Celebrating FORTY...

Happy Birthday to ME!! :-)

I felt so loved and celebrated for my fortieth birthday!!

Jason and the kids took my to Jeni's for ice cream and it was AMAZING!!

I also received a beautiful notebook filled with letters from friends and family.

Jason secretly worked with my mom and a couple of close friends to surprise me.

I had tears reading through all of the sweet letters from those near and far...

encouraging me...blessing me...loving me.

It will be a gift I treasure for years to come.

Jason also gifted me with a weekend away to the mountains for my birthday for just the two of us!

We started it out with a quick hike to a gorgeous waterfall.

The weather was perfect and we loved being able to just soak it all in.

So peaceful!

The water was PERFECT after hiking!!

We stayed in a cute little cabin in Murphy, NC - surrounded by the Appalachian mountains.

The next day we headed to the border of NC and TN to go whitewater rafting on the Ocoee river.

The Ocoee ranges from class 2-4 rapids. 

Thankfully we ALL stayed in the boat...

and our crew handled the rapids like pros (actually it was more our guide than us!)

I actually look more scared than I was! It was SO much fun.

We were with a group of rafters and were the first to head through the toughest ones.

As we pulled over to wait for those behind us, we saw a couple of them hit the rapids too fast and ended up flipping their boats.

Which of course made us even more grateful for our expert guide!!!

Finished!!

The next day, we were going to head to the Nantahala Gorge to hike and explore but we were told that there had been a huge mud slide the night before.

Several cars and first responders had been caught in the slide and ended up in the river.

We ended up back at the Ocoee hoping to hike around the river but the rain kept pouring down...

we opted for sitting on the rocking chairs and watching the rafters.

The afternoon the sun came out and we walked around this cute North Carolina mountain town.

I am so thankful for my mom coming out to bless us with time away.

While we were gone she got everyone to their appointed places at their appointed times.

She even let our driver get some hours in on her watch.

My kids love when Grammie comes...she tells stories and plays games with them 

and just makes everyday life so much more fun!

Celebrating FORTY was not nearly as painful as I thought it would be!

It was a sweet week of being loved on!!