Sweet Skills

So the other day, I was watching the Bachelorette, and Emily said that she didn't feel like she had a lot of talents. My immediate reaction was, "What the heck Emily! Yes you do! You're awesome! You're so pretty and nice and sometimes you say funny things!" And then I realized that "being pretty" doesn't count as a talent.

Neither does being nice, and even saying funny things occasionally can't really be counted as a talent.

And then I realized that I don't have that many talents either. Here are the things that I consider my talents:

- teaching (this is to be seen, I guess)
- txting
- typing fast
- writing (letters, blogs, papers, etc.)
- hair-doing
- nannying
- trying new recipes
- facebook-stalking (I'm not as good as Winnie, but I'm pretty good at it)
- singing a little bit and piano a little bit and dancing a little bit
- packing lots of stuff into a little bag / suitcase / car

Anyways. That looks like a pretty decently-sized list, but when you think about it, none of those talents would get me landed on America's Got Talent. So I am determined to get some new talents. Some cool ones!

Here are the talents I want to develop:

- doing pull-ups on a pull-up bar. These are always impressive. I want to be able to do EIGHT.
- trick-riding on a horse. I need a horse for this, so I might not actually be able to develop this talent until I have married a cowboy.
- playing the ukulele. So I guess I will need a ukulele. After I buy a car, I will get one.
- whistling. I've never been able to whistle. I'd really like to able to.
- making cream puffs. Maybe I will learn how while I'm home!

If anyone has advice for how I can master any of these talents, please let me know :)

Was your 2010 as Awesome as Mine?

Cuz mine was pretty awesome. Here are some of the awesomest parts of my year.....in chronological order, I think:

1. Going shooting with Uncle Brett! It was my first time shooting a gun and it was very fun. Almost as fun as the photo shoot we had afterwards.

2. My floral design class. I didn't love Winter Semester 2010, but this was one class I did love. I made all sorts of arrangements. Including, I learned how to make boutonnieres and corsages, which I made for Kelly's wedding :)

3. Finals week of winter semester. I had lovely roommates in the winter and we all separated in the summer :( To finish off our semester together, we pulled our mattresses out and had a sleepover, all week long. We got henna tattoos. And made smoothies. And watched movies. And kind of studied.

4. Nannying. I nannied the summer after my freshman year and I got to go back and nanny for the same kids again for about a month this summer. I love Malan and Owen so much, so that was wonderful!

5. Going to Trafalga. Chelsea worked there over the summer so she got me and some other friends in for free! We had a blasty-blast trick-riding on the carousel, racing the go-carts, and riding on all the rides past close.

6. Stadium of Fire. It was my first year going and it was awesome! I love Carrie Underwood and thought she did a fantastic job.

7. Lehi Roundup! Not long after Stadium of Fire I went to my first LEGIT rodeo in Utah. I was not disappointed! I went with my friends Brinley and Alyssa. I love cowboys so obviously I was in heaven.

8. Working. I had two great jobs this year that I absolutely loved. I started working at ColdStone in February and then at the BYU Writing Center in the summer (as an intern). I wasn't exactly thrilled with either job to begin with, but I quickly came to love them. The only pictures I have of Coldstone and the Writing Center are the ones I'm posting here....

At the Writing Center, Kylie and I are showing off our twin fingernails. On the wall behind us, please notice the thankful turkeys that everyone made for Thanksgiving.

At ColdStone, I am saying goodbye to Bruce, who was kind of my husband, because he decided to go to college.

9. Cornbelly's! This year was my first time going to Cornbelly's and I think I was converted. I love love loved it and will definitely be going back next year.

And finally,

10. Being the MOH at Kelly's wedding. I got to be home for Thanksgiving, give a speech, and dress up. Win win win. Not to mention, I think Dahl is the best brother-in-law ever, so all in all, their wedding easily makes this list.

I could put sooo many other things on this list. My birthday, for instance, was one of the best I've ever had. Halloween was amazing, as usual. I loved all the times I got to lay out by the pool just soaking up the sun and eating free hamburgers, and my trip to Texas was an adventure, to say the least. For the first time this summer, I enjoyed camping. I loved going to General Conference in Salt Lake, my trip to Park City to see Shawn White, and going to the Manti Pageant. It was awesome to see Nicole give the speech at her graduation and Sarah get baptized in May.

And the best part is, my life is only going to get awesomer! I am so ready for 2011 and all the awesomeness it promises :)

Surprises [insert verb here] Plans.

