Thursday, January 16, 2014

birthday shebang and visitors

October was stuffed to the brim with visitors and birthday celebrations (basically it was awesome. Top it off with Halloween and it's a pretty good contender for the best month of the year!) Also yes, I'm just now writing about October. oops.

It's midnight and I was doing some late night web surfing, then thought "what are you doing! You have at least five blog posts that need to be written! So I'm going to try and condense at least two of them into one here.


 My dad surprised my mom with a ticket out to visit us for her birthday! Of course with a sweet little babe she'd barely gotten to meet (between the NICU and short trip at his birth) there was nothing she wanted more. I'd heard really good things about The Coffee Shop and its right near the airport. So as soon as I picked her up we headed straight over! It may be one of my favorite places here so far. It's totally my kind of place - similar to Kneaders but more of a hipster/urban feel to it. Very coffee shop-esque. A coffee shop/bakery/grill. They serve gourmet sandwiches, wraps, and do breakfast too. Afterward we walked around the grounds - it's out in a cool farm area called Agritopia.

The following day was my moms birthday and we made sure to pack it full. We started it off with the firefighters breakfast and then came home for a bit, headed to Oregano's for lunch (and a free birthday pazookie of course!), then were off the Phoenix zoo!




This guy was a favorite

But after seeing him yawn, we quickly decided we wouldn't want to get on his bad side.

Right?!?!

Emmett got to have lots of time playing with Gramby in his playroom, and we made sure to hit up the hot tub a couple times. When it was time to say goodbye, we were all sad. We sure love Gramby and are so happy we got to spend her birthday with her!

The next weekend was MY birthday, and it just so happened it was the weekend of a cheap flight for my sister Kirsten! The coffee shop was such a success the first time, we (I) couldn't help making a pit stop on the way home again. Well actually The Coffee Shop is in the same place as Joe's Farm Grill (another delicious place that was on Food Network's Diners, Drive ins, and Dives). And Joes Farm Grill gives you a whole free meal on your birthday. So we went there first and split my birthday meal then walked over to the Coffee Shop for dessert.



This burger may look ordinary but it was topped with sauteed mushrooms and fresh blue cheese crumbles... it was delish.


Good thing we split our cupcake, cause when Jared come home from work he surprised me with this torte from Wildflower Bakery -which I'd never been to but am now a big fan!


Love this boy!!

Here's what the inside looked like... Yum. The bottom layer was like a soft homemade english toffee. And all that thick cream on top was heavenly. Almost cheesecake-ish


Oh and I forgot to mention that we went to Verizon the night before and picked out my birthday present!!


That's right, I joined the modern world and FINALLY got a smart phone!!! Ive been waiting for so long! And just like everyone says, I now don't know how I used to do without it! (Not sure that that's a good thing) Anyhow, I was beyond excited and love the cute buttercup yellow color!

That night we got MORE free food at Joe's Real BBQ (yes its the same Joe as Joe's Farm Grill. He does real well around these parts. And for good reason. His food is ahhhmazing). Gee on this post I'm realizing it seems like we just ate and ate and ate the entire day long... which I guess we did! 

Kris and I got up early on Saturday and headed out to Nordstrom Last Chance where we cleaned up with my birthday money! We then headed over to Scottsdale to Sprinkles Cupcakes which I've always wanted to try! 


I don't know if I can say it was without a doubt the best cupcake I've ever put in my mouth... but it was pretty darn good! You can tell its made with much finer ingredients than the average cupcake. 

That evening we went to my ward halloween party, but I'm saving that for the next post :)

I was so lucky to have family here on/around my birthday, cause really that was the best gift I could have asked for! I love them and miss them so much and had the best time partying it up and eating ourselves sick. haha what are birthdays for?! Emmett was beyond thrilled as well. Thanks to everyone who called, texted or left a facebook message for me - you all added to the wonderful day! 

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