A few months ago, I turned 50; kind of a milestone birthday. That got me thinking about and remembering my other birthdays. I realized that I couldn't remember very much about some of them, while others stand out very clearly in my memory. I decided that I really want to collect all my birthday memories into once place, so this is going to be that place--a big gigantic blog post!! At least I expect that it will be gigantic--50 is a pretty big number, you know. I've been busy gathering photos and memories for the last several weeks. As you have probably figured out by now, I have been a pretty thorough record keeper for a lot of my life. When I was about 10 years old, I started writing down a list of the birthday gifts I received each year. Then it started to bug me that I didn't have a list for the nine years before that, so using home movies and photos and even one of Shellie's diary entries (she read it to me; I didn't go snooping through her diaries!) I managed to make at least a partial list of all of those years too. This post wouldn't seem complete if I didn't include those lists, but don't get the wrong idea--I don't care about "stuff" all that much! Certainly when I was a child, getting gifts on my birthday was a huge part of the excitement of the day, and I was always so thrilled with the gifts I received. Nothing so magical as a beautiful pile of wrapped presents! My family were superb gift givers, too! But mostly it is just fun to remember now, and fun to see what some of the "fads" in toys (and other things) were over the years.
Since I am a twin, of course I always shared my birthday with my sister Amy. (I mean, I still do share it with her--but we usually aren't together on our birthday anymore since we live on opposite sides of the country.) I never minded sharing my birthday with someone else; as a matter of fact, I think it made it a lot more fun. My parents were really great about doing things to make Amy and I both feel special on our birthdays, like having a cake for each of us instead of making us share a cake. (And with 10 people in the family, there were plenty of people to help eat all that cake!) We did share our birthday parties, but since we had most of the same friends, that just made sense, and it was a lot of fun to do it that way. In our family, no one got a birthday party every year. (Good idea--can you imagine throwing 7 kid parties every year???) My parents chose to give us parties at certain important ages (such as age 8 and age 12). Our parties were awesome--more on that later!!
So here we go--what I remember about each of my birthdays.
1st 1969 Glendora, CA
Guess what? I don't remember anything about this birthday. However, we do have a photo (a blurry one) so here it is:
Looks like we opened our presents on a blanket in the front yard, and that Tim enjoyed the presents as much as we did. My list says that we received the following gifts: ball, pull toy, sleepy doll, blocks, toy ferris wheel. I can see some of those things in the picture, but not all of them. The ferris wheel may have been this one:
I think there are some slides somewhere of this birthday too, but all the slides need to be converted to another form before I can share them.
2nd 1970 Glendora, CA
I don't remember anything about this birthday either, but once again I have some photographic evidence:
Here's the list for this year: doll, purse, puzzle, ukulele, ladybug pull toy
3rd 1971 Glendora, CA
I very vaguely remember getting a tricycle for my birthday this year--but that's all I remember. I couldn't find any photos of this birthday, either. (Maybe they are on slides too, or none were taken.) The list for this year says: tricycle, "Little Kittle" doll, vacuum cleaner, record
I found photos of a couple of those things.
Little Kittle dolls
I believe the vacuum cleaner looked like this (or a lot like this) We kept it for many years so even though I don't remember receiving it, I remember playing with it. Seems like it had something on the bottom that made a loud humming noise when I pushed it. The tricycle I received was blue.
4th 1972 Denver, CO
I still don't remember this birthday very well, but we do have some home movies taken that day, so I know a lot more about this birthday. Gifts from the list: little car, Raggedy Ann & Andy dolls, Sesame Street finger puppets, shovel & pail, sandbox
The Sesame Street finger puppets were similar to these:
And the Raggedy Ann & Andy dolls were similar to these:
Here are a bunch of screen shots from the home movie of Amy & I opening our presents. The quality of the movie wasn't great and it was hard to get good shots, but they are better than nothing!
I love the cute "reverse" dresses we are wearing in these photos! Amy is in the stripes and I am in the flowers.
Opening presents is a serious business! (And Shellie is interested too!)
No idea what that clock thing is that Amy just unwrapped, but in the next photo I had just unwrapped Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls.
We were trained to hold up gifts for the camera after we unwrapped them. Never mind that half the time they were so washed out from the bright camera light, you can't tell what they are!
Sesame Street finger puppets!
Shovels and pails
A sandbox! You can't see much of it in the pictures / movie, but it had a red, white & blue striped awning on top. We looked pretty excited about it in the movie, and ran back inside to get our shovels and pails to put in the sandbox.
We had a birthday party this year too. We also have some footage of the party, although the film was particularly dark & blurry so the photos are not very good at all. I know the party theme was Raggedy Ann & Andy, but I don't remember many details about the party.
Amy's cake
Playing games
Opening presents (this part of the film was particularly bad):
I think that's a jump rope on the far left of the photo.
Looks like we each got a plastic comb/brush/mirror set
Blowing out candles!
I did find a few actual photos from the party, which are much better than the movie screen shots:
That summer our parents also got a new swing set for all the kids and everyone enjoyed playing on it at the party. It was a very patriotic red, white & blue, with stars & stripes!
Both of the cakes.
In one of my scrapbooks I found this:
A bunch of Raggedy Ann & Andy stickers and a little paper nut cup (not folded, of course). They must be leftovers from the party.
We probably had napkins like this too:
That's it for #4!
5th 1973 Denver, CO
My gifts from this year were: hoppity horse, Barbie doll, roller skates, paper dolls, sewing cards, redwood picnic table
We have home movie footage of this birthday, too:
Here we are, getting a first look at the pile of presents awaiting unwrapping! They are sitting on top of one of our presents--a little redwood picnic table. I'm not sure if we noticed the table at first, haha! I remember that Dad was teasing us that morning that we were getting a redwood tree for our birthday.
I think that might be a paper doll.
Barbie dolls, I think
Sewing cards, maybe?
Roller skates!
Well, actually that looks like paper dolls!
Hoppity horses! What are those, you ask? Here we are, riding them in the photo below. I am on the yellow horse and Amy is on the red horse.
Now on to the cake. (Very blurry photos, sorry) This one is mine:
And here is Amy's:
I had serious trouble blowing out my candles!
The roller skates I got that year were like this:
They fit over my shoes, and I would use a little metal key to tighten the metal flaps in front so that they would be snug against my shoe. Theoretically, this would keep the skate from falling off. I don't remember the skates ever staying on very well, though! (Metal "key" in the photo below):
I don't remember exactly what the sewing cards were like, but they were probably similar to this:
And here is a better look at a hoppity horse like mine:
The hoppity horses were a lot of fun. I bet they were great aerobic exercise, too! :)
I found this card in a scrapbook:
It was signed by Curtis and Erick. I also found this card, from my Johnson grandparents:
6th 1974 Houston, TX
I couldn't find any photos of this birthday and there is only a very short home movie clip that was taken at our 6th birthday party, so it is hard to remember a lot about this birthday. In particular, I don't have a very complete list of gifts received. All I can remember are two things: a bicycle and a baby doll. Besides that, the birthday party movie clip reveals that Amy & I received a Big Bird floor puzzle. But that's it! I'm sure there was more, at the birthday party at least. The bicycle was kind of a bigger gift, though. I didn't know how to ride a bike yet, but I needed to learn how to ride one so that I could ride a bike to school. (In Kindergarten, I was in a carpool.) I had the bike for many years so I remember it quite well. It was a light green with white stripes. This was not the bike I received originally, though. On our birthday, I remember Amy and I going out to the garage to find that we had both received dark blue sparkly bikes. We soon discovered that there was something wrong with my bike, though, and one of the wheels wouldn't turn. So we had to return the bike to the store. When we returned that bike, we discovered that they were all out of dark blue sparkly bikes in my size. They could order one, but it would take a while to get there and being just 6 years old, I was impatient! The only bike they did have in my size was the light green bike with white stripes. I liked the dark blue sparkly bike a lot better, but I decided that the light green bike was good enough--I'd rather have that than wait. Amy decided that since I couldn't have a dark blue sparkly bike that she shouldn't have one either, so we returned her bike also and we each ended up with light green bikes. I got a lot of use out of that bike! Not only did I ride it to school and back nearly every day for close to 3 years, but I also rode it a lot in the summer and after school. I still had this bike when we moved to Utah in 1978, although I don't remember riding it much after we moved to Utah.
