Kara's B to the irthday

Ever since deciding to move to Seattle, Matthew and I have realized all the things we have been meaning to do, but haven't because we thought we would always have time to. One of the biggest examples of this is visiting all of the temples in the relative area. I have always wanted to go to as many different temples as I could and we made it to many in Utah, but even after living here for 5 years there are a few I have missed out on. The one that was most important for us to get to before leaving was the Manti Temple because it is where Matthew's parents were sealed. Well, a few weeks ago, Matthew's mom brought up wanting to go to the Manti temple with us before we left, so with those desires realized we decided to make a trip and it just so happened to be this weekend.

Along with wanting to do all the things we haven't, another priority that Matthew and I have while still in the area has been to spend as much time with our family and friends as we possibly can. Well, this weekend we had also planned a double date with our friends the Andersons, my birthday dinner with the Bowen Clan and a Sunday Dinner with a group of our friends. With all of our desires and such little time before leaving our weekend was crazy, but fun!

Friday night we went to dinner with Cory and Danielle Anderson. For graduation I received a couple of gift cards to the Olive Garden and I wanted to use them to go out with friends. So with the Andersons we went. We decided to go to the Olive Garden in West Valley because the ones closer to our house are busier, we were thinking about going to a movie and the times worked out better at a theater in West Valley and Cory needed to grab a prop for a commercial he was helping to shoot the next day.

Dinner was good. Our waiter was a very interesting fellow who had a bunch of pins on the collar of his shirt. Cory asked him what all the pins were for and our waiter said, "These pins are for all the awards our restaurant has received and some awards I have received as a server here." He then informed us that customers rate Olive Gardens all over America and that this specific restaurant had been voted the best in America.

After dinner we picked up the prop that Cory needed and decided just to head back to the Anderson's home to watch "Mega Mind" because Danielle had some homework to finish. It was a very comfortable night with good friends.

After the movie we headed to the Bowen Homestead to sleep. When we got there I realized that I forgot my pajamas so Cynda let me borrow a pair.

We woke up fairly early Saturday morning to head to Manti. It was a lovely drive, with good company. The Manti Temple is so unique. I think that the age of the building and the fact that farmers built it really add character to it that I haven't felt in other temples. The artwork and structure inside were amazing. After the session, we were given a brief tour of the spiral staircases, ate lunch in the cafeteria and then headed outside to take some pictures. We drove around the little town looking for a magnet, but were unable to find one so we gave up and headed back home.

When we got back to West Valley we had dinner and a family birthday celebration with the Taylors and Pete and Steph. We had BBQ chicken, potato salad, deviled eggs, Smores ice cream and Steph's peanut butter bars....yummy! Steph and I talked a bunch about plans for moving and work and school over the next few months while the nephews, niece, grandpa, Liz, Zac, Pete and Matthew played freeze tag in the backyard. The rest of the night entailed silly pictures by the nephews, grandpa reading books, Cole blowing out my birthday candles and birthday gifts from the Taylors that had a rainy theme.

On Sunday I taught Relief Society for the last time and the spirit was very strong. The lesson was about testimonies and the comments the sisters make always make the lesson 10x better. After church we had Sunday dinner with the Humphreys, Passeys, Hickenloopers, Lees and Ghales. This is a tradition in our friendships that started when Emily, Tiffany, Matthew H., Trina, Ashley and I all lived in the dorms together in 2005. For dinner we made homemade pizza with a crust recipe that Emily made that was delicious. We enjoyed the nice weather, good conversation, silly kids and the new edition to the Passey Family- Thomas. We took a picture of the original group of friends and then one of the expansions we've added over the years. It was a great evening, I love these friends so much and I will miss them greatly when we move. It was definitely a great birthday!

Upper left: Just the girls- Trina, Rhiannon, Emily, me, Ashley & Tiffany Upper right: Matthew H. joined the picture since he was from the original friendship and Benny joined because he wanted to be close to his mommy(Tiffany) Center: Our growth!- Emily and Greg are married and have two kids Wesley (on Greg's shoulders) and Trevor (in Emily's arms), Matthew H. and Rhiannon are married, Trina and Parker are married and have a daughter Brooklyn (in Trina's arms), me and Matthew are married, Ashley and Rusty are married and Tiffany and Jason are married and have two sons Benjamin (next to Tiffany) and Thomas (in Tiffany's arms)

Upper left: Brooklyn Upper right: Benny Center: Emily and Trevor

Right: Thomas Left: Wesley (or as I call him, Weschester)