45 years for me!

 Happy birthday to me! I am 45!  Wow!  How time goes so quickly when you are having fun.  AND this year has been so fun.  I have loved so much of my 45th year on this earth.  We had a few ups and downs, but I will say mostly ups!!  Stephen and I flew to Phoenix to surprise Blair for her 40th birthday.  We stayed with Chelsea and had so much fun.  We got massages and went golfing.   She moved into a new house and it was the perfect place to stay.   Saturday we drove up to Phoenix and watched Nate Bargatze the comedian, perform.  Craig bought us really good seats and it was fun to be so close to all the action.  

Chelsea threw me a birthday party at her house!  She invited a ton of people and we all got in the pool and swam.  It was so fun!  She really is the best!!  I am so grateful to have her in my life.  We flew home early Monday morning to begin preparing for our big move to San Francisco this summer.  I can not believe we are actually doing it.  It will be crazy!!

 

 

Fathers Day

 Happy Fathers day to the absolute best husband and father a girl could ever ask for.  I love Stephen and he is always giving and so kind to my sweet sweet boys.  We went to Craig's house for dinner and swam in his pool for father's day.  It was a perfect afternoon. I am always so grateful to my dad.  He is extremely generous.  I couldn't ask for a better father.  He is always willing to help with all of my projects and that really makes my life easier.  

 

SWEMB BIRT Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware

Pennsylvania was our official 50th state!  It was so fun to cross in to the state and cheer as we reached a huge milestone in our adventures.  I am hoping someday my boys will appreciate the sacrifice and planning it took to make something like this happen.  I was overwhelmed with joy to be able to mark this as one of the bucket list items for my life.  We stopped in Gettysburg on Friday and drove through a lot of the war sites.  It was actually cooler than I thought it would be.  There was so much to see and we played a podcast that started and stopped as you drove near specific historic sites.  It was interesting to hear what happened at each of the over 1,000 monuments in place at Gettysburg.  Both boys actually enjoyed seeing the war sites and hearing about the history.  

We stopped at an Amish bakery and grabbed lunch and then headed to Philadelphia.  We wanted to eat a real Philly cheese stake and searched for the perfect place.  We happened to find this hole in the wall restaurant and it was absolutely delicious.  Edward couldn't even finish his food because the sandwich was so big!  

Saturday morning we woke up and headed into downtown Philly.  The night before was a world cup game in the city so it was crowded.  I really wanted to run up the "Rocky steps" with the boys and take a photo of us cheering as we marked off our last state.  

 We then went to see the liberty bell, Independence Hall, walk through parts of the city before we headed back to the airport in Baltimore.  By this time, Edward was very much ready to head home.  He had seen all he wanted to see and was antsy to get to the airport.  Seven days is about as long as he can be away from home before he really wants to sleep in his own bed.  

 Melanie's kids had not been to New Jersey or Delaware so we made two little stops to see parts of those states for her kids.  My boys had only driven through them when they were younger so it was a good refresh for us too.  New Jersey smelled awful because of the location we chose to stop and Delaware was charming.  

 

This was such a wonderful way to finish our trip.  We love the Iverson family and I am so grateful they will indulge my desires.  We saw so many things on this trip and it might be our best SWEM BIRT yet!!  Although, both my boys might say the first one was their favorite because it was two weeks long and we had so much fun in the party bus together.