THE RUNDOWN.

WOW.

Wow wow wow.

Now this was one heck of a whirlwind weekend. It was non-stop from the moment I said peace out to my office until 1:30 am Sunday night when we finally arrived back to our apartment

But so good.

A special thanks to all those who helped make this birthday weekend one of the best yet! I really felt so loved and cared for, and that is all that matters. It would be hard to say that this was the best birthday, because last year this happened:

... but dang, it was still amazing. Pretty crazy to think of all that has happened in a year. Well here's a quick rundown of this epic weekend:

FRIDAY:
How can this day not be fabulous when you start it off with an amazing strawberry french toast breakfast made especially by Randal and Argelia? Well that's what happened. And I have fabulous in-laws. Later we met up with MY mom who flew down from Washington for the weekend (definitely not a coincidence). We had lunch, caught up on life, shopped, you know, everything you should do with your mom. Oh yeah, and we picked up our race packets!

I think I'm beginning to see why people say "like mother like daughter"

We finished the day off with an amazing dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Perfect fuel for the big race.

SATURDAY:

After sleeping approximately 2 hours Friday night (definitely NOT on purpose), us three girls suited up, tied our running shoes nice and tight, and headed to the starting line. Honestly, I had no clue how this race was going to go with fighting training injuries, limited time to train, an extreme change of altitude (trained at about 900 ft above sea level, raced at about 4,300), lack of sleep, etc. To my astonishment, I beat my previous 1/2 marathon time by 9 minutes! I also came in 2 minutes faster than my "goal time." So I was happy. My feet weren't so happy, but I was happy. 

I must also give a shout out to my amazing sister and mother. Brittney dominated yet another race and my mom proved how amazingly in shape she really is! I feel so lucky to be able to accomplish such a huge goal with my family. We have definitely bonded on a whole different level.

The three McLaws girls. 

I must also publicly thank Russell and Stuart for having a tray with three large Diet Cokes waiting for us at the finish line. 

You don't even know how much that meant.

We most definitely cannot forget to mention Russell's awesome accomplishment. 

HE BIKED A MARATHON!!! 

He had a blast in this race. I think I see road biking in our future....

I apologize for this picture. But Russell said people are drawn to disturbing things, so here you are. I really wasn't exaggerating when I say I get reeeeally bad blisters.

Ok moving on. The rest of my birthday consisted of a fabulous refueling lunch, watching a Fictionist concert on the grass under the sun, saying goodbye to my Mom, visiting friends, and more.

I feel spring coming on! Hallelujah.

Isn't she cute? I think so.

Natalie works at this dangerously delicious cookie shop in Salt Lake City called My Dough Girl. I'm still thinking about these cookies. And also about how cute Natalie is at all times.

So then Russ outdid himself once again and planned a surprise party for me at one of my favorite places to eat in Provo, Costa Vida. We then headed to Brittney's for an evening of fabulous treats and fun. It was so fun to see a bunch of our friends from Provo. We miss these people so much, and hate that we see them so little. But at the same time, I feel so blessed to have such amazing friends. What more could you want?

Emily and Erin. The fantastic trio of Enclave 303. Wow that was a fun apartment. And double wow... I miss them like crazy.

Thanks again to everyone who stopped by. Perfect end to the perfect day.

SUNDAY:

Dinner with the Lewis's!!! Always a party. Argelia made yet another fantastic meal with fantastic carrot cake. 

 I was just a little excited about the Anthropologie gift card from the Lewis's, as you can see. And as always, little Lucy is such a great helper.

So then we left. All good things must come to an end. Such is life. After a loooooooooooong flight home, we finally show up to our little apartment at an obscene hour for how early we knew we had to wake up. Considering I was half asleep, you can imagine my confusion and utter surprise when I open the door to find this in our living room:

Let me explain. For the last month Russell has been helping his friend build a pie chest for Melissa, his wife, on Saturday afternoons while I would be taxing away. He also was working pretty late at work for it not being busy season. Or so I thought. He was really in Matt's garage building this -- an ingeniously designed desk where I can store my sewing machine, craft supplies, and more. That whole left side of the table collapses down to conserve space when not in use. He built this!!! For ME! Wow, I love him a lot. We are now just trying to decide what color to paint this perfect little craft desk of mine.

Lessons we have learned with this story? Russell is incredibly thoughtful and creative, and I am really gullible and easy to deceive. Apparently a whole slew of our family and friends were in on this secret, or at least knew about it. Thanks to all of you who helped Russell accomplish this little surprise and helped keep it a secret. 

It really was a perfect day.

The end.