My 40th Birthday--The Best One So Far

What a fabulous day! It couldn't have been better!

I started off the day by picking up my niece and nephew (Macey and Nicholas) and headed to Krispy Kreme donuts with my beautiful daughter for my free dozen. YUM. (Out of the 12, I think I had 5.) Macey presented me with a beautiful portrait and Nicholas a necklace with a poem "To Jennifer. You shin more then the moon. I love you Deaer Jennifer I really do!" OK, so if that didn't make my WHOLE day! I cry every time I read it. What sweet children.


For lunch, I headed to Bertha's Cafe (my favorite place for lunch) and ate with my mom, my three sisters, Jane and Sonja. I had an asparagus and havarti panini with chicken and a roasted red pepper and goat cheese salad. Everything there is fresh and homemade. It is DELICIOUS!

After that, we headed back to get ready for the BIG BASH. So many people came to help me celebrate. I felt so loved! I especially appreciated those who came long distances just for my big day. Thank you Heather, Jane and Dana! I have such amazing friends. I am so blessed!


Friday night Blake came home with five bouquets of flowers. Sonja combined them into two vases for a beautiful splash of color. I LOVE flowers, and Blake knows that. :) I am so spoiled!

Getting all of the food ready--that was my mom's department. She is definitely the hostess with the mostest. And, as you will see in the pictures that follow, she can get down with the best of them. There was a TON of food--all of it fabulous. My mom knows how to throw a good party! (My wedding reception was KILLER thanks to her--of course, I deserved it. :)

Julie, Ryan and I
So hard to believe I'm forty!

We had fun things to do-Rock Band, ping pong, pool, air hockey and a home theater.
Here is Dana (the most yellow person I know) rockin' out.

So sad Jonathan and Raegan couldn't stay for the party. Wait--who was sad? Not me! :) Blake took the kids home (THANK YOU) and put Jonathan to bed while I warmed up my moves.

Ready to GET DOWN

Did I say I just wanted to dance for my birthday? Yep. And that's what I did for two and a half hours. I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT!

This is the second time in my life I have seen my father dance. The first time was at my wedding reception.

John and Sonja are pro's.

Alisha and Julie. Julie only danced to one song--that would be ABBA's "Dancing Queen." She just couldn't resist it.

Here's Jane, my BFF from high school, my Duran Duran buddie and eternal friend. She flew down from Utah just to help me celebrate and danced with me the whole night. Jane--we look FABULOUS for forty an' we still got it! LOVE YOU!

Here's d.j. Tim. He did a WONDERFUL job (in spite of the various power outages throughout the evening--at least it gave me time to rest). If you need a great d.j., just let me know. Worth every penny!

One of my "fab four" friends, Sheila, and I. All four of them were there, but we did not get a picture of us all together--darn it.

April, Ryan and Ayden

Not sure what Blake did on these few pictures, but they sure look cool. . .

Dana and Amy's duet. Jane, Serena (another of the "fab four") and I on background vocals. If I'm not mistaken, we were singing to Bon Jovi's "Livin on a Prayer."

No doubt this was a Duran Duran number. (Jane and I singing every word and no one else really caring. . .)

Blake and I dancing. It kinda looks like I'm shouting at him. . . Hopefully I'm just singing here. :)

This is a great shot of my sweaty head. I got up the next morning and got on the scale. I had lost two pounds! Of course, it was all sweat, and after drinking some water, I gained those two pounds back. Blake tells me he made a fool of himself dancing, but he was the only one who thought so. I think he looks DARLING. Like I always say, he is a perfect husband. And I mean it!

And here is my almost 70 year old mother boogieing with the best of 'em. And people wonder where I get all of my energy from. . .

Jen and Larry. You are BOMB, Larry! Love you!

All the single ladies
All the single ladies
All the single ladies
All the single ladies
Now put your hands up!
(OK, so I'm not single, and neither is Renee, but Dana and Julie are. And aren't they beautiful? What's wrong with all the men out there?!!)

A little salsa with my Creighton friends. Let me just interject here with this: I have the BEST co-workers EVER. Honestly. They have been so supportive of me and my family for the last fourteen years. I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't know what I will do when I am no longer a part of the Creighton Family. Hopefully that won't happen for awhile.

And speaking of the BEST, here is my best friend, Heather, dancing with my sister Julie. I couldn't ask for a better friend or a better sister!

Spencer and Alisha

Cori and Daniel

Jane and I trying to find the perfect Duran Duran song to karaoke to. We finally found "Planet Earth." It was actually a video, and neither Jane nor I had ever seen it. (I found that VERY hard to believe.) We were so distracted that we didn't do such a good job on the song. But we sure had fun singing. Speaking of singing, Karen and Ashlee also did a great karaoke number "The Devil Went Down to Georgia." No one could believe that those two had it in 'em. They did AWESOME and I loved every minute of it. What a great birthday gift to me!

Now--here is proof that I can actually dance with teenagers. These are two of my laurels (well, ex-laurels), Ashlee and Cali. They were impressed that a 40 year-old could keep up with them. That's right. And don't you forget it.

Looks like those girls needed a rest. But not me! :)

And last, but not least, Spencer's "one move."

Thanks to everyone for making what could have been a terrible day, my best birthday so far! And I appreciate all of the donations made to the homeless shelter. I took them all to Paz de Cristo, and they were delighted. I love you, my friends. And, most especially, I love you, my dear family!
Now on to at least 40 more fabulous years!