Please Be an Advocate for Children (I Beg You)

This post will be pretty long. I can feel it. Please bear with me though.

I was inspired to write this post because today my family was in town. I was with my husband Chris, as well as both of my parents, my sister, her husband, and her baby. My dad thought it would be fun to take baby to the zoo to see the animals there. We perused for a while going cage to cage, looking at everything (though I must say, baby was unimpressed and fell asleep about halfway into our expedition). Toward the end, we were standing near a Komodo Dragon, and a woman holding a young child (under two) was standing near us. The child looked at the reptile and screamed (half out of excitement and half out of fear is what it sounded like). The mother immediately turned to her child and yelled, "Stop it!" A few seconds later, the child screamed again. The mother then hit the child on the arm, and the child started to cry.

It hurt... both me and the child. I will explain.

I'm sure you've seen a situation like this before. Some parents believe that spanking is an effective form of discipline. I personally don't. Any way I look at it, you are hitting a child. Someone who is much smaller and weaker than you are. My parents spanked me as a child when I misbehaved. I rarely got spanked, because my parents taught me well beforehand. Spanking was a last resort. I do not believe that this mother was abusing her child, I just think that there are better, more effective ways to handle these situations. I've had many discussions with professors and classmates about appropriate discipline, and I just wanted to share some solutions that I have known to be effective in both solving the problem and teaching the child. I have a bachelor's degree in child development, so this information is credible, though it is partially mixed with my own beliefs.

1. Think about who you are disciplining for, you? Or your child?
If the spank is merely to keep your child quiet, it is inappropriate. The root word of discipline is disciple, which means to teach. Discipline should be to teach. The child should not fear discipline. You are their role model. They absolutely adore you. You feed them, clothe them, and give them shelter. You give them hugs when they fall down. You comfort them when they cry. If you are disciplining for your sake, you are doing something wrong.

2. Check your attitude.
Are you angry? Are you visibly upset? If this is the case, you may not be effective in your discipline efforts. You may behave in a way you will later regret. This is where spanking becomes an issue. If you spank while you are angry, you are much more likely to inflict a punishment that does not match the misbehavior. Spanking should only be done when you have your emotions under control. You should never spank your child when your emotions are running wild.

3. Do you have an audience?
Your child may just want attention. Find a private area where you can talk to your child. In the situation at the zoo today, if the mother had ignored the screaming the first time, the child probably wouldn't have screamed again. There are times where it is appropriate to ignore misbehavior.

4. Emotion Coach!!
I can't emphasize this enough. It is tried and true. Emotion coaching is a method created by John Gottman. You can find his book here. He writes many other books on marriage and relationships as well. If I can describe emotion coaching in one word, it's "validation." When your child is upset because his favorite toy is broken, put yourself in his shoes. How would you feel if your laptop suddenly broke in half? Tell your child you know how he feels. Tell him that you would be sad if your favorite toy broke too. Brian Regan has a great sketch here. (It's only 45 seconds, he's pretty funny). 

I could talk forever on emotion coaching, but another one I hear a lot is, "Just be happy." Tell me, if you are upset or angry and someone tells you to "just be happy," do you automatically perk up, smile at them and say, "Thank you! I was sad, but I am happy now." No. Chances are you want to hit the person sitting across from you with all of your strength. Your child feels the same way. So do not tell them to "just be happy" when they are upset. 

5. It's ok to take a minute to breathe.
One bit of advice I've heard from one of my professors is that it is okay to take a minute to breathe. If your child has been crying for ten minutes, and all of your efforts to console him or her have failed, you may find yourself quickly losing patience. It is okay to set your child in his or her crib for a moment and take a minute to breathe. Your child will be in a protected area where he or she cannot harm him or herself, and you can shut the door for, let's say, 5 minutes to take a quiet moment. Allow yourself to regain your patience. Say a prayer. Make a quick phone call to your partner or spouse. Lay down on your bed. Read a novel for five minutes. When you feel ready, you can return to your child and begin your efforts again. Chances are they are just tired, and they will probably fall asleep.