Sometimes, life surprises you.

Like when you realize that you are going to be twenty in less than six months, and you were not even expecting this to happen so soon.

Or when you find yourself planning a bridal shower and buying lingerie for one of your best friends, and you feel like you are playing a game rather than actually living a life.

Or when your baby sister gets baptized, or your little brother is taller than you and talks like a mannn, or your other little brother can outrun and outshoot you on the basketball court without even trying.

These are all some little surprises I got when I went home to Maryland for a month. It was the best time I've ever had going home! I nannied during the day, almost every day except weekends. Then, when I got home every night, I would help my mom make dinner or play basketball with Jacob. After dinner, I usually hung out with Caitlin or my sisters, or Betty, or all of the above. Whether we were playing Nerts, making no-bake cookies, or just talking, it was so fun and relaxing.

I planned this trip back in February. I realized that summer was coming up, and I needed to find a job. I started applying to nannying jobs all over the US and Canada. I got two offers, one in Alberta, Canada, and the other in Put-in-Bay, Ohio. The darling family I nannied for last summer also asked me if I would nanny for them again this summer. After many prayers and pros-and-cons lists, I made up my mind: I would stay in Provo for the majority of the summer, but go home for a month to see Nicole's graduation and Sarah's baptism. And just like that, everything fell into place so that my plan was executed perfectly. I loved my trip home. I'm loving this summer in Provo so far.

But a part of me still wonders. What if I had gone to Put-in-Bay, Ohio, to nanny those two adorable kids? I would have lived on an island in my own apartment separate from the family I was nannying for's home. I would have taken a ferry anytime I wanted to get to the mainland to go to a shopping mall. I would have spent the summer loving two new kids and learning how to live like a big girl, on my own. I would have called my family at night and made friends with the store owners in the small town.

Parts of the offer were kind of scary. The parents wanted to pay me under the table, which means they would have no real accountability to pay me. I would have been all alone if anything happened to me. So yes, something really bad could have happened.

And then again, what if I had gone to Alberta, Canada? The job description promised lovable children and $600 / week. I would have lived close to Danielle and Natalie, some of my friends from my freshmen ward, and maybe gone to their same singles ward. I would have lived in a setting totally different from anywhere I've ever lived. Either nannying job appeared bright with adventure and spontaneity.

I like the idea of spontaneity, but as fun as it sounds, I'm not very good at living spontaneously. I have the next 4 years of my life planned out. I picked my wedding date when I was still in Young Women's. I've known I wanted to be a teacher since I was in kindergarten. And strangely, in a way that surprises even me, my plans have yet to fail.

I guess I'm just wondering when they will.

So you fill in the blank. Surprises aren't always good for plans, but sometimes you just can't plan for how great things are going to be. I was surprised by how absolutely wonderful my trip home was (good surprise). I was surprised when I got sunburned a few days ago (bad surprise; I would have preferred a tan). I was surprised when I fell in love with a boy who I knew would be leaving in a mission soon after I met him (good or bad surprise? I'm not sure. Question mark). I am still surprised by how much I miss my roommates from last semester (sad surprise).

Do surprises enhance plans?

Or do they ruin plans?

Rambling.

In my psychology class last year, we learned that there are about 7 "slots" in your short-term, or working memory. That means that if given a big long list, most people can only remember 7 of the things on the list. If they group them, then they can only remember 7 of the groups of things on the list. Studies have been done. Some people say we have more like 4 slots in our working memory,

I disagree. I'm thinking way more than 4 things right now. Maybe I'm an anomaly, but judging from my grades this semester, which I just saw, I don't think that's correct. I'm actually incredibly average.

This is me trying to unload my whole entire brain into one blog post.

1. I've been working a lot recently. ColdStone operates on a set schedule, meaning that every week, you work on the same days, as the same times. The schedule changes every few weeks. Since I am going home for most of May and a little bit of June, I wasn't given any shifts this rotation. So now I just fill in for people. I've been getting a lot of calls, so I have actually worked every day this week. It's just nice because I kind of get to pick when I work. There's no reallll obligation, and people are immensely grateful when I cover for them so they can go to fill-in-the-blank. Prom. Grandparent's 50th wedding anniversary. Graduation. Michael Buble concert.