For our birthday party that year, we had a Wizard of Oz theme. I don't remember a lot of details about the party but I do remember that Mom got a package of yellow construction paper and made a "yellow brick road" for us to follow through out the house. We stopped at various spots along the way to play games like "Tin Man, Tin Man, Where's Your Heart?" (just like "Doggie, Doggie, Where's Your Bone?") and at the end Hans was "The Wizard" and did a little magic show for us. So cool, right?! I found these stickers, which must have been leftovers from the party, in a scrapbook:
Here are a few (very washed out) screen shots from the movie clip that we have of the party:
You can see the floor puzzle better in this photo that I found on the internet:
Here are a couple of cards I found in a scrapbook:
This one was signed by my Grandpa & Grandma Johnson and my Aunt Karen. They sent a birthday card with a dollar in it every year. I'm so glad I saved a lot of them!
This card was from a little girl who lived down the street, named Amber.
7th 1975 Houston, TX
I don't have any photos of this birthday either and there isn't a home movie either. We were probably out of film or something! I do remember this birthday a little better, though. I remember being very excited to open presents. In my pile of wrapped gifts this year, one of the presents was quite large but not heavy at all and I could not imagine what it could be! Dad kept teasing us that we were getting big lumps of coal. It turns out that the large present was a sleeping bag! It was light blue & flowered and could be unzipped and used as a bedspread too. We used these sleeping bags for many years (although I learned the hard way that it was NOT warm enough for camping in Utah--even in the summer!) and one of them even appears in this photo taken at Christmas in about 1986:
Makes me laugh that Hans was wrapped up in it! For all I know, one or both of them may still be at Mom's house somewhere.
Besides the sleeping bag, I also received a "water wiggle", a New England Star Spangled doll, a book, a "Casper" game, a paper doll, an airport play set & record, and a coloring book. I got most of that information from Shellie and I don't remember details about some of those gifts at all (such as what the book was). The "water wiggle" was a water toy that attached to a garden hose. When the water turned on, the water pressure would cause it to lift up and wiggle all over, randomly spraying water on us. It looked like this:
It was a fun thing to play with on hot summer days!
I still have the New England Star Spangled doll. Star Spangled dolls were a series of dolls that were created to celebrate the upcoming USA Bicentennial (the following year). There were several dolls in the series representing different time periods or areas of the country. Amy received one of the other dolls and for Christmas that year we each received a different one also, so we ended up with 4 of the dolls in the series. Here is a picture of the New England doll:
The little biography on her box says that her name is Miss Alison Thompson.
The Casper game looked like this:
The airport play set and record are long gone, of course, but I do remember playing with them. The play set consisted of several heavy paper pieces that could be punched out and put together to create an airport, runways, and several planes. I don't remember much about the record except the lyrics to a song (which was accompanied by airport noises like planes taking off and landing). The song went like this "Oh, the airport is a busy place for folks who go by air, the big jets swishing in and out can take you anywhere!" I must have listened to it a lot to remember that after all these years!
Here is a card I got for my 7th birthday:
This one is also from Grandpa, Grandma, and Karen "with all our love!" Makes me smile to see that.
And here is a little birthday card I got in Primary that year:
In Primary we would always have a birthday song sung for us. In those days, it was also traditional to donate a penny for each year of life to the Primary Children's Hospital. There was a special bank for collecting the pennies, and part of the fun of having a birthday was putting your pennies in the bank (after the birthday song was over).
8th 1976 Houston, TX
This was another party year, and although I couldn't find any photos, there is a home movie of our birthday party so I have a lot of screen shots of this birthday. I also have lists of gifts received both from family and from party guests, lots of birthday cards from the party, and even a copy of the invitation we sent out for the party. The theme that year was "Bicentennial" since it was America's 200th birthday that year (just a day before my birthday, of course).
Everything for the party was red, white, and blue. The party guests were divided into three groups--a red group, a blue group, and a white group. Each group had its own colored name tags, which were in a patriotic shape--I remember the red group's tags were shaped like the statue of liberty, but I don't remember what the other two shapes were. The invitation was patterned after the Declaration of Independence. I think the actual invitations were written on a parchment-like piece of paper, and had a stamp made with sealing wax at the bottom. I remember we rolled them up and tied them with ribbons before delivering them. Here is what the writing on the invitations looked like:
So cute, right?
Here's a whole bunch of screen shots from the party:
First, a balloon popping relay. Amy is on the far left and I am on the right. (Looks like I was in the "blue" group.) I remember that I hated the loud popping noise that balloons made--you can see in some of the photos that I'm trying to plug my ears while trying to sit on the balloon hard enough to make it pop:
Here's a list of the presents I received this year, followed by screen shots where you can see some of the presents being opened. From family I received roller skates, a Book of Mormon, Carrie doll playset, Happy Birthday to You book, paper, scissors & tape, a picture, a lemon twist, a marionette, Carry on Nurse Lucy colorforms set, and a bird necklace. From party guests I received finger paints & paper, a Barbie bath set, a cat bean bag, a rhinestone in glass box necklace, a small hippo stuffed animal, a Bicentennial bank, a jump rope, a coloring book, some play dough, $2.50, a bunny bank, a hula hoop, shrinky dinks, a doll, and a bubble bee.
In the photos, I am on the left and Amy is on the right.
Sewing cards are not on the list, but there they are in the photo! Maybe Amy got those and I got whatever I am holding up in the photo instead. I can't tell what it is!:
I'm holding up the marionette, which I believe was made by Shellie:
Looks like a necklace!:
Finger paints and paper
Barbie bath set. It had little bottles of bubble bath, lotion, etc.
Cat bean bag
Holly Hobbie playsets--Amy's (first photo) is an Amy doll playset and mine (second photo) is a Carrie doll playset.
Skates and The Book of Mormon:
Amy is holding up a doll and...something else!:
Bicentennial tin bank. You can see one side of it when I'm holding mine up and another side when Amy is holding hers up:
Necklaces:
Stuffed hippos:
Colorforms set:
I'm holding up money while Amy unwraps Play Dough and a jump rope:
Amy holds up paper and tape. I remember we got these because we were using up so much paper and tape with all of our drawing / craft projects:
Aftermath of the present opening:
Cakes and table centerpiece. The first cake is mine and the second one is Amy's. I'm pretty sure Shellie decorated them:
Getting ready to have cake. The little girl on my right is Amber and on my left is Nina.
