30

Today I turned 30 years old!
    Yes, the big three-zero. I am finally old, right? I love birthdays and this one was fun. My friend Carolyn Hansen and I share the same birthday, and we celebrated together (see photo). We went to dinner and a movie with our hubbies.
    I had a couple of tough moments, and 30 came with a bit of a dose of reality that my birthdays are not ONLY about me anymore (the definition of growing up?), but over all it was a great day. I am actually the type to make July my birthday month...which just means I get to choose what movies we see or where we eat. (For example, we went to see the Devil wears Prada on my birthday.)
    So I still have a few weeks left to party and bring in my 30s era of life appropriately.

Richards Family Reunion

    This past week we were out in Utah for the Richards (Nate’s mom and her sisters) Family Reunion. Nate’s mom Jill has 5 sisters, so our reunion was with her sisters and their families. It was a huge group and we had a ton of fun! Here are some pictures of the entire group. Also, Nate’s Aunt Barbara (who hosted the event) made this HUGE family tree with everyone’s photos on it. She is so creative and talented!
    The reunion took place in Eden, Utah, which is up Ogden Canyon. We hiked, swam, went to the lake, played tennis, painted ceramics, made bracelets, and played games, all while visiting with our family. We don’t get to see many of our relatives very often, so it was really nice to catch up on how everyone is doing.
    This was Owen’s first trip out to Utah and the first time he met most of his relatives there. Jill and Gavin came to Atlanta for Owen’s blessing in October, but he hadn’t met anyone else! It was a lot of fun to let our family get to know our little man, and to watch him enjoy being with his grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.
    We wished we could have stayed longer and had more time to visit. It would be fun to take a month off and just be with family for a while.

Screen on the Green

    Thursday night we went out to Piedmont Park for an Atlanta summer tradition: Screen on the Green. This is (for all who aren’t from here) a fun thing they do on Thursdays in June. This past Thursday was the last one, and since Nate’s softball game was cancelled, we thought we’d go and see what all the talk was about.
    TCM puts out a huge screen in the middle of Piedmont Park and they show a TCM movie. The night we went was Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. We didn’t stay for the movie, but just went to check things out. The movie starts at sundown (about 9pm) and Owen was too tired to even try that.
    We had a great time taking a walk through the park. It’s a very picturesque way to see Midtown, Atlanta. Also, summer festivals like this are great fun and draw all sorts of crowds. There are about 10,000 people that come each Thursday night!