MIL Birthday!

Hey y'all! MIL stands for "Mother-in-law," just in case you didn't catch that. It's Lish's mom's birthday today! And this shout out is for her!

Happy birthday Karen! First of all, you are wonderful. Everything about you is wonderful. You are one of the most caring and thoughtful people I know. You're always doing things to help everybody, especially your family. And you do such a great job at it! You are so appreciated!

Karen is such an amazing MIL. I am so lucky to have married into such a fabulous family! She is so accepting and supportive. She does small things all the time to let us know she's thinking about us and cares about us. I love getting her random text messages. She makes me laugh! There are some things that are just so "Karen" (like the many Costco runs, the text messages, the laughing really hard at herself when it gets late) and I love it all!

Plus, she raised an amazing son who treats women so well. It's easy to see how much Lish loves and respects his mother. They have an extraordinary relationship and I'm so grateful to see it close up.

Karen, thank you for everything! I couldn't ask for a better MIL! You are so wonderful and I love you! Happy birthday! (And can't wait to see you in a couple weeks!)

Big Brother Brian's Birthday!

Yesterday was my oldest brother's GOLDEN birthday! He told me he's feeling old, but don't worry Bri, the rest of us are right behind you!

I love my big brother! He is amazing in so many ways. He has treated me so well over the years, standing up to my mean ex-boyfriends, helping me with my homework, being supportive of my decisions (expect maybe when I decided to go to BYU). We have such a fun relationship where we can just tease each other and say things to bug each other. It's so fun to be around him. He always has a big smile on his face and he is such a happy person.

One of my favorite memories with Brian was a few years ago when we were both taking anatomy classes. He invited me up to the U of U's anatomy lab (because it was so much better than BYU's) and we just hung out in the anatomy lab for a couple hours and then went and got burgers and root beer floats afterwards. It was so fun to do something so lame and be able to bond with him.

Because I know that Brian is such a wonderful big brother, I know he's an amazing husband and father. It's easy to see how much his kids and his wife love him and it's so easy to see how much he loves them. He does all he can to make a comfortable life for his family and he's such a great example for me to look up to. I've always admired him. I've loved watching how much he loves life and how much joy he gets out of the simple things.

Thank you Brian, for being such a great big brother! Thanks for being someone I can look up to and learn from. Thank you for all the fun memories we have and for being so supportive and accepting! I love you and hope you had a great birthday and I can't wait to see you soon!

Giving Thanks

I just wanted to take a couple minutes to share some things I am very thankful for!

First of all, I am thankful for my husband. He's wonderful and amazing and I am so lucky to be married to him for eternity! Secondly, I am very grateful for my family. They mean so much to me and they are some of my best friends. Next, I am grateful for my friends! I have some incredible ones who have done so much for me. I'm grateful for my home, for the comfort I get when I'm here. I'm very thankful for my dog. She's pretty awesome! And of course, I'm grateful for the gospel. I love the teachings of our church!

I have so many other things to be thankful for, such as my job, my health, chocolate, the holiday season, my glasses and contacts, my new phone, and so much more!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope yours was as good as mine!

Little Brother, Happy Day!

Happy birthday Kyle! It's my little brother's birthday today. He turns 23! So, this shout out is for him!

I love Kyle! He's so quirky and weird sometimes, and it's just him. He was always more of the goofy kid in our family. He was always trying to come up with jokes or different ways to make us laugh when he was younger. Still does. And it still works. He's so much fun to be around! He seems to always have a smile on his face, and when you're not trying to wake him up, he's always in a good mood. He's very good at finding little different ways to entertain himself too. He has such a creative mind.

Kyle is only 15 months younger than me, so even though he was always trying to bug me when we were growing up, he was always one of my best friends. Still is. He's so smart too. He can understand science like nobody's business. Maybe it's just because I don't understand science, but it's always impressive to me. He's always busy learning something new. When he sets his mind to something, he will accomplish it. He always has the most optimistic outlook on things he wants to do. It seems like everything is an adventure for him.

