My Little Girl is Growing Up!

No I did not have a love child that none of you knew about, I am talking about my younger sister (some of you may remember her as she use to blog before school got absolutely crazy and she decided school was much more important).

Way back in 2008 my sister made the fateful and irrational decision to move in with Terry and I.  Yeah, I don’t know what she was thinking either….but crazy does run in our family!  It was originally just going to be a year, then two years and now, after signing her FIRST official lease on her very own apartment today, she is officially moving out the beginning of January which will be exactly 3 ½ years of living together.  To be honest I can’t believe how fast it has gone!  It doesn’t seem like it has been that long and then again sometimes it does seem that long.

As some of you may know, my sister is 8 years younger than me and when I went away to college I missed out on a good chunk of time with my sister.  Yes, I was around for the important things like holidays and birthdays but I wasn’t around for all the everyday things that happen.  So when the idea presented itself for her to move into our spare bedroom, I think we were both excited to regain some of our “missed” time together and I think we did just that.

We have had lots of fun and have laughed a TON together….I mean tears coming from our eyes laughter!  We have also had disagreements and arguments that have silenced us for days.  We have cooked some delicious meals together while also ordering take out after some not so delicious attempts at cooking.  We have pigged out to the point of getting sick and have gotten sick of dieting.  We have shared holidays, birthdays, and every day in between.  I have been with her through new relationships and breaking up bad relationships.  I have been witnessed to long nights of studying and all her frustrations and successes with school. I have offered TONS of advice; some sought after and more probably unwanted.  And this last year she was with me during my pregnancy and the birth of her nephew and has been able to see him these last 10 weeks everyday….the two of them are best friends already and he totally has her wrapped around his tiny finger!

And with all that said, I think we both agree wholeheartedly that it is time.

It is time for us BOTH to move on.

We are actually both excited that we are not living together anymore.  Not because we are sick of each other, but because it has been good and we want to leave it at that.  However it is time for us to be apart for awhile and start our “new” lives.  Her - graduating from college, getting her own place and living on her own.  Me – with my husband and son and our new life as a family.  Seriously, the timing is perfect and that is why we are both ready and excited to go our “separate” ways.  And by separate I don’t mean THAT separate…she will still live in the same small town and, um, we work together!  But now when I see her we can ask how each other is doing instead of just knowing because we are always around each other.  We can talk on the phone or make plans to go out and catch up over lunch or dinner.  We can be sisters and not roommates.

I have to say I am looking forward to this a lot and I am sure Terry is as well so he can go back to walking around the house naked!  I am ready to have our house “back” as three adults, three cats and now a baby in a small two bedroom home is a bit much.  And I am excited for Kristen to now have her very own place, where she can walk around the house naked if she wants!  I am excited to see her on her own because if I have seen just one thing these past 3 ½ years, it is that she is an amazing young women and I know she is going to be amazing as she finds herself and starts her “new” life on her own!

So congrats to you my sisters!  I am SO excited for you!  And I expect you to invite us over for a home cooked meal within 48 hours after you move into your new place.

P.S. I wrote a hilarious very serious post HERE when she first moved in about all the rules she had to obey.  She didn’t follow them, and that is why she ended up in the basement. Lesson learned, right K.?! :)

FREE BEER BREAD WITH ANY ORDER! - END OF MARCH SPECIAL!

That is right my friends, to bring in the warmer weather and say goodbye to the cold I am running a special end of March Sale for Tastefully Simple!

Details:

If you place an order from now through March 28th for ANY amount I will personally send you a package of Tastefully Simple Beer Bread for FREE! Yep a FREE order of Beer Bread!!  What's better than that? Well, if you place an order of $50 or more I will not only send you a FREE order of Beer Bread but also a FREE order of the Almond Pound Cake OR a second FREE order of Beer Bread….your choice!  Yes, this is for real, but it is for a limited time.

Orders must be in to me or done online w/ Kristen as your host by March 28th. Invitations were sent earlier today to many of you (at least those who I have email addresses for), so look in your email for a direct link to the website.  If you did not receive an email, you can just go to our Tastefully Simple site at www.tastefullysimple.com/web/jhoward4 to place an order. And remember, when you check out, list Kristen as your host!

I will be able to see all orders and your special box of beer bread will shortly follow your order!

Hurry, this is only good through March 28^th!

My consultant ID No. is 0110558.

 Click HERE for more information on how to use Tastefully Simple and Frequently Asked Questions!

