Best. Birthday. Ever.

I was not looking forward to my birthday this year. I realized about a month ago that I was going to be turning 20 when October 9th rolled around and I was not thrilled about that. I mean, my mom got married when she was 20 years old! I think turning 20 is like, basically, the final step you take before becoming an adult. And that is a little scary.

So I decided I was going to turn 19 again this year. I mean, who needs all the stress of being 20, when you just want to stay 19? I certainly don't. It looked like I would be turning 19 once again. I would be able to have a birthday without adding another year onto my age -- what a perfect solution!

The week leading up to my birthday was fantastic. It was Winnie's birthday on October 6th, just like every year, except this year, she was turning 21, and that has never happened before! Christine lined up 21 guys to kiss her and give her roses, and we had a surprise birthday party for her at Lauren's house. It was so fun! We danced, ate yummy food, and laughed at all the guys as they kissed her. (There were actually 23, because Winnie is just that pretty and that awesome.)

On Friday, Caitlin and I went to the BYU men's soccer game. It was my first real soccer game, besides a women's game that I went to 5 minutes of at the start of my freshman year that was a disaster (not because of how they played). It was super fun! Caitlin has played soccer for forever so she explained everything to me as it happened. The refs were terrible.....they weren't calling anything but practically every time they did decide to make a call, they also issued a card. Since nothing was getting called, the boys started to get pretty aggressive, but it was fun to watch. We decided we are going to go to way more soccer games now.

After the soccer game, Christine, Caitlin and I went to a bonfire with C.L. Afterwards, I went back to Winnie's apartment to sleep over and Caitlin went home, since she had work in the morning. Saturday morning came, and as I woke up, I had no idea that one of the best days of my entire life had just begun. It was the perfect day.

Every year on my birthday, Tucano's gives me a free meal, so of course that is where I have gone every October since I got to Utah. Tucano's is a Brazilian grill where the waiters bring different meats around and give you one piece at a time until you decide you're full. There is also a delicious salad bar, grilled pineapple, and like 6 different kinds of Brazilian lemonade. Going there is almost like going to heaven.

This year, I even learned a cool new trick that lets you eat more! I guess Polynesians do this thing where they kind of wiggle their stomachs and the food gets all stirred around and settles down so they have more space to put more food! I was too nervous to use it, because a birthday is a day where you want to celebrate your birth, not the birth of a food baby, but it still sounds like a good idea for future reference.

Some of my favorite people in the world were able to come. There was Kelly, Christine, Winnie, Danielle, Lizzie (Christine's roommate from over the summer), C.L., Ryan Berlin (my home teacher slash friends with C.L. slash gave me a ride to school last week when I was having a real emergency), and Danny, Ty, and Jake (all really good friends with C.L. originally). Some of my other favorites were not able to come this year :( aka Caitlin, Kelsey, Larissa, Chelsea, Aimee, and Dahl. So that was a little sad, but a fun lunch nonetheless.

Every year, we have to take a picture by the fountain. Above is this year's picture. Below, C.L. and Ty decided to play "Put Heather on Top of Stuff" and put me on top of the fountain. It was a very wobbly rock and I really thought I was going to break it or die, so I was a little bit paralyzed with fright.

Luckily they got me down and I was able to go home all in one piece. When I got home, there was a plate of delicious snackarolls sitting on the island with a bowl of peach sauce next to them! If you have never had a snackaroll, you are not alone. My home teacher, Tanner, invented them, so I was the first to try one, ever. It is basically a cinnamon roll with a peachy kind of topping and it is amazing. Thanks Tanner!!

I didn't get an all-sports pass this year, but Winnie had to work, so she gave me her ticket for the game. I think God knew it was my birthday, because the weather was absolutely perfect, and on top of that, the Cougars pulled out a win. Their defense looked so much better this game than it has been, so that was good. I wasn't able to stay the whole time, because I had to go to work, but I did see a good two hours of the game.

As I walked back to my apartment to get ready for work, I called my mom to talk about the day I was born. This is one of my favorite traditions every year! When I was younger, my mom would pull out her journal and read to me what she had written about the day I was born. I know the story pretty well by now, but hearing my mom tell it is something I like the very best about my birthday.

She tells me everything from when she first started getting contractions to when the receptionist condescendingly told her she wasn't in labor, to how beautiful the weather was, to Dr. Gheary coming in, not quite believing that my mom was in labor either (because she was still smiling) and then saying, "Lord love a duck, this baby is coming soon!"

I was 6 pounds, 6 ounces, and about 4 weeks early, but apparently I was really a nice baby, and when I cried you could hardly even hear it. My parents knew they liked the name Christine, but weren't sure what to pair it with, so the nurse came up with the idea of Heather when she picked me up and said, "Oh, she's light as a feather! How about Heather?"

I think it's a little narcissistic but I really love hearing this story every year.

Most people prefer not to work on their birthday, but I didn't mind too much. Besides, I had gotten the past two Saturdays off, so I felt like three in a row would be a little excessive. A bunch of people came to visit me and at one point, Kylie started singing Happy Birthday and everyone else in the store joined in and then cheered for me. I thought that was so nice!

Jackie came in at about ten and said that she had some uniforms at her house that she had to drop off here, but there was a lot of boxes, so she needed to steal one of the employees. Then she said, "Oh, hey! I'm really glad you're working, because I can just take you. Do you want to come?" Of course I did, so I told my friends that I would be right back. Then I left the store with Jackie.

When we walked in Jackie's house, all the lights were off. "Ok, the uniforms are just up in my room -- why is it so dark in here?" she said, and reached for the light switch. Suddenly the room exploded in a collective cheer of "Surprise!" and I felt all panicked and screamed and backed into the wall, and then I realized that there was no emergency and I laughed and hyperventilated and sat on the ground. I had not even had an inkling of suspecting and I was so thrilled and felt so happy to have such the best friends ever that I kind of wanted to cry, but I was too happy to, so I just laughed a lot instead.

The surprise wasn't a party, per say, but an adventure at the Haunted Forest. Interestingly enough, I went last year on my birthday as well. It was fun, but I hadn't expected to make it a tradition.

This year was even funner than last year! There were more boys than girls and I needed lots of protection, so I had at least two boys to throw in front of me at all times, should trouble arise. C.L. loves haunted houses slash forests and he was like a little kid in there. One of his favorite things to do was to walk ahead of me telling the scary people my name and that it was my birthday. I did not really appreciate it because they kept coming back and asking, "Are you Heather?" all up in my face, but in retrospect, it was pretty funny.

After going through Psycho Manor and the Haunted Forest, we went back to Jackie's apartment for cake and calming down. By this point everyone was pretty tired, so Caitlin and I went back home pretty soon.

All throughout the day, I just kept thinking how perfect of a day it was. Everything about it was so wonderful that I couldn't believe that it could get better. And then, something else would happen that woulddd make it even better! I felt like the luckiest girl in the whole world. I still feel so happy from such a great day.

I guess I'd better admit it. I am 20 years old.

At least I started off my third decade of life with a perfect day :)