I love working at ColdStone, absolutely love it. It's not that hard. At first I think I was really overwhelmed, but I learned quickly and now I'm pretty good at everything. My proudest moment came when I was teaching a new boy how to do something on the register and the customer asked if I was a manager. I said no and they said I should be and gave us a tip. I might have been blushing for the rest of the day. Who's to say.

Here are some things I like about working at ColdStone:

a. the people. I think I should dedicate a whole post to all the people who work at ColdStone. I can't think of anyone I work with that I actually dislike. There was one girl, but she went home for the summer and Jackie said she won't be hired again when she comes back. I guess I wasn't the only one who didn't like her! But besides her, I love everyone. To work at ColdStone, you have to be funny and cheerful and friendly, which is great. There's just a good atmosphere there, and I can tell that everyone really likes me, too. Sorry if that sounds conceited....it's just because everyone is so nice and everyone likes everyone else.

b. the employee discount. I get 50% off and it is awesomee. I think that's enough about that.

c. making cakes. Some people don't like making cakes, but I love it. It's my favorite job at ColdStone. Today Sandee (my manager) sent out a mass txt saying that if anyone could come in to make cakes, it would be greatly appreciated. I showed up expecting to see hordes of people and discovered that I was the only one who had come to make cakes. I was thrilled! I spent five hours making cake after cake. It was splendid.

d. the customers. The thing about working at an ice cream store is that your customers are almost always happy. I have not had a single customer be rude to me. The line can get pretty long at ColdStone, and people will still be so happy to get their ice cream and pay for it. And they'll tip. Sometimes, cute boys come into ColdStone, and that is my favorite. I will try to calculate exactly how long I should spend on the customer I'm helping at the moment in order to be the one who gets to help the cute boys. There is a surprisingly high number of boys who come in without dates, which is fine with me. But really. I see about as many boys on dates with other boys as I see boys on dates with girls. I love when kids come in, too. Except when it's late and they're crying. Then I just want to tell their parents, "Put your child in beddd, they don't need ice cream at 10:18 at night. They're tired!" I will never understand the frustrated, red-faced mothers who grab their child's wrist, shove them at the counter, and say, "Which kind do you want, the blue one? Okay, tell the lady. Do you want ice cream? Okay. He wants the cotton candy. Gummy bears? Do you want gummy bears? Yes or no!?" I'm just like, "Why are you here. Why? Thank you for your patronage, but why are you force-feeding ice cream to your child when they should have been in bed two hours ago?"

e. when people come and visit me. It honestly makes my day. My favorite customers are Kelly and Dahl.

f. the music. It is important to me that wherever I work has a good playlist. I have to sing. There's not a whole lot of variety in the songs that play at ColdStone, but that just means I can get to know the songs that do play reallyy well.

Okay, that's enough about ColdStone.

2. I'm also thinking a lot about my ex-roommates. It makes me sad to call them that, but that's just kind of what they are. I love them a lot. Since moving out less than a week ago, I have slept over at Chelsea's new apartment twice because I miss her too much. On our last night together, Chelsea, Aimee and I brought our mattresses out to the living room and all slept together. Crystal and Connor joined us and Connor gave everyone henna tattoos. I've never had one and they were instantly addicting. I got three because I was so excited about it. We all sat there and talked about first impressions of each other and what we liked about each other. Crystal and I are both staying in Raintree, but she's staying in 321 and I'm moving in with Kelly. Chelsea and Christine both moved to the Colony and Aimee is moving.....somewhere else. Far away from me. Even though we all love each other and get along so well, we just ended up going separate ways. So I'm sad, but it was a good way to end the year.

3. I'm thinking how happy I am that this semester is over. I hated it, hated it. I liked one of my classes. Okay actually I liked three of my classes. But it was my hardest semester yet and it was cold and I was trying to figure out how to juggle a job and classes and I lost my gumption for a second and it was just super-frustrating. There were so many nights that I stayed up until 5 in the morning working on homework, and so many weeks that I had 5 tests all scheduled at once. And it wasn't even rewarding. I didn't enjoy my classes as much as I always have before. I was so ready for the semester to be over.

4. I'm thinking about how excited I am to go home and see everyone. My sister Sarah is getting baptized the day after we fly in, and I'm so excited to be there for that. Plus, Nicole is giving the speech at her graduation and that's going to be AWESOME. She's so adorable and I know she'll do such a great job!

