Birthday Magic

I turned 28 on Wednesday. It was a good day, nay, a great day. The birthday before--27--was rough. I didn't know why at the time; I dreaded it months in advance. I think maybe it was a sense of foreboding; something in my psyche knew that it was going to be a rough year. This birthday, however, did not come with the same feeling. I have actually been pretty excited about 28. 28 feels like a good, solid age. Firmly in my very adult-feeling late-20's, I have a better sense of who I am, am more comfortable in my own skin, and am surrounded by really great friends.
The day started off well. I woke up early to work on my blog posting so my mom could read it first thing. Then I opened a couple of presents my family sent. I made the mistake of opening the card Mom and Dad sent to me when it was still early. It sang VERY loudly to me. :) I about fell out of bed.

I got dressed and headed out into the misty morning with a surprisingly good attitude about having to go to work on my birthday. I ran into a good friend on the metro which added a little more bounce to my step. I didn't get much work done at work, what with all the phone calls and gchats and Facebook messages popping up. Plus, I played "hookie" during lunch and trekked back to Pentagon City for a lunch date with J who then drove me back to work. It wasn't NYC, J, but it was still fun! I felt so much love all day. Really, my birthday could have ended there and I would have been happy.

BUT.

It didn't. I came home and bought some dance music with the iTunes gift card Tommy emailed me. Then I went to dinner with a few friends. At the Palace. Kabob Palace. Of course. I received a gift of Oreos from A (a great reminder of the scandalous consumption of Oreos at Shakespeare in the Park this summer - ha!) and had a lot of good laughs as we relived some of the funnier moments of age 27.

It didn't end there either. My roommates (present and former) and visiting teacher cooked up a small get-together at my house. Very casual. VERY fun.

My parents sent me 12 days of birthday, a small gift every day leading up to my birthday. Mom doesn't like the thought of me potentially celebrating alone, so she tries to spice it up. She's good like that. Towards the end I started receiving various parts of a birthday party: balloons, birthday banner, confetti, noisemakers, a candle that sang to me and microwavable cake mix...

and....

...an inflatable pin the tail on the donkey. Which we promptly hung from the ceiling fan in the dining room. Then we started an impromptu dance party with my newly-purchased dance music until the guests arrived.

First order of business: sing to the birthday girl (who was having her birthday party in pajama bottoms and slippers. Happiness is...)

Second order of business: Play pin the tail on the donkey. This is Katie cheating.

Third order of business: have the obligatory butt conversations. This is me thinking I'm funny, but really, I'm just being an idiot.

We were a little bit confused as to how all 8 tails were supposed to fit on Jack's (the donkey's) rear end all at once so I decided to read the instructions (to see if we were supposed to remove tails after putting them on in order to make room). Turns out the back of the box's instructions gave much more fodder for laughter... And that's when things got interesting...

The tails started appearing other places other than Jack's behind.

If you look in the background of this picture, you can see the new variation on the game...we tied jack to the fan blades and, um, turned on the fan... We tried to incorporate the blindfold, but that only led to trouble. I'm waiting for Aaron's video ...

Meanwhile, the tail art continued.

Pirate donkeys. Classic.

THEN. As if my birthday couldn't get any better, we played.... THE BLANKET GAME!!

Round 1: The laughter that was going at the moment this picture was taken... Priceless!

When I said this is what I wanted to play, and even after I explained it, everyone looked at me like there was no way they would ever play this game if it wasn't my birthday. In fact, I may have even pulled the "it's my birthday" card when I got the uncertain looks people give when they're about to submarine your idea. I began to wonder if this was maybe a Bradshaw game whose funniness did not transfer outside the walls of the Bradshaw home on Wisteria Drive, but I pressed on. I wanted to play.

All it took was two rounds, according to one participant, in order to be hooked: one to be under a blanket and one to be a guesser. The game is this: most everyone goes outside the room with enough blankets, one for each person. Everyone gets underneath a blanket and then crawls out one by one into the living room and stops. A few people stay in the living room to guess who is under which blanket.

I know, it sounds lame. But it really is so fun. In fact, one participant (male) said, "I could play this game for hours." And we did. Because once you get the first few rounds out of your system and people start recognizing your body shape, you start getting creative with ideas of how to trick the guessers.

Such as tying Jack the Donkey to your back and then putting a blanket over you...

If my birthday day was a portent of the year to come, I'll take it!

Thursday's wish (a day late)

Yesterday was a busy and scattered day and I didn't get around to posting. My wish yesterday was very simple: for me to magically snap my fingers and have my room packed and ready to go. My wish was not granted. I had to settle for packing while watching Abbott & Costello's The Time of Our Lives. A rather satisfactory substitute if there must be one.

I also made a wish before I blew out my birthday candles. That wish has not come true either. Yet. And probably not ever. But one can hope. There's always hope.

Gold Star Wednesday

This week's Gold Star Wednesday is dedicated to:

Mom.

28 years ago today my mother gave birth to me, her ninth child, her second girl.

My amazing mother holding her chunk of a child (one week old)

This is what I get for being born a week before Christmas. :)

My mom is an amazing woman and deserves far more shout-outs than she gets. She is the mother of 11. She married my father at the tender age of 18. He had just finished college; she was just starting.

