My Birthday

This year has been a hard one for me in regards to my BIG day.  Even though my life is far from care-free due to being married for almost an entire decade and mothering three little ones, I have always felt like I fit into the "younger group" of adulhood.  For the first time I am being forced to come to terms with the fact that I am now in the 30's group instead of the girls in their 20's. In some ways I haven't really felt young in a very long time (since Robby was born five years ago), but nevertheless I could still claim I was young in theory.  Now all of a sudden in my head I no longer sound like some "young thing" anymore. 

 Since I moved to New Hampshire in August, I have felt a renewed sense of young as I have celebrated multiple friends hitting thirty right alongside with me (and some have already proudly marched through this phase of life several years prior).  I feel like we are all still young at heart when we get together for girls nights; we can laugh hysterically at the ridiculous things that happen in small towns, share funny stories about our kids and hubbies, as well as enjoy "teeny bopper" movies while the husbands stay home with the children.  So of course I should have known that these friends would not let my birthday pass by without making sure I experienced a special evening out.  My goodness, did they ever deliver.  They threw me a surprise party that was veiled as a "Pinterest Party" the night before my actual birthday.  I walked into it excited to have a night out with friends with my official Pinterest fruit pizza in hand, only to realize that these girls had gone ALL out and decorated the community center with balloons, banners, cake, yummy treats, and the BEST coconut lime slushes all color coordinated in typical, perfect Maren fashion.  I was shocked and surprised and immediately gratified to know what great friends I have made here.  I truly feel so lucky to have gotten to know all these women over the past nine months and I am sure happy they will all be sticking around with us for another year longer!

 From left to right: Catherine Pyfer, Maren Layton, Kristie Barlow, Liz Igoe, Tiffany (me), Michelle Holbrook, Jen Fogarty, Ashley Kostle, Brittany, Andrea Dance

LOVE THESE GIRLS!!!

On my actual birthday I woke up and immediately joined several friends on the first of our "long runs" as we have begun to train for a half-marathon that will be coming up in middle May.  It was the perfect morning to go on a run and the first time I have ever really run without my Ipod blaring in my ears.  I have never realized how fulfilling it can be to just visit with friends while we go on a relaxing run together.  All in all, it brought out my running bug in full force and further motivated me to keep on training hard.  When I returned home, Jesse and the kids had decorated our front porch and downstairs with banners, streamers, and balloons.  The children were so excited to yell "Surprise....Happy Birthday Mommy" when I entered our house.  In came another influx of love into my heart.  In that moment, nothing could take away from the swelling in my heart of love.  I felt so loved and needed by my family.  And in that instant I was reminded of how close the five of us have gotten, since moving far away from our extended family and for that I am grateful. 

The presents soon followed and included new running clothes and shoes, and a brand new NINJA blender.  I have thoroughly enjoyed preparing tons of smoothies since then, anywhere from healthy green smoothies to ice cream infused fruit treats.  Not to mention how much better my feet feel in my new shoes; I can almost feel a palpable difference between running in old shoes and new ones.  The only downer to my birthday was that immediately following our "surprise party" I started to feel somewhat sick to my stomach, achy, and had some lovely GI issues.  I pretty much felt under the weather the rest of the day, that then translated into the whole weekend.....yuck. Jesse was so great with taking care of me, and allowing me to rest on the couch while we watched General Conference.  Even though he had to leave later that evening for Priesthood session, I still felt like it was a great day for me.

I have to admit that I am kind of a nerd when it comes to birthdays, including my own.  I look forward them with little child excitement and this year did not disappoint.  Although I cannot wait to be showered with more love next year on my birthday, I can wait awhile before tacking another year onto my age :)