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KRISTEN!!

(Kristen will get this cake…..even though I do not!)

 Today my lovely sister K. turns twenty-threeeeeeeeeeee!!!  

Twenty-three, huh?!  I for one cannot accept this as true because I remember when you were born and I can NOT believe that was 23 years ago!  Dang you are old! (And don’t you say anything in return young lady.)

I am SO proud of the young women you have and are becoming.  You are amazing, beautiful, hilarious, so stink’n smart, and such a kind & caring person.  I have felt SO lucky to live with you the last few years and have that time together.  It has meant so much to me to see you transform into the person you are today.

And even though you play games of the imaginary sort with your friends and some would call that dorky (not me of course) I have to say that is what makes you, YOU and I think YOU, my dear sister, are AWESOME!

Happy Birthday K.!  We love you bunches!

Xoxoxoxo

Jenn, Terry, Sebastian, Belle, Charlie, & Piglet.

Guess Who Is Blogging Again?!?! (Hint: She is Nearly As Awesome As I Am)

MY SISTER IS BLOGGING AGAIN!!!  YAY!

Yep, she has put down her calculator & math books, tossed aside her D&D dice, and dusted off her keyboard so that after 9 months she can once again share her insight and wit with us on the interweb!

Now she does have a new blog as I suppose it is a new start for her.  Her new blog is called Facing Forward.  (Link in post and on sidebar) Please read her blog as she is funny, talented, charming, good looking, awesome....basically everything I am but just a smidgen less.  It isn't her fault, she is just the younger sister so can't be AS awesome as I am.

So check out her blog!  She promised that this is not a temporary thing and that she won't be a blog tease again.

Day 03: A photo that makes you happy.

Like I said, I am not following the rules very well with this photo challenge, but it is close. 

This one is perfect for this week because the pictures that make me happy are the ones of my siblings and one of them celebrated a very special birthday!  (insert sentimental awwwwwww)

Now many of you already know about my lovely sister Kristen, as not only do I mention her frequently because we live together and work together and act the same and talk alike and are eerily close…. but also because she use to blog.  Apparently though school is more important. Whatev. 

Pictures of my sister make me very happy, and even though there is a small gap in our pictures from when I moved away from school, we have plenty of great pictures from when we were younger that make me smile like this very sweet one…..

 ...or this awkwardly cute one....

……to pictures from more recently like the ever popular "face to face pose for the camera" picture…..

...to this where she was the maid of honor at our wedding....

These pictures make me feel extremely lucky to have such a special & unique relationship with my sister and to have had these past few years to spend together.

However, what you may not be aware of is I also have two younger brothers.  Matt who turned 21 yesterday and Alec who turned 18 earlier this month.  (That makes me feel so f’n old.) They moved down south with their dad (my biological father) and their mom (my step mom) when I was in High School, so about 15 years ago. Sad.   Unlike my sister who I have a very very close relationship too, my brothers have fallen on the opposite side of the spectrum as due to not only the distance between us but also the even bigger gap in age, I have not formed relationships as close as I would like with them.  I have not been a part of SO many things in their life like watching them at sports, sharing holidays, taking them to concerts, seeing graduations, and now I can add buying my brother his first drink to that list of things I have missed out on. Sigh.   As the oldest sibling this is kind of heartbreaking.   The last time I saw my brothers was in 2006 when T & I got married.  Before that was 2002.  Both times they were just kids….and now; well my brothers are young men. WTF?  WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN?!   (Please excuse me while I cry at my desk at the thought of my wee little brothers all grown up! Breathe Jenn, breathe.)

Honestly, even though I have missed them terribly over the years it really hasn’t been an issue as what does a 26 year old have in common with a 16 year old and a 13 year old. Nothing really.  We talked and it was nice, but we were, and still are, in different places.  But now that we are all getting older (some more than others *cough cough*), it is apparent that all 3 of us wish we could spend more time together. 

Unlike the plethora of pictures I have with K., I have only a few pictures of me and my brothers since we have been apart from each other for so long.  So, of course, the pictures I do have I cherish and make me extremely happy.

This one was taken back in 2000/2001ish.  This is how I see my brothers in my head.  Just little kids.  It can be hard for me to wrap my brain around the fact that they are grown up now.  But this picture does make me soooo happy.

And then this picture, which was taken at our wedding in 2006.  There were SO many reasons I was happy on this day….and to have my brothers there to be a part of it just was that extra icing on top of an already wonderful cake!

