turning 40....

 It happened.... I officially entered a new decade over the weekend.

Thanks to family and friends, I had many opportunities to celebrate. On Wednesday, my good friend Nadia brought over some Opera cake...oh my goodness it was delicious.

And my friend from high school sent this fun and frivolous wine glass...

On the actual birthday, we went to church where Kevin was leading worship. More than once he brought up the fact that I was now 40. And the pastor and another friend were talking about how in Roman Numerals that means I'm now XL.

After church we headed into Portland for lunch. Last week we discovered a new and delicious restaurant called Tilt. I had a bacon cheeseburger and fries with gravy and bacon - working on that XL status.

Then we headed to Hoyt Arboretum....a tree museum located on 200 acres in a park in Portland. The girls and I had been there before, but Kevin never had so we walked some of the trails.

There are so many different kinds of trees and I love this one...

After the Arboretum we headed a little further west to a new to us vineyard. It was a gorgeous setting. The wine wasn't great, but the estate grounds were beautiful and we had fun walking around.

There were so many different places like this...under grape arbors or pergola....places where you could sit and enjoy some wine.

Although I love fall, I'm not sure how I feel about seeing the leaves beginning to change.

On our way to the vineyard we went through this cool train trestle bridge. Usually Kevin isn't keen about stopping so I can take photos, but he was more than willing.

On our way home he asked if I wanted to stop and do some shopping. He didn't seem in a hurry to get home so we headed towards a big shopping area that we rarely go to. But then he missed the exit so we continued home. As we drove through Portland, he asked if I'd want to stop at Trader Joes. He hates Trader Joes (maybe hates is too strong of a word...but it's not a place he would normally suggest stopping at), but I thought he was being extra nice and accommodating so I went with it. We went in, walked around, got a few things and then headed home.

You see....all this time he was stalling because this was happening at our house. Friends were letting themselves in and hanging out on our stairs.

So we get home and Kevin and the girls were stalling a bit in the garage....they wanted me to be the first to walk in the house for obvious reasons. (reasons that were still not obvious to me). So I walk in and see this above my fireplace.

That wasn't there when I left the house earlier. Then I see some gift bags on the kitchen table and food on my counter. So I turned around and said to Kevin (who was behind me), "I think there are people in the house." And he pushed me into the hallway where the friends gathered on the stairs yelled "SURPRISE!"

And not knowing what to do....I turned around and walked away.

I was not expecting that. Except then I started thinking back over the day and started connecting some dots.

This video isn't great, but you can see a little of my reaction.

I can't believe at how well my family planned and played this surprise party. They never once let on that anything was going on. As soon as it all went down, I started connecting dots and remembering things that were a little off, but the girls really know how to play it cool and keep a secret!