Matthew's B to the irthday

Last weekend we celebrated Matthew's 28th birthday. On Friday night we went to Costa Vida for dinner. Matthew and I both love CostaVida, it isexactly like Cafe Rio except, it has a Mango salsa and dressing that bring its sweet pork salad to a whole new level. While there we actually ran into an old friend of minefrom the first ward Iwas in when I moved to Salt Lake City. I knew him as Elder Jensen because he was serving a Service Mission at the Institute when we first met.

After dinner Matthew and I met up with our good friend Eric Quimby and his soon to be bride Ashley for some good old fashioned bowling fun. This was the first time we met Ashley and she was delightful. I really enjoyed that her and Eric banter just as much as Matthew and I do and that when they are telling stories, they both have a view on how something "really" happened. We discovered how well Ashley bowls, even with her right hand, she kicked some tail even though she is left handed. It was a lot of fun.

On Sunday, as per tradition, we went to the Bowen homestead and had a dinner selected by Matthew and then cake, ice cream and gifts. Matthew chose to have baked pancakes, which is pretty much a dessert. I wasn't sure how I felt about having a dessert dinner followed by more dessert, but Matthew and I hadn't had baked pancakes in a long time and I had forgotten how good they were.

Matthew and I also played a very old version of "LIFE" with Liz and Cole. It was a lot of fun and had some interesting rules. After dinner Matthew opened up the gift his mother and I had been keeping from him since Christmas (and that is a very long time for me to keep a secret)...a new keyboard!! He has been talking about wanting one so he can brush up on his piano skills and it was on sale, so I thought it was the perfect idea.