Happy Birthday to Me!

      I am now 30 years old.  I feel pretty hip-happening, and it has been a wonderful day where I have been happy like a clam for almost all of it.  (The one glaring exception being that we had to take my car to the insurance adjuster first thing this morning since I hit a deer on my way to Kansas last week - another story entirely that I will post.)  For my birthday, John took the day off and told me I could do anything I wanted to do all day long.  I got my hair cut this morning and got a pedicure all without my little friends.  Then, this afternoon, we drove to Petit Jean Mountain and hiked down to Cedar Falls.  After that, we ate at Marketplace in Conway.  Yum.  Since the girls and I just got back from a trip, I wanted to spend time all together as a family, and these opportunities were simply perfect.  John gave me the perfect gift - TIME (and I get to schedule a spa day later on this month. score.).
      Here's a recap in pictures.  When I got home from the pedicure, this is what I found.



Along with this.



Even though I had only had breakfast, I decided to dig into my delicious (and Beautiful!) cake right away.  Someone else had the same idea and grabbed a plate and asked for her own bit of "Birthday Cake," which led to this.




The weather was spring perfection, and I was glad we got to take our little girlies outside.  Thanks, Pereas for the extra baby backpack - 17 pounds of baby Bella fun would have been a lot harder to carry otherwise.  The girls loved being outside, and Lily especially enjoyed the scenery and pointing out "Rocks!  More rocks!  Other rock!"





      The hike is one mile each way, with a strenuous stretch at the very beginning, but it levels out for much of the way to the waterfall at the end.  It is beautiful, and I highly recommend it if you are in the Central Arkansas area.  We got a lot of comments from strangers about our little friends and made a game out of coming up with witty comments that we would never actually use in return, but could serve to entertain ourselves greatly.
      Once we got to the waterfall, we hung out, and Lily and John did some rock throwing into the water, while Bella and I enjoyed sitting and taking in the scenery.  The baby backpacks really are great.





I do particularly like redbud trees this time of year.  All in all, it was a gorgeous hike on a delightful day. Happy birthday to me.



We finished off the day at Marketplace Grill with a Flaming Queso and a Chocolate/Peanut Butter Mess, among other things.




(That last photo cracks me up.)

So far, 30 is rocking my face off.  I feel like this day would not have been possible without help.  Thanks, Facebook, for telling everyone else to wish me a happy birthday.  Thanks, Lily and Bella for being so wonderful and truly behaving sweetly.  Thanks, Mom, for bringing me into the world those long 30 years ago.  Thanks, super-awesome husband for making me feel like the most special person in the world - I look forward to celebrating many more birthdays together.  Love you.