"Price"less Memories: Happy Birthday to Me!

Dear Blog,
I'm so sorry I haven't been very consistent in my writing lately. I promise I haven't forgotten about you, but I seem to be going through a phase where I feel like I just don't have much of anything to blog about. And the few times recently that I have wanted to write about something, I haven't been able to get the words out they way I wanted, so I just haven't worried about it. It's been rather frustrating, but nevertheless, I just haven't had much motivation to blog lately. Hopefully I'll get over it soon. In the meantime, I at least wanted to take a minute to blog about yesterday/today.
Today is my 21st birthday. (I'll give you a minute to sing "Happy Birthday" to me before I continue... Done? Aww, thanks! Okay, back to the blog.) The "celebration" actually started back on Friday night when two of my best friends, April and KD, showed up at my house unannounced to visit for a little while. We ended up just sitting around talking until about 11:30 that night. I don't get to see either one of them much at all anymore, so it felt so good to just hang out with them until late at night like the "old days" back when we were the "Three Musketeers" in high school. Anyway, while they were here, they presented me with my birthday present from them: a $30 Publix gift card. They know me so well. April told me I should look at it as a $30-off COUPON - even better. I love my coupons. Needless to say, I can't wait until Wednesday to do my grocery shopping with my birthday gift card.
Saturday was/is a major blur to me now, so if we did anything birthday-related, I honestly can't remember it at all now. I think it was a pretty laid-back day, so I'll just leave it at that. On Sunday, Jordan, Rylee, and I went to church as usual, and afterward, we went to the Dollar Tree to buy a newspaper and then to the Food Outlet to buy some hamburger meat. I had been bugging Jordan all morning about our plans for lunch. I had asked him a few days ago if he had gotten with my mom to make any plans for us to spend some time together with my family for my birthday. I didn't care if we did anything major or not - I just wanted to see my family on my "special" day. He told me that he had talked to my mom, and that we would go over to my parents' house to visit after church. I asked him if we were eating lunch with them; his response: "I don't know. I don't remember. We talked about it like... two days ago. I can't remember. I think we are." Yeah. Was he serious?! To be honest, it was really starting to upset me, because every time I asked him about it, it seemed as if he almost didn't care that he hadn't made the effort to at least put together some semi-solid plans for my birthday. Again, I wasn't expecting anything major. I just at least would've liked to have known if I needed to eat some lunch at home before we went to my parents' house, or if we were supposed to be eating with them. Anyway, after we had grabbed a few things from the Food Outlet, we headed home. When we were about a minute away from home, Jordan randomly asked me if I wanted to go look at a house that was for sale down a nearby road. Considering the fact that we just moved into our current home four months ago, and we are in no need to buy a new house, I told him that I really just wanted to get home so I could grab a bite to eat if need-be before we went to my parents' house. I thought it was really weird that he asked me that question, but I still didn't suspect anything out of the ordinary. As he pulled into our driveway, I realized that someone else was pulling in right in front of us - my brother's girlfriend, Brittany. Someone was also pulling in right behind us - my friend, April. Then I looked at our front porch and realized that it was full of some of my family and friends waiting on us. (They had all parked their vehicles in our fenced-in backyard so I couldn't see them.) Among them was my daddy, who traveled about eight and a half hours all the way from central Florida. Needless to say, I cried. I was definitely surprised, and Jordan couldn't help but laugh. He was rather proud of himself that he'd been able to pull it off. Shortly after we got home, my parents and brother and sister showed up with a big, beautiful chocolate cake. We ate pizza and cake and ice cream, and I felt very loved (not that I ever don't feel loved, but you know what I mean). It was a good day.
Today, I took the day off work (I usually work 6-12 every Monday and 8-12 every Saturday now at Coffee & Co. in Millbrook) so I could relax and spend time with my family. Jordan and I had plans to go to lunch at Red Lobster while my mom watched Rylee for us, but late in the morning, I got a bit of a headache, and my stomach started feeling yucky. Unfortunately we had to postpone our lunch plans and stay home since I wasn't feeling well, but it was still nice to spend time with my family. I'm so thankful for the twenty-one years that God has blessed me with so far, and I pray He allows me many more with the wonderful people He has placed in my life here on earth.
Below are a few pictures I wanted to share from yesterday and today. I hope to blog again in the next day or two to update on Rylee, Valentine's Day, and anything else I can think of that's been going on lately, and to share some pictures of those things as well.