21

I'm 21 today! That's so exciting. Well, I'm excited about it.

So far it's been a good day, good week actually. On Saturday, we went to see War Horse (one of the most incredible movies I've seen in a long time. I love, love, love this story--I've seen the play, read the book, and seen the movie, and I cried all three times. If you haven't seen this movie, go see it ASAP) and then we ate at Red Robin. Yesterday, one of my best friends--Maddie--took me to see We Bought a Zoo (another fantastic movie) and then we went to IHOP. Today, I got a wonderful card that was signed by everyone in the office, which made me very happy, and I'm going to Benihana's tonight. This coming Saturday, we'll go up to Hawksridge (our new town-home in Park City) and maybe go sledding (at least that idea was bandied about). Then, the week after that, Heather and I are going to another movie. That's right, I am stretching this birthday out for as long as I can.

Birthdays make me happy. It feels really good to know that people love you.

Veinte

A couple of Fridays ago, my dad told me that I would be starting my third decade of life pretty soon. That kind of freaked me out. For some reason saying that I'm 20 is not as stressful than saying that I have two decades under my belt, and I'm starting a third one. Even though they mean the same thing.

This year's birthday was fantastic. I love it when my birthday is on a Monday because that's when Martin Luther King Day is, which means there's a holiday on my birthday. So, on Sunday we had our family get together. Dad made the most gorgeous meal: a five course, Italian-inspired feast, which was absolutely incredible, plus the most magnificent home-made cake and ice cream you could imagine. It was just as good as Costco's All-American Chocolate Cake. Look at that cake; isn't it beautiful?
On my actual birthday, my friend Maddie and I went to Denny's for breakfast (laugh if you will, but I always associate Denny's with happy times. And I like their food). Then we went and picked Kiera up from the house, and we all wen to see Tangled. I have been wanting to see that movie since it came out, and it was so worth it! I loved it, and if you haven't seen it, you need to.

So, being 20 will be awesome, I just know it. Ok...so I don't really know it because I don't know what's going to happen, which is just the way I like it. I just have a feeling that it's going to be awesome. Thanks for all the birthday wishes, everyone! Wish me luck on this new decade.

19

It's birthday time! This year is proving out to be a really good one, yet again, and my birthday has been really fun too. It's been a whole birthday-tastic weekend. On Friday, I went home to play games with Heather and Danny, which was really fun, and I stayed over at the house for the night. Saturday was amazing, since we had a gourmet Thai dinner. Dad, Maddie, Hannah, and I cooked our little tails off last night, and created a fantastic seven (yes, I said SEVEN!) course meal. It was absolutely PERFECT! Thanks so much, Dad.

I got back to my apartment at about 12:30 a.m., only to discover that my amazing roommates had completely covered the apartment with streamers and balloons and had written "Happy Birthday, Ashley" all over the apartment. It was awesome. They were so cute about everything. My actual birth-DAY has been great too. We're going to make quiche tonight and then have Devil's Food cake with cream cheese frosting (my favorite!), and play games, and just have fun together. Tomorrow, we have a FULL schedule, and it will be epic.

I love being able to spend time with my family--cooking with my dad, having long talks with my mom, playing games with my sisters and brother-in-law (and wishing Chelsey and Aaron, who live so far away, were with us!), and spending time with all my friends. This weekend has been an amazing one, and I think I will always remember what a wonderful 19th birthday I've had.

18

Today is a special day, and I'm sure all of you know why. And if you don't, I'd be more than willing to share with you. Today is my birthday. Woohoo! Now, this birthday is special because I turn 18, which means that I am a legal adult. You know what they say: "You can turn into an official adult only once!" It's very exciting.

I think birthday's are unique and special things. Birthday's are the one out of 365 days when a person can be completely and utterly vain and selfish and totally get away with it. I mean, think about it. You get a special cake made just to your liking, in my family we get a special Sunday dinner held in our honor (which is a pretty big deal since Sunday dinners are the biggest and best meals in my family), you get multiple presents which hopefully include money, and EVERBODY pays attention to you, even if they didn't ever pay attention to you before.

I was thinking about past birthdays, and especially my past two birthday which ocurred in India. My first birthday in India was my "Sweet Sixteenth", although it didn't turn out to be so sweet. I was the "new kid" at school so no one knew me except for three people, and they didn't even really say happy birthday. The next year was better, since I actually had friends that year. Thanks mostly to Maddie, my seventeenth birthday was celebrated in and out of school, which was awesome. This is my third birthday in India, and it was by far the best. I talked to both of my sisters and Maddie today, I got to spend the whole day being a girl (manicures, pedicures, chick flicks, that kind of thing), and I have a whole slew of people wishing me happy birthday on Facebook. It's awesome being known.

Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes and presents--you all made my day so much brighter.