6. Children are concrete thinkers.

Piaget is one of my favorite child theorists. He has four stages:

• Sensorimotor, pre-operational, concrete operational, and formal operational. The first three stages happen from ages zero to 11, then the last begins at age 12. The last stage is when they really begin to understand abstract thought. They understand it to a small extent before then, but not much. They do not understand "don't" or "stop", so by telling your child, "Don't run into the street, they are mostly hearing, "Run into the street." What is "do not"? How do you explain that? How do you explain zero? It's hard for even an adult. Turn your words into positive phrases. Instead of saying, "Do not run into the street," say, "Please stay on the sidewalk because playing in the street is dangerous." Instead of saying, "Do not hit your brother," say, "Please keep your hands to yourself." It's easier for your child to understand. It does take a lot of practice, especially in pressing moments, but once you get the hang of it, it comes naturally out of habit. 

I cannot tell you how many times I have heard, "You don't have any children so you have no idea how to parent." I know that I don't have any children. That doesn't mean I'm incompetent in any way, shape, or form, just like popping a child out does not make you some sort of super parent. It is important to be as educated as possible about these things, so please do not disregard my words, simply because I do not have any children. Please join with me in being an advocate for children. It's possible that you may be the only hope for some children. Seeing you may be the best part of their day! Smile at children. Ask them how old they are. Ask them if they like their teacher. Ask them if they did anything fun today. Be their friend. Be kind.

I just wanted to close with a belief very close to my heart. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As a member, I believe that each of us humans here on Earth have a very loving and merciful Heavenly Father. I believe that he watches over each of us. He knows each of our fears and our passions. He knows our names. I believe that we lived with Him before we were born here on Earth. I believe that we learned from Him and prepared ourselves to come to Earth. And not for one second do I think that our Heavenly Father hit us to teach us. I believe that He used His words to teach us, that He told us He loved us and asked us kindly to be better, to work harder. I believe that we felt sorrowful for disappointing Him and promised to be better the next day.

It's the same here on Earth. We are responsible for the little kiddos we have here. We can use our words to teach. We can tell our children that we love them and that we want them to be better tomorrow. And I can almost guarantee that they will feel sorrow, and promise you that they will try to be better tomorrow. Parents these days are either too quick to anger, or too busy to care. Please take time for your children. Take time to teach. Take time to tell them you love them. You made them, after all. (Or in the case of adoptive parents, you chose them.) Love each child. Protect them from harm. 

I understand that most of you try so hard to be parents. You feel you are doing your best, and I believe you. Parenting is hard. I've seen it in so many people. I've seen it in my sister, my friends, and of course, my own parents. It is not easy. But Heavenly Father has entrusted you for a reason. He knows you can do this. Thank you for making it this far in reading my post. Please feel free to comment. I would love to hear what all of you have to say. I appreciate those of you who have supported me in my beliefs and ideas. 

The Big Day! (And other stuff)

It's been almost a year since my last post, and my entire life has changed quite a bit since that day. For one. I'm married. That's different than last year. But we'll get to that in a bit. I just wanted to document all of the stuff that's been going on since that day and tell a little bit more of my story.

July 26, 2013

Chris came home after serving a full-time mission. As the story was told to me, he arrived home at the airport, left his bags with his mom and siblings, and his dad rushed him to the stake center to get released. There was a fireside starting at 7, so Chris wanted to make it there before that. He was released, and he drove to my parents house. He had spoken to my mom beforehand (and I knew because she had been acting funny the whole week) and had asked her to be upstairs taking pictures out her bedroom window. So the whole experience was documented. Anyway, Chris came honking up the road and I ran out to greet him. He gave me a bouquet the size of a small child that was absolutely beautiful. We talked for a bit, and he said he had a question for me. I tried not to get my hopes up (hoping that this would the THE question), after all, he had just gotten home. Literally an hour before this. But sure enough....

After two, very long, very difficult years without him, I was finally engaged to my best friend. The love of my life. My better half.

For those of you who have waited for your missionary and happily married him, you probably know what I'm talking about. You know that people are just mean. I can't tell you how many times I heard, "You won't marry him," and, "He will get back from his mission, and he won't want you anymore." (These are real things I heard. I promise people have actually said this to me.) Oh, and we can't forget about, "The mission changes you. He won't be the same person when he gets back." How dare anyone tell you what you should do with an eternal decision without you asking for advice in the first place. I never asked for anyone's opinion about the matter. Many statements were coming from people that I had known for 10 minutes. What an inappropriate thing to say. You're not being nice by "warning" them. I don't care if you knew your roommate's brother's wife's sister's niece who waited for their missionary and it didn't work out.

Just......ssshhhhhh.