1965: Gold and Green Ball

They started their family soon after.
And it quickly swelled in size. She started with three boys. They were very...energetic. And cute.
All the while she remained terribly fashionable... (what I wouldn't give for an outfit like that). Mom is always good at making birthdays the child's most special day, making a cake of their choice and ensuring that each sibling had bought a present, even if it was only a box of candy.
Their small family grew even larger, though thankfully adding in one girl along the way. Some might be daunted by the large family, but mom only grew in organization. And love.
Together with my dad, she fought the good fight each week to hold FHE. We have never missed a week. Ever.
Despite our protests and occasional disinterest, we were eagerly taught the gospel, not only on Monday nights, but every day. My parents lived the gospel fiercly and faithfully.
The family kept growing, and the Lord kept sending my parents boys... (We call this picture of Mom the Statue of Liberty picture. The positioning was an accident, though it wouldn't surprise me if one day I found out that Mom had secretly positioned herself there.)
Some might be cowed into keeping life simple with so many children, but not Mom. Life was meant to be lived, even if it meant making a huge mess. She taught us to have fun and instigated most of the rowdiness in the house (or at least encouraged it, along with Dad) She also taught us how to clean up after ourselves afterwards. :)
28 years ago she was blessed with a second daughter. :) Her fashion sense didn't always get passed on to her children, however, as evidenced by the bonnet that appeared in only one of the many baby photos. Clearly I was unhappy.
However, I must have forgiven her for the bonnet. I think because it was clear we were meant to be best friends.
She encouraged all my wild behavior, my laughter, my love...
She did that for us all. That's one of the reasons we were voted "Family of the Year" by the Kiwanis Club in 1983.

One thing that always amazes me is how organized my mother was and is. How she got dinner on the table for so many every night is a mystery to me.

Chaos is the only way to describe our home during those years, but it seemed Mom and Dad thrived off of the noise of little children screaming and laughing. A bustling house was a happy house...
She took time out of each day to play with and love each of her children...And we could definitely feel it.
Everything that could be was a family affair. She made sure we supported each other in each thing that was important, such as baptisms, award ceremonies, graduations, recitals, etc. She still works tirelessly to make sure our family stays glued together. She makes sure that the glue consists of right gospel teaching. One thing I admire most about Mom is that she is unfailingly obedient, faithful no matter how angry her kids are with her or how unpopular her beliefs are. She was having a large family during the zero population years. She endured years of ridicule and scorn but she was undeterred. I wish I was as strong as Mom.
As if teaching all of her children wasn't enough, she taught the ward's children as well, seminary being one of the many ways in which she did that. She taught early morning seminary for over 12 years. I've never met a more competent scriptorian... (this picture is of her making breakfast for her seminary kids on test day--seriously...the woman is amazing)
Seriously, my mom is super-woman. When my youngest brother graduated from elementary school, it marked 25 years of Loma Portal having a Bradshaw at their school. I think by then Mom had been president of the PTA several times, had run a holiday gift shop for the children to come to in order to shop for Christmas presents for their families for years and years, volunteered in classrooms, directed the junior chorus year after year, and the list goes on and on. It was impressive. So impressive that they named the school auditorium after her. She ran that thing for 25 years. She earned it.
Mom likes to be cool. She thinks wearing sunglasses with us is cool. We let her think so. She also likes to use words like "disked" and "word?". We think she's cool because she tries so hard.
Mom was not only a spiritual educator, but a champion for secular education as well, always encouraging us to do our best (and, if possible, to be the best). :) She's a pretty smart lady, always learning, always curious, always asking questions.
She taught me that a lady should always look her best...Even though the tomboy in me bucked against this time and time again, as I get older I realize the valuable lessons she taught me about appearance and behavior. I hope I can always be as classy and appropriate as my mom.
Classy does not always mean refined, however. As a mother of boys, she was often the instigator of chaos. Such as the times she challenged her boys to wrestling matches...
Or the times when she chases them down the beach...
And falls. This night was maybe one of the funniest as far as Mom's physical blunders. As she was chasing Scott through the sand, he quickly changed direction. Mom tried to follow but ended up running almost sideways before she finally ate it in the sand. The best part was she just laid there straight as a board and laughed and laughed and laughed...

My mom is my best friend. She taught me how to love the world, how to love God, and how to love learning. In turn, I tried to show her the world. This is her first international trip.
One thing I love about my mom is how gutsy she is. Less than one year after her first international trip, she was on board with my trip to India. From a crowded marketplace in Delhi...
To an elephant ride at the Amber Fort...
To wearing traditional Indian dress...
To becoming an adoptive relative to Hitesh for his wedding...
To a camel ride in Mandawa... She was an amazing sport and adventurer through it all.
She saw me through my entire education, supporting, cheerleading, helping through it all. Cheerleading is one of Mom's greatest strengths. She has unfailing hope and believes her kids can do anything. She is always ready with words of encouragement both in times of hardship and in times of plenty and happiness. She is a natural optimist, choosing to look on the faithful, good things in life.


She deserves today's gold star and the gold star for every week throughout her life and mine. I'm so grateful God blessed me with such a mother.


Happy Birthday, Mom. I know it's mine, but it's yours too, you know, since ya done borned me. I love you. Thank you for everything.