Thirty Days of Thirty

Ammon turned the big THREE-OH this year. I wanted to try to make him feel as special as he always makes us feel. He is really good at thoughtful gestures (have you HEARD of the Week of Love?!) and that doesn't seem to come as easily to me. But I felt like I actually stepped up to the plate and actually surprised him this year.

For his switch into another decade of life I did "Thirty days of Thirty!" Every day for the 30 days leading up to his birthday there was a small gift or gesture for him that somehow related to the number thirty, the year 1988 or just to Ammon in general.

His 30 days started on March 30th (how perfect is that?!)
I know this was back several months, but between selling our house, having a baby and moving across the country -  the documentation had to wait. Better late than never!

1. 30 Reasons I Love You

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2. Fairlife Chocolate Milk 

- 1988 Olympics took place in Calgary, Canada. Calgary is also known as Cowtown (hence the chocolate milk) and has also been voted one of the best quality of life towns in the world (hence Fairlife brand for the milk.) Also, it was Saturday conference when we always get donuts and chocolate milk, so I thought it extra fitting. PLUS this is just the BEST chocolate milk on the planet. For reals. Go try it.

3. This was Easter Sunday! So he got 30 cheesy Easter "Dad jokes" hidden in 30 Easter eggs for him to find.
If you know Ammon, you know this was right up his ally.
"What happened to the Easter Bunny when he misbehaved at school? He was eggspelled!" 
Eggcetera, eggcetera. Haha.

4. Playlist of the Top 30 songs of 1988

5. 30 minute hair/head massage

This is something he really loves, but I rarely do. I don't know why! It feels hard to me, but really is such an easy thing to help him feel loved!

6. $30 meal (3lbs of snow crab legs from the store)

7. Zodiac sign gift 
Ammon is a Taurus, so he got some Beef Jerky (a favorite snack) and his daily horoscope

8. Laser Tag Date Night at home

- Did you know that the first laser eye surgery was performed in 1988?!

We had so much fun with these at-home "laser" guns! 

9. Willow Date Night

- Willow came out in 1988 and was a family favorite movie for Ammon while growing up. I had never seen it, even though we own it, so we finally pulled it out and had a movie night!

10. Favorite Conference Talk from 1988

This was a Sunday and so I shared one of my favorite General Conference talks from April of 1988, With God Nothing Shall Be Impossible, along with my thoughts.

11. Playlist of 30 songs that remind me of him

12. 30 of his favorite buffalo wings 
Ammon loves buffalo wings. Loves them! If it's on the menu, you can bet he'll order them. But of all the places he's ever tried them, Red Robin continues to serve his all-time favorite wings.
So I called in and had them make up a box of exactly 30 buffalo wings just for him.

13. Sheet Game 
I won't go into details here, but this is a favorite every time we play! 
If you've never played this in your marriage, I highly recommend you do!

14. The Last Emperor date night

Although released in 1987, this is the movie that swept the Oscars in 1988.
We thought such a highly acclaimed movie ought to be pretty good! So we checked it out from the library, had a movie night and I made some homemade beef and broccoli to go with it.

The movie actually was kind of odd. Actually it was VERY odd. Not a keeper for us, but obviously it's somebody's cup of tea out in the world.

15.  A new 30 oz. Tumbler cup
I don't know what it is about having your very own special cup, but it's exciting whether you're 3 or 30.

16. 30 minute YouTube Playlist 
Ammon scrolls through YouTube videos the way most people scroll through Facebook - so I made him a 30 minute playlist featuring fun videos with birthday twins (people born in 1988 or on April 28th) and events from his birth year.

17. 30 pieces of dark chocolate
At the time we were eating really healthfully. So one of our treats was a piece or two of the 85% dark chocolate from Sprouts.

18. Garfield and Friends family night

- Garfield and Friends came out in 1988, so I requested Season 1 from the library and we started watching it with the kiddos for our activity for FHE. The kids surprised me with how much they actually enjoyed this over the next few days.

19.Birth element gift, Earth

- Ammon's "birth element" is Earth, which I thought was just so appropriate for him.
To commemorate his element, I made a shadowbox with pictures of our house, and some leaves/flowers of the things he'd planted there, and some of the soil or "earth."

20.  His favorite protein bars (to get him through his 30 minute workout)

21.  Bucket list of 30 things to do in Oregon
I did this with an actual bucket!

It has been so fun to pull from here and also to add to here! But these are the original 30:

