Rose's Birthday

Stay tuned for a birthday interview!  I still need to do hers.

On Rose's birthday, it happened to be a Friday, and we were invited to a Saturday morning wedding in Portland.  So that meant we were going to stay overnight in Portland, and because I really did not want to take a huge present with a lot of parts (and lose those parts before we even got home), Rose got to open a present first thing in the morning.

Later, Dave and I went to the school to help pass out cupcakes and join in on the celebration at her school.  She got to wear a pretty awesome crown all day long.  She pretty much thought it was awesome.

Later, it was Rose's turn to be in the spotlight.  She tried to have Ri join her, but alas, he was not having it.  Not at all.

Ah, well, on to reading her All About Me packet.  It was hard to hear her because she has a very quiet voice.  But it was still adorable!  At least I had helped her put the packet together so I knew what was coming next.

One area that she's loud in is her violin playing.  She did a great job playing Mary Had a Little Lamb for her class.  One of the students said, "You're really good for a first grader!"  Yes, indeed, she is really good for a first grader.

 Finally it was cupcake time.  We passed them out, everyone sang to her (one girl gave her a solo performance later on!) and Rose took the first bite.  All was well with the world.

 It was a half day, so we took the kids right from school to the car to drive to Portland.  And because we were traveling, I let them have a little McDonald's for lunch.  There is nothing I can eat at McDonalds save french fries and maybe a side salad with Italian dressing (which I'm not sure is even available anymore) so I got a Subway sandwich instead.   It was pretty good- I like mine a little spicy with jalapenos.  Their avocado was kind of bland, though.  I guess I was expecting it to be more guacamole-ish.  I wonder if it wasn't totally avocado?  At least it added some creaminess.

 After a long drive, we got to Portland and spent some time with some dear friends.  We ended up opening presents before going to dinner or having cupcakes.

 Rose loved her new outfit.  It's very Rose.

We went to dinner at Veggie Grill, a 100% plant-based restaurant.  It was totally yummy and I got to have a "chicken" burger.  Lacy was thrilled to get to eat mac and cheese.  She never gets to eat that.

We decided to take a trip to the temple.  Here's the birthday girl at the visitor's center.

And off to the temple itself...

Of course, being the Pacific Northwest, it rains a little bit.  It was raining at the temple while we visited.  Which resulted in this spectacular event.

At one point, there was even a triple rainbow!

We made our way back to our friends' house and shared cupcakes with them.  Rose had a pretty awesome birthday!

The next day, Dave and I attended the wedding at the Portland temple, and at noon it was time for us to say goodbye. We had a fantastic trip.