Birthday favorites

My sweet husband always picks out the most beautiful cards for me. The inside sentiment said, "Through all the changes life and love have brought us, one thing will always remain the same--you mean the world to me. Happy Birthday." The finishing touch included a sweet hand-written note by my darling husband. This picture was two days past my birthday, immediately following the Saturday evening session of stake conference, as we stopped for appetizers before heading home. This was the same day of the UT game that I blogged about in the previous post.

Early in the afternoon, I was setting up for a card camp which I was hosting that night on my birthday when the doorbell rang. On my porch bench was a box of fresh flowers. You can see the stacks of cardstock and ribbon, and rubber stamps in the background on the table.

Now isn't that a way to cheer someone up? The excitement continued as I unwrapped the bouquet and carefully took the freshly cut stems of the flowers from the vase to fill with water plus one of those little nutrition packets. My secret admirer loves me.

I had all the tables in the three rooms filled with supplies for my friends to come over shortly to make cards, so I placed my lovely flowers into the white bowl in the family room. Take a look outside the window and you can bare see the white lights wrapping around a live oak tree by our new swimming pool and spa.

Look who sent me flowers. I was very surprised and delighted!

Thank you, Mom! She loves me. Here are some more pictures taken more than a week later as the flowers opened up a lot more.

I finally discarded them today, and was pleased at how long they lasted and decorated my living room and brightened my day.

Now let's move on to how wonderful some of my friends are and celebrated my birthday with me. I went to lunch with our former Relief Society presidency and each of them had a lovely gift for me. The waiter asked if it was my birthday, then brought me this incredible dessert. We all took a few bites and I brought the rest home for my kids to enjoy. It was so delicious.

Several friends stopped by with nice gifts for me so I lined it all up on the bench here for a photo. Later, more lovely flowers were delivered by Michele, who had already given me something at lunchtime, plus I got a book "New York State of Mind," by Billy Joel, since she knows that I have fond memories from Kelly's and my 20th anniversary trip to NYC. I also got a massive box of Diet Coke and some beautiful white soup bowls from Jackie and Lonna, with two jars of soups one from La Madeleine, Tomato Basil...doesn't get any better than that, a basket of fresh produce from the farmers market from Sue L. with cute little notes on each item, a lovely compact mirror and special ring from Jill, a necklace and ear rings and key chain from Sue S., a pretty picture frame from with gem accents with my birthstone from Michele, plus a lime green blank journal to take notes in, a gorgeous Brighton necklace from Adele, and a Bath and Body Works soap (that smells very nice) plus a white and natural colored beaded bracelet set from Holly.

Cards and phone calls from all my siblings brightened my day. And later that night Sue brought by this tasty fruit platter for all of us to munch on during card camp.

Jenny made this incredibly tasty Lemon Pudding Cake with such exquisite tanginess, derived from four freshly squeezed and zested lemons, plus these Heavenly Chocolate Bites accented with a cheerful birthday greeting.

This was so much better than a cake! Everyone sang HB to me in between rotating around to different tables to whip up their paper creations. It was a wonderful day and I'm so blessed to have all these terrific people in my life. Thank you to everyone for celebrating with me! I do love my birthday, still.