Flashback Friday: Birthday Edition

Since I turned 23 yesterday, birthdays past are on my brain.  Here are a few of my favorites.

My Sweet Sixteen.
It's hard for it not to be a memorable birthday when your friends ambush you before school and forced you into the most ridiculous outfit ever, the main component being a shiny, floor-length, silver dress, accessorized with a fluffy, white feather boa.  And we can't forget the Birthday Princess Crown or the sign pictured below.  What you can't see (or hear) is the jingling bell that alerted everyone to my presence.  Just in case anyone missed that spectacle, my friends had also placed signs all over the school with my picture stating that today was, in fact, my sixteenth birthday.

I was pretty excited to turn sixteen and be (officially) date-able. While I was at BYU, I ran into a friend from my old ward in Florida.  She's a few years younger than me, but she was telling me one of her favorite memories of me occurred the Sunday after my birthday.  I raised my hand in Young Women to say I had an announcement.  What was it?  Just that I wanted to let everyone know I was FINALLY sixteen and would be available for dates.  So, you know, tell your cute brothers and stuff.  I'm kind of embarrassed by that now, but I was bolder in my youth.

Two Decades.
My favorite birthday present I have ever received was a diamond ring.  (It will probably always be my favorite birthday present, that's kind of hard to beat, right?)  I don't have any pictures from that event, but here are some from my "surprise" birthday party my roomie/bff Katherine threw for me. It was supposed to be a surprise, but I kind of already knew what was going on...but it was still one of my favorite birthdays ever!

Also, I had an awesome-amazing-super-duper visiting teacher back then.  She always brought delicious treats and was always looking for ways to be my friend in a genuine/non-creepy way.  She left this note on my door.  It was a fairy tale (starring me!), using details that she'd remembered from our visits.  So sweet and almost made me cry.  Made an already spectacular birthday even better.

Twenty-three, you were a pretty monumental year.  I traveled.  I puked (a lot).  I lost one of my best friends.  I survived a wind storm.  I finally learned to like fruit!  I celebrated two years of love and bliss.  I became a mother.   My husband took (and passed!) the Dental Boards...and I survived his absence during the hours and hours of studying.  I welcomed home a missionary and a friend.  I watched my sister begin life as an adult.  I celebrated family, and watched as my priorities and ambitions began to take a slight shift.  I made a whole lot of cookies.  I grew a lot as a person.  But I'm still pretty much flying through life by the seat of my pants.  I don't think I want it any other way.