In March we were still just hearing rumors of the spreading virus, so we were able to celebrate Troy pretty normally. Well, normal except....he turned 50! Yes, it's true. My husband has turned 50. I really wanted to do something special - I mean, it's a big deal! For Troy's 40th we hosted a party for quite a large group. I wondered if Troy would like to do something similar for this decade. Also, because Troy's birthday is so early in the spring it's really more wintry and I usually feel like I fail at preplanning something fun for him. We are still feeling too blah in early March. But this year I was determined to plan ahead. However, Troy just was not in the mood for that. It ended up being a very mellow birthday celebration and that was just great. Really, as long as he was happy that's all I wanted.
Because Troy's whole gang of friends were also turning 50 we got to do a little celebrating with them. We gathered as a big group for a dinner at the Red Iguana restaurant. (Remember way back in the day when we went to restaurants in large groups?) I love Troy's high school friends and it was a treat to be together.
That was a couple of days before Troy's actual birthday. The night before Troy turned 50 Romney and I made a late-night dash to get balloons. We found a giant R2-D2 balloon - which, by the way, lasted for several weeks after we bought it. It was so funny having this giant robot balloon just hanging around our house. So yes, we got flowers and R2-D2 and made Troy's requested breakfast of omelets with sautéed mushrooms and peppers and onions. Yum! I was also able to *for once* pick out a present that was a surprise. And happily, it ended up being a good surprise! (This is rare.) I got Troy a mini projector so we could project movies in the back yard and stuff. It's been a lot of fun.
I also made a chocolate raspberry cake and hailed a few friends to come by. We had a pleasant evening together.
I sure do love my Troy. Time and time again I see how blessed I am to have him. Happy 50th, Troy.
Next came my birthday. Between early March and late May the world had gone through a massive transformation and was even sort of making its way back again. By the end of May we had gone through quarantine and we had been so secluded from public life. The corona numbers were going down and our state was tentatively opening things up again. (This was before our summer numbers started to absolutely skyrocket. In fact, my birthday was on Memorial Day, which seemed to be the day that everyone let themselves loose and we totally rebounded.) Anyway, for my Memorial-Day birthday (47th for me!) we had the day off. We decided it would be really fun to take a day trip to Spring City, Utah where my cousin Joe Bennion is a potter. He's been making these beautiful bread-bakers that I've been lusting after, especially since I've joined the sourdough revolution. Joe warned me that it wasn't likely that he would have any left - they've been selling out within hours of him pulling them out of the kiln. We decided it would still be a great day trip and we did have a good time. We drove to Spring City about two hours away, we stopped in and chatted with Joe, who was indeed out of bread bakers. We instead bought some mini pie plates that I'm very excited about. We also walked around main street a little bit - a really fun stop was going to a windsor-chair maker who has the most lovely shop. We had a great time chatting with him and getting a tour of what he does. We also got to see the art museum.
On our way out of town we went to a hamburger shop - we hadn't eaten INSIDE a restaurant since early March and it felt really weird but was fun too. That evening we again had a few friends over and we devoured some (of course sourdough) pizza and these custard cakes that I have been ogling at Costco forever. It's been interesting during coronavirus to really try to socially distance and not mingle with people but then you end up choosing a few families that you just decide to risk time with. We mostly stayed outside but there are definitely barriers we just relaxed with some folks. So yes, we had friends on the back porch and did not stay six feet away from them.
The final birthday of the spring season was Emma, who celebrated her Harry Potter Birthday and turned 11. We didn't really do anything to recognize Harry Potter at all, but turning 11 will also now always be connected with him! Anyway, we had a fun day - school had come to an end and this was a great way to kick off the summer. We had scones for breakfast and Emma got to open some presents - summer clothes that Romney helped me pick out, and some new paints and canvases.
We were able to get two of Emma's friends to come hang out in the backyard for a couple of hours - we ordered some lunch delivery from Panda Express and the girls did some painting on Emma's canvases. It was just starting to get hot - we had a cold spell shortly after this but Emma's birthday was quite hot. I felt bad having the girls just stay outside but that's kind of the deal these days. You want friends over? You stay outside.
One problem with having a lunchtime birthday party is that there is a whole afternoon and evening ahead and you feel like the day needs more celebrating. We were expecting my sister to come for the afternoon but then it turned out that she couldn't come until the later evening. We weren't up to much and I felt bad. So at the last minute I snagged Romney and Emma and we went out for pedicures. That was super fun.
We finished off the day by using Troy's birthday projector to watch one of Emma's favorite movies on the back porch - Knives Out. The Moore family came over and we enjoyed sitting in the summer night, fending off mosquitoes, watching a great movie and celebrating wonderful Emma.
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