The Ruth's Chris Experience & Other Birthday Festivities

For my birthday, I decided I wanted to go to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. I have always wanted to go there but I never can justify spending that much money on food. But I decided that my last birthday as a 20-something was worth it. So off to Park City we went. I have been intrigued with Ruth's Chris because I have heard that they have the most amazing steak ever. And they have an ad that makes my mouth water every time I see it.

Anyway, I was a little worried that I would be disappointed with it since I had built it up so much in my head. But seriously...it was SO GOOD! I was thoroughly impressed. The bread that they started us off with was to die for and the butter came on a plate with a little doily on it. The starter salad was amazing...it even had roasted parmasan cheese on top. Yummy!

They have this special way of cooking the steak that they only season it with salt and pepper. They cook it in some special oven at a certain temperature to seal in the juices. Then they bring it out to your table on a 500 degree plate so that it stays warm while you eat it. You can seriously hear it coming to your table. And they drench the whole thing in butter so the butter is sizzling on the plate for like 10 minutes after you get it. I know, not the most healthy thing on the planet, but it was my birthday.

This picture does not do it justice. But you can see the pool of butter. And yes, I dipped every bite around in that sizzling butter. Then you get the side dishes. Everything is a la carte. So we tried some sauteed mushrooms (excellent), some mashed potatoes also drenched in butter(yummy!), and some green beans (they were crunchy=not so great).

Anyway, it was seriously amazing. Here I am taking my first bite.

I was not disappointed one bit. It was fabulous. And for your birthday, you get to pick a real dessert off the menu for free. I decided to try the caramalized banana cream pie. Mmmm...

It was pretty expensive, but it was a lot of fun. And besides, eating a Ruth's Chris steak was on my list of things to do before I die. And it was a great way to kick off my last year in my 20s.

The morning of my birthday, I decided to get up early and go to the new Draper Temple. I highly reccommend going to the temple on your birthday...it was so great. I just really felt so grateful for my life and all the blessings and opportunities my Heavenly Father has given me.

At work, my students decorated my door and got me some cake and some yummy eclairs. It was fun because one of the students has the same birthday as me so we celebrated together all day. My mom and siblings came down and took me to lunch too.

Since the Ruth's Chris thing was so expensive, that was my main present but Matt got me a few other things like some lotion stuff, a book, and a shirt. And the best part was that he called our old Primary kids (the ones we actually like) and had them make me birthday cards. It was so cute. One of the little girls even dressed up in her Snow White dress to give it to me. I just thought that was so sweet and thoughtful of Matt to do that. And I loved it.

On Saturday night we were supposed to have a birthday BBQ with friends and family and then go to an outdoor concert and fireworks. It POURED all day so it kinda put a damper (ha ha!) on that plan. We ended up moving the BBQ inside and just grilled on our deck and made the homemade frozen yogurt in the sink.

We did not go to the concert and fireworks because of the rain. (The fireworks were cancelled anyway, but the concert was still going on even in the rain.) It was still fun though, but I really wish it hadn't rained all day.

Caron gave me two pina coladas! One for each hand! I love it!

Then on Sunday we had a birthday/Father's Day celebration with my family. My sisters gave me some really great gifts. Laurie made me some lasanga that I can put in the freezer and pop in the oven for an easy dinner and Allison cleaned my house! And I got a cute outfit from my mom.

Here's to my last year in my 20s. Yikes! And thanks to all who participated in the birthday festivities. I love you guys!