babies, birthday bashes, and....beautification?

okay, so i was trying to be all cutesy with the title, and i had to stretch a bit, but it works. boy oh boy....it's been a crazy week. possibly the best birthday week ever, but crazy nonetheless. and since ive done so many fun things (and i'll be out of town for a few weeks so i probably wont post until afterwards), i feel like i should document it all. i wish everyone could have been here....23 really wasnt that lame of a birthday after all!

so it all started with the week before my birthday. alli (one of my very close friends) sent me a survey she had filled out, and one question was what day she was most excited about in the future. she put 'next week, when i get to come play in utah!' i didnt understand, so i emailed and asked her. she said 'crap!i meant to surprise you for the party brad's throwing you next tuesday.' little did i know that was supposed to be a surprise, and brad was way bummed when i asked him about it. i was so sad i ruined the surprise, but i made him promise not to tell me anything else about it and i moved on.

thursday night, i headed up to adam and belinda's house to babysit kennedy and noah, because belinda was going to be induced the next morning. they left around 6:30am, and i plunged into mommy-practice mode. i was up at 7 (the kids even earlier than me) and we did tons of "actiffanies" as kennedy and noah kept calling them. thank goodness bethanne is crafty, because i never would have kept these children occupied for 3 days! we played games, blew bubbles, colored in coloring books, made edible aquariums, put on a 2-minute play rendition of rumplestilskin, and went to mcdonalds, all while checking the internet regularly to see if the baby was born yet. kennedy and noah put together cute little books for the baby, and noah guessed she would have a small head, be bald, and have green eyes. kennedy was a little more forgiving, thank goodness. when they finally saw pictures of the baby (who is now called elliot whitney--she will go by ellie), they announced that she looked 'funny and yellow.' gotta love the honesty of children! she was teensy. i was so excited to go see her, and so were the kids. after i put them to bed, i went into babysitter mode, cleaning everything, and making sure it all looked the way belinda keeps it (even though i could never be that amazing!).

i got a call from brad at 8:30pm, saying that he wanted to come up to see me on my birthday. a&b live over an hour away and i thought he was being crazy, but i consented since i wanted some adult time on my birthday. well, 2 hours later, he finally showed up, with a big cake and a present. i was very excited :), but i really wanted to show pictures of ellie on the computer first. we went down stairs, and as we were looking at the computer, brad suddenly announced that someone was at the door. i told him he was wrong....after all, it was 10:30 and he couldnt have heard a knock anyway. he told me to go get the door, and then he started pushing me towards the stairs. that's when i knew something was up. i slowly went up the stairs and i saw balloons through the glass. i turned and looked at him and he continued to push me up the stairs. i opened the door, and there was alli (brad's sister from california), scott (on of our really close friends), and laurel (another really close friend and scott's sister). i started freaking out. apparently, when alli realized she spilled the secret that she was coming out, she decided to lie about WHEN the surprise would occur. sneaky!! they asked a&b and they were okay with everyone staying over, and it was so fun. they brought over my favorite things, like root beer, gatorade, gushers, peanut butter and peanut m&ms, my favorite type of cake, and my favorite ice cream. they also brought presents. they thought of everything! alli, scott, and laurel got me the movie hercules, a shirt from my wish list, and 2 other shirts (that i actually already owned, but we exchanged them later:)). and brad got me....a new camera!! after playing with it (and being disappointed that it had to have a special memory card that is extra expensive), we decided to switch it out for another camera, but i'll get to that later.

the next morning, the kids had a free-for-all with everyone. they were SO EXCITED to have new friends, and they LOVED playing with scott and brad. the kids were very sad when everyone had to leave for work. luckily we were on our way to go see the baby. brad came, and it was really fun. ellie is a DOLL (literally) and she is so chill! She just sat and slept while noah, kennedy, brad, and i all took turns holding her. she really is beautiful.noah seemed pretty standoffish, but kennedy was really excited about ellie. it was fun to see how they reacted with her. after we finished at the hospital, we came back, brad had to leave, and everyone (me included) had a much-welcomed quiet time. we spent the rest of the evening making handprint art, shrinky dinks, dirt cup desserts, making posters and cards, watching movies and playing games.

scott, laurel, and alli came back saturday night and spent the night and helped me take the kids to church in the morning. brad met us right after church (he desperately needed to study for a test on monday), and the kids played like crazy again. everyone left except for brad while we prepared for a&b and ellie to come home. finally (the kids were getting stir-crazy) they got home at about 5:30, just in time for dinner. we all had dinner together, took some pictures, i hoarded the baby as much as possible, and then finally headed home. it was a wonderful, crazy weekend.

alli stayed at my house until tuesday, and we did a lot of shopping, running around, and visiting our old boss at the ASB copy center. i then spent the remainder of this week reading, sleeping, working out, and (unsuccessfully) apartment hunting. i hope im not homeless this fall! last night i had a wonderful time playing lego star wars at brad's house, as well as guitar hero, and we made plans for today. and then we have today, another wonderful day in the history that is known as my existence. i planned on seeing some more apartments (which were all taken already...urgh), but we ended up running to staples to look at another camera so i could make a final decision on what kind of camera i wanted. i just wasnt sold on the fact that sony makes you buy a special memory card that is extra expensive, but i was VERY proud of brad for picking it out himself. i was debating between keeping it or ordering a kodak online, and i found out that staples carry it (best buy only offers it online). we headed there to check it out, and after some playing, brad picked up another camera. he managed to take a picture of a woman's face from 100+ feet away! the camera had a 15x optical zoom, and it looked pretty ligit. of course, it was on sale, so after the rebate it would be the same as the kodak or the sony brad got me. so....i got it. and here it is, in all its glory:

yes, that's a nikon coolpix l100! certainly not as stupendous as adam's d60, but for $150, i'll take it (especially when it goes regularly for $280)!! i cant believe the pictures it is taking. i wanted a point and shoot because i am admittedly afraid of adam's d60, but i like that this is a happy medium-sized camera. i was very excited! and i love that brad helped me pick it out after all :). so he's going to return the other camera and give me the cash in its place. overall, im very pleased and im excited for an evening of manual reading :). after buying the camera, i rushed over to the mall and got a mani/pedi from this really nice spa. it was definitely the best i have ever had, although i wouldnt have gone without the $15 off coupon i had. i got a neon orange nail polish (yes, you read it right--neon orange) and i keep looking at my nails. theyre so pretty! of course, i cant do this much, since i feel all high maintenance with them, but it's fun for now :). i'll get pictures up as soon as i learn how to upload them onto my computer! finally, i rushed from remedez (the salon) and headed over to tucanos, where brad was waiting for me. we ate an AMAZING dinner (at lunch prices, since we went right before the dinner meats started to be served), and mine was free! i even got a birthday sundae. in the end, we paid $15 for a meal that normally costs $40. it was really amazing, and im surprised i havent fallen into a food coma yet. after dinner, we went back to brad's house and i played with my camera while he played call of duty 4 and then got ready for work. and....here we are. me blogging, and you getting tired of wayyyy too much detail, im sure.

i would have to say, though, that the month isnt over yet! on tuesday, im flying to texas to spend 2 weeks with bethanne and katie and their families, as well as mom and dad!! im SO ready for some stinking summer weather (it's been in the 60s-70s here since school was out) and im ready to (try to) get a tan! sorry for so much writing....i'll post pictures soon. dont forget about me and my blog, and i'll update as soon as i can! and thank you for all of the birthday wishes!