Twenty Eight

I turned twenty-eight last week.  I actually like getting older.  For now.  Everyone I admire most is much older than me.  They seem to have it more together than us twenty somethings.  They actually look more put together in appearance, they are settled into a home of their own, they handle their children with more maturity.  So for now I welcome age, growth, and maturity.  I especially like when James' birthdays role around.  Another year older, another year wiser is my hope each year.  He thinks thirty is going to be a magic year of maturity for him.  Fingers crossed.
My day was very low key.  My sweet friend, Chrissie dropped by a double pack of cookies and a balloon, I received lots of phone calls, texts, and FB Happy Birthdays.  And my sweet in laws came by that night to hand deliver me a present and a bundt cake.  They're the best.  On Friday night I celebrated with my mom and sister at dinner, and then on Saturday I celebrated with pedis with my girlfriend's Shannon and Wendy.  My favorite day of celebration was on Sunday with my little family.  We ventured into the city and spent a wonderful day exploring and walking around.  We parked in Union Square and walked on Stockton street through China Town and all the way to Pier 39.  It was a long walk with a couple steep hills, but it was a beautiful day and good company.  Jackson enjoyed seeing the sea lions and let out the greatest laugh when he first spotted them.  The wind really started to blow strongly so we didn't spend much time on the pier.

After seeing an ANT Farm episode (a show that takes place in San Francisco) where the students visited a fortune cookie factory, Ben has been asking me if we could do the same.  So we stopped by two in China Town.  The workers were not at all friendly- I literally got a single chocolate fortune cookie swatted out of my hand by one.  But we could see them at work and got to see how the little dough gets pressed in tiny round presses and then watch the lady hand place a fortune in them and fold them into their iconic shape.  Ben also begged to get a fortune from Houdini (aka Zoltar).  He didn't understand a word of his fortune- neither did I really.  It was fun to explore some new things in the city instead of just doing the same old things we usually do.

For fun I wanted to record down 28 things I want to either do better, start doing, or keep doing.

1. get back into an exercise routine
2. eat healthier- more fruits and veggies
3. learn new recipes
4. bake and cook more with Ben 
5. play more board games
6. read (haven't done much of that since graduating . . . with my english degree 
7. go to bed earlier
8. have more patience with Ben 
9. have more girls days and nights
10. more date nights
11. plan out weekly meals
12. stick to my budget
13. get a part time job
14. do more photography
15. read scriptures as a family
16. read scriptures on my own 
17. go camping
18. make lots of homemade popsicles
19. do more art projects with the kids
20. wake up earlier 
21. fold the laundry and put it away when it's dry- not two days later
22. serve others 
23. make a new friend
24. do something new as a family every month 
25. continue saving for and searching for our first home
26. make more things with my hands
27. take lots of photos and videos
28. express and show more gratitude     

I welcome you twenty-eight.  I think you are going to be good to me.