For those of you waiting for your missionary with complete loyalty, don't let these people crack your armor. If you have known them for a long time, they just become a better version of what they used to be. They don't really change at all. They just get better. I will admit that some days I would believe these people. A lot of these statements came from people that I believed were friends of mine. No friend of yours will ever discourage you from getting what you want. People are mean. Plain and simple. Not all of them. I certainly found a few angels along the way who helped support me in my decisions. Hahaha who gave me a roll of toilet paper, and set a trash can next to my bed when I was too sad to get up. (My roommate did this. She is a saint.) It makes me laugh now because I'm just so happy to be out of it. Anyway, wrapping up the rant. People are mean. Don't listen to them. Follow your heart. Trust the Lord. I promise He won't lead you astray. Simple as that.

Fast forward.

July 27, 2013-August 27, 2013

Wedding planning.

I absolutely loved our wedding. It was exactly what I hoped for. Here's a few deets and we'll get into the rest later. Our colors were shades of coral and tiffany blue. The theme was "shabby chic."

Invitations:

Each invitation was handmade. I sell them HERE. My mom, Chris, Chris's mom, myself, and a few others slaved away at these for a while. Since our wedding was planned for August 28, 2013, we had about 0 days to get these invitations out. So we worked as fast as we could. I wouldn't have changed anything about it though. The invitations ended up gorgeous. I couldn't love them more. Each one was different. I showed just a few examples above of the ones we had left over, but we had about 40 different covers to rotate through. The inner papers were also different in each one. We were trying to keep with the "shabby chic" theme, which is what inspired the different papers. All of the inserts were the same. Each invitation received 5 engagement photos, a formal announcement, directions to the venue, and a registry card. They all tied shut with a ribbon.

Wedding dress:

I got my dress from The Perfect Dress in Utah. This shop was fantastic, but their alterations lady was absolutely unreal. She was incredible. My dress was originally strapless. And to this day I still cannot tell you how she built up sleeves without a trace of the previous neckline. I took a few mediocre pictures just because. Later I'll have pictures of me actually in the dress.

It was actually really fun buying a strapless dress and altering it because I basically got to customize the top of it. I chose a sweetheart neckline underneath the lace boatneck. And I wanted half-sleeves, not cap sleeves. So that part was all really fun.

August 28, 2013

Yay for the big day! :D

Hahaha getting ready in the backseat of my mom's car. 

Married.

Finally. 

Look how handsome my husband is! I'm married to that guy. Forever. :) 

August 31, 2013

Having a reception a few days after the actual wedding was the best idea ever. (Credit to Chris.) There's no way we could've done both in the same day. For those of you that have, you must be superhuman. Props to you. Seriously. Anyway, the reception was held at my parent's house as a half-inside, half-outside ordeal. My mom made an insane amount of delicious food. The decor was lovely. Everything was just as I'd hoped. 

One part I wanted to highlight in particular is my beautiful sign-in book. My sister Amber makes these, and she actually sells them, so you could have one at your wedding too! I'll attach a link to her shop at the bottom of this page. And trust me, you will want one. I actually look at this sign-in book quite often. I love it because honestly, I would probably hardly ever look at a book with just signatures in them. They are nice, and they do the job, they just aren't my style. This book actually has all of our engagement pictures in it, and plenty of room for people to write a little message. The guests were able to look through it as they walked in, and see all of the photos. (Amber also makes adorable baby books if you're at that step in your life!) Obviously, I don't have a picture of every page, but you get the point. One other thing that made this book special is that Chris actually made the paper on the front cover. He was able to do that on his mission. It was just another sentimental touch. 

Seriously how beautiful are these details? Amber did amazing. 

I thought this bookmark was adorable. 

Another detail I can't forget were the large letters that were placed in the sign-in armoire with the book. My other sister, Holly made these and I know they were quite labor intensive, so I'm eternally grateful. They ended up looking fantastic! Holly and Amber are both very crafty. Holly also has a shop where she makes all sorts of cute things so I'll link her as well!

I can't thank everyone who helped out with our wedding enough. It was truly the best day of my life. We've been very happily married for almost 6 months now. (Why couldn't time move this fast while he was gone? I will never know.) I love Chris more each and every day. I'm so proud of everything he does. Stay tuned for more blog posts of our married life! Thanks for reading!

Amber's Shop: PaperLuxuries

Holly's Shop: Craftmania

My Shop: Buttons, Bows, & Bling

The Best Healthy Cookie Pie You'll Ever Eat.

Dear bloggers...

I've fallen in love with a cookie. It's delicious. It came from this link: Deep-Dish Cookie Pie.
However, I've made several modifications to make it sugar-free and full of fiber. Here is the recipe as I have modified it.

