THE BIG 3-0!!

This weekend it finally happened...I turned the BIG 3-0!! I have actually been waiting to turn 30 for the past 8 years or so. I have always felt a lot older than I actually am, so I think I finally feel the right age now, and it feels pretty good! Now the caveat is that I just want to stay between 30 and 35 for the rest of my life, so we will see how that works out for me!!

I spent the weekend the best way I could imagine...with my family and friends!! We started the celebration Friday night at the Old Settler's Carnival with my Mom and Jon and our good friends Kelly, Kyle and Evie! Kelly asked me how I wanted to celebrate my birthday and I responded with going to the carnival with all the girls...she must have thought I was crazy, but she was right on board even though she is 8 months pregnant!! It was the absolute perfect way to spend the evening!

Here are our three girls waiting for the daddies to buy ride tickets. Next month we will be adding one more girl to the clan! We can't wait to meet Allie!!!

Evie picked Nemo for her first ride...I don't blame her!!

Hadley just barely squeezed onto the kids' rides this year...next year she will be over the height limit!

Seville loved EVERY MINUTE of her first time being able to ride rides at the carnival...she is so ready for Disney World this fall!!

Now would be a good time to start counting the number of crazy smiles I got from Seville this weekend! This is #1!

All three girls in line for the alligator roller coaster!

Evie and Seville held hands on their own...it was so cute!! They are six weeks apart, but Evie normally gravitates towards Hadley, so this just melted my heart! I know they will be such good friends as they get older!

All aboard!

Cutie pies!

Ready, set...

GO!!

They loved it!!

Especially Seville!

Kyle, Evie, Hadley, Seville and me heading up the BIG slide!

WHEEE!!!

Hadley absolutely LOVED the slide! She was so excited and wanted to go again right away!

The next time she rode by herself (in an effort to ration our tickets!)

Seriously...she loved it...she had the time of her life! This one is priceless in my book!

Then we headed over to "food row" to find the famous "grange pups" that Old Settler's is known for!

Last year I had a regular corn dog, but this year I was determined to find the "grange pups" and let me tell you...I was a little disappointed. My corn dog last year was the best I have ever had and the "grange pup" was just okay. I am glad I know now, but next year I will for sure be getting my corn dog from the stand across from the alligator coaster...hands down!!

Seville seemed to care less and LOVED her "grange pup!"

Gam and Grandpa met up with us and Seville talked Gammie into a piggy back ride...Gammie was happy to oblige!

About this time Seville started wispering in Gammie's ear "OH MY GOODNES...OH MY GOODNESSS!" She could see the light up ferris wheel in front of us and was so excited to ride it!

Here she is saying it over and over and Gammie cracking up!

Hadley talked Grampa into a ride too! Imagine that!

These two girls are officially the BIG SITERS of the group!

Hadley, Gam, Seville and me getting ready to ride the ferris wheel! See Seville's smile...this is her official smile lately...I can only imagine how we are going to get a picture for our Christmas card! This is basically all I get right now!

The view from up top!

Kyle and Evie on the ferris wheel...I just love this one!

Evie wasn't too sure what to think of the ferris wheel at times!

Hadley on the other hand was absolutely amazed! Not sure why she got such a kick out of it since the one we rode in Chicago was like four times the size, but she sure loved it...maybe it was because it was at night and all the lights were flashing!

Hadley and her Gam!

Seville and Evie looking down to find Scott, Grampa and Kelly!

Pretty lights!

There's that famous smile again...at least it is consistent! Chin up, eyes shut, big toothy grin! :)

As we stood in line for one of our last rides of the evening all three girls agreed that they just had to ride the HELICOPTER!! So...we let some people go in front of us so that we could be first in line for the next round and we were able to get the helicopter! They were soooo happy! They didn't even fight over where to sit!

Getting ready to take off!

Pilot Hadley, Co-Pilot Evie and First Officer Seville!

Coming in for the landing!

After the helicopter ride we headed back over to Hadley's favorite...she just had to have Gam go down it with her!

Then Seville and Evie took one last ride on the fish while Hadley rode the alligator coaster one last time! I think this is the best pic I got of Seville all night!

This one is pretty cute too!

And this one!

Right as we were getting ready to leave we ran into one of Hadley's very favorite people in the whole word...CC...our beloved old neighbor who Hadley just adores (and us too!) We just couldn't believe it because we ran into them last year at the carnival just as we were getting ready to leave. With the huge crowds at Old Settlers what are the chances of that happening twice! WOW!! Hadley was sooooo excited to see CC (Sierra). She has been so worried that when she saw her again she wouldn't recognize her, but ya know what...some things just never change!!

Sierra was in 1st grade when we met her and now we have a kindergartner of our own!! WOW...where does the time go!! Here is Hadley with her very special CC. I have a feeling this one will be going in her room!!

The evening was getting really, really late after we rode all the rides and caught up with CC and her family a bit, but Kelly still had a surprise up her sleeve!! Sweet Kelly had packed a cooler with drinks and cupcakes for us to have a tailgate birthday bash!! HOW SWEET!! It was the perfect ending to the perfect night!!

On Saturday, my actual birthday, we went to a luau party at our friends Angie and Jeff's house!! They sent the invite out about a month ago, and I decided that it would be a great way to spend my b-day evening, and boy was I right! The kids had a blast, the adults had a blast, the food was fantastic, the weather was perfect, the music was blasting, the badminton tournament was fierce, and it was just an all around GREAT evening!! Here I am with my girls...all dressed up for the luau!

Hadley loved this set of adorandak chairs and table!

Seville loved doing back flips off the bouncy house slide over and over and over!

This is Jeff and Angie's son Jace. Isn't he a cutie!

Seville lounging on the chair! There is another one of those silly smiles!

Then she wanted to use the table as a foot rest just like sissy!

Amy wouldn't let the night go without singing me happy birthday!

Amy is such a dear friend and I don't know what I would do without her!!

Making a wish for another 30+++ years of great family, friends, memories and health!

Tonight we got to wrap up my fantastic birthday weekend with a "couples dinner" (kids included) at our friends Colleen and Matt's house. Lisa, Scott, Karsten, Gretchen, Ryan, Charlie and Samantha were also there and we had such a blast!! We use to get together with our "couples dinner" group once a quarter, but adding kids to the mix and many busy schedules has made our dinners much more random. No matter how much time goes by, though, we always have a blast and end up wondering why we don't do it more often! The kids played great tonight and we got to have some great grown-up conversation on the side! Can't beat that!! Lisa got Colleen and me a yummy ice cream cake, and I think we all ate almost the whole thing! WOW! I didn't bring my camera, but Lisa did, so maybe she will have some pics for me to share at some point (no rush on that Lisa...you have much more important things to tend to this week!)

Next weekend is when my big birthday hoorah is taking place, so stay tuned...I can't wait!! A big HUGE thank you to everyone who helped make my 30th birthday weekend so special and memorable!! It was a blast and exactly what I wanted!! :)