Dear Birthday,

Well. What can I say. 22. Big number. Scary things.

What the number 22 means to me:

• I am going to be graduating from BYU this year.
• I need to start applying for jobs... or as I sometimes have to explain, an actual career.
• I have finally passed all those "big" birthdays you look forward to growing up... 15, when you get your driver's license in Idaho, 16, when you can finally date when you are a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 18, when you can buy lottery tickets and become an official adult, and 21 when you can gamble and do almost anything your wildest dreams imagine... oh, and you driver's license switches from vertical to horizontal.
• I still feel like a child.

I will admit this birthday was one of the greatest. I was able to celebrate for much longer than I really should have. Starting with a family birthday up in Twin Falls, Idaho. I got to pick my birthday dinner and my birthday treat. My parents got me some REALLY great gifts. From them I got some really cute rain boots, a nice business like outfit, a fedora, a Halloween decoration, and a ticket to Wicked (yay yay yay!).



Oh... and my birthday treat was Marge's DELICIOUS chocolate cake recipe in the form of a Barbie cake, which my Mom let me decorate.


Back in Provo I had a great celebration with all my friends. The day before my birthday Justin Stephenson took me to Chick-fil-a. Yum. And then on the day of I recieved text messages, phone calls, and Facebook messages from friends and family wishing me a happy day. After morning classes and a few minutes at work my brother Ryan, his wife Kari Dawn, and three of my nephews (Lars, Smith, and Soren... Dallyn had to be at school) came and picked me up. We went to J Dawgs for lunch, because lets face it, its great and Kari Dawn had never tried it. Yum. Smith thought I was turning thirty so we had to correct him that I was only turning 22. They got me the most adorable book mark. It is yellow with a little rhinestone attachment and the letter D. I love it. It is great since I am now a reader again. I love that they live so close and I can actually spend my birthday with family. After a quick lunch they took me back to work. Nicole Wait picked me up from work and took me to her house to get my gift. A box of mac and cheese, two balloons, a card, and a DVD of what I meant to her. It was such a great gift. Then she took me to Spoon It Up. Yum. I went back to school for one last class. Sarah picked me up from work and we went to Red Robin. Yummmm. ( Literally, yum HAS TO be there, thank you to the advertising and marketing team of Red Robin.) Where about 22 of my friends came to celebrate my birthday. I am so lucky to have so many people that care about me and wanted to be there to celebrate. Mallory Wagner got me a delicious pumpkin cupcake at The Sweet Tooth Fairy. Tiffany Pasker got me some new "diamonds", aka the most awesome earrings, and a really cute top. Her gift was half joke, half real. The joke is that I got stuck in a similar top in the juniors section the week before. Morgan McCombs and Katrina Lewis both brought me really cute cards. Daniel Mason got me a card with some currency from his mission, which I think is really cool to have. Red Robin may or may not have given me a spoon? Suzanne Whitehead brought me a beautiful daisy. Morgan Nowland got me a map of the United States because I am "Miss America" (someday, hopefully!).

After that there was a Bring Your Own Spoon party at my house. That was great because heaps of people from my ward and friends I have made over the years came to wish me a happy birthday. People that couldn't attend dinner. New friends. Old friends. Busy friends. All friends. It was great to have everyone there.






To end the birthday celebrations there was a dinner with all my girlfriends over the last few years (plus Cam, best home teacher ever and fiance of one of my besties) at Mimi's Cafe. It was nice to just catch up with everyone and see them. I got some really cute note cards, an item that can't be written about, and a nice card from them.



I am happy to be 22. At first I was nervous and scared, but 22 isn't that bad.

Love,
Deidre