I can't wait to see Malan and Owen, either. I nannied for them last summer and will be nannying for them while I'm home. They are so freaking cute and I really love them so much. Like, I would jump in front of a bus for them, I'm not even kidding. I'm more protective of them than almost anyone else. Here's an example.

Owen has a birthmark on one side of his face and last summer he was getting laser treatments to make it go away. The laser treatments would make his face really splotchy for about a week and then it would fade a little bit more each time. Anyway, one day last summer we were on a walk (probably to the post office) and this huge, probably 21 or 22-yr old guy smoking a cigarette glanced down at Owen and said to me, "What happened to dat baby's face?" I didn't even realize what he was talking about for a second and got really concerned that Owen was hurt or something. When I remembered that he has a birthmark, I got really indignant. I said, "Oh. It's a birthmark." The guy didn't nod understandingly. Instead, one corner of his mouth drew up in a grimace as he took another critical look at the baby in the stroller. He was at least a foot taller than me and probably weighed about triple what I do, but I really almost punched him in his puffy cheek, I was so mad. Instead, I grabbed Malan's hand and marched across the street. In that second after his ignorant question, I thought of several things to say. "What happened to your face?" "Probably his mom smoked when he was a baby" (he was smoking a cigarette). "His face looks a hell of a lot better than your's."

I didn't say any of those things because of Malan. She didn't even know a confrontation was going on. Besides that, Owen did have a distinctive birth mark. People were probably going to ask questions later on, too, and I didn't want Malan to think it was something to be ashamed of or get mad about. People just didn't know. I wanted her to see how to respond civilly to that kind of thing, without getting flustered.

Nannying was one of the best parts of my summer last year. I learned so much from Malan and Owen and I really reallyy love them. I'm excited to do it again this summer!

5. I'm thinking a lot about relationships. Here's my thing. I'm really picky. Like reallyy picky. And little things can make or break the deal. For instance, if....hypothetically, of course....I was dating a boy, and everything seemed to be going perfectly well, but then I found out that he didn't like snakes, that could be enough for me to stop liking him altogether. Hypothetically. Because it's actually not the fact that he doesn't like snakes that is bothering me. It's the fact that I do like snakes, and he's afraid of them, so I'm the manlier one. Even if he's the one asking me on dates. I'm still the one who would hypothetically be fighting off the boa constrictors that hypothetically attacked our house when we were hypothetically married. I can't be the manlier one in a relationship, I just can't. And I'm not asking that much. I am really girly. I don't like bugs. I have pink blankets, pillows, picture frames, book bags, moccasins, and hair accessories. I love boys. I listen to Taylor Swift, Hannah Montana, the Jonas Brothers, and Justin Bieber--probably the girliest playlist you have ever heard. If I am the man in a relationship, there is a problem.

Another example. If, hypothetically, I am dating a boy, and he makes a shape. Out of, say, a grapefruit peel. And he says it's supposed to look like a puppy, but hypothetically, all I can see is something way dirtier than a puppy, and he hypothetically can't see it, then there's another problem. Because boys are really dirty. And if I am the more inappropriate one, then there is definitely another problem.

And hypothetically, I wouldn't be able to handle that, either.

6. I'm also thinking about sales tax. Does the state or the federal government decide how much it is?

7. I'm also considering getting some crocs for work. I really hate crocs. Like, I haaaate them. I think they are the ugliest effing shoes ever invented. But I need some shoes that I hate for work. My feet are always getting wet from the spadewell and from doing dishes and I would love to not care. I would feel like I was going against one of my strongest convictions--I am religious in my hatred of crocs--but I might just have to.

8. I'm thinking about other jobs I should get. I really want to work at Color Me Mine, but I'm also considering a flower shop, since I took a floral design class. I also hear that it's good to work for the US Census, but I'm not sure if they'd hire me since I won't be here for all of May. I'm just going to try to apply when I get back.

9. I'm also thinking about how exhausting feelings really are. On Tuesday, I was having a lot of feelings. Way too many. I went in to work at 5 and told everyone that it was "Feelings Day." I was the only girl, working with four boys, and they were all thrilled to participate in Feelings Day. It was a very positive response. I guess everyone has feelings and they all wanted to talk about them. Furthermore, they were more than happy to listen to my feelings, which was just what I needed. I thought I would feel better after Feelings Day, but it was actually quite draining. I slept until 3 on Wednesday. I think this was a direct result of Feelings Day.

