The Best week ever...

Because really, who doesn't need 7 birthday parties when they turn 30? :) I know I sure do! :) And I have my amazing family and friends to thank for making my day, my whole week wonderful!! (this means you, Jason, since you were the biggest supporter of ALL of my birthday parties) :) I've decided that birthdays should always fall on a weekday. When your birthday is during the week, it gives you TWO whole weekends to celebrate! :) My birthday was on a Wednesday this year (May 20, for those of you who don't know). And when I figured out that it was on a Wednesday, I knew it was going to be a good one! :)

The week started out great with these two hooligans showing up in my bed on Thursday night:

I was at my friends house watching her kids while she went to the Taylor Swift concert. I didn't get home that night until like after midnight! I walk in my bedroom not only to find the one big hump on my bed that is usually there when I go to bed late (Ben); but THREE big humps on my bed. Who was it, I wondered, that shared my bed with my husband? But Doug & Sadie; I should have known! :) They drove all the way from Seattle to spend the weekend with us in celebration of my big day! :)

The next day was spent just relaxing. I had no idea any of the plans for the entire weekend. Doug & Ben went and played a little golf in the morning.

That afternoon my mom came in town for the weekend, and a little while later, my brother, Allen and his family. I knew that something was going on, but I wasn't sure what. That night our group went out to Olive Garden. YUM! It was my sister-in-law, Angie's birthday a few weeks before mine, so it was our traditional family dinner out (plus some friends)for our birthday's.

Don't ask me what Doug is doing to my child in this picture, I don't think I want to know...:)

Remind me not to sit between Doug, Ben and my dad at a restaurant ever again. Those three are crazy together!

And these two preggo's were there:

Yes, we were the loud and obnoxious family in the corner with the kids that are out-of-control. Someone (probably my mom, who lets Tucker do whatever he wants) put Tucker in the window sill and he just wanted to jump and jump all night long.

Olive Garden, in Spokane, is on this cute little red brick street downtown. I wanted a cute family picture on one of the benches...I didn't realize that there were construction warning signs right behind us.:)

When we were at dinner, Ben told me that he had gotten my birthday present that day while they were at the golf course. But that he wouldn't give it to me until we got home that night. --Yes, I was a little skeptical--I came home to a cooler full of two turtles! I love turtles. I had one once. (But that ended tragically, so we won't go there.) The golf course where they played that morning was a little rustic, and had like real ponds with real animals in them. Only Ben would pick up two turtles to take home. :)

Tucker liked them even more than I did.

The next day, Saturday, we woke up, got ready, dropped Tucker off at Papa's house and headed out to Silverwood!!! It was so much fun. I'm not a roller coaster girl, I usually go to Silverwood for the water park side, but that part isn't open yet. But I had a great time just spending some time with Ben, Doug & Sadie. Cafe Chulo for lunch on the way out there, and a few hours in nice warm weather with great friends. It doesn't get much better than that!

Here's what the boys did all day: (and Sadie a little-she wasn't as die hard as the boys.)

And here's what I did all day:

Upon picking up Tucker at my dad's house, I was shocked to find a house full of people, yet again! A Campbell birthday is not complete without a good ol' fashioned BBQ with my dad at the helm. Steak & Crab--even better than Olive Garden! :)

The weather was perfect, lots of playing outside with the little ones.

Keyton didn't want to be left out:

Tucker & Carly--they have a love/hate relationship. They want to be together ALL the time, but most of the time they just fight over things now. :) But then they love each other. :)

And of course, no b-day BBQ is complete without a pinata!!! Ben has gotten me a pinata every year for my birthday for the past 6 years (since we've been together).

