28...is great?!

So I am officially Zach's "old lady" again...at least for the next 8 months until he catches up with me! ;) I had my birthday on the 8th and it was such a fun laid back birthday! For my present Zach let me go and just have a "girly" day. I went with some friends and got a manicure and pedicure, ate some yummy lunch at Great Harvest, and got a little waxing done. ;) Of course I am horrible at pictures and didn't capture the moments but it was so fun and relaxing...thanks ladies for joining me!!!

I have to tell you how cute Zach was!! So, Zach has been on a little exercise kick lately (he goes in spurts). So he had been a little sick so he hadn't done much. So the day before my birthday he told me he was going to go for a long walk since he didn't feel up to running yet. I didn't think anything of it since he is on his exercise kick. He was gone forever though! That night I come home from relief society and caught him baking me a cake. He thought for sure I would be home later then I said...cuz I normally am. :) The cake took longer because he didn't realize it was supposed to be in a 9x13 instead of an 8x8...too cute! (we just had an extra thick cake) He was trying to surprise me and had walked all the way to Walmart (which is 3 miles there and 3 back) just to go and buy me my favorite frosting which is the Rainbow Chip. Is that not the sweetest thing ever or what?! He wrote on the cake for me and everything...he said it looked like a little kid did it but I LOVED it! It was the best cake I have EVER had because it was made with SO much love!

Isn't it so cute?!

Big breath!!

Zach took me out Friday night and we went and got massages and had some yummy dinner at Chilis with some friends (Jake and Heidi). He loves to get massages and I'm always fine without them until I am there and in the middle of it...I realize how much I enjoy them! It is so dang relaxing...sometimes they put me to sleep and I am so mad I fell asleep cuz I couldn't fully enjoy it, but it was good!

Sunday we celebrated with Zach's family and his mom made one of my favorite dinners...Navajo tacos and some amazing Oreo cheesecake. Zach's parents are the cutest and go all out for birthdays...decorating the house, using party plates, etc. Always a great time with the Friedlis.

The only problem with turning 28 is it sounds so old! It rounds right up to 30 so  I pretty much feel like I am turning 30. I just got news of my 10 year high school reunion coming up this year...so then it really hit me how old I am. High school graduation felt like just yesterday...it couldn't have been 10 years ago! I think the weirdest part about it is that I think I'll always feel about 24/25 in my head. Don't get me wrong...I am not afraid to get old. In fact  I look at the cute old ladies and men and I feel a little jealous and wish I was where they are at. They are close to the end of this HARD mortal life. They probably understand a lot more about their life experiences because they are able to look back and understand...maybe not everything but more then I do at this point. I look forward to that day when we are passed this really hard crap (not that it will ever completely end) but to have an "aha" moment and really learn and understand everything my Heavenly Father wanted me to from these trials of life...and be completely grateful for it. I am jealous that they are so much closer to getting to the other side...ending this mortal journey to go to a place free from all sorrow and pain and experience a state of never-ending happiness. Mosiah 2:41 :"and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness." That sounds pretty dang good to me. So basically what I guess I'm saying is...I wish I was turning 88 instead of 28. That probably sounds weird to you...but that's ok! ;)

Even though I am "SO OLD" I am grateful that I am still getting to experience new things...things that I have never done before...so I guess there is still a lot more to do, experience, and learn before my time is up.

Back in November I finally shot my first ducks!! We went out duck hunting again with Jake and his brother Shawn. We didn't go in the boat this time...we did the lazy man/woman way. We drove around in the truck until we spotted some in the canals. They let me practice a few on the "coots". These are just the "gross"ducks that have a huge limit on them. Most people don't go for them because they are not too tasty to eat so they don't really try and get away like the "real" ducks do cuz they rarely get shot at. They set me up in front of where the ducks were and scared them up so at least they would fly up "a little." I still missed the first few but the next chance I hit a couple. Those didn't count as my first ducks though because they aren't really the same as hunting the real ducks. So my first one Jake was my guide. He had seen some land a ways away so we started walking. Jake has eyes like a hawk! So after a ways of walking he saw this beauty sitting in the river. I couldn't see a thing so we started creeping up quietly on it. As we got closer he kept saying okay get ready...do you see it? Me:no...but I started getting ready anyways. As we got close enough where I could finally see it it started to take off and BOOM...in one shot I brought it down. It was a hen hooded maganzer (not sure correct spelling on that), which I guess is a really cool and rare duck. Jake thought I should mount it since it is a cool duck especially for my first one...but I'm not really THAT into it...not really my style of decorating. It was awesome though and definitely gave me a high and some confidence. I got a few more after that with Jake being a great guide. We had a pretty successful day as you can see.

There is that beauty! It has a cool fohawk like Dakota! ;)

My husband couldn't be more proud!

All of them for the day.

The whole gang...even Jake's awesome dog Mia (not sure the spelling) who would go get the ducks out of the freezing cold water for us!

We even got Zach out there and he was able to shoot some coots! He is awesome!! Sometimes I still think he is lying about being blind! ;)

I also had my first experience of snowshoeing which was a blast...and a great workout! My workout buddy and one of my running partners (Holly) has the most outdoorsy family ever! They are always hiking together as a couple and family...even on all their vacations. She has extra snowshoes so she let me borrow a pair. Are other workout buddy Claudia who is AMAZING what she does in her 60's got a pair for Christmas so we went up to Mantua for some good ole snowshoeing.

Claudia and Holly. I hope I can look as great as they do in my 40's and 60's! Thanks for the fun experience!

Claudia and I

I convinced Zach to go with us one time so he was a good sport and did. We went with Holly and her husband Rohn up to the North Ogden divide while Dakota was at school. There was SO much snow up there compared to Mantua and it was so beautiful. Zach didn't really enjoy that we wanted to do it for exercise so much but he loved the experience of just being out there and doing it. He is a great sport...especially cuz it was so much harder for him because he couldn't tell the terrain as much as we could (when it was going up or down).

Since I don't have any snow gear...Holly let me borrow her snow suit from like the 80's. It is a sexy one piece if you can't tell. I was probably the hottest looking thing on the mountain! ;)

Holly and Rohn...thanks for the good time!!

Holly tried to teach me how to ski down on your snowshoes. I wasn't too great at it...need some more practice. (You can see Holly way down there at the bottom)

HERE'S TO ONE YEAR OLDER...28 BABY!!!