• 2 cans chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
• 1 cup wheat bran (can be found at health food stores)
• 1 tablespoon chia seeds
• 3 tbsp coconut oil
• 1-2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• ~ 1 cup sweetener
• 1-3 oz. package of hershey's sugar free chocolates (chopped, dark or milk works)
• ~1/2 cup water

I understand some of these items may be a little foreign, as they were to me before my dad introduced them to me. You can do your own research about each of them, but here is what I understand about some of them:

Wheat bran is basically pure fiber. I use it to add structure to the cookie pie as the original recipe used oats. The reason I replaced the oats is because they are high on the glycemic load, which I'm trying to keep down. To be honest, it looks a little like Rocko's cage bedding. But it's edible. 

I replaced the applesauce with chia seeds because chia seeds are a super food, full of vitamins and more fiber. Once they are hydrated they also serve as a wet ingredient. 

I use Truvia for the sweetener to make it sugar-free. I have used the splenda/brown sugar blend, but this is not calorie free. Either way works so I'd rather not fill up on the calories. 

You can use Hersey's sugar-free dark chocolates like I do, or if you can find sugar free chocolate chips, more power to you. 

All right folks. Here's how it works.

• Place all the ingredients (except water and chocolates) into a food processor. (I use the Ninja and it works like a charm.)  
• After several good pulses, I like to pour the pulsed ingredients into a mixing bowl and mix them up. 
• Then place them back in the processor so that everything is evenly processed. I add the water as needed to liquify the ingredients a little more. You may use less than 1/2 cup, 1/2 cup exactly, or more. Just enough so that the "dough" is thick but wet looking. 
• Pour your thoroughly processed "dough" back into the mixing bowl and throw in your chopped chocolates or your chocolate chips. 
• Grease a round cake pan (I think mine was 8") 
• Pour your ingredients into the pan and smooth out the top. Throw that in your oven at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. 
• Let cool in pan for about 10 minutes. Then tip it onto a plate. Cut into 8 pie slices. 

According to my own calculations followed exactly as I made the recipe:

Please enjoy. These are delicious both warm and room temp. And delicious the second day as well. Just store properly. :) Enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: I am not a dietician, nutritionist, doctor, nurse, or any food professional of any sort. Everything above is based off of my own opinions and my own daily diet. Consult your own doctor or dietician if you have any questions or concerns. Obviously "healthy" is really determined by your own needs. This pie is simply healthier than a traditional cookie pie made with foods full of sugars and starches. 

The Glycemic Load Diet

I just have to tell everyone about this book I read.

Click here to see this book on Amazon.

I loved it!  This book just plain makes sense. It is written by Dr. Rob Thompson. Lately I feel like I've been gaining weight even though I've cut calories, been exercising, etc., so naturally I was feeling a little frustrated. My dad ordered this book a week ago and him and my mom have been following it ever since. They suggested that I read it as well. Basically, this "diet" (if you can even call it that) eliminates all starches, processed flours, sugars, etc. It focuses on eating carbohydrates in good forms (fruits and vegetables). He explains that our ancestors rarely had any starches. They had meat from hunting and fruits and vegetables from gathering. Starches were not a part of their diets. Over time, starches became very inexpensive fillers, so more and more food companies started putting them into their foods to save money. However, our bodies were not accustomed to handling this much starch, causing a "glycemic shock". This causes our bodies to secrete enormous amounts of insulin, causing us to gain weight.

In this book, Dr. Thompson also explains that approximately 40% of people are insulin resistant. Not necessarily diabetic, just more sensitive to starches causing these huge amounts of insulin to be secreted. He says if you are overweight, you are likely to be insulin resistant, and most people don't even know it. By eliminating starch, you no longer have cravings. Basically, to follow this book, you try to eat meals that have a glycemic load of under 100 (a potato has over 200, just to give you an idea of how much starches affect your body), and you try to keep your daily glycemic load under 500. This keeps your blood glucose level out of the "shock" range and your insulin is secreted at a normal rate.