10. Music snobs. Perfectly nice people can be music snobs. Most of the time, music snobs are snobs about classics. New music is not good music, in their minds. "Mainstream" is a terrible insult. If it's on the radio, it's probably not very good. Well, why not? Just because the lyrics aren't deep. Maybe they're a little superficial. Maybe the song is just for fun. So why do you have to be hating on it? This attitude bothers me.

11. Missionaries. Should write letters on their p-days. I should be getting a letter soon. Ohmy I think I'm going to throw up, I'm so nervous.

12. Impulse buys aren't always bad. I made two two nights ago that have proven quite useful. Dahl, Kelly, and I went to Walmart after I got home from ColdStone and Feelings Day was winding down. I still had lots of feelings. So I talked about them a lot as I walked through the aisles, looking from side to side, battering my cart around in search of anything I might ever want to eat. I ended up buying lots of food and a green sandwich container with a dinosaur on the lid and a princess beach towel. These were impulse buys. I almost bought a hot wheels sheet cake, too. Then I didn't. It's probably better that I left that on the shelf. But I am glad that I bought my sandwich container and my beach towel. I've already used the sandwich container. I will use my beach towel almost every day this summer, since I'm determined to get tan, and every minute that I'm not working will be spent by the pool. I'm not even joking.

13. This apartment needs toilet paper.

14. I hope NIH calls me back.

15. I should play the piano more.

16. I miss my black tenta.

17. I need to catch up on Gossip Girl.

18. My mail key got stuck in the mailbox today. I had to call maintenance. It was slightly embarrassing. And I didn't even get a letter.

19. I went to lunch with Winnie, Chelsea, and Christine this afternoon. We went to Guru's. It was my first time and it was quite good. I love these girls. I wore Chelsea's pants. We all shared food even though Chelsea has a bit of a sore throat. I like food. I thought my dish was good. Even though Chelsea said it tasted like an old man. (And I kind of agreed with her).

20. I picked my wedding colors -- pink and blue. I told my mom and she said those were her wedding colors too. I guess I am my mother's daughter.

21. I hope that I'm here when, at some point in the summer, there is no snow in the mountains.

22. I write really long blog posts.

23. My right arm is getting a bigger muscle than my left arm, because I work at ColdStone.

OK I think that's enough. Is anyone still reading?? I'd be very impressed.

Happiness and Familyness

On Friday of last week, I got my first letter from Jake, and on Saturday, I got part two of that letter. So Friday was pretty much the best day ever...I made appointments for 4 people at work, went home, got a letter, and then went out with Kelly to Rita's. I've always loved writing and getting letters. I think I'm a good letter-writer, and when people write back it makes me sO happy. Especially this time! Jake is doing so well. He is loving the MTC and he's learning so much and making so many friends and he is so happy there. Reading his letter, I could tell that he was just happyy and it made me happy, too.

I also taught my sister Sarah a piano lesson on Friday. She's 7 and she lovvves piano. She reminds me a lot of myself at her age actually. I used to practice so much and I would go ahead in my book and try new variations on the songs and I thought I was so good and I just loved it. She is a fast learner and she likes to go ahead in the book, too. I'm also teaching Jacob piano, and Sarah is just a few songs behind him. I am worried that if she catches up to him, he will lose motivation and he won't want to practice as much anymore, so I've been trying to assign Sarah more songs from other books to make it take longer for her to move ahead. But she keeps trying new things on her own and that makes it a little more difficult too.

This week she started working on this one song that Jacob is still working on and even though it sounded good, considering that she had had no instructions from me on it, her timing was off, some of the notes were wrong, and it definitely wasn't ready to be passed off. I told her she did a really good job and that it was cool that she had worked on it on her own and she got really excited and said, "So I can pass it off?!" I said that we would have to keep working on it. As I was writing that in her book, she got really quiet and when I looked over she had tears in her eyes. I was alarmed because I had just told her that she had done a good job! How could she expect to pass off this song that she had been working on on her own after just one week of self-tutelage?

Then I stopped and thought a little more about it. She probably had gone on thinking of how much she would impress her piano teacher at her next lesson. Surely I would be so impressed by her initiative that I would enthusistically allow her to pass it off right away. She probably imagined me gasping in shock at her impressive abilities to learn a song of such difficulty on her own, me calling in other family members to hear her play. When you are seven you have such high hopes for yourself. Kids can envision themselves performing any number of things. They will be astronauts, ballerinas, firefighters, and actresses. Even though I told her she had done a good job this week, my praise was so much less than what she had anticipated, what she had worked for. And so, realizing this, of course I felt a little bad.

