Mimi's Birthday Celebration!!!

My precious Mimi turned 89 on October 19th!!!  She is the sweetest, kindest, most generous person that I know.  Mimi still acts like she is much, much younger than her age.  We are so blessed that she in such amazing health.  She dresses to the nines, hangs out with her friends, goes on shopping trips, comes to see us multiple times in Abilene, she's in the Red Hat Club, she volunteers at the Court House and the little museum in Hamilton, and so much more!  I swear she has more energy than I do...and I'm 27!  In fact, when she came down for her birthday, she was telling us about how she went out into the field behind her house and realized that one of the logs that used to border the garden was rotten.  So, she proceeded to go into my Granddad's shop and get the hand saw, go back to where the log was, saw it into three pieces, and then hauled those three pieces back to the house so she could put them out by the garbage cans.  WHAT?!?!?  You seriously couldn't pay me money to do something like that!  I won't even pull weeds in our flower bed outside!  I know that sounds bratty...but yard work isn't my thing.  If I'm going to be outside, I want to be doing something active like running, riding a bike, hiking, swimming (or tanning), etc.  Now...when it comes to the inside...I try to be like the domestic 1950's housewife (that works full time).  But me and yard work...NO THANKS!!!  So, when my Mimi is proceeding to tell me this story, my mouth was literally on the floor.  We all just started laughing in amazement and she acted like it was no big deal!  Love her!!!

Every year for my Mimi's birthday, the entire family gets together to celebrate with her.  This year, it just happened to be that the Saturday that worked best for all of us was the Saturday right after her birthday...October 20th.  She came to Abilene that Friday night.  Michael actually went down to pick her up from Hamilton.  Her car had been giving her problems for awhile and she felt that it was unsafe to drive.  It had been leaking fluids and it scared her.  In fact, she actually sold her car and bought mine!  More on that in another post...when my new car actually comes in!  He left early afternoon to go pick her up and they got back to Abilene around 6:30.  Cody and I walked across the street to go visit for a bit before they went out to eat dinner.  We had already eaten...we were both starving by 5:00!  After we talked for about an hour, we headed back home and they went on their way to dinner.

On Saturday morning, we all woke up early and got on the road by 9:30 to head to Lubbock to meet the rest of the fam.  My aunt and uncle live in Amarillo.  As do my cousin and her husband.  But, my other cousin, his wife, and their two boys live in Lubbock.  It was a good middle ground for everyone to meet.  And, since the boys are so young, we could be at their house where all their toys are.  We finally got to Lubbock around 12:30...we had to make a few stops because some of us have small bladders...cough, cough!!!  When we got there, my aunt, uncle, and cousins were already there.  Lunch was minutes from being ready...good timing!  They had prepared all the food...Mexican pile-up!  Everyone said it was super yummy.  I took my lunch because of the whole Paleo lifestyle.  I brought a turkey burger patty, a sweet potato, steamed broccoli, and carrots and an apple for a snack later in case I got hungry (I got home with no food left!).  I just knew if I didn't pack my own lunch and bring it with me, I wouldn't be able to eat some of the things that I knew would fill me up.  And I was also afraid I would be tempted to eat chips, beans, and Mexican rice.  But it looked and smelled absolutely amazing!  After lunch, we watched college football and visited for awhile.  A little bit later, everyone got hungry for some cake, so we sang "Happy Birthday" to Mimi and cut into the cake.  It looked and smelled amazing...Cody and I took everyone's word for it that it also tasted great!  It was a strawberry cake with butter cream frosting...her favorite.  She also opened her presents from everyone.  We talked for a bit longer, took some pictures together, then headed back into the truck to go home around 4:15.  All of our dogs had been home all day without relief...so we needed to be back by 7:00 at the latest to let them out and feed them.  I had put chili in the crock pot early that morning so that we would have dinner ready as soon as we stepped in the door.  I'm glad I did because we were starving when we got home!  The pups were so ready and happy to see us.  They were jumping all over the place, wagging their tails like crazy, and giving us lots and lots of sweet kisses.  We fed them, let them out, and then got things ready to serve dinner.  Dad, mom, and Mimi came to eat with us and after dinner we just kinda sat back and relaxed for a little bit...while watching college football of course!

On Sunday, we went to church as a family and then went to lunch at Mimi's favorite restaurant.  She loves the eggplant parmigiana at Olive Garden...so that's where we were headed for lunch!  Lunch was soo good!  Cody and I don't eat out hardly ever...so this was a treat!  We had to be pretty specific and picky with what we ordered.  But, we had the apricot chicken (minus the sauce) with the steamed broccoli and asparagus.  We also had some salad before the meal came, mine without the dressing!  It was nice to go out to eat and not have to worry about what to cook or the clean-up afterwards.  We ran a few errands after lunch, then headed back to the house.  I had some chores to take care of, so that's what I got started doing.  Cody mowed the yard while I was inside doing stuff.  A few hours later, Mimi was packing up her stuff to head home...in my car...tear!  It was kinda sad to see it drive off down the street...but I'm so thankful that she is in a safe, reliable, newer car that won't cause her any problems.  It was so good to see Mimi and celebrate such a wonderful woman's birthday!!!  We love you so much Mimi!!!

The entire family.  2 daughters, 2 son-in-laws, 7 grandchildren (including spouses), and 2 great-grandchildren...such a sweet picture to cherish.  My Mimi loves pictures...and I know that she will love looking back on this one and hold the memory of us all being together near and dear to her heart.

My beautiful cousin and me.  We are more and more alike the older we get!  She is so sweet and I love catching up with her...we don't see them enough!

Cody and I...he is such a hottie!  I am one lucky girl!!!

There was this old car from the 20's parked outside my cousin's neighbor's house...so we had to take a pic with it!  Mimi loves anything old and vintage...so she was in love with this car and all of us in front of it.  I hope you had an amazing and blessed 89th birthday Mimi!!!  We can't wait to celebrate many more birthdays with you!!!  I love you so very much!