Kate is 5!

Last week I was able to make it up to Kate's 5th Birthday Party. 

When Kelly told me that Kate put me as first on her invite list, I knew I had to be there!

I love coming up and being able to go to the kids birthday parties. It is so fun to celebrate with them and remember all of their parties throughout the years. 

It makes living in Utah so great to be close to the kids. 

Because Kate has so many boy friends she had a "Princess & Pirate" party. 

We may have messed up on the cupcakes, but everything else went great. 

The boys were good helps during the party too. 

I loved having Seth come sit by me at the end and the small moments that he lets me still put my arm around him or hold his hand. I don't want him to keep growing up. 

This was the most shocking moment of the day…they actually smiled. 

families are forever.

Today is my 27th birthday. 

I have to be a little honest. 

I wasn't that excited about it. 

I feel like I should have a baby or something at this age. 

But last night, as I was contemplating life on my birthday eve, I thought less about myself and more about my family. 

27 years ago I was born into the Robins family. 

{Dad, do you still have that shirt?}

And when I think about the concept of families it sometimes boggles my mind. 

A lot of time in life we are constantly looking for friends. 

I know I have been with my move and it happens in lots of different stages of life. 

The sometimes struggling ability to find people that you like, and they like you, that you can talk to them and I think the most important--be yourself around them. 

A lot of the time that is very hard to find and the search for friends is constantly happening. 

Yet, in life we have been blessed with instant friends in a family. 

You are given a family that has to like you! 

They have to accept you and love and they become your longest lasting friendship that you have ever had which makes you so comfortable around them. 

Perhaps I am rambling now but when you really think about, its amazing! 

I am so grateful for two incredible sisters that I LOVE hanging out with. 

I love being their little sister.

I couldn't be proud to call them my sisters and friends. 

I just love the concept of a family. 

An instant group of friends that love you and care for you. 

And if that isn't enough, you've been given two parents that have so much love for you that you can't even comprehend everything they have done for you!

 How awesome is it to have that many people in your life with so much love!

But wait, it gets even better! You get these people, that love you and are your best friends…really forever! I get to spend eternity with my family.

So that is what I have to be most grateful for on my own birthday. 

My family members who I have been given that I love so much. 

Thank you for loving me for 27 years. 

{and I may not have a kid at 27 but I have 7 of the best nieces and nephews around that I love almost as much}

26.

I have no shame in admitting that my birthday is my favorite time of the year. 

Ok, maybe a little shame in the fact that there's a day that is all about ME. 

But thats the great thing about birthdays. Everyone has that day and we get to use it as an excuse to be a little prideful for just a day. 

Or a week if you choose....

I just love January 22. 

But of course like every year, it gets a tad bit less exciting. 

Like this year. 26 just for reals seems too old. 

{now only 4 years till..}

I wish I could go back to my golden years sometimes. 

That being said, I may or may not have had some pre-birthday blues which I was trying so hard to fight off. 

But needless to say, it still turned out to be a great birthday. 

Birthday celebrations kicked off a few days before with a great skiing day with Cortney. 

I love being close to her again and that we can hang out! 

Cort hooked me up with a free ski pass from Paul's work and let me borrow boots and poles to go with my new skis. 

It was a great and warm day on the mountain and I didn't feel too rusty. 

{Being above the inversion made for such a great day!}

Its so funny to think that we have been best friends and the "roommates" since we were 18!! 

My actual birthday was filled with working and hearing lots and lots of "Happy Birthday Ms. Robins!" {which that alone can make my day!} due to my favorite co-worker bringing me balloons to work and my boss treating me to a little piece of home with In-N-Out for lunch. 

I got to FaceTime with some of my favorite little ones. 

And celebrated with some of my favorite pizza and friends. 

For me the greatest part of birthdays is just the reminder of how blessed I am with so many wonderful friends and a stellar family that love me, and of course I love in return. 

I was bombarded with so many texts, phone calls and FB posts that sure did make me feel special, but more importantly made me grateful for those friendships. I am always blown away at how lucky I am for having the greatest friends. Thanks for helping me love my birthday! 

