Thursday, August 13, 2009

My birthday

Last month I hit the big 3-0. I'm still waiting for my breakdown, but so far it isn't so bad. Through med school and residency, I haven't bothered to really get my hopes up for anything or even bother to make plans because we have no control over Matt's schedule. This year I made plans. I had a babysitter lined up and planned a yummy dinner and all. (Normally I just ignore the day.) Unfortunately Matt got stuck in the OR with heart cases so he didn't get home until after midnight. So much for my plans. Cancelled the babysitter and didn't know what to do with the food. Should I bother preparing it? Maya and Luke have very little appetites. Luckily, I have a good friend down the street who came to my rescue. She brought me my favorite Jamba after I got the news from Matt that he wouldn't be home in time. Then, since her husband was working all night at the hospital as well, we banded together and made dinner and we and all our kids ate together. They even stayed and sang me Happy Birthday. Not that Matt didn't try. The night before, he made my birthday cake so I wouldn't have to make my own.
Lighting the candles on my cake, which Luke blew out immediately after I finished lighting them.



*A little side note. I'm reluctant to post these pictures of me. I'm still in the process of losing the baby weight. But I should be proud. I gain 65 lbs with each pregnancy, so I literally have to work my butt off after the baby's born. Seth is 4 months old and I'm down 55 lbs. Not too shabby. I still have work to do, but I'll take a moment and pat myself on the back.
Having a little fun with the camera and winding up to blow out the candles.

~WARNING: This next section is pretty cheesy!~
So now that I'm 30, I look back on where I've come from and what I've done with my life thus far. I was raised in a big family. I have 10 brothers and sisters. I don't know how my parents did it. But I wouldn't change it for the world. I love having 6 brothers (5 of them older than me) and 4 sisters. In a family like that you always have someone to play with. We could go out in our yard and play any sport we wanted to. They kept me out of trouble as well. I was on swim team and track team in high school. I still jump in the pool and swim laps a couple times a week and love a good workout at the gym. I sang a lot in high school, and I still do now (in the privacy of my own home) when my kids request their night night songs. My mom taught me piano and now I'm a piano teacher myself. For me - music is therapy. Some people might say I married young ( a month before I turned 21) but I've loved every minute of it. 9 years (4 kids, 4 states/7 moves, BYU, 4 years of med school, 3 years internship/residency, all kinds of church callings) later and I feel blessed to have experienced it all. Some of it's been difficult or sad, but there have been so many more happy moments. I'm healthy, my kids and husband are healthy and we all get to be together everyday (kind of). The only thing I wish I could change is that we were closer to family. Oh well, I guess I can't have everything.

2 comments:

Jessica said...

Jen-wren you look really great, I can't believe you already lost that much weight, it takes me like a year!! Sorry I wasn't there for your birthday, I wanted to come when we got back but I had school the next wed!!! I like your slide show too!! PS email me your thanksgiving plans and christmas plans just for a reference.I want to work something out where we can come down and party with you all

Kevin and Kristen said...

Happy 30th Jen! Thank goodness for good friends and neighbors who come to help when the hubbies are stuck at work. Hopefully his schedule will lighten up for you.

The Kids