The Big Four-Oh!

Yesterday, I hit a big milestone when I joined my husband in the 40 club! I feel like I should still be about 32, so I'm a little mind blown that I'm 40 already! 

The birthday kids . . . number 40 and 68 😱

Most of the day was pretty standard, but we invited my parents and the E family to join us for the evening meal. When I was growing up, my mom always fixed my dad his favorite meal for our birthday . . . chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes and cream gravy, and maringue pie. My pie was chocolate, and Dad's pie was lemon. This year, I decided to recreate that meal. Thankfully, Mom made the pies and came to help me with the chicken friend steak!

The meal was delicious, but I truly see now how it was a labor of love from my Mom each year. It took a lot of work to cook it for a group! After the main course, we enjoyed those pies!

Chris and the kids spoiled me with lots of gifts for my 40th. They gave me a pair of slippers I can heat in the microwave (they are amazing!), some jewelry, a new hairbrush, and a power washer. I've been wanting a power washer for a while, and I can't wait to try it out!

As you already know, I'm not the only one what has celebrated 40 years lately. Chris turned 40 at the end of October, and our friend, Tia, turned 40 last week. Ross is looking forward to his 40th in January, so about a week ago we all decided to go out together and celebrate. 

Ready for a fun and kid-free evening . . . whooo-hoooo!

Grampy and G-Jo agreed to be our all night babysitters, so we were free to go have fun with our friends. We all celebrated our 30th birthdays together, and it truly doesn't seem like that was too long ago! I love that we get to celebrate another big life milestone together. 

Here we are at my "totally rad" 30th birthday party, hahaha!

Anyhow, we started with dinner at The Melting Pot . . . see how much more mature we are now 😉?

On second thought, maybe not 😂!

We followed The Melting Pot with a new-to-us experience . . . ax and knife throwing! 

The look on Ross's face scares me more than the knives, haha!

Naturals.

I was nervous and quite timid with my ax at first, but I quickly realized that I had to own it.

I didn't throw near as much as the guys did, but I enjoyed the little bit of throwing I did do. Toward the end of our time slot, Chris pinned a playing card to the target and asked me if I thought I could hit it. I agreed to give it a try, and sliced the card in half on the first throw! After that, I was done! I did all the damage I could do, and managed to impress my hubby in the process :-)!

About half-way through our experience, I looked up from visiting with Tia and saw Chris's hand bleeding profusely. He had thrown two knives at once (upon the recommendation of one of the employees), and when he went to pick them up he got a large metal splinter in his hand from where one of the knives had hit the other. The bad thing was that the employees couldn't seem to locate a first aid kit, tweezers to remove the splinter, or even anything to disinfect the wound. Chris had to clean his hand up with paper towels and water, pull the metal splinter out with his fingers, and pour hand sanitizer on the wound. After all this, the employees finally came up with a bandage for him to use. Chris said, "You might want to think about having a first aid kit on hand." and the guy replied, "Yeah, especially since what just happened to you is our most common injury!" Sigh.

My thirties were simultaneously one of the best and worst decades of my life so far. There was great joy intermingled with deep sorrow - and while I appreciate the gifts those experiences gave to me - I'm looking forward to a new chapter. 

Hello 40!