A very special birthday! 🎉

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This week was Riley's 23rd birthday, or, as we affectionately call him, Ri-Pie or Smiley Riley!

His birthday brings back so many wonderful memories for me. It was the day our family felt complete. Since I was a little girl, I would tell my mother that I was going to have four children one day. She would reply with… "Wait until you see how much work one or two are! You're not having four children."

As an only child growing up, I just knew I wanted a large family. I would love to watch large families interact. My best friend was one of six, and I loved being at her house and witnessing all of the interactions between her siblings.

So, the day Riley was born was a special day for me. It was indeed a dream come true. He was the best baby! Easy, laid back, and the smiliest guy there ever was. Riley knew he was born into a large family and thought, I'm here for the ride. This is going to be so much fun!

This is the second year we haven't been together on Riley's birthday. He's working in North Carolina, so we will have to celebrate his birthday the next time we get to see each other! But, I received the best pictures of Riley and Hanna celebrating his birthday. Hanna took him out to a special steakhouse for his favorite meal, and he sent me a picture commenting that after all the years of me and Ron cooking fettuccini alfredo and steak for his birthday, he finally found a steakhouse that serves it!

I have always said this combination of flavors is like no other. It was so fun to see it being served at a top steakhouse! Riley told me it was almost as good as our steak and fettuccini… almost.

It's so fun to see all of our kids grown up and what they've taken from home with them. I hope you all had a great week! What dinners did you make?

Today's Featured Recipe

Sundays with Isabel

• One amazing vacation – plus a brand new recipe for pork!
• A wonderful week of surprises!
• We celebrated Father’s Day, and it was the best week!
• We have a fun week ahead of us – plus, a quick way to make my pulled pork recipe!

Missed a week? Check out my previous blog post!