But then I thought about it again. Sarah would recover. She really hadn't done well enough to pass the song off. And that was okay, because eventually she would get it. She would walk away from her piano lesson, practice really hard for another week, maybe another two weeks, and then she would pass it off. If she had imagined higher acclamations than a simple sticker and a few words of glowing praise from her teacher, she might be disappointed, but that was okay. Everyone is a little bit disappointed sometimes when others don't think their joke is as funny as they think it is, when a relationship doesn't work out because one person isn't as interested in the other, or when they don't get a job they feel they are perfectly qualified for because whoever is hiring doesn't see your potential the way that you do. Little disappointments happen, but we recover from them, and if we handle them the right way, we will grow from them, too.

Moving on....today at nannying, I showed my letter from Jake to Malan. Jake also sent me a picture he drew of us which I thought was reallyy cute, so i showed that to Malan, too. She got very jealous and said that she wanted Jake to write her a letter too. I told her that if she wrote Jake a letter, he would probably write her one back. She dictated to me the following letter:

Dear Jake,

T. Please send Malan a letter. M. Or a fan. It was so great of her. Jacob. I want you to hold my hand too. Why didn't you say I love you, Malan? Jake. Jake-a. I love you and you want to hold my hand. Can I hold your hand please in one two three days? I did it so you love me. My grandma Tori loves me too. I will send you a mail but you didn't send one back but you don't love me. Look I have. You will hold my hand too. The fan is not for you, it's for my grandma Tori. Because you don't love me, but I said I love you Jake so you will hold my hand. Thank you. Thank you to your mom. Jake-a. Write me a letter too or Heather will cry and her family will be mean to her.

Love,

Malan

which I thought was hilarious. Nannying was so good today because Owen took a four-hour nap, which he practically put himself down for. While Malan and I were coloring, he started to fall asleep on the floor, so I fed him a bottle and put him in his crib. I seriously love nannying. I love Malan and Owen and I know I am going to miss them when I go back to BYU. I like hanging out with people my own age....I like it a lot, but I also really like hanging out with kids. They are just sweet, and even though we learned in my human development class that kids are very egocentric and they aren't really capable of thinking about other people as separate individuals who have feelings too, I know that kids care about other people. They understand raw emotions better than pretty much anyone else in the world. They haven't learned all about propriety and social taboos and so they are as pure as can be. Plus, how can you not miss getting paid to color, eat, and take naps?

Tonight we had family home evening. With 7 kids.....all of whom are really weird.....it gets pretty loud at my house. We all really like each other, and there is so much weirdness and so many inside jokes that it can get really crazy when we are all together. I can't even begin to explain it. People just use weird voices and say stupid things and then everyone else cracks up. I often think that living with my family is like living in a musical, or in a reality tv show. (I swear that would make money if it existed.) At this particular family night, we were talking about the family reunion that is coming up on July 9th. We will all be flying out to Utah at about 7 a.m. We have never taken a flight as a whole family so it should be interesting. As we were going over the calendar for the upcoming two weeks, the noise level kept rising and rising. I am pretty sure my dad's blood pressure is directly related to the noise level in our house, so as we got louder and louder, he got more and more stressed. By the time we were halfway through Wednesday and our neighbors could have listened in if they wanted to, my dad decided that was enough and started yelling about how we really needed to be quiet because it was way too loud and he was going to start sending people to bed and they weren't going to be happy if this kept on, etc. My mom decided to start a quiet game in which participation was mandatory and for the rest of the night she kept a running tally for everyone who was talking out of turn with the promise of a fantastic reward to be given to the winner. Things quieted down considerably, but my dad was still very stressed and I guess he felt like someone had to be punished so he stopped listening to the calendar entirely and glared around the room instead, pouncing on anyone who opened their mouth too widely. It turned into a big pick-on-everyone-else-fest and by Friday, July 10th, feelings were hurt and three people had left the room in annoyance. With the calendar over, Dad yelled that it was his turn and that everyone had better get back in the kitchen for his lesson on.....etiquette?

....Ironic? Maybe?

Regardless, everyone came back and soon the musical started up again, our collective good humor restored by togetherness. It is one of my favorite things in this life that I am friends with the people in my family. I love love love all of my siblings and my parents. They might drive me crazy sometimes but I honestly wouldn't trade them for anything.