A 1-1/2 oz slice of whole wheat bread has a glycemic load of 170, while 2 slices of 1" squares of semi-sweet chocolate has a glycemic load of 25. Pretty crazy, eh? So this diet allows you to eat chocolate! (Lowglycemicload.com)

I've been following this book for 4 days now. I feel so much better. (You've probably noticed my 87 billion cauliflower Pins on Pinterest. Who knew you could disguise cauliflower in so many ways?! My dad makes awesome fried cauliflower "rice".) Anyway, that is my vague summary. I suggest you read it whether you're fit, overweight, or somewhere in the middle like me. :) Even if you just have an interest in health and nutrition. It was a really good read. It only takes about 2 hours total to read. It includes a huge list of the "glycemic loads" of several foods, and several recipes. I have just felt so enlightened. Hahaha.

Read this book.

I'll keep you updated on how I've been feeling in the next couple weeks.

Saturdays.

Saturdays are indeed special days. I often go home because it's only like 40 minutes away. Sometimes...I spend the nights on Fridays here...And I look like this:

In response to Reagan's comment, "You know people can SEE that
picture right?" Yes Reagan, that's the point. 

And then I wake up looking like this:

Hahaha I hope you're enjoying all of these heinous photographs. Anyway...Saturdays then proceed to providing me with lots of Diet Coke...and today in particular I was blessed with a pan of peanut butter bars provided by Reagan. I accidentally ate most of the pan. I feel it wasn't my fault that these particular bars were a nutty, chocolately combination of delicious. And it was my birthday 3 days ago... All right. It was my complete lack of will power. I would stand up from my workplace, cut off a smallish piece and go back to my workplace. Then I would eat the said piece....then it would be gone. And I would be sad...and so I would return back to the pan. This process repeated itself until I hated myself...Then I continued anyway. Here's a link to these delicious morsels:

Peanut Butter Bars

Ok, I am cutting to the best part of today. So my sister Reagan and I like to take pictures. :) We're not professionals or anything but we think it's pretty fun to take pictures of each other and I also have an extreme love of editing. So here are some of the results that came out of today. (Notice my attractiveness range goes from heinously ugly [see above photos] to...not. And Reagan is just always beautiful.)

This is one of my favorites. :) She is
just too dang cute.

And sometimes she is just plain stunning.

One thing you should know is that, while I like just regular ol' editing that make pictures look good, I also like funky editing that make pictures look cool. I love Adobe Lightroom. It has some presets that are really fun. And it's also just a good editing tool. Here's an example of some of the fun editing I like to do. :)

I couldn't decide which I liked better. They were both quite different so I chose to put both up. Here's an example of some "normal" editing. Chris got me the red glasses for my birthday. I'm rather fond of them. :)

Sepia tones

Color. I feel like I was very "in my element" here. 

 It amazes me how different you can make photos look from the originals. Here is an example of a before and after.

I used a similar filter as above, but I edited some of the colors. I increased the brightness, saturation, and exposure of my eyes using the brush tool as well.

Here's another example of a before and after:

This photo was so much fun to take. I had Reagan flip her hair on the count of three and this is what we got!
It's different, but I love that. And she was able to maintain her sassiness throughout the flip. ;)

Here's another before and after of Reagan. A little more normal editing for this one. I love Reagan's sassiness. :) 

Here's one last photo:

Sepia tones again

Let me know what you think!

Like I said, Saturdays are always fun. I love being able to see my family. We've always been close because we are quite a small family. :) And because we kind of like each other. I guess that's important too. ;) But I also love Rocko. I get to see him every weekend. Here is a picture of him.

He's majestic. 

He's getting old. Haha. But today I took him out of his cage to play with him and his little fingernails were WAAAY too long. So my mom had this master plan that we would put him back in his cage and I would bribe him to climb up on the bars of his cage to eat a carrot while my mom clipped his nails that were on the bars. So I went to get him a carrot. And I have never had to hold onto a carrot so tightly. Guinea pigs really enjoy food. And they suddenly have teeth of steel when they want to steal away food. Unfortunately, Rocko won the fight, got his carrot, and only had one nail clipped. I should have known. We had this guinea pig named Browney (yes, spelled with an "EY") years ago...he was really fat and we used to feed him Ritz Crackers and Nilla Wafers. I would try not to feed him the entire cracker...but he was somehow able to grab onto the cracker and pull without breaking it, and he managed to get the entire cracker into his cage and devoured it before I even realized what had happened. He was talented. Anyway...Have a wonderful Sabbath and a wonderful first week of March! :D

The Big Two-O!