1. Eat Voodoo Doughnuts

2. Pick wild berries

3. Go to the beach

4. Tour a lighthouse

5. Tour the Tillamook cheese factory

6. Eat a Dungeness crab

7. Go to Crater Lake

8. Shop and endulge at Apple Valley Country Store

9. Colombia River Gorge

10. Eat Blue Star Donuts

11. Eat at Kachka

12. See a whale

13. Visit the JapaneseGarden in Spring

14. Go to the Sea Lion Caves

15. Go to Powell's Cityof Books

16. Tour the CandyBasket Shorthill Taffy Factory

17. Multnomah Falls

18. Octopus Tree

19. Haystack Rock

20. Visit OSU (Ammon's alma matter)

21. Cobble Beach at Newport

22. Bandon Sweets andTreats

23. Eat at Burgerville

24. Mt Tabor Park

25. Eat ice cream sandwiches at Ruby Jewel

26. Shop at the farmers market

27. Eat at Salt and Straw

28. Eat at Local Ocean Seafoods

29. Oregon Dunes

30. Storybook Lane in December 2019

22. Pizza with 30 pepperoni slices
I actually bought extra pepperoni and added 30 pieces in the shape of "30" on top of the pizza. But that is a LOT of pepperoni in a small space and Ammon couldn't tell that I was trying to create a "30" - he started reorganizing the slices before it went in the oven so that they were more evenly dispersed, haha. Oh well. So the actual pizza was not so picture worthy, but, still...pizza. Mmmm.

23. Spiderman gift
Ammon's superhero of choice has been Spiderman since childhood. His mom actually had this action figure set for him and contributed to the "30 days of Thirty!" And he had been wanting some more long socks, so I also got him some Spiderman socks.

24. Chinese zodiac animal gift

- This was a Sunday and so, being born in the year of the Dragon, Ammon got a new dragon tie.

25. Birthstone gift

- Ammon's birthstone is a diamond - a bit of a stretch for a guy, and for our budget. So he got a new Arizona Diamondbacks jersey shirt.

26. Doritos, a favorite Ammon snack
I tried really hard to find a connection to "30" or 1988. Alas, the only way this was relevant was simply that Ammon likes them.

27. Slideshow featuring 30 of his accomplishments so far
I am no Boyd when it comes to video making, but considering my limited time to make this and limited talents, I thought it turned out pretty okay.

Unfortunately, this was the one day that got spoiled. The day or so before he was supposed to get this, I had left my work up on the computer accidentally. When he got home that day, he went straight to the computer for homework and stumbled upon a bit of his video surprise.

Oh well.
He still liked it! I think you will too! Give it a play!

28. 30 birthday wishes from 30 people who love him
I can't say "thank you" enough to everybody who responded to the request to send Ammon some love for his birthday. This was one of MY favorite days for him and I know it was one of his too! He is so loved and so blessed!

29. 30 balloons with 30 things to look forward to in the next 30 years written on them.

1. Finishing school forever!

2. Practicing as a doctor

3. Paying off student loans

4. Building the dream home

5. Buying land

6. Watching our children graduate

7. Becoming grandparents 

8. Ordaining Clark to Priesthood 

9. Baptizing our children

10. Taking kids to the temple

11. Dancing at our kids weddings

12. Listening to our kids bear testimony

13. Birth of Baby 4

14. Optometry school

15. Going on a mission together

16. Playing ball with Clark

17. Taking Clark fishing

18. Hearing our children's patriarchal blessings

19. Going to Russia together

20. Going to Italy together

21. Getting a dog

22. Harvesting our own honey 

23. Rebuilding muscle car

24. Buying a truck

25. Ammely being old enough to babysit

26. No more car seats

27. Empty nesting

28. 1st Paycheck as a doctor

29. Writing a book

30. Having chickens 

(Look at Number 13! We're already crossing things off!)

In theme of "things to look forward to" he also got a Pacific University t-shirt today too...
this picture is from the next day, his actual birthday, when he is wearing it!

30. Movie Tickets to Avengers Infinity Wars Date Night (30 movies in the making, HA!)
Mama was wonderful enough to agree to watch our children for us so I could take Ammon to see this long-awaited film on opening weekend, ON his birthday! It was good. So good. And also so not good. But what do you expect when it is only Part One?

We also got to enjoy his annual delicious ice cream cake of amazingness with Mama and Daddy.

Brownies layered with oreos layered with fudge layered with ice cream layered with cool whip layered with crushed oreos!

See picture above.

Ah-MAZING.

- - -

Whew!

What a MONTH! Throw in Ammely's birthday, selling our house, being 8 months pregnant, and packing - WHOA! It is nothing short of a miracle that I actually got all 30 days done!

He so deserved an awesome month though. He deserves more than I can give. We love this guy eternally and can't wait to see what happens in the next 30 years!

We Had a Birthday! (Or two. Or three.)

Birthdays are something special. As a kid they are magical and anticipated and always too far away. As an adult they act as a marker of progress, providing a moment to both reflect on the past and set new goals for the future. As a mother, I've come to appreciate them as a reminder of miracles - a testament of the incredible love and sacrifice and strength that exists at the moment that every soul makes it's way on to this planet.

In my blogging drought I have failed to document THREE of the birthdays that have happened in our family. That's a real shame and I'm here to fix that!

Ammely Turned FOUR

During the fourth month of this year our eldest child turned four. Four years of, well, just...everything. How can you explain what it is that a child adds to your life? It's just everything. I am sure glad that this sweet girl was brave enough to be the trailblazer of children in our family. She is awfully patient with me as I figure out this mothering business.

At the beginning of April, I was still just weeks out from having Clark so I tried to keep things pretty simple as we celebrated Miss Ammely. I didn't do a party or gathering this year. Instead, we had flower cupcakes to take to the General Conference/Belated Easter celebration with all of the cousins.

