Birthday Festivities!

My birthday was on Sunday and my little sister Abby got to come out for the weekend to celebrate with us! Her birthday is two weeks before mine so we decided to pool our b-day money and fly her out for a little visit. We had so much fun! On friday we went to Chagrin Falls with Ben and Molly and the fam. We had a picnic by the river, fed the ducks (who were too good for our bread), got huge glorious cupcakes at the little cupcake shop, looked at the falls, and ate ice cream and popcorn. We had amazing weather the whole weekend. 80's and sunny!



Then on Saturday we went out to Kirtland and saw the bronze exhibit and some of the church history sights. My sister really wanted to go because her best friend and roommate served her mission there recently. I had already seen the bronze exhibit in St. George, but it was just as amazing the second time. Then we headed out to Hinckley Lake for a bbq and some swimming, kind of, the kids mostly just got muddy, but they loved it.


On Sunday we went to church and everyone was so nice and wished me happy birthday. Then we had a very yummy, very preggy birthday dinner. In our family, the birthday person gets to pick the menu which has always been something that I have loved and looked forward to. However, this year being pregnant this was a stressful task for me. I have had the hardest time lately thinking of dinners to make let alone thinking of what I wanted for my birthday dinner. So after a week of stressing about it and deciding that nothing sounded good to me, I decided to have a dinner of all appetizers. It turned out to be one of my all time favorite birthday dinners! We had steamed artichokes with dip (a big favorite around the monson and hall households), bruschetta, crab cakes, avacado and grapefruit salad, and stuffed mushrooms. The best part was that I didn't have to cook any of it or do the dishes! Thank you to Ben and Molly, and Garrett and Abby for pampering me. The best part was the traditional Monson birthday cake which I just love! Abby made it for me this year and she did an amazing job.

I requested shaved dove chocolate and raspberries for my toppings and she really came through! It was quite the feast. I had such a fun day getting calls from friends and family and birthday wishes from so many people. Thank you!

To end the weekend celebration, we went to the Red Sox, Indians baseball game on Monday night. It will probably be our last Indians game in Cleveland which was really sad, but it was so fun to go with our great friends the Days and the Poyfairs; along with Ben and Molly and the fam.


We got great seats in the bleachers which comes with the added bonus of drunk fans, but still they were great seats.

The kids had so much fun and we all had our fill of peanuts and cracker jacks which is a must!

Of course Carter had to have a hot dog.

Rylynn was really into the cheering with her friend Jaxson!
Thanks for coming Abs! We had so much fun with you and miss you already!