That's right world. I turned twenty. A whole two decades. Four half decades. Five more years and I'll be a quarter century old. Ok...that was going to far. I'm not that old. But let's face it. I'm the worst blogger on the face of the planet. I haven't blogged since I got that super awesome purple dress with the pockets that I still love to wear all the time. But anyway, that's beside the point. I'm sure you've all established that I'm the worst at blogging by the lack of blog posts. So I didn't need to tell you that. Let's get to the good stuff. So today, February 27, 2013, is my birthday. Let me just tell you how amazing the people in my life are. First, my grandfather emailed me last night with two iTunes gift cards. He also sent a package from Amazon, which was an awesome Bose stereo that I can plug my iPhone right into. He's the best. And that's that. My wonderful parents let me go shopping for clothes, which is one of my favorite things to do. And I even got that gift early because I went shopping in Boise last weekend while we were in town for the Carrie Underwood concert. That was a good weekend. Here is a picture of Reagan and I waiting for the show to begin.

Reagan is beautiful. I look childish. But I was still 19
so give me a break. ;)

We also went out to dinner tonight. Continuing, my beautiful friend Rachel gave me this awesome pair of yoga pants that have super cute blue details. She always knows what I like. :) And Elise was Superwoman for the past few days. This girl has been working her tail off making cupcakes and decorating for my birthday, all while preparing to leave for Europe for a whole month! She is awesome. Here is a picture of me with one of her super awesome cupcakes.

It already has a bite taken out of it.

They were delicious. She made yellow and chocolate cakes with vanilla and chocolate icing. Those are also her super cute pink pompoms in the back behind my head. :) Let's face it, my roommate was just a rockstar this week. It was my turn to teach today for the after-school program. The kids today were the sweetest. Everyone wanted me to sit by them, they all told me happy birthday, and I got a handful of pictures that they had colored. Kids sure know how to make you feel good. Then, there was my sweet boyfriend/kinda fiance 'cause we're planning a wedding except he's still gone, Chris. That boy got me glasses with the cutest frames! They are a pinkish red.

I had just woken up when I put them on.
No, I'm not embarrassed of my face. Or
hair. Or anything else that looks publicly
unacceptable about this photo. 

He also got me a beautiful coral scarf. He's a good scarf picker-outer. I've gotten a lot of Italian scarves over the past year and a half and I've enjoyed every single one of them. He also plotted this little extravaganza.............

Those are six HUGE bouquets of flowers. 

 Unreal, right? So he gave his mother "strict instructions" that I had to have a bouquet that had stargazer lilies from him. This is his bouquet:

So pretty! Some of the lilies haven't bloomed yet.
It will be a wonderful day when they do. :)

And then, the other five bouquets were from each of the girls in his family.....

Holly, his sister

Jami, his sister-in-law

Shellie, his mom

Salem, his sister-in-law

Amber, his sister

Isn't that just the sweetest thing? I cried a little. I'll admit it. :) And then, to top off the entire day, so many of my wonderful friends came over and sang happy birthday and Mike even caught this picture....

To be honest, I'm not sure what to think of this. What
on Earth was I doing?? (Banner in the back: Elise)

But it's ok because I got this........

That boy stuff three whole cupcakes in his mouth at the same time. Mike sure is a treat. During the party, people also signed a poster board card. :) I got some really nice notes. And Nate came over and brought me a delicious Cocoa Bean cupcake that had a pink candle in it. :)

After people started to trickle out, it was just Elise, me, and these four handsome men.

I look like a shrimp. Josh, Brian, Mike, and Joe. (Left to right)

We went to McDonald's and got Shamrock shakes. I had never had one.

Brian talks too much...we still love him, but that is why his is
still mostly full. Josh also let me have his cherry. That is true friendship.
And he bought mine, because he's awesome like that. 

Then Brian raced Elise home while driving my car. Needless to say, between his driving expertise and my car, we won. Then we spent the rest of the night watching Duck Dynasty. I'm not sure why. I don't really care for the show, but apparently everyone else did. I was just perfectly content being in the presence of such awesome people.

Marisa, my beautiful roommate even posted this lovely collage of us on Instagram. She has a package for me that I will get soon. :) She's in Australia at the moment just soaking up the sun.

Gator jacks indoor picnic, thong cookie night, FHE in
the summer time, and the Color Vibe 5k. What would
I do without this girl?!

I, of course, cannot forget about all of the awesome friends that sent me texts, called, or posted on my Facebook wall. You all are incredible. Thanks for making me so happy today. :) I appreciate each and every one of you.

February 27, 2013 was an awesome day to say the least. I have never felt more like a princess. I love birthdays but this one just felt especially special. Thank you to everyone that made this day so perfect.