It's my favorite thing when the crowd is singing "Happy Birthday" to one of my children. I just know how much it means to them and I'm so grateful that my children are growing up with so many wonderful built-in friends through their cousins.

Alright, so maybe I didn't keep everything simple. We decided to decorate Ammely's room for her birthday. We (me and my dad) painted her room a really pretty light purple (her favorite colors are pink and purple - our girly girl is quite passionate about this fact). Ammon built her a beautiful picket fence for her wall which we put flower decals behind. And we got Ammely and Lynnden new flower bedding to match. It all turned out really sweet.

In addition to me being in the "postpartum, tired, lame mom" stage, her birthday also fell on a Sunday this year so we didn't do many birthdayish things on her birthday. She still got her birthday pancakes though!

Also, Daddy totally came through in the traditional "Daddy Birthday Balloon" - a note telling her that they were scheduled for a Daddy-Daughter date that weekend for this:

So after some anticipation, Friday finally came and Ammely and Daddy headed into Phoenix (with her pink post-it note invite in-hand).

To add to their adventure they parked the car and rode the "train" into downtown. It was fun, but an awfully long ride when you had so much to look forward to!

The show was definitely a hit. She talked for weeks about riding the train with Daddy to see Disney. About the princesses. About Tinkerbell flying. About Captain Hook being eaten by the Tick Tock Crock.

Plus, Daddy took her to an awesome lunch downtown at the TGIF in Chase Field. So much fun.

You know it was fun when someone falls asleep on the way home.

Ammon's Golden Birthday

At the end of April, Ammon had his golden birthday - he turned 28 on the 28th! To celebrate, the girls picked out presents for him themselves. I think they did a pretty spectacular job. ;-)

My gift to Ammon was a tour of the Biosphere 2 just outside of Tucson. His gift to himself was taking the day off of work. So after morning presents and birthday pancakes, he and I (and Clark) headed out for the day while the girls stayed home with Grandma Breakall.

P.S. One of my favorite things to do with this boy is just drive. I love long rides where we can talk and laugh and share. Plus, he's just so handsome that my view is always spectacular, even if we're just driving through the desert.

If you have not been through the Bioshphere before and ever have the opportunity to do the tour, I highly recommend it. It was quite a bit of walking and absolutely fascinating. It was one of those things we came away from just so glad that we did it. But don't just take my word for it - check it out for yourself if you can!

We certainly enjoyed the experience.

From there, we headed home so we could do his birthday cake - which the girls made for him with Grandma. I'm told it was amazing. He has requested it as his birthday cake every year from here on out: brownies, oreos, fudge sauce, chocolate mud slide ice cream, cool whip, crushed oreos. Yup. Basically all of his favorites all rolled into one.

As if that wasn't an awesome day already, we further took advantage of Grandma Breakall being in town and went out again that night, without any of our children. Wow. What a treat. We went to see the Batman V Superman movie (meh) and then picked up some Red Robin to take home! It was a full day of goodness.

Lynnden Turned TWO

At the end of June, Lynnden entered into those terrible and terrific twos. She is a ball of fire in every way, good and bad, and I have to admit that I love that about her. She's sweet. She's strong-willed. She's regal. She's a force to be reckoned with and I think that's exactly what this world and this family needs right now.

The circus is always in town around this little girl's birthday and once again Grandma Breakall was able to be in town for this little girl's birthday. As such, we were all lucky enough to benefit from Grandma's generosity and go to the circus.

The seats were fabulous. The sweets were fabulous. The show was fabulous. It truly is a great event for the whole family.

Lynnden's birthday also fell on a Sunday this year. But having learned a thing or two from Ammely's birthday we did all of our celebrating the day before. We woke Lynnden up bright and early with singing and gifts.

We got her all dressed and then let her do her "Daddy Birthday Balloon" - an ice cream Daddy-Daughter date is on the books!

After birthday pancakes, Grandma Breakall then continued the birthday spoils by taking the girls to see a movie which is always a fun time.

Then Saturday evening we invited our friends over to celebrate with us!

Grandma and Grandpa Lords showed up first with a hit of a gift: a slide! WOW. So much fun!

After patiently waiting, our friends showed up and we turned our backyard into a water play park. We converted the sandbox into a pool. Turned the sprinklers on. Had the water table handy. We even turned our new slide into a water slide for the occasion!

When the water lost it's appeal we all headed inside for the main event: singing and cake!

And Lynnden walked away from the event with even more awesome loot. And such thoughtful loot too! Like these custom, handmade bows (and bow holders!) from Aunt Amber (is there anything she can't do?). Lynnden obviously loved them - she insisted on wearing all of them...at the same time. Ha!

And these wonderful file folder games from Aunt Tamzon. Lynnden played with them all night long and they get great use every week at church. We love them!

It was such a sweet, full day. It fills my mother heart with such joy to give my children good days, special days. Especially for their birthday.

But whew. Oh boy! Those days are sure long. I'm grateful for every birthday and for all they stand for but sure am glad they only come around once a year for each of us. I might never get around to documenting them if they happened more often than that!