Birthday Celebrations

What a birthday it was this year! But it was very different than what I expected. The original plan was to start celebrating Friday night by watching the Olympics Opening Ceremonies with friends, then Saturday I was going to shop for a new purse and makeup, then go out to dinner before the adult session of stake conference. For my actual birthday on Sunday, we were going to go to stake conference and then have people over for cake and games. It was a solid plan of parties and fun, but then Thursday happened.

I went to work Thursday morning like normal. Around 9AM, my coworker told me there was a 20 car accident in Albany because of snow. I figured she was talking about Albany, Washington or Albany, New York, but no there is an Albany, Oregon, about 90 minutes south of Portland. The snow hit us around 10AM. We didn't think much of the snow, but by lunchtime it was sticking and there was a mass exodus of everyone heading home. My coworkers and I decided to still go out for lunch, but just get take-out. Bryce texted me about heading home around 1PM since he had taken the bus downtown from school so would be home around 3PM. I decided to head home around 2PM so we could get home around the same time. When I left at 2PM, there was still quite a bit of traffic and a couple of inches of snow on the roads. I took it pretty slow and got home in an hour. I also got a text that campus had closed for the afternoon. I got home and Bryce wasn't home yet, so I figured he would be walking through the door any minute. At 3:30PM, he called me to tell me he was still downtown and his bus hadn't come in the last two hours. We debated whether I should come pick him up, but I checked traffic and it was bad. It said it would take me more than a hour just to get downtown. I wanted to tell Bryce to hitchhike, but that didn't seem like the advice a wife should give. So Bryce got on the next bus that he could. It wasn't his bus, but it would get him closer to home. About an hour later, he called me saying they had moved three blocks and that he was still in downtown. Finally at 5:45PM, he texted me that he was 10 minutes from his stop at the Tigard Transit Center. I headed out and it was a ghost town for what normal is rush hour traffic. There was about six inches of snow on the roads and no roads had been plowed. I didn't slide out too much and went slowly meeting Bryce at the bus stop. Finally, at 6:30PM, Bryce and I got home. His car was still at the school and the snow was still coming down.

Snow Progression - Top left: Thursday evening, Top right: Friday night, Bottom left: Saturday afternoon, Bottom right: Sunday afternoon

Friday, I woke up and campus was closed so I worked from home in the morning. Around 11AM, we ventured out. Bryce wanted to get his car and go to the library. We got out of the apartment parking lot and I was ready to turn around. We decided we couldn't make it the school, but we did go to the library. We came home right when it started snowing again and settled in for a long weekend. That night Bryce walked to the pizza place down the street to get us pizza. We then watched The Great Gatsby.

Saturday, we woke up to more snow and played Super Mario.  I also opened some birthday presents that Bryce's family had sent me! Bryce then walked to the store for some things we needed. The rest of the day we played and read. I was so glad that the mail still came so I could get my birthday card from Mom & Dad! That night the adult session of stake conference was cancelled and Bryce made me fried chicken and it was amazing!

Sunday morning we got up and walked to church. The freezing rain put a good half inch of ice over the snow making it quite the walk. I was able to wear my new sweater, scarf, and earrings! At conference, one of my sweet CTR 4 kids came and sat by me. He talked to me the whole time and it was so fun. We also got a new stake presidency.

After church, we got a ride home. Then I opened my presents from Bryce and my parents! Bryce made dinner again and I made cake with caramel frosting. Our friend, Adam, joined us for dinner and cake so it felt more like a party!

Sunday night I said up late finishing my book (The Selection), but luckily campus was closed until 10AM so I slept in. The ice and snow were melting and it had rained some, but when we tried to leave for work/school, my car was having none of it. After spending 45 minutes getting stuck and having 4 guys come help us, we parked it and I worked from home.

Bryce hitchhiked to campus and rescued his car. Luckily, his car is front-wheel drive and it handled the snow like a champ. We took advantage of our new freedom and went to Costco for dinner and got pizza! What a birthday weekend to remember, but I am so ready for spring.