I was going to not post about our birthdays, relegating the picture just to Facebook, but I simply could not bring myself to do that. They were just too amazing and completely filled with *AWESOME* people.
Adam and I are both September birthdays, so it tends to make the celebrations fairly easy. It was also "birthday month" for another one of our close friends Michael, so we decided to make a festive affair of it, and plan a Friday brunch at Koi (It also turned out to be bday month for Brynnen and Sara...it must had been a cold/boring winter for our parents). We were excited to have our friends join us for a wonderful afternoon of great company, sushi, and free-flowing libations. The party even continued over to the Lebanese place well into the evening.
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| Adam, me, and Michael...the birthday bunch! |
And did the festivities end there? Nope. On the actual day of my birthday, we decided that it would be a great day to get a group together and go hiking. The weather had been cooling down and everyone is eager to be able to get outside without feeling like you are going to die from the heat. Well, most of the group felt like they weren't going to die on the hike...I got a bit overheated (i.e. WAY OVERHEATED) and sat out for a bit while the group continued to the end of the trail. That being said, it was an awesome hike. We were awake and on the road at 5am and had a beautiful sunrise drive to the mountains near the Oman border. As the Middle East is a desert, you can imagine (and see pictured below) how desolate the area is, but from nothing arises the large rock mountains. It had its own stunning beauty to it, from the different colors of the rock and sand, to the determined plants and flowers adding their small dash of green and color to the desert landscape.
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| Desert sunrise |
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| Allison and Chris |
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| Elena |
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| Me and Allison, can you tell who hates sun? |
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| People "run" their camels apparently, he is tethered to the spare tire and running along side the SUV...best sight of the day! |
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| The hiking crew |
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| Camels! |
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| Adam looking at a camel looking at us |
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| My new favorite picture, so in love with this man |
After spending the morning being hot and sweaty, it was decided that it would be best to spend the afternoon poolside, cooling down and relaxing with friends. We lost some friends to this plan and gained others, so it was a nice day spent with many amazing people. Leisure time by the pool was followed by librations in the apartment before the hunger struck us. With that, we descended on this INCREDIBLE Moroccan restaurant "Almaz by Momo" in the mall next door...and the food is SO delicious. We had never experience Moroccan cuisine before, but it is not on our "favorites" list.
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| Philip and Carly |
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| Dave and Debbie |
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| Chris and my favorite red head |
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| Me and Chris |
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| Out of a dozen picts, this was the best the waiter could manage |
While birthdays are really not that big of a deal for us, but are a nice reason to bring people together for a good time, it was a great time! So thank you to all of the amazing people that our lives are filled with, for making our birthdays so fantastic!
