Halfway to 90

Thanks for all of the birthday wishes. My inbox was flooded with emails, Facebook cards, and voicemail messages. It was a great day.

My celebration of making it halfway to 90 came with a few firsts:

This box held the promise of the first ice cubes in this house in over three years. I know. We live in AZ, and ice cubes are as necessary as ceiling fans around here, but our ice maker bit the dust a long time ago, and we hadn't found the money to replace it. When Brad asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I told him ice.

Isn't it beautiful? My first glass of ice water with my very own ice.

When you're halfway to 90, it's the little things, people. The little things.

It was my first birthday alone during the school day, so I decided to do something extremely crazy. I attended the Sweet Salvage sale for the first time. I'd heard great things about it, but nothing had prepared me for it. The lines. The pushing. The grabbing. The . . . STUFF! I came home with this:

Believe it or not, I've been searching for a gigantic rusty arrow sign for a few years now. It must have been my lucky day. Yeah. It was my birthday!

That afternoon, kids burst in the door from school, and Hyrum had his hands hidden behind his back, his eyes glinting with imminent surprise. When I got close to him, he tossed handfuls of rose petals in the air and shouted, "Happy Birthday!" Halfway to 90 marks the first time I've ever been showered with rose petals. I think I liked it.

Brad took me out for dinner, and while we were away, Micah made me my first lemon birthday cake.

 When I got out of the car, I could hear the kids scrambling around inside, "Hurry! They're here!"

 Only nine candles--but 9x5 is 45, so I think that was great. 

Not only was it my first lemon birthday cake, but it was my first lemon birthday cake served in a CLEAN KITCHEN. There was no evidence of dinner, mixing bowls, or eggshells. I was impressed.

My day ended just like I like it--in bed by 9:30. It was the first time in I don't know how long that I'd been in bed really early two nights in a row. That may have been my favorite gift of all.

Halfway to 90 is an amazing place to be.