Amy blowing out candles:
I am swaying in my chair and laughing while everybody sings to me. I remember I did that because I felt awkward and didn't know what else to do!:
Blowing out candles:
Here are a couple of gifts that didn't show up in the photos (and better photos of a few things that did):
I still have this book.
I don't have the bunny bank still, but I found this photo online of a bank that looks identical to the one I had. It was actually kind of "fuzzy", with short hair all over it:
This is a lemon twist. It was a big "fad" toy the year I turned 8. The round loop would go around one of your ankles. The idea was to move your leg in a way to make the rope with the lemon twirl around in a circle. The trick was to hop up as the lemon rope swung around, so that it didn't hit your other leg. You'd try to see how many times in a row you could do that without making a mistake. Doesn't sound all that fun when I'm explaining it, but it was:
Hula hoops were also a big "fad" that year and I was thrilled to get one! I couldn't find a good photo of a hula hoop online though (surprisingly). I remember the one I got was white with thin red and blue stripes on it.
Here is the colorforms set I got--you can see what the inside looked like, with some of the colorform pieces on it:
And here is a better look at the Carrie doll playset:
I remember making a little "house" for my Carrie doll out of a shoe box. It looked cute with the little table and stool inside. I cut out windows in the sides of the box and even made little curtains out of scraps of cloth and yarn.
To finish up birthday number 8, here are a bunch of birthday cards:
The last one is from Grandpa, Grandma, and Karen:
9th 1977 Lancaster, CA
This was the only birthday I had that I went to school. Amy and I went to a summer school that year--it was just for fun. We made pies one day and another day we visited Universal Studios. Anyway, I remember we had new pink and white wrap around summer dresses to wear to school that day. I found a couple of photos of my birthday this year. In the first one, I am posing with all my gifts:
As you can sort of see, I received a life preserver, a tea set, a Lego set, a Cat's Eye game, a paint by number, a Holly Hobbie dollhouse colorforms set, and a craft kit to make little pom pom animals.
Here are Amy and I with our cakes. It looks like Amy has changed out of her pink and white sundress, but I am still wearing mine:
I remember many happy hours playing with most of the gifts I got this year. This is what the Cat's Eye game was like:
(Sorry it's blurry). A bunch of marbles went into the hopper in the middle. At "ready, set, go!", everyone started pushing in the button in front of themselves to get marbles to come out. You would grab the appropriate colored marbles and throw the ones you didn't need back into the hopper. The object of the game was to be the first one to fill up all your holes with marbles of your cat's color (red, yellow, blue, or green). Once you filled up all your holes for the cat's body, you still had to get a black marble for the eye. The first person to accomplish this task yelled "Cat's Eye!" and they were the winner of the game. It was a very noisy game, but it was fun.
I also spent a lot of time building with the Lego set, which was Amy's too, by the way. It had a lot of pieces and the outside of the box was covered with pictures of different things you could build with the set. We didn't have instructions, we had to look at the pictures and try to figure out how to build things. It looked just like this inside:
I think my favorite gift this year was the Holly Hobby dollhouse colorforms set. I am really kicking myself for not keeping this set because it was really cool! Here are some pictures I found of it online:
It could be set up like this:
You can see all the pieces that came with it in this picture too. Here's a close up look at the inside and most of the pieces:
What was really cool about this set is that if you put a light behind it, all the lights lit up like this:
I spent a lot of time playing with this set. It was almost as good as having a real dollhouse!
Here's a birthday card I received from a friend for my 9th birthday:
10th 1978 Lancaster, CA
I remember this birthday a little better than most from my childhood. I think that is because we have a home movie of opening presents. One thing I remember about this year is that we had to wait for Dad to get home from work before opening presents. He was a little late, and I was so anxious to open those presents!! I wasn't sure if I was going to survive the suspense. In spite of the excitement, I look pretty serious in the home movie. It's funny to watch the movie because more than once I can be seen rolling my eyes--no doubt Erick was making smart comments! Here are the screen shots:
We each got a ball
This was perfume from Avon. The perfume was in these cute little decanters that looked like this:
There was a poem on the side of the box:
The perfume was probably a scent called "Sweet Honesty", a popular Avon scent for little girls. Blurry photo of the Little Burros, after we put the hats on:
Now we are opening batons:
And this is a paint set:
In this photo I am trying to figure out how to open a watch box:
This was the first watch I ever owned. It was a blue and silver Timex little girl's watch. Here is a picture of it on this catalog page from 1977. It's the watch that is on its side, underneath the white flower shaped watch:
I was really excited to have a watch and I thought this watch was beautiful!
There was something else rattling around in the watch box, and in this photo I am trying to get it out:
It's a charm for my charm bracelet:
I'm sure you can't see it in that photo, but I still have the charm bracelet, so here is a picture of the charm:
We were living in California at the time, of course, but I think the real reason I got this charm is because I was born in California.
Now here are a few photos of the cakes:
Besides the gifts that show up in the photos, I also received paper dolls, doodle art, a craft kit to make a pom pom dog, and a little stuffed raccoon. (The raccoon had arms that were like a clip so it could be hung onto things, like lampshades.) Doodle Art was kind of a new thing then and it was becoming very popular. I think the paper dolls were from Amy, and they looked like this:
I loved these paper dolls and played with them a lot. I'm pretty sure I gave Amy the same paper dolls as she gave me that year!
Here's a card from a friend:
And here's my birthday card from Grandma, Grandpa & Karen:
11th 1979 Orem, UT
I don't have any more home movies of birthdays and the photos are fairly minimal from here on out as well, so I think it's going to go faster now! The thing I remember the most about my 11th birthday is that Grandpa & Grandma Johnson and Aunt Karen were visiting us. I only got to see them once a year, and it was a real treat to have them there for my birthday! I remember that we opened presents outside in the backyard that year. Here is the list of the loot: roller skates, pillow set, postcards, nail file, doodle art, stationary, cake refills, pink binder / notebook, puzzle, dog statue, doll from Taiwan, wonderful waterful game, Book About Me, doll in crocheted bassinet / purse.
The roller skates looked like this:
I still have the box that they came in because I used it to store quilt blocks (which I have not yet made into a quilt). The pillow set was to make a pillow that had a 4 generation pedigree chart on it. I did make the pillow eventually and I still have it although I keep it in a box for now:
I should explain the postcards--I started collecting post cards at about this age. I would get postcards from places I visited on trips but I also wanted to get postcards of all the temples (there were only about 19 of them at the time!) so often for birthdays and Christmas I would get a few postcards. I still have my postcard collection and I add to it sometimes. I received stationary because I wrote a lot of letters in those days--I had friends in California that I wrote to regularly. The cake refills were for a cake decorating set that I received the previous Christmas. I must have used up all the cake mixes that came with the set, so I wanted some more. The cake mixes were small and made tiny cakes that were only enough for maybe 2 or 3 servings:
The doll from Taiwan was from Erick--he was serving his mission there at the time. I still have the doll. She got a serious case of bed head from residing wrapped up in a box for years, but here she is:
Her hair still looks nice from behind:
The wonderful waterful game was another "fad" item at that time. The one I received looked like this:
The object of the game was to get all the little balls into the clear plastic cups under the birds. Pushing the white button at the bottom created a burst of air that pushed through the water and thrust the balls upward. Then you would have to tilt the whole thing to try to get the balls to land in the cups. There were many different kinds of games available, and these were really popular for a while.
