The Day I Turned 31

I turned 31. Part of me wishes I was still little and yellow and fuzzy like this little goose at the zoo, but then I like my life, so I think I'm ok with being 31 for now. 31 isn't terribly exciting as far as ages go, but the day was good at least. I always like to do, or see, or eat something that is classified as a "favorite" on my birthday and this year wasn't too shabby. After waking up in Idaho and saying goodbye to my sister's kids as they went to school and eating a breakfast of huckleberry cream of wheat I had a nice long drive home to Utah by myself. I like road trips so maybe this counts as a favorite. Though road trips alone aren't my favorite. I went to Alicia's and her family took me to the zoo where they treated me to Dippin Dots!! If you know me, you know this is a favorite. One of the funnest things to do with dippin dots is to see other people have them for the first time. I'd had them with Quinn before (that was fun too. He didn't believe me that it was food and wouldn't try it till I told him is was ice cream cereal) but it was Xavier's first time. They were so nice and let me eat out of their bowls. Then we saw the giraffes!!! They rank high up there on the favorite list.We also saw some bats...not favorites, but on the way out of the building I noticed there was a big bat in this house plant sitting just outside the main doors... I repeat, outside the doors. We told the zoo people and they kinda freaked out a little. I got this close up before they shooed us away and told us not to touch it.Then we saw the tiger cubs. They're not very small anymore but they were still being really playful in the water. One of them was looking at all the kids lined up against the glass. I swear he had this one little girl hypnotized forever. He got even closer to her face than in this picture. Then he tried to make friends with Quinn. I love how in the picture it looks like their hands are touching. I don't know if he wanted to eat him or play with him. Before we left we rode the train. The animals were standing way closer to the train than they usually do. You can't see it but in this picture Xavier was grabbing my arm and leaning toward me away from the Buffalo.Alicia also made me a cake! A chocolate rum cake. mmmm definitely one of my favorite flavors ever. She even left out the raisins the recipe called for because they are not favorites!After I left Alicia's I went to dinner with Rob. One of my favorite friends. He took me to The Tin Angel Cafe. I'd been wanting to try this place forever and I finally got to go. It was really good too! I knew they used local ingredients and organic free trade kind of stuff but I didn't know they were going to have buffalo tenderloin on the menu!!! This is one of my most favorite things to eat that isn't a dessert and doesn't involve cheese. It is so amazing. If you've never had it and you like meat, I highly recommend it. I only know 2 other restaurants in Utah that serve it. Sure it was the most expensive thing on the menu but I ordered it anyway and I got it rare. It was so delicious!!!!! That was one of my favorites that I wasn't expecting to have. It was a little odd to eat buffalo after just seeing a buffalo a few hours before. (oh and there was some cheese on the side...cheese...favorite!)Rob ordered a steak but it was a little smaller than he expected... Actually he didn't. That was a tapas "two bite" item we got on the side. After dinner I went home and called a couple of my favorite friends and also talked to my parents. I opened the present they sent me...a little lap top!!!! I'm so excited! Then I ate some left over rum cake before going to bed. I wasn't expecting a whole lot but it turned out to be a pretty good birthday.