Birthday Post!

Gillian flew out to DC for my birthday! I was late picking her up from the airport because I was attending my primary birthday celebration...a Birthday Temple Trip!! Sadly no pictures of that. I am hoping to do this annually for the rest of my life. Best way to celebrate your birthday imaginable. Over twenty people joined me at the temple. SOOO great.

After Birthday Temple Trip, Gillian and I had a great time...we went swimming twice and I asked her if the pool was worth flying to DC. She said yes! One of the times we went swimming with my co-worker who lives close by and has a pool at his apartment complex. ha! Everyone else at work thought that was weird! We also went to a Jazz Church and regular church and laughed and ate and Gillian took some pictures and if you haven't already seen them on facebook I will reveal them now!!!

Picnic on Teddy Roosevelt Island!

We ate a lot of cupcakes...DC is obsessed (as is everywhere else I take it).

We fulfilled my dream of biking to brunch! Gillian was a pro!

We went to the National Harbor in Maryland.

Not sure if I've ever eaten a Peep, but I've been to the only store entirely devoted to them!

We went to a dueling piano bar...reminded me of Who Framed Roger Rabbit. remember?

The National Harbor has this crazy statue called The Awakening...the giant emerges from the sand!

Gillian's friend from home just moved to my ward, so he and his roommate (and my roommate Deana) joined us. It was fun since most of us had never met each other before, but in these pictures it just looks like the old gang is back together.


Due to my new 3 p.m. church time, Gillian and I went and walked around the monuments Sunday morning. Weird they emptied the reflection pool. Not quite as majestic as before!

My roommate made me dinner after church. Believe it or not, I only invited two people to this dinner...everyone else was just already staying at my house. TOO MANY ROOMMATES!!!!!!!!!!! After dinner some other people came over for ice cream with 30 toppings!!
Then Gillian left and I had to go to the pool alone. So sad!!

Later that week we had a work off-site at my boss's house. In the middle someone asked me to come sit in a chair in the middle of the room...and then all of the boys put on backwards baseball hats and rapped Miami by Will Smith for me and said HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RACHEL! this was of course because a month earlier they had been constantly singing that song, leading to my cracking and proclaiming "I hate Will Smith music!" But it was still fantastic, and I loved it. All in all, pretty great. Yay for birthdays!!