The Book About Me was a Dr. Seuss book that looked like this:
It was a fun book that had lots of pages of information that you could fill out about yourself. Amy got one when we were 8, and I had wanted one of my own since then. I still have this book somewhere and I remember my kids enjoyed looking at it when they were little.
Finally, the crocheted bassinet / purse was a gift from and made by Aunt Karen. Mine was yellow. The bottom of it was made out of the bottom part of a plastic dishwashing liquid bottle and the top part was crocheted. It could be a little drawstring purse, or I could open up the top all the way and fold it down over the sides of the plastic and it became a little doll bassinet. Very clever! It was sort of like these:
I got this little card in Primary that year:
And here is my card from Grandpa, Grandma, & Karen:
I have one photo from this birthday, blowing out candles on the cakes:
Amy is on the left and I am on the right, next to Grandpa Johnson.
12th 1980 Orem, UT
Strangely, I don't remember a lot about this birthday. We had a party this year (our last one) and it was a slumber party. I remember that we slept outside in our family's tent and that one of our friends told us that she had learned to hypnotize people and she wanted to try it on us. It totally didn't work, but we decided to pretend that it did work and our friend laughed and laughed while we did things like somersaults at her command. I don't think we ever told her that we were pretending because we didn't want to hurt her feelings!
Here's the gift list for this year: dollhouse miniatures, Connect Four game, A Gathering of Days (book), Thimble Summer (book), dress from Taiwan, nylons, lip gloss, post cards, Snoopy mini stationary items
I didn't record what my friends gave me at the party so I don't remember any of those things except that one girl gave me a plant, which I had for quite a few years.
Amy and I received a wonderful dollhouse (built by Dad and Mom) for Christmas the year we were 11, so for many birthdays and Christmases after that we would receive furniture for one of the rooms or various accessories for the dollhouse. I didn't usually specify exactly what I got a lot of the time--this birthday it was probably small items like dishes or pretend food. I still have most of the books that I received growing up--books are one thing that I have a hard time giving up!
I have read Thimble Summer so many times! One of my favorites!
The dress from Taiwan came from Erick, who was still serving his mission there. I kept this dress, even though obviously it doesn't fit me anymore!:
Funny story about the nylons: Amy told me shortly before our birthday that she wanted nylons but she was afraid to ask for them because she thought Mom & Dad would think we were too young for them still. She said all the other girls at church our age were wearing them, though. (I didn't notice things like that--I was totally oblivious about things like fashion!) I thought Mom & Dad probably wouldn't care if we had nylons, so I wrote a note on my birthday list saying that Amy wanted nylons but she was afraid to ask for them! She can thank me for doing that, though, because she got her nylons! (And I got some, too.)
The lip gloss may have been this:
Can't remember for sure if I got this lip gloss for this birthday but I definitely had this lip gloss.
Connect Four was another game that I really loved and spent a lot of time playing. I still have this game, actually.
The Snoopy miniature stationary items were these:
Here are cards received from friends:
And from Grandpa, Grandma, and Karen:
Here's my last card from Primary:
13th 1981 Orem, UT
This is the age where my birthday memories start to get pretty fuzzy--I don't remember details about a lot of my birthdays and they all kind of merge together in my mind. It might seem funny that I remember birthdays from when I was a little girl better than teenage / adult birthdays, but there's a couple of reasons for that. Probably one reason is because I was more excited about birthdays when I was little! I think the other reason is because I stayed in the same place all through my teenage years. I identify my childhood birthdays with the place I was living at the time, which helps me to remember them better. So anyway--on with birthday #13! I don't have any photographs so this one will be mercifully short. :)
Here's the gift list: watch, dollhouse furniture, book (Sam), aquarium reflector hood & coupon for fish, nylons, plant
There's not much to say about any of those things except that this was the age that Amy & I decided we wanted to have pet fish. Some of my older siblings had set up a fish tank when I was younger and we had fish for a while, but they had given up the project a long time before this (probably when we moved--I remember having the fish in Houston, but not in Lancaster). We still had a 5 gallon fish tank and some of the accessories but apparently we didn't have the reflector hood anymore. Amy and I had fish for a number of years--up until one year when we went to girls' camp and all our fish got sick and died while we were gone! We decided to give it up at that point--maintaining a fish tank can be quite a bit of work.
Here's my card from Grandpa, Grandma & Karen:
14th 1982 Orem, UT
Here's the gift list for this year: dollhouse accessories, 10 gallon fish tank & equipment, coupon for fish, dishtowels, nylons, flashcubes, film, keychain, postcards
We expanded the fish operation this year by getting a larger tank. (The first tank we had was a 5 gallon tank). We also had a 2 gallon tank leftover from my older siblings and we used all three tanks for awhile. We used the 2 gallon tank to put babies in when they were born so that the adults wouldn't eat them.
It's funny now to remember that we used to have to buy film and flashcubes for our cameras! That is a thing of the past. (And it's so nice that we don't have to do that anymore. How many events went unrecorded because we ran out of film or forgot to buy more film?!)
I have one photo from my birthday this year, of my cake:
There's kind of a funny story behind it. I meant to make a "doll" cake this year--the cake was the skirt and there was a doll pick (head and upper body) that went on top to make it look like a girl in a dress with a wide skirt. After I made the cake, I couldn't find the doll pick and when I called Shellie to ask her where it was she said that she broke it and had thrown it away. So there I was, left with this odd shaped cake. It was kind of bell shaped, so I decided to make it the Liberty Bell. Kind of appropriate for the day after Independence Day, right?
In the photo you can also see Ben holding a camera with flash cubes on top!
15th 1983 Orem, UT
The loot for this year: coupon for fish, See's candy, pedigree charts, film, flashcubes, cloth for a blouse, Super Breakout video game
See's candy--yum!!
The gaming system we had back then was an Atari. It was one of the very first gaming systems and everyone thought it was so fun and exciting! The graphics and complexity of the games are laughable compared to what we have now, but that's all we had back then! The Atari gaming system was actually mine, although of course all the kids in the family played on it. I won it from a Kelloggs "Stick Up for Breakfast" contest (an annual drawing contest) when I was about 10 years old. It came with one game (Pong) and we never had a lot of games for it but we did get a few more over the years and Super Breakout was one of those. I played it at a friend's house and thought it was really fun so I wanted to have it at our house to play.
The idea was to knock out all the colored "bricks" by bouncing the "ball" off the "paddle" and hitting the bricks.
16th 1984 Orem, UT
For our birthday this year, Amy and I asked if we could have our room redecorated. Our room had not been changed from what it was when we moved to Utah nearly 6 years before and the taste of the previous owner of our room definitely did not match our tastes. We had yellow carpet and bright pink flowered wallpaper. Besides that, though, the dresser and book case we brought with us from California were both red, which really clashed with both the wallpaper and the carpet. We couldn't get new carpet at this time, but we did get new wallpaper. The new wallpaper also had pink flowers, but they were tiny and light pink instead of large and bright pink. Both the dresser and the bookcases received a coat of white paint and then they were "antiqued" so that they ended up a creamy ivory color. We also tied a quilt to go on our bed, and made matching curtains and covers for our bedside lamps. The quilt was also cream colored with light yellow, pink and blue flowers and butterflies on it. The colors of the quilt tied together the colors of the carpet and the wallpaper. The over all effect was that the room was now color coordinated and it also had a much more "grown up" look. We were really pleased with the results.
