December 20...a Very Special Day

My mom insisted that she be here in Idaho for her birthday...Dec. 20. My dad was concerned that they might not be able to make the trip up here from Southern California in time, but was determined to do his best to make her wishes come true. Well, he did it! It wasn't the snow storms that we were having here that slowed them down though...they had their own share of snow right in their own town. It shut the freeway down and even just getting down their steep driveway was something of a challenge with all the snow. But they plowed on through and got here on Dec. 19th!

Here is a recap of how we spent the day celebrating...

Birthday girl

First, we all headed down to the river in Eagle to meet our photographer, Amanda, for a photo session. It was absolutely, breathtakingly beautiful there and she got some great shots!

After we left the river we headed over to The Pursuit, our church, to gather together the gifts that our family was to deliver to the Angel Tree families in Boise. We had the awesome opportunity to bring a little CHRISTmas to some families and to show them the love that Jesus has shown to us.

Afterwards, we went to the neatest candy store here in Boise. It is so old fashioned and we all found a candy that reminded us of our childhood.

Powell's Sweet Shop at Bown Crossing

Then we headed over to Kessler's Cafe. We didn't realize that they opened for dinner at 5:00pm...it was only 4:15. We peeked through the windows and the owner noticed us and ran to the door to greet us. Even though they weren't ready to open she invited us in and told us she would love to cook for us! It was like we were special guests at her home. She brought us some delicious Czechslovakian beer and wine to start our celebration. By the end of the meal we felt that we had made a new friend.

My mom and I both enjoyed these butternut raviolis

After dinner we headed over to the Botanical Gardens for the Winter Garden aGlow. What a beautiful evening filled with millions of lights (which were very hard to catch on film) bonfires, hot cocoa, carolers and even Santa with his reindeer!



Happy Birthday Mom....

we love you

and were so happy to celebrate your special day with you!