She's All In: Turning 30, or what I like to call the "Week of Surprises"

Well folks, the time finally came. I turned 30. Wohooo! Knowing I was about to turn 30 really didn't bother me at all, and to no surprise, actually turning 30 also did not bother me. Being a December baby and the youngest of three, I've always been the baby amongst my family and friends, so I've always wanted to be older. I remember being desperate to turn 10 and receive the coveted birthstone ring from my aunt (my sister and older cousin both received their's at ten, so I knew it was coming). Then there was the slow crawl to turn 16 like all my friends. Oh and waiting to finally be in my 20's just killed me. We were in college and everyone around me was in their 20's, but I was still a wee little teenager. Turning 20 was probably equally as exciting to me as turning 21. Now fast forward a decade and here I am, 30 years old. It feels right. It fits. And if the first week of my 30's is any indication of the rest of the decade, then I think I'm in for a great ride.

Now since we just moved to Clovis and I don't have a lot of good friends around here, I really wasn't expecting any big hoopla at all for my birthday. In fact, Matt and I put a $50 limit on our birthday presents this year (pah!). Little did I know, Matt had lots of big hoopla plans already made for my birthday...

Surprise #1: My New Car
Matt and I had been discussing buying a new car for a couple months. We'd test-driven a few and had pretty much decided on what we wanted. The tricky part (or so I thought) was actually getting to the dealership (preferably without Ethan) to sit down and buy the car. Matt had just been so busy with work it had been all but impossible to make the trip there (again, or so I thought). I had just convinced myself we would buy a car when we had the time and it wasn't worth stressing out about because we just didn't have the time. Ha.

Monday evening I was driving home from picking up Ethan and on my way through our neighborhood I passed the car we wanted. I didn't think much of it other than, hey, that's the kind of car we want. So I pull into the driveway and call Matt. I needed to run an errand and wanted to know his timeline (i.e., should I just run back out and do it now, or should I stay home and wait for him). Well he answers his phone and we have a 30 second phone call before I see headlights from a car I don't recognize pull into the driveway behind me. He says, "Are you still sitting in the car in the driveway?" And I'm like, "Yes, why?" to which he answers, "I just brought your present home, happy birthday!" Yeah, it was the car I'd just seen drive through the neighborhood, lol. He was driving down to turn around. Haha. :) I was completely shocked and ecstatic! My husband had completely blindsided me and went and bought the car without my knowing! It was the best present ever!

My new 2014 Nissan Pathfinder :)

Surprise #2: My Big Sister

As if one awesome surprise wasn't enough, my husband (have I mentioned how amazing he is recently???) surprised me again for my 30th birthday and flew my big sister out to help me celebrate. How freakin' awesome is that?? I will admit, I got a little nosey and kind of figured this surprise out the day before it happened, BUT, it was still soooo cool to have Candice here with me for the weekend of my 30th birthday. Like I said, I don't have a lot of friends around here yet and that can get a little lonely, especially during holidays and special celebrations, so having family here meant so much to me and having Matt know how much that meant to me and surprising me like that was just truly wonderful. I am one blessed girl.