Here's a photo where you can see the quilt, the wallpaper, and one of our bedside lamps. (It was taken several years later, in 1991):
And here is a photo where you can see the dresser with its new coat of paint (also taken several years later, probably about 1986):
Besides having our room redone, we did get a few more presents. Here is the rest of the list: car keys (to the cars the family already owned, not to a new car!), See's candy, a book (The Keeping Days), Man From Snowy River soundtrack, and Asteroids video game.
I still have the book, and as you can see, it has been well used. I have a habit of re-reading books I really like--often several times--and this is a book I really liked. It is the first book in a series of 6 books; I eventually got all the books in the series.
Asteroids was another Atari game:
The object was to shoot all the asteroids (which then broke into smaller pieces that you could also shoot at).
17th 1985 Visiting Mt. Rushmore, SD
This birthday was kind of unique but fun since we were camping at Mt. Rushmore. Erick's family was with us too. My parents put a few balloons on the outside of the tent to celebrate.
(It was windy!) Rather than bring a bunch of presents along, Mom & Dad decided to give us cards and money to spend, so I got to pick out my own presents this year. Here is what I got (after we got back home): 2 sweater vests, 1 sweater, purse, cloth for a blouse, 4 liquid embroidery tubes, jelly beans, book (The Krystal Promise) and rose corduroy pants.
I was mostly interested in clothes by this time! The liquid embroidery tubes were probably for a project (maybe a quilt I was working on). I still have the book (like I said, I have a hard time giving books away).
18th 1986 Orem, UT
I actually have a few photographs of this birthday:
Apparently, it was kind of chilly for July--I'm wearing a sweatshirt. Here's the gift list: camera with film & batteries (I think it had a built in flash, though!), coupon for $10 at at fabric store, photo album, gray pants, coupon to see a movie, jelly beans.
I don't remember what movie I went to see now. I'm noticing that jelly beans have showed up on more than one birthday list--I really like jelly beans (or almost any chewy candy). Still do!
19th 1987 Orem, UT
I have a few pictures for this year, too. Amy and I were both planning to move into the dorms at BYU that fall, so we got a lot of things we were going to need for cooking:
Here's the complete list: underwear, towels & washcloth, laundry basket, plastic plates & cups, dishtowels, pitcher, casserole dish, mixing bowls, pots & pans set, kitchen utensil set, socks, S&P shakers, white sweater, antique paper dolls, earrings, "Chicago" tape, white Sunday shoes, finger nail polish, pocket Book of Mormon, calendar.
Here are the paper dolls, which came from a doll museum in Provo that we had visited that summer:
(Yep, I'm never going to outgrow paper dolls.)
Here's the Chicago tape, which I also still have (I have a hard time giving away music too):
Yes, I do still have a tape recorder so that I can listen to the few cassette tapes that I still have. I bought it about 5 years ago, and I had a really hard time finding one at all!
20th 1988 Orem, UT
I remember that Amy & I went shopping together this year to buy gifts for each other. One of the sales clerks who helped us at one of the stores was trying to guess how old we were (we told him it was our birthday) and he could not believe we were 20! I think he thought we were 15 or something. It was annoying back then when people thought I was much younger than I really was, but it does not bother me now!
Here is the list for this year: clock radio, shoe holder, underwear, scrapbook, film, umbrella, Phantom of the Opera soundtrack, nylons, Chicago 19 tape, cassette tape holder, 3 books (Pride & Prejudice, Tale of Two Cities, and The House of Seven Gables). I still have the Phantom soundtrack and one of the books:
I'm not sure why I didn't keep Tale of Two Cities because that is one of my favorite books. Maybe it got lost.
21st 1989 Orem, UT
I got my mission call two days after my birthday this year. My gifts this year were mostly things I was going to need for my mission: curling brush, cosmetic bag, stationary, travel blow dryer, travel iron, coupon for movie, more stationary, sign: "We Don't Believe in Miracles. We Rely Upon Them", travel alarm clock, sapphire ring, $50.
I actually still have and use the cosmetic bag after all these years! (It's the maroon bag on my right leg, behind the curling iron and some of the stationary.) It's a little worse for the wear now. I've thought about replacing it more than once but have never found one that I like as much. It has four pockets and it can fold flat for traveling.
22nd 1990 Kernersville, NC
This birthday was mostly a normal missionary day for me but my companion set up a surprise birthday party for me at the ward mission leader's home that evening. (And I
was surprised--didn't expect that at all!) I opened presents and they had a cake for me. The photos I have are not very good because I glued them into a scrapbook so I had to scan them using my phone, but here they are:
You can't see it at all, but the sign says "Happy B-Day Sister Pew!"
"Dirt" cake
Gift list: peach stationary & stamped envelope, 3 stories written by Ben, necklace, mission stationary, garments, earrings (2 sets), pink floral dress, running shorts, Alabama post cards and S&P shakers
It was really hot and humid that day and they didn't have air conditioning so one of the mission leader's sons was assigned to be my personal slave:
The whole group:
I'm wearing the pink floral dress in this photo that was taken a few days later. Mom made the dress for me:
The running shorts were from my companion, Sister Downing. She was very dedicated to exercising every day and I went with her, of course. I'm wearing the shorts in this photo taken a few months later in my next area:
(Hey, neon colors were really popular in the 1990s!)
The Alabama post cards and S&P shakers were from Amy who was serving her mission there at the time. These are the S&P shakers:
23rd 1991 Orem, UT
I was happy to be back home with my family for this birthday.
This year's gift list: $5, scripture cover, mini hymn book, crystal unicorn, spiral bound hymn book, black & white checked pleated skirt, banana rocker, shirt, Dances With Wolves soundtrack CD, scrapbook, Hawaiian t-shirt, gold, silver & copper etched porcelain box, pearl & ruby pendant.
I'm wearing the Hawaiian t-shirt in the photo above and I am sitting in the banana rocker, although you really can't see it. Banana rockers were a new thing then and very popular. You can see ours a little bit better in this photo:
I'm wearing the pleated skirt a few days later, in the photo below:
I still have the mini hymn book, the crystal unicorn, the spiral-bound hymnbook, and the Dances with Wolves soundtrack CD. The mini hymn book has been used a lot and looks a bit worse for the wear:
Here's the CD, which also looks a bit beat up but the CD still plays just fine:
The Hawaiian t-shirt, the porcelain box, and the pearl & ruby pendant were all sent by Frank from Hawaii. I still have the box and the pendant:
I still wear the pendant sometimes.
24th 1992 Provo, UT
I celebrated birthday #24 a few months after I got married and Frank & I were living in an apartment in Provo. If I remember right, we got together with extended family at Shellie's house on the 4th and we opened presents from extended family then.
Frank & I lived close to Provo High School, so on the evening of the 4th, we walked over to a big field behind the school to watch the fireworks (which were being shot off from Cougar Stadium on BYU campus nearby). By the time we got back home, it was shortly after midnight. Frank decided that it was now officially my birthday, and he wanted to give me my presents right then! Here's the gift list: floral dress, blue cuffed Bermuda shorts, hair bow, $50, t-shirt, picture of Christ w/ Mary & Martha, Jenga game, Hawaiian coin, coupon for clothes, kitchen gadgets: drink dispenser, spaghetti tool, sieve, whisks, funnels.
