister and I hope you have a wonderfully happy birthday!

In this photo, my cousin is sitting on the left and my sister, who is about five, is the little one on the right. I love my sister's expression and how she is "playing" for the camera. She always had such a sense of humor when it came to cameras. Also, it was always a special treat to have our cousin visit since we lived several hours from where she lived. If I recall correctly, during this visit she was visiting with a friend from college.

I also love the memories that come flooding back as I look at this photo of the house I grew up in.

The house was wonderful although, looking back, it was small. It had a big L-shaped porch, a beautiful big picture window in the front, a red front door and another door to the right of it which had one of those old time doorbells that you twisted. The house was an old farmhouse and was one of the original houses in the area.

The house also had a front porch swing. During summer thunder storms, my family and I would sit on the swing and watch as thunder, lightning, and rain boomed around us. It was magical. Of course, we would sit out there other times as well, but the rainy times are some of the most memorable.

Such great memories of a wonderful time in my life. Happy Birthday, B.!

Be sure to look at the other Sepia Saturday posts!

Thank you for visiting my blog!

Copyright © 2010 by Natasha M.

09.09.09 OR (One Year Older)

One year ago today, on my birthday, I moved to Lexington. It's been a year of challenges, growth, and fun times too.

I went home over the weekend, for Labor Day, and my mom made a birthday cake. We ate some then (I blew out the candles!) and I brought the rest back to Lexington to eat. It is very, very delicious! You just have to be happy when you are eating a chocolate birthday cake. It's a true fact! We went out to eat on Saturday at a seafood place in Columbus. And I will go out to eat with my roommates this coming Friday or Saturday too.

I think my birthday numbers this year are pretty cool. It would be even cooler if I were turning 9 or were born at 9:09, but I'm not and wasn't. (I am glad I'm not turning 29 though. Then I would just be sad).

The kids on the school bus sang happy birthday to me in both English and Spanish. It was cute!

Tonight, we (a group of friends and I) went to see the movie UP. It was funny, especially the talking dog. I highly recommend it. It was a little bit sad, but other than that, good movie.

If you want to see birthday pictures you can go to my mom's blog and look at the cake.

Birthdays are much better when they are spent with family and friends. Thanks to everyone who wished me a Happy Birthday... I definitely feel loved!