Happy (Early) Birthday Dinner To Me!

It was so fun sleeping over at Mom & Dad's last night. We got up and had breakfast and then they left for church and we came home to get ready for church. I had ward council, so I dropped Autumn off at the L's house. I also had the spiritual thought in ward council, so I shared some of the things I learned at the single adult conference yesterday. I gave a brief overview of this AMAZING article that describes how the parable of the Good Samaritan is actually the Plan of Salvation!!! It is so good and highly recommend that y'all read it!

During 2nd hour we had our YW Presidency meeting instead of going to Sunday School, b/c that is the only time we could meet this month. I'm so thankful for the wonderful women that I get to work with. During YW opening exercises I had the other leaders come up and I gave them each a container of strawberries. I told them that I love and appreciate them BERRY much.

I got to teach in Laurels today, and I felt impressed the whole week that we needed to just talk instead of preparing a lesson. It's for sure out of my comfort zone to do that, b/c I like to be prepared and have handouts and a treat that ties into the lesson. But, I followed the Spirit on this one and we just talked. They finally opened up and were willing to talk after about 5 minutes. I think we had a few breakthroughs and I hope they felt heard & loved!

 After church we went over to Mom & Dad's house for my early birthday dinner. My birthday isn't for a few more days, but this was the best time for everyone to get together. I'm glad Lexie is here so she could help Mom make the dinner. It's A LOT of work & I really appreciate them making me feel special.

 Mom even got me some birthday balloons and tied them in my hair like a ponytail. LOL!

 Autumn is LOVING having Aunt Lexie here b/c they make each other laugh. Autumn likes to snuggle and was totally invading Lexie's personal space. They just laughed and laughed to the point that Nate had to turn up the TV b/c they couldn't hear it over the laughter.

 For my special birthday dinner I requested rouladen, noodles w/ gravy, gurken salat, and spinach dip in hollowed out bread.

 This is definitely NOT on my diet plan, but I didn't even care. It was so delectable and delicious and divine. I enjoyed every single bite and every single calorie!

 Dad loves it so much that he just got a big old bowl of gravy and put his noodles in it and dipped his rouladen in there! LOL! It was so weird after dinner to not be allowed to jump up and help do the dishes. They made me go sit down, so I sat in a recliner and ended up taking a "Sacred Sunday nap." It was so nice.

 For my birthday dessert I requested fruit pizza. Isn't it BEAUTIFUL? It also tastes incredible. I could have easily eaten half of this.

♪ ♫ HAPPY (early) BIRTHDAY TO ME! ♪ ♫ I'm thankful to Mom for all the extra effort she goes to in order to make us feel special and loved. Dad & I left at 6:30 to go to the Single Adult conference to hear Britt speak. The theme of the conference was "Joy In The Journey" and he talked about Lehi & his journey and 5 things we can learn from him. Britt is a naturally gifted teacher & speaker, so it was WONDERFUL! What a great way to end a great weekend!