Here's to being one year older...and wiser too. 

the weekend.

this weekend was a pretty good. 

no outlandish traveling

or big outings planned

but a weekend with great California weather 

with family and friends 

and perhaps even the beach.

Doesnt get much better than that. 

On Friday, we celebrated my sweet nephew Chase's 5th birthday.

He is adorable, funny and my little buddy.

he cracks me up. look at my most recent fb status for proof.

gives me great hugs and lots of kisses. 

seems like yesterday Kelly and I flew home to surprise Laura in meeting Chase for the first time as a brand new babe. 

Apparently it was already 5 years ago. But I feel like it just happened. 

Beach was on Saturday. 

I took Shylettera to Venice Beach for her first time. 

As always, the crazy homeless and hippies were out in full force

allowing Shy to enjoy the Venice strand in all of its glory

which is exactly why I love it so much. As well as all of the vendors too.

Shy touched the {freezing} water. I refused. 

But we still sat on the sand and enjoyed the perfect 75 degree temps 

hopefully this summer weather is here to stay. 

Enjoyed some more 80+ weather on Sunday for a bit. 

And enjoyed these cute kinds even more. 

hope you had a great weekend too!!

quarter of a century.

Well. It happened. I turned the big 2-5. 

Despite my love for all things party and birthdays I was nervous I wouldnt be excited with this upcoming birthday. I mean, its kind of a big deal, right!? But it came and I was just as excited as ever. 

I starting brainstorming for my birthday months ago. And was a little stumped.

The NR3 guys moved out of their house. So no party there. 

Granada Hills doesnt offer many great hang outs for a party. So a repeat of the golden year was out too.

Much to my dismay, most of my crew here complains of birthday dinners. There goes the Lanai tradition. 

And my mother hates when I have more than 2 people over at the house. Oooof. 

My birthday was on a Sunday. Hard to celebrate then.

And it was Stake Conference weekend. No dinner outings on Saturday night. 

Then my father informed me that him and my mom would be out of town Friday night, no family celebration then that night either. 

I was getting a little bummed. And out of ideas. 

Sitting at work one day, it was like a lightbulb just turned on. 

Parents out of town? House to myself on a Friday night?

Let the secret party plans begin. 

Linden offered to make me a cake. I thought of some great decorations. Sent out the facebook invite. 

I had myself a party in the works. 

And it turned out to be a great success and one of the best birthdays.

I started the evening out with dinner

 (Lets be real, Im not not gonna go to dinner!) 

with a group of great ladies. 

Then back to my house for cake, chatting, a Dodgers pinata and dancing for the rest of the night. 

I was so proud of my Pom Poms that I made!! They were so adorable and perfect. They are still hanging up cause I refuse to take them down yet. Thanks pinterest!! 

Some of the party people gathered waiting for the pinata.

Im a little disappointed in myself for the lack of photos. 

(Allie Barker dont get mad at me!)

My excuses are that one, I was having too much fun to be bothered with snapping photos

and two, well I was still on the fence about coming clean to my parents and didnt want photographic evidence. 

The party was such a success! I had so much fun celebrating by dancing and being surrounded by all of my friends. 

And of course the celebrations continued on throughout the weekend with two family dinners and forcing my family to tell me all the things they loved about me. (I wont let that tradition die either!)

And so here is to being twenty-five. 

Inside I tell myself this means I need to be an adult. 

Although I fight it by still claiming hot dogs are my favorite food, sleeping until past 10 on the weekends and still living with my parents. 

But Im happy knowing that I like this 25 year old version of me more than the 20 year version of me. And knowing that, I think the years will just continue to get better. 

And as a finally side note, as I sat in Stake Conference on Saturday night, listening to my dad speak on honesty and integrity...having my friends poke me throughout the whole talk...needless to say, I came clean about my party. 

next time...bring sunscreen.

A few weeks ago my friend Christina celebrated her 24th birthday.

One of the many things I love about Christina is that we have been friends since the 7th grade!

We immediately bonded once we discovered we were both members of the LDS Church.

We stayed friends through the years, even took a class together at BYU and thought she didnt like me very much. But our friendship then turned to really only facebook stalking. 

Christina moved back into the ward around January and almost immediately I feel in love with her and became the closest of friends. 