Tucker (with Angie's help):

Keyton:

Carly:

Yours truly:

And Sadie, the Jedi knight:

We love whats inside the pinata, though! :)

Of course, Tucker helping me blow out my candles:

Great friends:

So Monday rolls around, Doug and Sadie and my family have all left. I'm thinking that the birthday celebrating is over. My friend Lexie calls us up to invite us over for FHE. Sure, I think nothing of it, Lexie has someone over to her house like every night of the week. She is like THE activity planner amongst our group of friends. And what do I walk into, but a surprise BBQ party!

My friend, Katrina, made me my very own ice-cream cake! And it was delicious! :)

Wes lost a tooth. Since it was a big day for the BOTH of us, we had to get our picture taken together.

Blowing out my candles:

Some of the kids waiting for their ice-cream...

The big boys mostly stayed outside the whole night, playing. I added this picture, because I think it is so cute that Tucker wants SO desperately to be one of the big boys! :)

Tucker and his other BFF, Carter. These two boys just love each other and have got to be the cutest things in the world! :)

Tuesday night (which has nothing to do with my birthday) was American Idol night! :) Gotta love American Idol night. Yummy foods, good friends. It was great! :) This is all of us voting after the show on Tuesday. I didn't really care who won either way. They were both good, I just went and watched for fun! :)

Finally, the big day arrived: Wednesday. This is me officially a 30 year old! And boy do I look it!

I swear, its like my body just knows that I'm 30 now! What, I can't eat chocolate at midnight anymore???(that is NOT what I was doing in this picture, by the way!) :)

Wednesday was fabulous. After the parties that I already had, I didn't think anything was going to happen on Wed. My friends and I have our play-group rotation thing on Wed. mornings, so I dropped Tucker off at 9:30 and had a few hours to myself. Since it WAS my birthday,I decided to get my nails done. :) Happy Birthday to me! I picked Tucker up after, only to find that my friends were taking me to lunch!!! We went to Hay J's a new little bistro in Liberty Lake. It was really good food, and it was even better company, and perfect for a birthday lunch! :) I have the best friends ever! Thanks guys!

And wait...there's even more! Ben got a babysitter that night and we went to dinner, again! PF Changs--another favorite! ( OK, I really just love food in general!) :) And I especially love any excuse to go out to dinner. We got together with our birthday celebrating buddies and had a fabulous evening of the best candied shrimp I've ever tasted. Seriously, if you haven't tasted the PF Changs Candied walnut shrimp, then you haven't lived!!!:)

That night, after dinner, we just totally relaxed. Got in our pajamas, layed on the couch together, and watched TV. (American Idol Finale) And it was really funny because as I was getting ready for bed, Ben had to ask me if I wanted my birthday present from him. He did so much already to make my birthday so special, I would not have even noticed if he didn't get me an actual present. :) I then went to bed that night, officially a middle-aged woman. No longer a youngster! A wise and mature woman of adulthood!! (wouldn't you all agree???) :)

So, thank you BEN, and thank you to EVERYONE else who called or sent a card and thank you to EVERYONE who went all out to make my birthday so special this year! It is so nice to feel so loved sometimes--right back atchya!! :)

I think that I have alot to live up to now for all of my friends birthday's and especially for Ben's 30th! Good thing I have a few months to start planning that one! :) But I'm liking week long birthday celebrations, everyone should try it.

update:

Sadly, our two turtles didn't make it too long. With us, anyway. Ben put them in our wheelbarrow in the backyard and as often as we were home, Tucker was out there right next to the wheel barrow watching them or playing with them. I think that they were miserable! They both escaped by Wednesday! :) I like to think that they are still alive somewhere. I just really hope that I don't stumble upon a dead turtle carcas as I'm walking in my backyard one of these days.

Doesn't he look miserable:

I looked out one day to find Tucker taking one down his slide. He would just talk to it like it was a friend and play with it like it was a toy. Poor turtles...

Also, thank you for all of your kind thoughts and prayers with regards to Natalee, my cousin. The surgery went great and she is recovering fabulously! We know, without doubt, that prayers were answered and we are SO greatful!

Thanks!