My Husband, the Rockstar aka My Birthday Week

Justin is the king of birthdays. Not only did he make his own mortal debut on a New Year's Eve, thus ensuring a lifetime of fireworks and fanfare birthdays, but ever since I've known him, he has chosen the perfect presents and executed flawless delivery. One year, our blog readers may remember, he staged a totally surprising surprise party after a Mom's Institute class in New Haven. Another year he arranged for my attendance at a Yale lecture every day of my birthday week. Our first year in Utah, he somehow arranged for the funeral of a good friend's grandmother to line up in such a way that I could spend the better part of my birthday with her during her out-of-town visit. I could go on and on.

This year, however, will never be outdone. It began last Friday, when we headed to Rome to serve in the temple for the first time.

We stayed in an adorable and classically Italian apartment on the 6th floor

and traded off doing sessions Friday night and Saturday morning. Julia and Elisabeth did baptisms during both time periods. My good friend from home, Liz Livingston, and her husband, Lane, were passing through to pick up her missionary daughter in Croatia, so though communication was a little sketchy, we met up on Rome Temple Square and had a ball catching up. We love the Livingstons!

Monday was my birthday proper. I got to celebrate by doing something fun with each of my children, a feat heavily facilitated by Superdad! The day was deliciously gorgeous,

and Gwyn and I relished the beauty during a walk around the pond at Justin's work. We saw four fish, Mr. and Mrs. Mallard all the way from Boston, and heard birds and bells as happy about sunshine as we were.

I traded one for two and took Katharine and Abdiel to lunch at Pizzeria Domenico near the San Domenico convent. Katharine came for the pizza, Abdiel for the gelato, but we all shared. All was pronounced fantastic.

Justin then took all but Elisabeth and Elinor back home while she and I went clothes shopping via Linea 7. This girl shops best under pressure; when I finally said that we had five minutes and then we had a bus to catch because we had a baby waiting, she found the perfect dress for the perfect price.

At Capolinea, I traded both big and little E's for Julia, who was my partner in adventure for hiking to the convent and generally touring the town in places and at a speed we never get to enjoy with all her siblings in tow. Fiesole is even more lovely than I first thought, and we discovered this week that John Milton mentions our own little town outside Florence in Book I of Paradise Lost. Che gloria!

Julia and I stopped at the grocery store before calling our cab and picked up supplies for a quick dinner--sandwiches, smoothies, and potato chips--and an Italian birthday cake--alcohol and caffeine free Tiramisu. Julia executed the latter triumphantly if a little tardily; we didn't realize it had to set for six hours. But it made a perfect touch to our Devotional Tuesday the next day! It was a fantastic March 25th. But the fun didn't stop there.

On Tuesday Julia, Elisabeth, and I had our first meeting with Leonardo, our Italian tutor. Julia runs circles around me with her Italian and Elisabeth runs spirals. These girls have learned a thing or two from being in Italy! Leonardo hopes that I can keep up. At our Thursday meeting he offered that we try an experiment: letting the girls teach me how to do something in Italiano. I am motivated to make them watch Elinor a little bit during the day so I can study!!! Despite having come down with a flu or serious cold, Justin watched all the younger kids at home while we conversed. And I think he did laundry, too.

Wednesday morning I went rowing on the Arno, something I have done every Wednesday and Friday morning in March.

Since this requires Justin watching Elinor for the duration, it was my big birthday present. The deal is marvelously sweetened by the fact that the boathouse lies directly underneath the Uffizi behind a shimmering green door, so not only is it a once-in-a-lifetime experience on every front, but Justin gets to tour the Uffizi and downtown Florence two mornings a week with no whiners. Our Italian coach, Bernadetto, a Mathematics PhD student at the University of Florence whom the EUI hired to provide real training, is very patient and all the team members are very kind. It is truly a dream come true!!

Good food is something I prize, and knowing how to make it is a matter of honor, so Justin secured us a dinner invitation to the Bishop's home for Wednesday evening where his wife not only laid a spread of ribollita, Pugliese foccaccia, delicious pasta and mint chocolate cake and gelato before us, she even handed over her entire recipe book for my copying pleasure. And then, as if that wasn't enough, we had a ward activity Friday night at which she taught everyone how to make homemade egg pasta.

Somewhere along the way of all these amazing birthday opportunities, Justin learned that he was voted Teacher of the Year by his first year law students. Go, Justin!

With Rome last Saturday and Florence during the week, Justin figured we'd better complete the grand tour and head to Venice. So we did. Even with six kids on hand, Venice is magical. I admit it was the first time since arriving that I thought it would be nicer to be alone with Justin than here with the whole family, but we made quite a splash. I've never received so many, "Sono questi tutti i tuoi bambini?!!!" "Are these all your children?!" in my life. And since Justin is fluent in Italian, German, French, English, and caveman, he was able to field all the questions and soothe the consternated brows in perfect ouis, grunts, or gutturals, depending what the situation demanded. Really, though, he is so amazing! At the temple in Rome he met a French family and conversed with them as though almost twenty years did not lie between him and his high school A.P. French exam. The Italian is a given, of course, but at one point in Venice he was chatting with a Frenchman on his right and answering across the rows an eager Italian at his left without missing a beat. At the WC he conversed with a young woman from Bayern with not a second's hesitation. I must say as did one of the girls in her note to Justin on Italian Father's Day: "I love, especially, how many languages you speak, especially when we go to foreign countries!"

Even with Daylight Savings, we managed to be home before the Sabbath, and thus concluded the Best Birthday Week in history. Thank you, Justin, Julia, Elisabeth, Katharine, Abdiel, Gwyn, and Elinor!!!  I love you!