Some things I love about Christina:

She is the most thoughtful and sincere person ever.

She has a legit job! Career woman!!

She is nice to everyone. Ive never heard her say a negative comment ever. 

She is hot!

Has amazing dance moves.

Obsessed with The Bachelorette.

(thanks to me)

She meets me for lunch every Tuesday. 

To celebrate her birthday she invited me on a weekend trip to Catalina Island. 

She wanted to conquer her fears of the ocean with an underwater sea trek. 

But it got cancelled!

We were so bummed.

But still had a fun time. 

I havent been to Catalina since middle school and loved it so much! It is such a cute town and kept wondering why I never moved here to spend my summers! I would have loved that!!

Our activities included:

An early early morning boatride. 

Kayaking. 

A seagull snapping some nachos right out of my mouth.

(not pictured, but totalllly happened.)

Lunch. 

 I love me some fish and chips.

Not sea trekking. 

Beach time. 

With our afternoon activity cancelled, we decided to enjoy the warm weather and lay on the beach for just a bit. Due to some serious lack of sleep by both us (going to bed at 1AM and waking up around 4:40AM) our short jaunt to the beach turned into a three hour nap. with no sunscreen. We were passed out. Im pretty sure I snored. We didnt even have towels, just straight up laid on the sand, and I didnt even take my cover up off. The only times I woke up was to flip over and then eventually woke up because I could feel my skin begin to hurt. 

Needless to say I have had to endure a terrible sunburn, lots of advil to help the pain, and then shedding practically all of my skin. gross. 

Dinner at The Lobster Trap.

I tried clams and Christina enjoyed her lobster. 

Breakfast at Sally's Waffles.

Love you Christina! I am so grateful for your friendship. 

Thanks for an amazing birthday trip to Catalina.

my birthDAY.

The best part of having my birthday party on Friday night

was that I still had ALL day Saturday to look forward to and continue my birthday celebrations. 

My friends must also really love me. 

Because after partying the night before, they all met me the next morning for a birthday breakfast at Emle's. 

A special thanks to Tom for going half-sies on french toast and a breakfast burrito. 

A perfect breakfast combo. 

Another thanks for the entertaining magic tricks. 

Which is still boggling my mind. 

Next up was getting pampered with Laura as we got manis and pedis.

I gave her the recap of the party, chatted about life and discussed the morning birthday phone calls. 

One of my favorite things that happened on birthday occurred because of the following conversation...

The day or so before my birthday I told Chase about my party.

He replied by asking "What kind of party are you having Lee?"

Thinking that ALL parties have either Peter Pan or Buzz Lightyear themes. 

When I replied that I didnt have a theme, he informed me that I was having a Rapunzel party. 

When I told him that I was having pinatas at my party,

he asked when he was getting to go to my party,

when I told him it was after his bed time,

he didnt get it. 

He didnt understand how I was having a party that he wasnt going to be able to go to. Especially a party with a Jesse pinata. 

In order to include him in the celebrations, my parents came over to Laura and Matt's house early on Saturday and we had a little party of our own to include Chase.

Full of playing musical chairs (Chase won.) and duck, duck, goose. Pretty amusing seeing the adults chase Chase (ha) around our little circle in the middle of the family room. 

We opened presents and sung Happy Birthday. 

Then the adults went off for a fabulous birthday dinner at Cafe Bizou. 

We got spoiled with an amazing selection of appetizers and to die for entres. 

Ill take some crab cakes, sesame seed crusted salmon and potato pancakes any day.

The candle lit ambiance would have made T. Hoyt  giddy like a school girl. 

My family went around the table and told me all of the things that they love about me. 

I cried a bit and we all laughed. It was really sweet and fun. 

My night ended with hanging out and chatting with Trom. 

At which Tom insisted that for the last 30 mins of my birthday we go to MOP (make out point--although, no making out is allowed) to celebrate the last bit of my day. I was glad that Tom was insistent on still celebrating as much as we could.

And that was the end of my amazing birthday. 

Probably my best one yet. 

I dont know why people say they dread their birthdays as they get older, I love mine more with each year and they keep getting better and better.