In the photo, I am wearing the floral dress, which I believe my parents gave me. The kitchen gadgets and the Jenga game were from Frank; probably the coupon for clothes was from him too. I think all the other things came from extended family members. I still have the picture of Christ in my kitchen:
The Jenga game was a good idea because it's a game that can be played with only two people (or with a lot more). The box disintegrated long ago but I still have the Jenga blocks and we still play the game:
25th 1993 Provo, UT
I don't remember a lot about this birthday but we did get together with extended family to celebrate because I have these photos:
I remember that I was not feeling really well this day but I am still smiling. It's kind of hard not to smile when you have a chocolate cake in front of you, right?!
Gift list: black plaid skirt, sweater, jean rompers, shell, chocolate macadamia nuts, shirt, blue dress pants, Franklin planner refill, ceramic rabbit, wrap around denim skirt, 2 sets of S&P shakers, The King & I soundtrack CD, rolling pin, apron
I should probably mention that when I was in my early teens I started collecting Salt & Pepper shakers, after inheriting about 20 sets from my Grandma Pew. I often receive S&P shakers for birthday or Christmas gifts. The two sets I received this year were these ones:
These ones were from Amy & Nate, who had visited San Francisco that year.
This set was from Mom & Dad
I still have the last 3 items on the list, and still use all of them:
Mom made the apron for me.
We are halfway to 50--whew! This is taking even longer than I thought it would. (Didn't help that blogger erased several years so I am having to do them over again. I really did save them several times, so I don't know how that happened!)
26th 1994 Provo, UT
All of my siblings and their families came to Utah this summer for a reunion and we celebrated all the June and July birthdays together at a picnic ground in Provo Canyon. I remember it was kind of a bummer that everyone came in July, about a month before Scott was born, so they didn't get to see Scott but it was still nice to see everyone! All of the photos I have from this year are not very good--mostly dark and blurry--but I guess that is better than nothing. You can see some of these things in the photos: Franklin planner refill, vegetable / rice steamer, Spirograph toy (always wanted one of those!), plastic jar with Hot Tamales, maternity shirt, t-shirt, striped shirt, CD
Hot Tamales!
Striped shirt
No idea what we are all looking at! Maybe they had just broken a pinata and were picking up candy.
27th 1995 Visiting Frostproof, FL from Provo, UT
We were on a trip to Florida for a Bracken family reunion (Frank's mom's family) for my birthday this year. This was the first time we had been able to attend this reunion since we got married, so it was the first time I had met a lot of the Bracken family. It was Scott's first time to meet all of them, too, of course. The Bracken family are very warm and welcoming people, and they surprised me with this cake for my birthday:
After we returned to Utah, we had a celebration with extended family for all the July birthdays. These photos were taken then:
We were sharing a cake with Erika, which explains why it was a Pocahontas cake!
The gift list for this year: blue shirt, maroon shirt, blue blouse, dark blue skort, white blouse, floral swag, knife set, Lion King soundtrack CD, flowered stretch pants, denim skirt, white shirt
You can see many of those items in the photos above. I had the floral swag for a long time; I remember it hung above the door to the deck in the house I live in now. It fell apart eventually though. Floral swags were a popular decorating item at the time. I still have the knife set and use it practically daily. I also have the Lion King CD:
I'm wearing the floral stretch pants and the white shirt in the photo below, which was taken in Florida on my actual birthday:
Yes, I actually wore stuff like that. They were considered stylish back then! The blue shirt, maroon shirt, blue blouse, and dark blue skort were from Frank's parents. They took me shopping while we were in Florida and let me pick out what I wanted. I didn't spell "skort" wrong--it looked like a skirt, but it was actually knee length shorts.
28th 1996 Provo, UT
I have these photos from this year, which look like they were taken at an extended family celebration:
Gift list: blue rosebud shirt, 1 pound Kara's chocolates, cross stitch kit, leaflet, floss storage box, floss cards & floss, 2 Newbery books, movie gift certificates, Pebbles in My Pocket gift certificate, cookie cutters, flour sifter, cake decorating set
The cross stitch kit and the cross stitch supplies were to make this project:
I actually completed the cross stitch in 1996, but I have never had it framed! I really need to do that. Newbery books are award-winning children's books. I read a number of them as a child and most of them were really good so at some point I decided that I wanted to collect all of them, which is why you will see Newbery winning books popping up in my gift lists pretty often. (Mom gave a number of them to my siblings and I when we were growing up too.) I am still working on that collection (there's a new Newbery winner every year, so the collection keeps growing) but I am getting a lot closer to having all of them. I don't know which 2 Newbery books I received this year, since I didn't specify which ones they were when I made the list and now I can't remember. Pebbles in My Pocket was a local store that sold scrapbook supplies. Scrapbooking was becoming very popular at this time and it was something that interested me. (By scrapbooking, I don't mean pasting photos and items on blank pages in a traditional scrapbook. This kind of scrapbooking involved preserving photos on beautifully created pages using acid-free products including colored cardstock, decorative paper, stickers, and die cuts.) I probably still have the cookie cutters, although I don't remember which ones I received for this particular birthday and I also have the decorating tips from the cake decorating kit. I was interested in learning to decorate cakes at the time, but I never did learn to do it, really. I would still like to learn--I need to take a class someday!
29th 1997 Visiting Washington, DC from Geneva, NY
In between this birthday and the last one, Frank had graduated from BYU and accepted a job in Geneva, NY so we had moved across the country. Not knowing that we would someday live only 45 minutes north of Washington, DC, we decided to take the opportunity to visit our nation's capital. This is a place I had always wanted to visit, so a trip to DC was a perfect birthday present! We spent a couple of exhausting (but wonderful) days pushing a heavy double stroller up and down the Mall. On my actual birthday, we visited the Lincoln Memorial, among other places. Here is a photo taken at one of the Smithsonian museums on the 4th of July:
Scott was really into trains at this age! The only photo I have of myself on my actual birthday is this flattering photo:
(I was talking when the photo was taken.) This picture was taken at my friend Paula Bergeson's house. She was living in Gaithersburg Maryland at the time and she invited us over for dinner that night. She probably made me a birthday cake too!
Gift list for birthday #29: Creating Keepsakes magazine subscription, scrapbook supplies, jean shorts, t-shirt, family recipes (Creating Keepsakes was a scrapbooking magazine.)
30th 1998 Geneva, NY
Here are another couple of flattering photos of me, taken on my 30th birthday:
We probably forgot to buy candles, which is why I have only one candle (looks like a kid's candle, too) on my cake instead of 30.
Gift list: self healing cutting mat, paper cutter, stickers, How Rare a Possession videotape (with other videos), funnel, jelly beans, cookies & cream candy bars, Rumors of War and Since You Went Away (books)
The self healing cutting mat, paper cutter, and stickers were all scrapbooking supplies although I still have the paper cutter and use it for a lot of other things. How Rare a Possession was a church movie about the Book of Mormon; I love that movie and would probably still have the tape except we don't have a VCR anymore. The two books were from Mom & Dad and they were the first two books in a series about an LDS family during WWII. Mom had read these books and thought I would enjoy them too, and I did. She continued to get me books as they were written; the series eventually had 5 books and then the author wrote a follow up series that also had 5 books. I really liked these 2 series and have read them a number of times.
31st 1999 Visiting Brevard, NC from Newark, DE
We were in Brevard this year for a Bracken family reunion. (They have their reunion on the Saturday closest to Independence Day every year, which is why we were often traveling for a Bracken reunion for my birthday.)
Gift list: wet/dry razor, scrapbook supplies, gospel art picture kit, stationary, candle set, An Ensign to the Nations video
I still have and use the gospel art picture kit--very handy for teaching Primary lessons or for family night lessons! An Ensign to the Nations is another church video that I love and would probably still have if I had a way to watch it (but no VCR anymore).
