Kind of like a double wedding, but, you know, real.

You know how, on old movies, part of the happily-ever-after is that both guys marry their girls in a "double wedding"? Or, like, in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, where, at the end, they have a septuple wedding? Like that would ever happen!! I don't know one single woman who would want to share her big day with someone else. For reals, yo.

We had a double birthday party for my sister and mom in October, and they were both very gracious about it. In fact, I think it might have been my sister's idea. Their birthdays are two weeks apart or so.

Mom ordered a cake from Babe's Bakery here in town - it was AMAZING.

I love Lex's face in this pic:

I gave her this card - on the inside, it says, "That's what!" I thought it was funny.

Lex, opening my gift - jade earrings:

Isn't her hair pretty? It grew, like, a foot while we were gone for three months. I cannot believe how quickly her hair grows.

Mom, looking at my card:

And giving me a hug. My hair looks like a helmet:

So okay. My mom has this window ledge where she keeps knick-knacks from places where she or her children have been. It's really a cool little tradition. I wanted to bring her back a knick-knack of the Great Wall, but we were too busy when we were at the Wall, and then I sent Ben to the Silk Market one night to get one, but instead, he chose these three little buddha statuettes that have their hands in the "See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" pose:

My mom liked 'em alright, but when Ben went back to China last month, she asked him to bring her back a happy family ball, like what we got for ourselves and for my dad as a souvenir. Ben just posted this picture on facebook with a happy family ball for his Idaho Falls desk on the left and my mom's happy family ball on the right:

Ben said that the one on the left was actually less expensive because the quality of the jade isn't as good as the one on the right. My mom is thrilled. It looks like Ben will be coming home next month for one week, so soon her happy family ball will be nestled among Big Ben, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, etc.