Birthday surprises!

There is not one point in my life when I could have guessed I would be where I am today. I am so thankful for all of the love, happiness, and health that I am blessed with. Twenty six years has felt like a long time, but I know I still have such a long way to go. This is my first birthday having both a sweet baby girl and the best boyfriend in the world to help me celebrate. And celebrate we did!

Summer is my favorite time of the year, not just for my birthday, but for the nice warm and sunny weather it brings. I have been talking non-stop about Liana's first beach trip and how I can't wait until next summer so we can have a proper beach trip with her so she will be old enough to stand the heat and actually be able to wear sunscreen and be walking around! Ashton decided there wasn't a need to wait until next summer for Liana's first beach trip and surprised me with a planned walk on the beach (Horseneck Beach) for my birthday. It was obviously just a mini-trip since we didn't want Liana out in the sun too long, but it was just perfect (besides carrying her in her stroller part of the way because it got stuck in the sand!). Liana stood in the water and let the waves crash over her little toes. The water splashed right up to her bum and she enjoyed every minute of it.

For lunch we went to Lebanese Pita Pocket and got the yummiest food. Pumpkin kibbeh and pita bread for an appetizer and we both got the falafel plate, mine with kidney bean salad and Ashton's with chickpea salad. I told Ashton earlier in the week that I didn't want to pick where we went on my birthday, I wanted a surprise, and that the food had to be healthy. He definitely chose the perfect place and gets an A+ for my birthday meal choice. :)

At some point throughout the day we saw cows while we were driving and this is the conversation that occurred:

Ashton: "look a cow!"

Me: "there's two! they must be friends!"

Ashton: "do you think they're ....bessies?"

Me: --blank stare--

Ashton: --cracking up laughing at his own joke--

At home, yet another surprise was waiting for me. Last week we went to Wildflour Bakery after lunch to try out some yummy vegan treats and apparently Ashton was doing some scoping out of other baked items when I wasn't looking! He ordered a birthday cake for me and his dad picked it up and I had no idea of any of it! It was chocolate of course, and very tasty! Speaking of cake, I think I might go get another piece right now..... Yum! We filled our bellies with chocolatey delicousness and were ready for an afternoon nap.

Later, we popped back out to fye to find a movie and, unexpectedly, returned home with Grave of the Fireflies. I LOVE this movie. If you've seen it before, you're probably wondering why the heck I'd want to watch it on my birthday since it is actually quite depressing. I think it is an amazing movie and I have so much respect for Isao Takahata's films. Anyway, we were too tired to actually finish it, so we turned it off to save for another day.

I love my blog and hope to be able to look back on in it fondly in the years to come, but I decided to try something new in addition to my blog posts and pictures: videos! I made my first video montage of my birthday with my little family and uploaded it to my YouTube account. I apologize in advance for the "jumpiness" of the video, I was way to excited to keep a steady hand and wasn't paying enough attention to how the video would look later on. With practice, I will get better at it though. :) I really hope to make time for these every few weeks or so to document Liana's growth and hopefully catch some of her "first" moments. I hope everyone enjoys them, please like the video and leave comments on our brand new YouTube channel if you do! Here's our first video: