happy birthday

yesterday was my birthday - and what a birthday it was!

i spent most of the day with branson. i needed a new drivers license (mine expired yesterday) so we went to the drivers license division in sandy and then went and picked out tuxes for our wedding.

fyi: they're gonna look good. so just know that out of the 13 men in tuxedos, the one who will look the best is getting married that day, two have been off the market for 20+ years, two are going into the mtc during the summer and are off limits for two years, two are date-able - their names are taylor and blake - check them out, one is a 14 and wishes he was date-able but alas he is not, one is 12 and already has 6 girls chasing after him, so you'll have to take a number or just knock out your competition, and one is 10 and will be the one greeting you at the door. when you see him, say something along the lines of "braden, you look good!" it will be fantastic.

and last but not least is the cutest of them all...
the dreaded pirate roberts. thats right. wesley.
he'll be the little boy running around in a tux.
i can't wait.

after that, we met branson's sister kendyll at cafe rio for lunch. i just adore kendyll. she is so cute! and so nice. truth be told, i've always been nervous about having a sister-in-law. what if she didn't like me? what if i didn't like her? that would be unfortunate. but fortunate for me, i am getting the best sister-in-law ever! i couldn't ask for a better one than kendyll. she's great. i'm so lucky!

after lunch, we went back to my place and watched a few episodes of the west wing (if you didn't catch by now, i took the day off of work. and it was totally worth it) because we had a little downtime. i ironed a dress and we watched the episode where president bartlett gets sick and has an "episode" (if you watch the show, you know what i'm taking about. and if you don't, well, too bad for you because i'm just gonna leave it at that and if you're truly interested and promise to take good care of the discs, i'll let you borrow them. maybe.)

and now on to the best part of the day. better yet, the best day of my life.

so i'm getting married in june, right?
and my brother leaves on his mission the week after, right?
right. so we both, at some point, needed to go through the temple. so we talked to our bishop and stake president and cleared it with them to go together and do it on my birthday. and can i just say that it was the best birthday present ever! it was such an amazing experience. i can't even fully explain how wonderful it was. and not only was i with my brother, but a lot of people that i love also came. my grandparents and most of my aunts and uncles were there, my cousin kiley came down, my cousin jonny and my cousin kathy, our good friends alex and sarah, our south carolina chef mock too. but most importantly,
branson was there with me.

i can't tell you how overwhelmed with joy i was when i walked into one of the rooms and saw my family there waiting for me. it was the most amazing feeling. i definitely saw a glimpse into heaven. that's what it will be like. me and my family and the people that i love. yup, that's heaven to me.

i wish i could think of the words to express how i felt. but i'm afraid my vocabulary is much too limited to do so. just know that it was the best day of my life. and that it couldn't have been better.

after the temple, we went to dinner at sizzler. taylor brought the rest of the kids and we rushed in right before it closed. it was nice to be there with the rest of my family. i love them. seriously. i have the best family in the world. we all took full advantage of the salad bar and all-you-can-eat shrimp and ate too much. and then went back to my parents house.

i just have to take a minute and say how much i love my parents. i know everyone loves their parents and thinks their parents are the best, but i really think mine dominate everyone else. they are so generous and kind. they do so much for everyone! ask anyone who knows them, they'll tell you that they are great. see, its not just my biased opinion. anyway, they are so good to me and i will be forever in their debt. i owe them basically everything. i'm so grateful for them and i hope they know how much i love them and am so glad that they are mine forever!

on top of everything else, they had gotten me a few presents: the long awaited, thought-it-would-never-be-published, amazing transcripts of george winston. now, if you don't know who george winston is, i highly recommend that you find out. he is a phenomenal pianist. i'm not lying when i say he's one of the best. and trust me, i know good from great, and he is quite great. (and part of the excitement is due to the fact that the man has not ever published sheet music or anything. any songs of his i play are because i learned them by ear. so you can imagine the joy i felt when i saw the actual notes!) i'm so excited to play his songs! (and guess what?! my turquoise piano is already in the house we're going to live in... so i'm even more excited. playing george winston on my turquoise baldwin upright grand... can life get better than this? i submit that it cannot! ha ha ha) but not just that - my parents also bought me a knife. not just any knife, though. a cutco knife. but not just any cutco knife. the santoku knife. i have been in love with that knife ever since i saw our south carolina chef mock use it when he made us dinner. he swears by that knife, and so do i. and now i have my own. i'm in love with a knife. ha ha.

basically it was the most amazing birthday ever. i couldn't have asked for a better day. and to top it all off... it felt like spring! it was sunny and fairly warm most of the day.

just another way it was a great day.

happy birthday to me.