I have several photos taken on this trip to NC, but none of me and none on my birthday.
32nd 2000 Frederick, MD
I don't have any photos of this birthday either. This year's gift list: two pair short alls (white, denim), denim capri pants, 2 plaid shirts, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat soundtrack CD, 4 Newbery books (Carry On Mr. Bowditch, Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry, Island of the Blue Dolphins, and Jacob Have I Loved), 2 "Mitford" books
I probably picked out the clothes myself. I'm wearing one of the plaid shirts in this photo (taken in 2001):
And I'm wearing the denim capri pants in this photo (also taken in 2001):
I still have the CD, the Newbery books, and the Mitford books:
The Mitford books were from Mom & Dad, and they are another series of books that Mom had read and knew I would like.
33rd 2001 Frederick, MD
I don't have any photos of this birthday and I don't remember much about it either so this will be short for once! Gift list: camcorder, yellow shirt, blue jumper, Dove ice cream bars, candy
The camcorder was probably a combined gift with Frank--we probably got it earlier that year for his birthday and had it count as birthday, Mother's day and Father's day gifts for both of us, since it is a larger ticket item. We still have it, but don't use it anymore now that we can record things on our phones!
34th 2002 Visiting Orlando, FL from Frederick, MD
We went on a long vacation this year--first to North Carolina to see Frank's family, then we drove to Atlanta and took a flight from there to Utah for a reunion with the Pew family. Then we flew back to Atlanta and drove from there to Florida for a Bracken family reunion. While we were in Florida we also went to Disney World for a few days and that is what we were doing on my birthday. We spent Independence Day at the Magic Kingdom and on my birthday we went to Animal Kingdom. It rained quite a bit that day but we didn't mind because the rain cooled things down and Animal Kingdom also wasn't nearly as crowded as Magic Kingdom had been the day before. We had a really great time at Animal Kingdom! Here are a few photos taken that day:
After we got back home, we had a cake:
We must have forgotten to buy candles again!
Gift list: yellow flowered dress, kitchen caddy with tools, Nauvoo temple ornament, book about the Nauvoo temple
I'm wearing the yellow flowered dress in the photo below, taken in 2004:
The ornament and book about the Nauvoo temple were from Mom & Dad. We had visited Nauvoo earlier that year to attend the open house for the newly rebuilt Nauvoo temple, so I was thrilled to have both of these gifts!
35th 2003 Visiting Brevard, NC from Frederick, MD
We were in Brevard for...you guessed it! A Bracken family reunion. Apparently, we didn't take any photos of my birthday. Here's the gift list: white capri pants, tan capri pants, $20 scrapbook store gift certificate, canvas library bag
I still have the library bag. Currently, I am using it to transport supplies to den meetings and back although back in the day I used it to transport library books:
36th 2004 Returning from Chattanooga, TN to Frederick, MD
We were on our way back from another Bracken family reunion. This wasn't the most exciting birthday, as I spent most of the day in the car, but at the reunion a few days earlier the Bracken family surprised me with this cake:
They are always so sweet to me! Gift list for this year: purse, earrings (blue & white cyrstal), Small and Simple Things and Fairhaven 2 (books). The two books were from Mom & Dad. I don't know if I have the Fairhaven book anymore but I do have the other one:
It's a lovely little inspirational book by Marjorie Pay Hinckley.
37th 2005 Visiting Lehi / Orem, UT from Frederick, MD
My family had a reunion this year to celebrate Mom & Dad's 50th Wedding Anniversary so I was in Utah for my birthday. On my birthday we all took a drive on the Alpine Loop, stopping at one place to have a picnic and to celebrate birthdays with cake. Then we drove the rest of the loop to Provo Canyon and stopped at Bridal Veil Falls, where most of us went wading in the cold water. It was a lovely way to spend my birthday. Here are a few photos:
Hiking
Cake!
Gift list: America's Choir DVD, watch, white sweater, Reverence Inside Out CD, black licorice, notebook w/pen, Symphony candy bar (large!), warm vanilla sugar body wash & lotion set, skittles
I still have the DVD and the CD
This is one of my favorite CDs--I love the music on this one!
I have this photo from this year too:
I don't know if it was taken before or after we went to Utah, but it was probably after we got back home. Ariana is the oldest daughter of my cousin McKay's oldest son, Ryan. (You followed all that, right?!) Ryan and his family were living in Pennsylvania at the time and they sometimes came to visit. Ariana's birthday is in July too and if I remember correctly, Ryan & Leah got this cake for her but they had my name put on it too, which I hadn't expected. Very thoughtful of them!
38th 2006 Frederick, MD
Gift list: scripture marking pencil, Experience Inside Out CD, 2 t-shirts, The Work and the Glory volume 1, Almost Sisters, and Tending Roses (books)
The scripture marking pencil is this fancy thing with 8 different colors:
Still have it, still use it! (I've had to replace a few of the colors of the years.)
I also still have the CD and two of the books:
The books were from Mom & Dad. This one is the first book in another series that I have enjoyed:
And this one is also the first book in a series--a classic LDS series that a lot of people love:
I'd already read the whole series, but didn't own most of the books. I don't know why I don't still have Tending Roses, because I loved that book. From that book comes one of my most favorite quotes ever: "Happiness is not getting what you want, it's wanting what you get."
39th 2007 Frederick, MD
I had no idea when I celebrated my 38th birthday that by my next birthday I would have a 6 week old baby, but that was a very welcome surprise.
Somewhere along the way, I had decided that I really liked cheesecake better than cake, so most of my birthdays from here on out I had cheesecake. My favorite is blueberry cheesecake with a shortbread crust, so that's what I get!
Gift list: Sharing Time Inside Out CD, Singles Ward DVD, The Testaments DVD, 3 blouses, Perfecting Amiable
I remember listening to the CD a lot that summer--mostly while walking the floor with Seth, getting him to fall asleep for his naps!
Sorry this photo is so blurry. This is just a crazy, silly, fun movie:
And this one is very uplifting:
40th 2008 Frederick, MD
When I was growing up, I always dreaded turning 40. For some reason I thought turning 40 would mean I was OLD! Happily, when I actually reached 40, I didn't feel old at all, and I realized that I actually liked the idea that I had made it to this age. Frank surprised me this year with not only wrapped gifts (he often didn't bother with wrapping) but with a birthday table cloth and colored paper plates and cups!
Gift list: star shirt, 5 t-shirts, plastic spoon set, Brain Age Nintendo DS game, 2 puzzle books, A Banner is Unfurled volume 3 (book), Charlie & the Chocolate Factory DVD
We usually make this cake for Independence Day and I think we made this cake on the 4th but decided to use it for my birthday cake since we hadn't eaten it on the 4th.
I still have the DVD, book and game:
I'm not sure which version of Charlie & the Chocolate Factory I received for this birthday because I have both this version (the re-make) and the original version, but I think it was probably this version because it had just come out 2 years before.
The book was from Mom & Dad and is in a series of books that are based on the life of Benjamin Franklin Johnson, written by two of his descendants. They are pretty good!
I haven't played the game in ages and I'm kind of afraid to try it now--my brain is a lot older than it used to be! This game has different activities that are supposed to help keep your brain sharp. They're pretty fun.
