Thirty! Thirty! Thirty!!!

June 24th was my big 30th birthday! See ya later 20's...I will miss you! And bring on the 30's. Steve really out did himself this year for my birthday. I was very impressed, and I think you will be too! The night of my birthday he put together a little barbecue with our good friends the Becks and the Greers. Hamburgers, brauts, and hot dogs for the kids. And yes, he got the 7 pound cake of chocolate goodness from Costco. He made sure to fit all 30 candles on. Thanks!
London and I blowing out the 30 candles.

At first London was just licking the frosting off the candles when she took them off the cake. But then we realized she was indeed biting and chewing the candles too. Below are my sweet friends Ashley and Chelsey with me. I love these girls!! Thanks for celebrating my birthday with me.
Now I have to rewind to the night of June 23, the day before my birthday. It was just a regular night. My visiting teachers came over at 7pm, and Steve bathed the girls and was getting them ready for bed. At about 7:45 my visiting teachers were getting ready to leave when I saw Steve's mom pull up outside. I didn't think much of it because that isn't uncommon. She walked in just as I was saying bye to my visiting teachers, and she was carrying a dvd in her hand. I closed the door and we just kind of looked at each other. I guess I was expecting her to say why she was there. That's when Steve walked down the stairs, dressed in different clothes from the day, and said he had our bag packed and we were leaving for the night. His mom was there to stay with the girls. I think I just smiled. While I got the girls down for bed, Steve explained things to his mom. Then we were off. We drove up to Park City to our own little cottage just off of the main lodge of the Hotel Park City. We checked in, walked over to our cottage, and walked in to a beautiful little apartment that had swanky jazz music playing. It was perfect! We checked out our digs, changed into our swimsuits, put on the bathrobes, and immediately went out to the hot tub on the balcony. Awesome!!! We slept in the next morning, which was heaven in and of itself! We ordered room service for breakfast, read out on the balcony, dipped in the hot tub some more, watched a little Wimbledon, then checked out at noon. Here are some pictures from our cottage...
Steve in the hot tub looking out at our beautiful view of the ski resort.
I love room service! Totally expensive, but totally worth it!
The living room.
Looking out at another cottage across the water. We were on a golf course and by a stream where we heard the water running all night. It seriously was perfect, and we want to go again soon! Steve really did a great job in helping me celebrate my birthday. I felt so special! I love you Steve!

The Happy Birthday song is London's favorite song right now. She can sing it so well by herself, but not as well when I actually record her. It took a few tries and her coming to the back of the camera a couple times to see what was going on, but I finally got a pretty decent take.



And finally, Steve's sister Julie sends out birthday emails to the adults in the family each year that I wanted to share. This year she had our moms write about our births. My wonderful mom wrote this about mine. I love you mom!

I remember the day Amy was born so well. She was not due for a few more weeks, but I knew we should be getting ready. That morning Will and I went to a baby store to buy a Combo swing/bassinet. I just had to have this for our new baby! We came home to our apt. @ 2120 Pacific Ave. in San Francisco where we were managing the building. We were taking a nap,( Dad, Ann, and I) when my water broke. Dad quickly took Ann over to stay with some friends and would be right back to get me. We had just bought a new car (Peugeot) and I remember Will told me to bring a towel so I wouldn't get the car wet!!

We drove to St.Mary's Hospital right by the Pan Handle of the Golden Gate Park. We checked in and prepared to welcome our new baby. It was early afternoon and I remember the sun shining through a crack in the curtains. I think that bothered me more than the actual labor and delivery because that was very annoying to me. The actually labor and delivery went very quickly and before we knew it we had our little Amy Kins! The first thing we noticed about Amy was the ton of thick black hair she had. She was so beautiful and we were so happy she had all her fingers and toes! The next day Will brought Ann to see her new baby sister. I was amazed at how big Ann seemed all of a sudden. Amy was my smallest baby. She had long fingers and perfect little lips and of course a lot of beautiful long black hair. I remember her eye's were dark and were peeping around just checking her new world out. Ann was so taken with Amy I had to watch her closely to make sure she didn't accidentally poke her too hard.

Before we brought Amy home, the hospital treated us to a steak dinner. We felt like we were getting the royal treatment. We were so excited to bring Amy home. She was such a good baby. No colic like Ann. Amy was a good eater, had no ear problems, just an easy baby! Every Mother's dream. The only funny thing about Amy I remember well was she didn't crawl until after she walked. So she would just sit there and play and not get into things. I put her in the cutest walker early and Ann would push her all around so she never got a chance to try to crawl.

I remember strapping Amy to the front of me in a bunting and pushing Ann in a stroller. We went everywhere in San Francisco like that! Amy is our San Francisco Baby! Grandma Elizabeth would send twin dresses for Ann & Amy. I always thought they were the cutest and best dressed kids of all our Dental School Friends. I have always been so grateful to be the mother of Amy. She is such a wonderful "Mommy" herself. I love you Amy, thanks for blessing my life!

Love,

Mom

(Happy Birthday)