Here is my brother Matt and I dancing….Alec being 13 of course didn’t feel like dancing which was cute.  Matt, he is like me and will act goofy whenever!

Here is a picture I got of my brothers a year ago.

Anyways, these pictures make me VERY happy.  They make me smile.  They make me laugh.  They make me tear up.   They make me think about the past.  They make me look forward to the future.  And no matter what level of relationship we have, they make me thankful to have such 3 special siblings in my life that I love dearly.

Our Version of Shopping

Oh hello there, sorry for my brief absence….I will now be catching up on posts and reading blogs!  As I mentioned, I had family in town for a nice long weekend and blogging was held to a minimum so I could spend time with the parental units!

So last year my mom, sister and I started a little mini-shopping weekend in early November to get all, or nearly all, of our shopping done for Christmas.  We have the weekend, as well as, Monday and Tuesday to do all of our shopping. It was such a hit last year, we continued it this year but made it with the entire family!  And for the record, I already have time off for next year as well.  It is fun to have a couple days off during the week to get our shopping done.

Now when I say we have a long weekend of shopping I think I may need to clarify exactly what I mean by this as it may be slightly different than what you may think of for a long weekend of shopping.   See, we don’t really shop for more than a few hours total during those 3-4 days but we do manage to get everything accomplished and buy for nearly everyone during those hours.  We are some of the most efficient shoppers around and do not just casually walk around the stores to peruse.  No!  We have a mission, we get it done, and we save a lot of money while doing so.

See while we enjoy shopping together, we only enjoy OUR version of shopping.  We do not enjoy crowds of people…nah we loathe them.  We want to shop and get out.  There is no just looking around for hours, if we cannot find something quickly then we move on to the next item and worry about that item another day.  This kind of shopping works for us and is actually very fun.  Actually, no other kind of shopping IS fun to us.  This is just how we roll.

So exactly how do we shop?  Well here are some of our rules for shopping.

1. Have a plan of attack.  This may be the most important rule.  We knew all the places before this trip that we wanted to shop and we knew what we wanted to get from all of those stores.  We also knew what stores would be busier on certain days and at certain times….and avoided them during those specified “bad” times. We divided up the shopping so we were only really shopping a couple hours each day and we were shopping in certain areas of town and not running all around.  Even our driving path is efficient, including very little or no backtracking.  We also mix the shopping up with doing other stuff that is fun like eating….we need our strength.  For instance: Sunday after a movie we hit The Andersons to do a little shopping and then had dinner. DONE.  Monday after slowly getting around and making sure to have coffee & breakfast we did some shopping locally in BG, then went to an early dinner near Fallen Timbers, and went to Barnes and Noble. DONE.  Tuesday we got up earlier (though not too early) and had our coffee then hit the Perrysburg area and shopped at Kohls, Best Buy, and Bed Bath & Beyond.  We grabbed lunch and were home by 3:00. DONE.  All 3 days we were not bothered by people, stores were not busy so we got through them quickly, and we got everything we wanted to get done efficiently and without getting annoyed.  See, if you have a plan of attack you do not get annoyed with shopping!

2. Online shop as much as possible.  This is HUGE in our house.  We love the online shopping, especially this time of year when there are so many sweet deals that usually include free shipping. Hello Amazon.  My mom and dad found some great online sales on items this year.  It is crazy what my mom has managed to save on items that K & I wanted from certain stores.  I am talking, like saving way more than was spent!  I mean, the stores were practically paying my parents to shop with them ;)  Suh-weeeet. And this past weekend they managed to save even more on Christmas gifts via online shopping.  Plus, online shopping allows us to sit at home in our sweats eating cookies and watching TV, thus avoiding going out in public or interacting with people all-together. The best way to shop if you ask me!

3. Coupons, Discounts, & Sales – OH MY!  It is rare that we buy something without some sort of discount….even just 10% off or free shipping.  Chances are if it is not on sale, we will wait till it is.  All the places we shopped, both in the stores or online, had huge sales. Saving money is cool!  At Kohl’s mom and I both managed to save 40% on our total orders. HOLLA!  It is so fun seeing that you saved XX amount and only had to spend XX.  Granted, I am sure they bump up prices anyway so they have more room to discount…but whatever.  I was going to buy the item no matter what, so it is nice to think I got a big deal on it!  So we make sure we know what the sales are and have all our coupons in hand.  And if you think to buy something last minute while you are out and there is no coupon, do like I did and take your parents phone and check sales on the internet to see where the best deal is!

