^^My favorite [recent] family photo to date :) 

HAPPY [BELATED] BIRTHDAY TO MY FAVORITE PERSON IN THE WHOLE WORLD!!!! 

During the time we were vagabond-ing it, Stephen turned 25!!! We were at my parents' house in California for the big day and it was really fun to be able to celebrate with them! (I basically felt like it was my birthday too because, really, I was just as spoiled as Stephen was ;)) My mom was kind enough to take Lydia in the morning so we could sleep in a little bit, and then when we got up, there were fresh waffles waiting for us! I may-or-may-not have topped mine with some homemade raspberry ice cream :) I told Stephen not to eat too much, though, because we had an early lunch planned. 

Around 11:30 we left for our birthday-lunch-date. I didn't tell Stephen where we were going, but had him drive while I instructed him on where to turn. On the way we played 20 questions to see if he could figure out what we were going to do! He didn't quite figure it out (and I'm pretty sure he asked well over 20 questions) but the timing worked perfectly because we pulled into the parking lot just as he was about to guess what it was! 

We went to Studio Movie Grill which is a movie theatre that serves you a meal while you enjoy your movie! Neither of us had been to a place like it before and we really enjoyed it! We watched Captain America, which, thankfully, had much more of a storyline than I was expecting, haha, and ate edamame and flatbread pizzas. It was a really fun outing and as much we love Lydia, it was particularly nice to have some time just the two of us :) (Thanks Mom for being willing to watch her!) 

After the movie (which...was really long, haha) we went back to the house and hung out. Every few hours my mom would say "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" and hand Stephen a few quarters - by the end of the day he was the proud recipient of twenty-five quarters! (That mom of mine is just toooo clever ;)) We also were able to skype Mom and Dad Olson who played Stephen some Birthday Beethoven on the piano. :)

As if we hadn't already eaten enough junk (ha), for dinner we went to The Cheesecake Factory to celebrate Stephen's birthday and also have a farewell dinner for my sister Miriam, who was being set apart as a missionary the next day! (She drove back to Utah with us the following Monday and then I dropped her off at the Missionary Training Center on Wednesday.) 

Other than feeling old ;) Stephen had a wonderful birthday and I loved that we were able to spend the whole day together! 

Birthdays are the best! 

_ _ _

han.