Today turned out to be a great day! I was woke up this morning early by my folks and my youngest niece to be wished a Happy Birthday. Their wishes were met with a sound relaying my excitement at being up so early. When I got to church those who were aware that it was my birthday greeted me as they saw me to extend their wishes that it be a great one. I was very lucky today to have all of my family together to celebrate my birthday. My older brother who has been working nights even showed up even though the only time he perked up was to talk about rabbit hunting and other issues with the camp. But hey that does not surprise me.

It made my day that when the waiter was told that it was my birthday and he asked how old i was, he replied with a guess before I could answer. He said "Your turning what? 20??? 21????" I laughed and said "No , I'm 27." I can be very shy so when the employees at Chili's announced to the whole restaurant that it was my birthday and that I was turning 27, I know I had to be red in the face. They sang to me and handed me a free molten chocolate cake with ice cream on top. I lived through it and shared my cake with my nieces and nephews. particularly my almost 3 yr old nephew (he will be 3 on the 3rd). It was funny because he would come to where I was sitting and say "my turn" and so I'd give him a good sized bite, then before I had a spoonfull near my mouth he was back demanding for either him or one of his brothers. Aydan ate about half of it alone. I was sooo happy he was going home with his parents because I do NOT envy them trying to get him settled down after all that ice cream and rich chocolate! LOL....

After I returned home I let Toby out so that he could run around and get some excerise along with the horses. The day was going sooo great that I should have known something was going to happen. After putting Toby in his pen I left for a little while to help some family with something. The folks had went to a church to visit with his old boss since our church had dismissed service. The next thing I know I was getting a call telling me that the dog had gotten out. So I left where I was and started towards home to help catch Toby and get him put up. Could not figure out how he got out because I KNEW I had tied the gate closed good. Sure enough it wasn't anything I had done, it was because he started chewing on the wire of the gate and was able to squeeze through a small area that was loose.

Catching Toby was definitely no trouble at all. Dad fixed the gate so that he could not get out again through that escape route...or so we thought. No sooner than we got back up to the house from the barn, Toby was running up to the house. So back to the barn/shed area we go, with me busting my butt on the way out there (will teach me to wear my crocs out there when its muddy). We got to the back to find the gate completely off its henges. Obviously the hole that my dad was trying to fix was still big enough for him to squeeze his head through but that is all. This smart dog lifted the gate off the henges with his head through the opening of the gate. So the gate had to be put back up, and everything had to be retied so that there was on way he could get his head though any part of it and lift it up. I came in muddy from head to toe and was asked by my mom "what happened to you?", to which i just replied, "dont ask." lol.

So... today was definitely a great day, wouldn't have changed anything about it!