Guess what?!

That's right folks - That's a picture of me - taking a picture....with my brand spankin' new birthday present!!! True, it's not an SLR - but here's the deal... Sambo got me a digital Canon Rebel for my birthday - tangibly held it in my hands and everything. But when I took it all out of the box, turns out they changed the look of the battery. So before we go and start buying all new accessories - we decided to take it back and do a bit more research. We already have two canon batteries, why do we want a totally different one? We are all about being able to inter-change. So after thinking about it long and hard, this is what we decided to do. Take it back. That's right, after all this time, I wanted to take back my beautiful birthday present! But in the meantime - isn't it nice to have a point and shoot. Especially for your purse, especially for "gotta-capture-this-moment-right-now,-not-look-for-my-bulky-camera-and-switch-the-lense-and-get-the-settings-right", especially for UNDERWATER - yeah, ya heard me!, especially for your husband who goes through cameras like most people go through underwear, especially one that's crushproof for up to 220 lbs., yeah, especially one that's shockproof for up to 6.6 feet - that's right - you can drop this baby - sit on it - leave it in your pocket while you are swimming (only to 30 feet though!) - it's practically indestructible! When I saw it - I thought - this is the camera for us! Especially with Sam getting ready for a trip to Guatemala - gasp, he couldn't go without a camera, we are way to limited in our finances to have him use film - can't afford to develop all that film! and there is no way in you know where I would let him take his good camera! So this is the perfect solution to our dilemma!

Anyway, yesterday turned out to be about one of the best birthdays ever! I came home after work to the most beautiful roses EVER!



And that's when I got to check out my new Rebel, even if for a short time! Then we headed off to Paradiso's, where you get a free meal on your birthday! So after that, we ran a few errands and took back Camera #1 for Camera #2!!! Then Sam says we had to get home pretty quick because some very important friends of ours were coming to see us! I asked him who and he said it was a surprise!

Well, we roll into our driveway and surprise, oh surprise - who's car was there - you might have seen it before.....



That's right - Erik!!!! So we went in and couldn't find those kids anywhere - they were hiding all the way in our basement (never mind that my house is a total mess!) Luckily kids don't care! We found them, Erik, Bridget, Brittany and Tiffany!!! How sweet is that???? They spend their morning making me a cake! (Bridget is quite the chef/baker extraordinaire!) And then they came over and surprised me for my birthday! How special am I that a bunch of Sr. High kids would give up their afternoon for me???!!! The only problem is that I don't have a picture of them, because we had to charge up the new little camera, but lucky for you - I have a picture of the cake!!!!



(For those of you who missed the earlier postings on the pictures of Sam's pond, here it is - forever imbued on my birthday cake!) That's right folks, there is the Love Pond, right there - in living icing!!! Isn't that amazing??? Can you believe these guys decorated this so perfectly for me??? How cute is that - there are even some fish in the pond! (Shhh....don't tell Sam, but they are probably bigger than any fish Sam will ever have in the pond! HA!) I crack myself up!

Then, we sat down and played some serious hands of Ultimate Solitaire! Erik was confident that the score keeper always won, just because I keep the score and I always win... But I proved him wrong - he took score this time, but I still won. I know, it's a hard life, but someone's got to live it! So maybe we aren't all pro's at blongo ball - but we've all got skills, right, Erik?

Anyway, then we had to had off to Childbirth Preparation Classes, or whatever the heck you want to call them! (Much to Sam's dismay.) But it went a lot faster than last week and I thought it was pretty fun - I mean, seriously, how often to get that much of Sam's complete attention completely uninterrupted? Ok, a lot, but that's besides the point. We got to practice relaxation - so I got lots of hand massages and back massages, that was fun!!! Ok, one more night, one more night, you can do it Sammy!!! We actually got out a little early and there were some pretty epic clouds, so we took off - storm chasing! Luckily Sam had his camera and so we took a little drive. It was really beautiful! Then to end the night - Ruth, Sam's aunts Barb and Jane all came over for some yummy ice cream cake from DQ and to visit - so you can see - how does a birthday get much better than that, I ask you? (I have yet to cut Bridget's cake because I wanted to take a picture of it and was planning on doing that last night before an ice cream cake came - unfortunately I have a glucose test today at the Dr. so hopefully I don't throw them over the edge with all my celebrating!) But I'm definitely looking forward to tasting a bit of the pond - Bridget's version, of course!!!

Ok, for Rhonda and the rest of you, just going to post a couple more pictures and then I'll be done for today, ok? This is taking way longer than I thought!!!

My hottie husband, as if I had to tell you - pshaw!


Yes, a very pregnant me....


And this is the crib set that my good friend, Lori gave us.... And the yellow fabric is another fabric I found to do some accents around the nursery - It's not the best picture, but I was anxious to show you!


Ok, well, that's all for now folks! But tune in next time...for some better pictures, once I figure out what I'm doing! :)

Loving the day after my birthday in the Tundra,

Sarah