It's Birthday Week!!!

How cool is it that I have two nieces and a nephew that have birthdays the same week as me? SO COOL!

First we have Keltin. Taylor's oldest sister's son. The ONLY nephew we can claim! He may be outnumbered, but he is special in his own way. It is very hard to live so far away from family because sometimes we feel like we miss everything but we do have some good memories. Keltin looks so much like my FIL Marty and my BIL Chuck. It's like he's a clone of both of them! We thought it was so cute when Taylor built a mini track for his train and put something on it just so Keltin could knock it down. Such a boy! That year we suggested Thomas the train stuff for Christmas! A complete hit!

This is so long ago, but isn't he cuuute? He's three now!

Next is me. Yep, my 23rd birthday. Nobody likes you when you're 23. Yeah.

It turned out to be a really great day. Taylor made me breakfast in bed..pausing for aaawww!...and I was able to sleep in a little. It was only my second day at my new job (oh, did I forget to update on that? oops) and they got me a card and a cake! Second day! So nice of them to do that. There was a crazy dump of snow that came in that day and by the time I got home and sat down, I so tired and didn't want to go out. I talked to my MIL and she told me to go out and celebrate. I had to really convince myself but we eventually went to a nice restaurant called Weber's. We had their amazing spinach bread and each had a steak. I was happy that I talked to my MIL about it because she's always helpful when I'm indecisive. Zingerman's Roadhouse gives a free birthday cupcake so we got that to go and shared a doughnut sundae. MMM. Our waiter even gave us a little shot of chocolate pudding because, "Everyone should have chocolate on their birthday." Nice huh? It was so good! Overall a great day.

And last but not least, we have Miss Ashlyn. My sister's youngest, and little Miss Thang.
I wish I could say the world was perfect when she was born. It wasn't. It was pretty much the worst year of my life. Too much drama and not enough love. But when Ashlyn came, the world changed. The deep embedded cracks in our family started to slowly move closer. I guess that is one of the reasons she made me cry when I saw her all dressed up as a flower girl for our wedding. She looked like an angel. It was like everything was right in the world because she was there. Since then, things have only gotten better.

The kids are so special. I have always wanted to an aunt. Even at the young age I was blessed with job, I knew I liked it. It is hard to believe I could love my children more than these kids but that is what I've been told. We'll seeeeee...

Is it really almost Valentine's day???