So ten years ago (and two days) I was here in beautiful, blessed Hawaii - and I had an AMAZING 20th birthday at the Bridge house on Kam Hwy here in Laie.  We had a DJ and I think half of BYUH came to my house.  Locals raided all the food in our closets...  we danced until the weee hours.  I have an awesome picture of me and some of my flat-mates on a couch in the driveway.  It was awesome!!  :)

So this week...  I turned 30.  In the same little town, on the same little rock in the middle of the big, big ocean.  But my, how things have changed!  I had my husband and my FOUR wonderful children to share it with.  I have finished my biology degree.  I have served a mission for the Church.  I have made a life with an amazing man and been blessed with my sweet little angels - all of which, are super duper adorable and lovable :)  We have owned a home, remodeled that home, tanked our credit on that home, and now finally sold that home.  We have had two of the kids on AZ, and two of them here in Hawaii.  We now live in a tiny two bedroom apartment with all my wild little peanuts smooshed all close together.  It's a constant disastrous, wonderful mess, and we love it!  (most of the time - ha ha!)

I have to admit, I was not stoked about turning 30.  Most of that I contribute towards my unhappiness with my weight and body after baby #4, and the other half I contribute to my cyclic bouts with depression.  But I really am happy with who I am at 30 and what I have accomplished...  I think I just wanted to enter my 30's a little more healthy than I did...  But you know what?!?  My gift to myself on Thursday was a positive attitude.  I decided to go for a run first thing in the morning...  wear an inappropriate and non-fitting swim suit and soak up the sun for a bit sans kids...  and I just had a great day.  I didn't party with dozens of people like I had imagined in my head (I actually avoided it since I had been feeling so so low on the days and weeks approaching my bday) but I spent it with my family and a few friends that were so kind to stop by.  :)  (thanks so much my friends - you know who you are)   I talked with my mom and dad and some of my brothers and my mother in law.  Got to skype with all my handsome nephews who I miss so so much!!!  and the best part was - that Chris made ANGEL FOOD CAKE!!  (seriously, the guy, in 7 years of marriage has only made scrambled eggs and frozen pizza)  and it was delicious :)

Today we extended the celebration by going to Haleiwa and doing a little bit of shopping and then a little bit of snorkeling and we got some more sun - it was fabulous!  I doled out my kids to three different friends to have them sit!!!  CRAZY!!  I got to sit by the pool at Turtle bay with some girl friends and have the kids play some more...   I got to eat yummy yummy avocado burger at Kua'aina's!! (SO ONO!!!)   and the other day we had Kahuku Grill - teriyaki chicken and coconut shrimp!!  so delicious!!
So it's been an amazing week :)

I'm a very lucky 30 year-old ;)   (30 and two days)

...so i decided that I'm having a positive attitude....  and I'm going to just work on loosing the weight slowly that I have gained gradually over these last two pregnancies.  After I had Keira I worked really hard and it still took about 10 months to get my weight back down.  It's going to be the same now, and I just really want to get stronger and get in shape running again.  :)  I can do it, I just need to give my body the time it needs to change, and I need to just work at it and persevere.... so anyway...  that's just my little documentation of my little milestone I hit this week.  :)  It was a pretty rad week