Are there really only 28 days in February?

Here are a few random things I learned about life last month:

1. Birthdays are awesome.

Shawn and I both celebrated our birthdays in February. It's fun to be the first ones in the family every year to have our special day. Erik took me to the Cheesecake Factory (yum!) the weekend before my birthday and then he and the kids spoiled me once again with a German chocolate cake and some fun presents. I scored big time with a new green iPod Nano and a wheat grinder... more about that in a minute.

Shawn had a fun day the day before his birthday, inviting a couple friends over for lunch for a Scooby Doo party. For our family party on his birthday we made his favorite homemade pizza, ate birthday brownies and watched Madagascar 2. He's such a fun boy! I can't believe he's already FIVE!!

2. Birthdays aren't so awesome if you have to call 9-1-1.

The morning of my birthday I was running a couple errands with Shawn and Mason. On our way to the bank we saw a car pull out of a parking lot right into the path of a motorcycle. It all happened so fast - and right in front of us. Before I knew what was happening the motorcycle rider was flipping over the front of the car and I screamed. Not sure what I screamed, but the boys become very curious about what was going on. I jumped out of my van and while other people ran to check on the guy in the road I hurried and called 9-1-1. Luckily he was conscious and not bleeding, but had a serious leg break.

Since I was a witness to the whole thing they boys and I had to wait until accident scene was cleaned up and I talked to police before we could leave. The boys were fascinated by the ambulance, fire truck, police car and life flight helicopter. I was a bit shaken by the whole experience and glad to head out to lunch with Erik a little later.

3. Grinding wheat is fun.

Who knew that wheat grinding could be so enjoyable? I've had two buckets of Prairie Gold White Wheat sitting my office since last summer and my new NutriMill electric grinder has helped me finally enjoy some great baked goods made with the goodness of whole wheat. Fabulous. Besides making some yummy wheat bread, I've snuck a little whole wheat flour into other baked goods - including chocolate chip cookies. The possibilities are endless.

4. Roses + Chocolate + BYU Cougars = Fantastic Valentines Day.

What says love more than a dozen red roses, two bags of M&Ms Premiums (Raspberry Almond and Mint Chocolate - worth every calorie), and tickets for the family to watch the BYU basketball team take on TCU.  It was almost 20 years ago that Erik & I first met at BYU so it seems romantic to cheer on the Cougars.  We had a great night!

5. I have become an expert on our new insurance.

Four trips to the doctor and five trips to the pharmacy in February gave me a great tutorial of our new health insurance plan. The world of deductibles is a new one for us and we're quickly learning what the phrase out of pocket means. Thankfully we're all blessed with overall good health. So far March has been a much healthier month.

6. Your van can't pass the state inspection if the steering column is cracked and leaking fluid. (You shouldn't wait until the end of the month to find this out.)

I've decided that February is the wrong month to have a state inspection sticker expire, especially if you wait until the 25th and then need a repair that takes 2 days in order for your vehicle to pass. Luckily Toyota took good care of me, even giving me a free van to drive for 2 1/2 days while they made the repair, just in time to get the car re-inspected. Next year I'll be first in line on February 1st... just in case.

7. The Groundhog was wrong.

Despite Mr. Groundhog predicting six more weeks of winter, we had a fabulously warm February here in Texas, and I absolutely love it! Nothing says bring on spring like wearing flip flops before March.