Kyle also has a very strong testimony of the gospel and of what our church believes in. He has taught me a lot about being an example to those around us and about not worrying what other people are thinking. He is such a strong person in so many ways.

I love my little brother! And even though he still acts like a little brother whenever I see him, I wouldn't trade him for the world. Love you Kyle! Happy 23!!

Thanksgiving-I have not forgotten thee.

I've tried to be good about letting Thanksgiving have it's time in the limelight. I really have. And compared to past years, I've done really well. But I couldn't help myself when it came to blog templates. I just love the Christmas ones! So I gave in.

But I won't decorate until a week from Friday, and I won't really start listening to Christmas music until then too. For now, it's too warm for me to think about Christmas. It's the middle of November, Tallahassee! Didn't you get the memo? I'm not complaining about the weather we are having now, I just don't feel that Christmas crisp. You know, when it cools off and all that. Maybe when my house is decorated red and green, then I will feel completely Christmas-y. But this is a start!

And Thanksgiving, I'm excited to celebrate you. A day dedicated to eating delicious food and giving thanks is always a good thing in my book.

Philly, B-More, DC

**Warning: Post contains a gazillion pictures!**

I am always so late at posting things, but at least I get to it eventually. Forgive me.

Anyway, as many of you know, Lish had an ASC (Criminology) conference up in Philadelphia a week and a half ago. Neither of us had been to Philadelphia, so we decided to make a fun little trip out of it. Lish flew in on Wednesday and I met up with him on Thursday. The night I got in was the same night as the schools' banquets. So we attended FSU's banquet and I got to catch up with some of the students and professors from his department. Then a bunch of us went out and everyone got drunk while Lish and I got some food. We went to the oldest ale house in Philly. It was pretty fun! We went home and went to bed early, compared to everyone else, because Lish's presentation was the next morning.

Lish's presentation went well. Afterward he had a couple interviews with schools. After that, we got to travel around Philly a little bit. We went to the Rocky stairs (of course, we are American), and then we met up with Maggie and Brandon and Brandon's brother that night for dinner.

On Saturday we did the historic stuff around Philadelphia. We got to see the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Benjamin Franklin's grave, and so on. Then we headed to Baltimore with Maggie and Brandon. We had dinner downtown and stayed with them that night and Sunday. We went to church with them and then got to see where Maggie teaches. The campus of the school she teaches at is amazing. That evening we headed down the DC to visit Vance, Casey and their children. We had dinner with them and all got to catch up. Then we stayed with the Taylors until Tuesday morning.

So on Monday we headed into DC and Lish and I played tourist for a few hours. We went to the National Archives and to the Air and Space Museum. After Vance was done with his meetings, we went back to meet up with Casey and the girls and hung out with them all night. Come Tuesday morning we headed into the District again, got on a bus and made our way back up to Philly. Then we had one last meal and headed to the airport to make our way home.

It was such a fun trip and Lish and I talked about how much we loved Philadelphia. The weather was amazing and the people we got to visit were so good to us! We had a very wonderful trip! Enjoy some pictures! (By the way, the pictures might be all out of order because my blogger has been acting strange, but you get the idea.)

So Belated, But Better Late Than Never, Right?

Happy belated birthday Collin! My brother-in-law celebrated his birthday on Monday, the 9th, so I am a few days behind. One of the reasons why I love him so much is because he doesn't hold grudges and is so forgiving. :)

Collin is one of those people that doesn't have to do much to make me happy. His whole being just makes me happy. He's always in a good mood. Collin seems to be the person in our family who everyone else makes fun of, and he handles it all. He makes some of the funniest comments I've ever heard. He's just such an amazing person!

Collin is also a very hard worker. He has a drive that's incredible to watch. It seems that he has accomplished so much with his job and with helping provide for him and his wife. And I love seeing how much he loves his wife. They are so silly together and it's easy to see that he truly adores her.

I'm so glad that Whitney decided to marry him! Great choice Whit! I love having Collin in the family!