41st 2009 Frederick, MD
No photos of the present unwrapping this year, but here's the gift list: blank CDs, Dove chocolate ice cream bars, fabric markers, go see Harry Potter 6 movie
This birthday was on a Sunday and Frank planned to let me take a nap after church (I was the new Primary president!) and to make dinner for me but then our dog Snickers got hurt and so Frank ended up taking him to the vet instead while I skipped the nap and made most of dinner. (It was my fault, too--somehow I hurt him when I put him down on the floor; I might have stepped on him somehow.) At least the dog was okay--just some tissue damage to his back leg; no broken bones. Frank did make the cheesecake for me, pictured in the photo above.
42nd 2010 Frederick, MD
Frank had the day off because the 4th was on Sunday this year. Scott and Tanner left early that morning for scout camp, so they weren't around but Frank pampered me all day! He brought me breakfast in bed, did all my chores for me, took me shopping at IKEA, and took me out to dinner. It was definitely a nice birthday! We had just returned from a trip to Utah so he hadn't had time to shop for gifts but instead I ordered a bunch of books for myself:
All of these books were childhood favorites of mine. The red book is The Chestry Oak, probably my all time favorite children's book. It was out of print and hard to find and expensive back then (it's back in print now) so it was a real treat to get my own copy. The other books are: The Key to the Treasure, Magic Elizabeth, Double Spell, and All-of-a-Kind Family
Mom & Dad sent me this book too:
A very nice birthday!
43rd 2011 Frederick, MD
Tanner and Jared were at scout camp so it was a quiet day (quiet week, actually!) Frank had been laid off from his job a few weeks before so I didn't get a lot of gifts, but I received a couple of gift cards from family and friends that I enjoyed spending. I guess we didn't take any photos either, although I probably had a yummy blueberry cheesecake.
44th 2012 Frederick, MD
As usual during these years, at least one of my boys was gone--Jared was gone to scout camp this week. Gift list for this year: self healing cutting mat (large), rotary cutter, quilter's ruler, iPod, Twilight's Last Gleaming (book)
The book was from Mom & Dad, and here are photos of me opening it:
It is in a series of books that take place during the War of 1812 and the series is written by a lady who is in my stake, so I know her--kind of fun!
45th 2013 Frederick, MD
Not only did I get some nice presents this year, but we had also ordered some new living room furniture and it all arrived on my birthday (for the second time--the first time it was all damaged and we had to send it back). Since we had given away our old furniture before the new furniture arrived, we had been sitting on the floor for 3 weeks and it was really nice to get some couches to sit on finally!!
Here is the gift list: Android tablet, Dove chocolates, Turtles chocolates, plastic & wooden large spoons
I am laughing in the picture because Frank purposely put my presents in a Walmart bag--I had complained often that he didn't wrap my presents.
The spoons and spatulas were a joke too because I often receive kitchen utensils as a gift and I had been complaining about that too. I still have all of these spoons and spatulas, though, and I do use them.
We ordered Chinese food for dinner, which I also love so it was a nice birthday.
46th 2014 Frederick, MD
We ordered Chinese food again and we also invited the sister missionaries over for dinner. Frank took me to see fireworks at a carnival that evening too which was really nice because I love fireworks. The picture this year looks weird because we accidentally put the camera on the wrong setting and didn't realize it, so the color is all off. It doesn't help that I am making a funny face!
The gift list: nonstick frying pan with lid, nylon whisks and nylon tongs, American girl gift card, Amazon gift card. Looks like I got some root beer too. The day ended with blueberry cheesecake, of course.
47th 2015 Visiting Lehi, UT from Frederick, MD
I was in Utah this year because we had just taken Tanner out to drop him off at the MTC on July 1st, plus I was visiting my family, of course. Frank wasn't able to come on this trip because he had been in a car accident in May and had missed a lot of work, plus he was still recovering and wasn't up to traveling. It was a bummer that he couldn't be there but that's how life goes sometimes! Because I was in Utah and wanted to get some things while I was there, Frank told me to just get what I wanted. This is what I picked out: chocolate covered and regular cinnamon bears, salt water taffy, book about Orem, BYU football player S&P shakers, gift cards
I Skyped with Frank in the afternoon and that evening we had an extended family celebration for all the June & July birthdays, with several kinds of cake and 2 kinds of homemade ice cream. Nice!
The gift cards came from extended family and I probably used them to buy Newbery books, but I don't remember for sure. Here are my other gifts:
48th 2016 Visiting Lehi, UT from Frederick, MD
We were in Utah again this year, but this time Frank was able to be there too. We celebrated June & July birthdays with extended family on the 4th. On my birthday, Frank took me up Provo Canyon to Bridal Veil Falls.
He flew his drone around a bit while I put my feet in the water. It was nice!
Gift list: blow dryer, lots of gift cards, blue skirt, orange cardigan, Utah souvenirs
The gift cards were from extended family and I probably used them to get books. These were one of the Utah souvenirs:
Here's the orange cardigan and blue skirt (not a very good picture; the lighting wasn't too great):
49th 2017 Frederick, MD
I got a really great birthday present a day early this year: Tanner returned from his mission on the 4th!
My birthday was pretty busy because we were leaving for a trip to Florida the next day (Bracken reunion and Disney World), so we had shopping to do to get ready for that. (And packing too, of course.) I also went to a religion class and took Tanner to the store to get some clothes because he needed some non-missionary clothes for our trip. It rained off and on all day too, which was kind of fun because it doesn't rain on my birthday very often. In the evening I opened presents and Frank had made me cheesecake, as usual.
The gift list: 2 outfits for American Girl doll (New Year's Eve and Peasant Top), lunch box for American Girl doll, salt water taffy, 2 chocolate frogs, Twizzlers (giant bag), 5 Newbery books (Miss Hickory, ...and Now, Miguel, Dear Mr. Henshaw, Crispin, and Tale of Despereaux)
And FINALLY....
50th!!!! 2018 Frederick, MD
It was a fun and relaxing day. I enjoyed phone calls from Scott, Tanner, and Mom. In the afternoon I opened presents and in the evening Frank made dinner for me and we had cheesecake that he made for me too. Later in the evening Frank took me out to see the fireflies too, which I love.
Although Frank had been laid off in June, I still received many nice gifts. We had a lot of cashback bonus dollars accumulated on one of our credit cards that we could use on Amazon, so I created an Amazon wish list and Frank picked things out for me from the list: blue earrings, black ankle boots, 50 flavors Jelly Bellies, Piano Guys Uncharted CD, "Advice from a Saguaro" t-shirt, can opener, 3 Newbery books (Waterless Mountain, The Matchlock Gun, The One and Only Ivan)
Here is the "Advice from a Saguaro" t-shirt, which arrived later in the day (after I had opened presents):
Cheesecake!:
Later in July we went to Utah and I received some nice presents from extended family--gift cards, lotion, candy. I used the gift cards to get these boots, these books, and this ring:
So I felt thoroughly spoiled for birthday #50!
If you made it all the way through this post, you deserve a medal! I also deserve a medal because it took me literally weeks to get this post written (I didn't do it all at once, of course.)
I should also mention that I received nice cards for each of my birthdays, not just when I was a child. I still have most of them, too, but they are in a box somewhere and it would have taken me another month or two to get this post done if I had decided to track them all down, take pictures of them, and add them to this post. So you'll just have to take my word for it!
Birthdays are great, and I am thankful I've had 50 of them. I look forward to many (maybe even 50) more!
