Mark's job and my birthday

Mark recently moved into the Training Dept. at Vantage Controls, and he has really enjoyed it so far. It has definitely been a good move for him, and for us. He got a significant raise, and has the opportunity to travel some. He will be gone this week to a big trade show in CO, and will fly to Hawaii next month to do some training. I must admit, I am jealous ;) But I am also really grateful. We've already noticed a difference, and have been blessed so much recently, especially financially. When I think back to when we moved out here after getting married, and his job with Dish Network fell through, it was so scary. We didn't know what kind of job he would be able to get. But he was hired by Vantage, and it has been infinitely better for him and us than Dish Network would have been.

This last Saturday was my birthday. It was such a nice, relaxing day. Weekend birthdays are always a special treat. Mark and I slept in that morning, then went to Mimi's Cafe for breakfast. It was delicious, but our waiter was a total dud. Afterwards, we went and walked around the mall for a bit. Mark needed some new pants for the trade show, and also wanted to buy me some Bath and Body works stuff for my birthday. I also bought myself a new game for the Game Cube - Paper Mario (:. On our way out, Mark bought me a Coldstone cake - yummy! Cookies and cream ice cream with devil's food cake. It was an awesome cake, seriously. We then headed home, and just relaxed for a while. It was super nice. I talked to my family, and had several renditions of Happy Birthday sung to me over the phone. At 4, we left and headed up to Salt Lake for dinner at the Melting Pot. I hadn't been there in years, and remembered how much I LOVED it. And oh my - was it AMAZING. Definitely a special occasion kind of place, but wow, was it awesome. I'm glad Mark enjoyed it, as he had never been. We just took our time with dinner, and it was so nice. After dinner, we went home, and took the cake over to Jessie and Timm's to share and watched Best In Show. It was so much fun, and I love mockumentaries.

On Sunday, we went to Regional Conference at 9 AM. It was a great conference, and nice to get out of church at the time we are usually starting! My sister Liz and her kids came over that afternoon to help polish off some more cake. Timm had invited us to dinner that morning at church, so we went over at around 4:30 and had an awesome dinner (great cooking, Timm), and played Apples to Apples with Jessie, Timm, and Charlotte.

It was such a great weekend. So simple, but I just really enjoyed it. I'm not looking forward to Mark being gone all week, but I am excited for him to go to this trade show.

Overall, things have been going well. Jessie and I are sticking to our morning gym routine, and working out hard. I still can't quite shake my whole funk. I am way too "comparative" by nature, and I just need to take things one step at a time. The gym is definitely a good step. Now I just need to ease into a few other things, and not put too much pressure on myself to be "perfect."

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