36th Birthday

Saturday was my 36th birthday. I don't know if that officially qualifies as being old yet, but I do know that it most definitely isn't young. Well, I've heard it said that getting older is certainly better than the alternative.

Highlights of the weekend included:

• Getting to go out for coffee and a movie with Amanda on Friday night. We watched (and I really enjoyed) the latest Harry Potter movie.
• Spending Saturday morning with my best friend Brian and his family, which included:
• Eating cinnamon crunch bagels from Panera (they're mouth-gasmic I tell you!) along with a fruit salad that Brian prepared, at a picnic table near the American River.
  
• Watching athletes transition from the biking stage to the paddling (mostly kayaks) stage of an untraditional triathlon called 'Eppie's Great Race'.
• In the evening, we had a few friends over for pizza, games (foosball, darts, etc), and a dessert consisting of 7-layer bars and rumcake (my sister's phenomenal recipe). It was a great time and my only regret was not taking any pictures of it.

Special thanks to Bill, Michael, and Heath for helping me move the treadmill upstairs, to Brian and his family (with us in the above picture) for the morning idea and for helping me feel appreciated, and to my wife Amanda for her hard work preparing for and during the party. I only wish I could/would have made her feel as special for her birthday last month.