41 Was The BEST Birthday Ever!

 Friday, September 22nd was my 41st birthday!

My alarm went off at 5:00 a.m. just like it does every other Friday and I stumbled around my room in the dark trying to put on my exercise clothes, tennis shoes etc. and get ready to go to aerobics.

When I finally was ready I headed downstairs to the kitchen to get my water bottle, flipped on the light, and found this BEAUTIFUL sight!!!

"WHAT THE HECK?????"

(I laugh now at my initial response because I NEVER say "what the heck." EVER. :)

But I was literally in shock at what I was seeing...I knew that one day I would get my ring fixed, but I really didn't know WHEN or HOW I would get it...and I definitely wasn't expecting it now!!! At 5:00 a.m...but Clint wanted to surprise me and THAT he did!!!

 I pulled out a seat and sat at the table admiring the shiny ring sitting in the beautiful box...

I remember whispering to myself..."No Way! :)"

I sat admiring it and feeling my eyes swell up with tears...tears of love and gratitude...

And then it hit me. This is MY ring!!! I can put it on!!! :)

So I did. :)

 I put it on and ran back upstairs and crawled back under the covers with Clint.

I found him laying there just like a little kid at Christmas! He had been awake off and on throughout the night anxious with butterflies and excitement...almost as much he said as "the day he first asked me to marry him!" He KNEW that I would be so happy and he KNEW that I would be right back upstairs to find him, and he was RIGHT! 100% right!!!

He said he wanted to follow me to see my reaction, but he knew that if he would have that the surprise would have been over (because he NEVER gets up with me at the crazy morning hour of 5:00 a.m.! :) So, he waited patiently for me and then when I climbed back in bed and smothered him with kisses, he recounted to me all of the details of when and where and how he pulled it off. It was so fun to hear all of the details, but it was even more fun to see how excited he was for me to HAVE it. I tell you that man has NEVER had to buy my love, but he does more to spoil me than I ever thought I deserved...He is soooo sweet and oh so good to me, and he HATES surprises but knows that I LOVE them!!! And he actually pulled it off (even though he IS a TERRIBLE liar. ;)

Later that morning after I got the kids off to school I had a quiet moment to read his sweet card, which once again touched my heart so much that it brought me to tears...such HAPPY tears...

 My hands looked awful from all of the yard work I had done the day before, so I scrubbed my nails and polished them right up and admired my ring probably about one million times yesterday...

It just means so much to me... I LOVE the fact that he took my original ring and made it whole. (And that sparkly is a WHOLE lot bigger than my original one was!!! ;)

It's MY ring and represents my MOST prized possession...my eternal marriage to Clint James Trickett. Thank you Clint for ALL that you are, ALL that you do, and ALL the ways you love me COMPLETELY. Heaven and your wife are ALWAYS cheering you on!!! I LOVE you so...

The rest of my birthday was spent receiving visits from friends, phone calls and messages full of LOVE, and then a dinner date with Clint later on that night.

I received flowers and cards and a bracelet and Willow Tree figurine and a cupcake bath bomb and dish towels and decorations and cookies and chocolate and EVERYTHING pumpkin!!! Pumpkin cookies, pumpkin chap stick, a pumpkin lovers cook book, pumpkin lotion, and a pumpkin candle...even small pumpkins in a basket...:)

I felt so loved!!!

Then last night I finally received the icing on the cake...an email from Carew! 

It was short and sweet but it made me feel happy that he remembered my birthday. :)

Then this morning I received an email from Nicky...

Last year when she turned 40 I sent her an email with 40 Reasons Why I Loved Her...

It came so easily because we have been through SO MUCH together!!! Then, for MY 40th birthday she wrote 40 things back to me...It was priceless...

Sooooo this morning I woke up to find an email that said "Reason #41"...Here it is...
(Everything she says is so true!!! The memories WILL continue! ...and 41 was the BEST birthday EVER! :)
Ever.
(And I still can't believe that we never got ONE picture of us eating that cake with our hands!!! Our posterity will NEVER believe us!!)

Nicole anderson	7:37 AM (9 hours ago)
to me

41.  Attending your first Childs Kierra Nicoles Wedding and demolishing a wedding cake with our hands afterwards.

oh the memories will continue.......

Happy Birthday to my practically perfect friend