Eez my hauppy birzday!

С днём рождения!З днем народження! I am officially no longer a teen! Today was my 20th birthday and I just wanted to give a huge THANKS to everyone who wished me lots of love. It has seriously been one of the best ever. I got a jump start on celebrating because this year it was on a Sunday and I wanted to share it a bit with my kids. So, as one of our SPE's is kitchen, I decided we would bake a good ole American birthday cake from a box. It turned out fabulous despite our extremely sketchy oven which has four temperatures: 1,2,3,and4. We frosted it with a chocolate hazelnut spread similar to nutella. Oh and just a little sidenote, the grocery store close to my school has a nutella guard. There is seriously a man dressed in what looks like an FBI suit who stands in front of the shelves where the nutella is stocked. You have to awkwardly reach behind him to get anything but hey, if it keeps the nutella theft down...Anyway, so each class sang happy birthday to me and then we feasted on the cake. This is one of the younger groups, though only three kids were there Friday...Tioma, Kristina, and Igor.

As for today, it was great from start to finish, despite the fact that I had to give a talk for church. (Isn't there a rule or something against that?) Anyway, so I woke up around five to finish it and didn't even remember it was my birthday. Then, Olga krept into the kitchen with a grand gift and a big Ukrainian hug and kiss. She set in front of me a huge box of hazelnut choclates (my favorite!) along with a beautiful hairclip. It was so sweet! Then, I had to hurry to church. I had just stepped out of the Ukrainian tower of terror (aka the elevator to my apt complex) and Alison was standing there with three beautiful roses for me. I mentioned once that I loved the yellow ones with a trim of red and she remembered. It was SO thoughtful! When I reached Палац Спорту we ran into Lauren and Chantell who immediately wished me a happy birthday. At church my head teacher, Brynn, handed me the best hand-made card ever along with kinder chocolate...yum! Then Desi and Chantell presented me with a lovely box of hazelnut chocolates, which made for a great treat in between Sunday school and relief society. I loved spreading the birthday joy with everyone! Oh, and the sun was shining ALL day today. I couldn't believe the beautiful spring weather. I came home, Katya gave me that cute sand card of a giraffe, I ate a scrupmtious PB&J sandwhich, took a long nap and enjoyed a plethera of sweets. There were even fireworks for my special day! ...ok, so there are fireworks every weekend just because they can here but, I can pretend. Again, thanks for all the eCards and facebook posts and happy birthday wishes!