28 and feelin' great!

Well, so-so.  Which is great to me.  :)

My 28th birthday was pretty awesome.  Paul really took to heart when I said I just wanted to spend some time with him, sans Netflix or iTouch or any other distractions, and do something really fun and memorable together.  The theme for all the gifts and activities was "a trip down memory lane."  Here are the actual gifts:

A juicer, "for all the meals" I make him.  :)

A picture of Beauty and the Beast--not only "my" Disney princess, but also to remember last year's trip to Chicago to see the play!

A sketch of me!  I've been wanting this for FOREVER.  He did a simple, small sketch of the two of us for Valentine's Day one year, but he didn't even draw me with glasses on.  And it was tiny and in a book.  This is framed and going on the wall.  :)  I'm in love with it.

For the activities:

We visited the site of the Indy temple.  It's just a field right now, but it's still cool to go and see the area and imagine what it will look like.  :)  This is also special because I got my endowments out on my birthday two years ago in Nauvoo, and Paul was right there with me.

We went to the children's museum!  I was going to take him for HIS birthday, but the funding just didn't work out.  We also love playing like kids together.  :)  I have SOOOOOOOO many pictures I don't even know where to begin.  I could do a post on each exhibit.  Seriously, I might.  And we both had a BLAST.  But here are a few of the highlights for us (you can find ALL the pictures HERE):

DINOSPHERE!

A real fossilized baby dino in an egg.

Looking up at the glass. :)

The ocean of glass at the base of the glass tower!

SO MANY STAR TREK COSTUMES!

He was so excited, you'd have thought it was HIS birthday!

He even got ME to try one on...but it was a kid's shirt so it didn't quite fit right.  :)

The walk-in kaleidoscope was a favorite of both of ours!

Paul got to be a race car driver.  :)

We "flew" to Egypt.

And made our own cuff bracelets.  :)

I have loved this water clock since I was little and visited the first time.  I seriously want one in my house.

Paul got to "interview" Ryan White as part of the "Power of Children" display.  :)

We were going to visit Caida in the hospital between all this fun and our dinner reservation, but she was released just an hour or so before we could have been there.  Instead, we went downtown and checked out the Borders closing sale.  Paul bought a Star Trek book and I got a mockingjay pin.  :)

We finally, in the tradition of going out on my birthday to eat at fancy restaurants where we can't afford to eat the rest of the year, had dinner at Fogo de Chau.  It's a Brazilian steakhouse in Indy, and it's awesome because not only is there an awesome salad bar and amazing sides, but there are people walking around with endless swords of meat.  You get to eat all you want--we had a little lamb, steak, chicken, steak, pork, and more steak.  (Gotta get your money's worth!)  They also threw in a free birthday cheesecake slice.  I had SUCH a nice time there, and I loved the energy of the place.  I also got SUPER full. :)

That was it!  Such a fun day.  And cake and ice cream tomorrow after church with a few friends to wrap up birthday week.  Thank you, Paul, for putting it all together and making it such a happy memory!