So, I'm 30 Now...

Yup, it happened. I turned 30. Not as bad as id expected. I had a wonderful birthday thanks to an amazing husband and fantastic friends and family.
The trip to Phoenix was part of the birthday celebration, so I decided to just have a calm birthday on Monday. Spend time with lily and Mark, go to the gym,  go to sushi, shop at the mall and take a nap.
We were on our way home from the mall, when I opened the front door, and to my surprise my friends and family were waiting to greet me! Mark, my mom and mom #2 had thrown me a surprise birthday party with some of my favorite people. I'm not very good with parties and surprises, the shy Andrea comes out and I hear that I was almost hiding when I saw everyone, though I was really happy to see everyone. Lol
I am so grateful for the people in my life. Who love me enough to make this a great birthday. I have been really dreading turning 30. Especially since I have not achieved most of my goals. But hopefully, if god allows it, I will have another 30 years to achieve them. And if I mention 30 as being old again, I may get punched in the face by my friends. Here are some pics of my fun 30th birthday:

first act of 30, got shredded in the box. Like my new kicks? Its become a birthday tradition.

I have so much fun with him

nice notes from friends, so sweet

some of my ladies from the gym. They are so awesome...abby was missing, so we thought we'd make a balloon Abby to join the par-tay

the three Jenns

love these people...(right to left) Kristine, Jonathan & Alyssa Gardner, Stephen & Lucy Larese, dad, grandma O, mommy, jenn Neely, jenn wolf and jenn delasandro...on, and LILY! (mom#2 taking photo)

surprised! Should have gotten a pic of the crown, it said 33th, instead of 30th...I had a good laugh.

 

oh, we love sushi.

my birth displayed for all to see..thanks Tina 😉

Just the Two of Us

Remember the time mark planned this amazing trip to Las Vegas, and I said I did not want to go because I could not leave Lily for three days? Yeah, it happened. I had been planning to visit Vegas for my 30th birthday, but when the idea was close to becoming reality, I chickened out. I can't even let her sleep in her own bed, how could I leave her for so long?
Well, instead Mark pulled through and planned a wonderful weekend getaway to a resort in Phoenix. It was still hard to leave lily for two nights, but once we were driving, we enjoyed the time together. This is the first time mark and I have been alone overnight in over two years. It was wonderful to be with him, no distractions. I realized just how much I love spending time with him. We have so much fun together, we talk all the time, laughing and being able to be close to each other was missed. I really love him. He is my best friend.
We had fun spending time at the pool getting some sun, shopping and eating out. We went to the Casino, which was Mark's fathers day present. He managed to win $70 playing roulette. Once I started getting hassled by drunk people, it was time to cash out and go back to the resort. It was short, but definitely worth every minute.
I am so grateful for my loving husband who planned such a wonderful trip, just the two of us and I hope to share many more trips with him in the future. Maybe next time i'll be brave enough to go away to Vegas... maybe.

dinner at Fogo de Chao. Love marks glowing eyes...

more please!

loved the waterfall and lazy river.

getting some good R&R; had to dodge a few drunkards, but overall we had a blast.

 

love him!

and of course the princess gets a gift from our trip. A new Sofia dress! So hard to get her TO take it off.

 

 

Whats Up Lately?

Here are some pics of what we've been up to now that its hot...

Walking Sabine canyon, there was NO water... pretty dang hot.

 

lily is learning to swim!

under water baby

TMC Meet me down town 5k #2

Yay! We finished our 5k of the year! Was pretty worried about this one considering I have only practiced a handful of times this year, foot aches when running and have gained like 20lbs since last years run... but this year was not so bad! We ran without lily so she could have fun with grandparents in the museum and mark ran for his own time. My goal was just to keep it under 40 min which I think I did. It was alot of fun, people running are awesome, encouraging each other, and the people spraying hoses are life savers. Not a whole lot of drinking stations, which left me desperate, but had fun non the less. Excited to do it again next year, but I will definitely want to run a better pace.

 

Wildcat for Life

I can no longer claim I am more educated then Mark. Mark is now a college graduate from the University of Arizona Eller College of business management, with an emphasis in accounting. We are so proud of Mark. He worked very hard in school, with his activity in Beta Alpha Psi, ended with a 3.6 GPA, and made it into the Masters program for the Fall. I’d like to say his school journey is over, but we have one more year of graduate school, and taking the CPA exam and THEN maybe we can be done. Mark also got an internship with a local accounting firm, KLK in the fall, so he is going to be very busy (poor guy). I am going to try to not act like a lonely wife, cause I know we won’t get much time together, but I know in the long run it will be to our families benefit. Mark has always been ambitious, and I know that his hard work will pay off.

The graduation ceremonies were great, U of A really knows how to celebrate. We had a breakfast Friday morning for the accounting graduates, each graduate was represented and shared their accomplishments and future plans. It was amazing to hear all of the students accomplishments! Some graduated with 4 majors, some created their own business and some were accepted into graduate schools like MIT. As I listened to their accomplishments, it made me really regret not doing more with my education. I love and appreciate learning more now than I did when I was younger. I wasted so much time being concerned about dating, appearances and marriage that I completely neglected my education. I completed what I was supposed to, scrapping by with a bachelors, but I could have done so much more. That’s one thing I want my children to know, do what will make you happy, never feel pressed to marry or get a career, but never take for granted the opportunity to gain an education. Marriage\family will come and you have time to meet the right person, but education takes desire and a lot of effort. I think it was Ghandi who said, ‘live like you will die tomorrow, learn like you will live forever’ something like that. I want to return back to school once mark is done with school, possibly for my masters? We shall see.

 

 

 

all the many group selfies

you get a key chain instead of a degree

                                                    celebrating at sullivans

 

It was bittersweet to not have Randy at the graduation, I know mark felt his absence, but I know he was cheering him on in spirit. We threw a surprise breakfast party for Mark on Saturday, invited his friends and those who had an impact on his life. His pediatrician Dr. Smith and his 4^th grade teacher Mr. Tipper attended which was really awesome. He was definitely surprised and we had a good time eating Tinas famous pancakes.

We are exhausted after this weeks celebrations, but we are happy to take down one more life step towards progress. One more year!!!