4.  No dilly-dallying.  Now I am not saying we run into a store and don’t look around a bit, but we keep the browsing to a minimum.  We pretty much know what we want to get people for Christmas, so there is no need to just look at everything in the store.  We are not shopping for ourselves, we are getting stuff for others and we have a list and a budget and shop with that in mind.  And don't really shop if we don't know what people want.  We do skim items and see if anything catches our eyes but if not then we move on….and quickly.  We got through Kohl’s, Best Buy and Bed Bath & Beyond in just under 2 hours and had a bunch of bags and bought everything we wanted. Quick shopping = Good shopping.

So that is how we shop.  It may not be for everyone, but it works for us! And it is not that we don’t enjoy shopping, it is we just don’t browse much as we already know what we want or like. Get in, get out, and save....that is our motto!

How do you shop?  Are you like us? Do you like to spend all day shopping?  Somewhere in the middle?  Do you have your Christmas shopping done?!?!  

I love to get my done early....preferably before Thanksgiving.

Finding The Happy - Halloween!

So Nadja over at Athena Bee's mentioned this thing she found and was participating in called "Finding The Happy". It is where you take a picture (has to be a picture you take) of something that makes you happy along with a caption as to why it makes you happy. Your happiness can be anything you want!

I thought I would do this, as it is good to always remember those things that make you happy. So here is my picture….followed by a few extra!

This makes me happy…..carving pumpkins with Terry and Kristen! Here are the finished masterpieces!

 
Kristen’s is the bat on the left, the center one is Terry’s "signature" pumpkin,

and mine is the one on the right.

Close ups…. 

Kristen

Terry

Jenn

Every year we carve our pumpkins together and it just makes me all warm and fuzzy inside because we are all in the kitchen at our own little spot concentrating on our pumpkins. It is just nice. Really really nice.


Now I know I am only supposed to post one picture, but along with this what else makes me happy is Halloween and all our awesome decorations! Here are a few of our decorations. I say a few…because there are more I didn’t take pics of.

All our pumpkins & outside decorations!

Outside during the day...pre carving!

Our lantern and is that a ghost in the window?!

It IS a ghost in the window!

Pumpkin doormat

I looooove this!

Awesome.

Bobble head on speaker 1 w/ candle

On speaker 2

Terry made this in elementary school. love it!

Hmmmm....wonder where I got these amazing items?!?!

LOVE them!

He glows....spooooky!

See all our little Halloween decorations mixed in with our wine?Can you say wino's?!

This little guy is my favorite!

I love Halloween!!!

And a bonus for making it to the bottom....a picture of Kristen and I when I believe she was a year and half and I was 9 or 10!

It is Official – I am a Tastefully Simple Consultant!

Yep, the boxes (the two very heavy and full boxes) were delivered yesterday and I am well on my way to being a tastefully simple consultant!

And if that wasn’t exciting enough, I am going into business with my sister! Yep, Kristen and I have decided to sell Tastefully Simple together. You know because working together at our current job and living together just wasn’t enough. Kristen will be helping with a lot of the “behind the scenes” stuff as well as going to parties with me. She is actually like my own personal Nerd Herd Tech girl – love it…and so does she.  Plus I just have to pay her in spinach artichoke dip!  PERFECT.

I think we are both really excited about this…..or maybe we are still on a food high from eating our way through nearly the entire Fall/Winter TS catalog last weekend. Either way, it is exciting! And for the record, we will casually be selling Tastefully Simple products starting in about a week. No pressure at all, but if you are ever interested in their products, hosting a party, or doing a book party please let me know!

You can also email us at jenn.kristenTS@gmail.com

This should be fun!

Little Things…

Tuesdays are the one night each week that Kristen, Terry and I are all together and can enjoy a relaxing evening with dinner and some TV. Terry has class Monday, Wed, & Thursday nights till after 9:30 and Kristen is usually gone Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings. Meanwhile, I am home every night. This is very enjoyable at times while other times it can be a bit lonely.

But it is all forgotten and made right again on Tuesdays when T & K get home around 8pm and I have dinner ready (ok sometimes I order Chinese) for my busy hubby & sister and we can sit down for a couple hours and watch TV over dinner. It really makes me smile just thinking about it.

Last night I made some wicked good chili and we caught up on TV on our DVR…Bones and Chuck to be exact. Here are my peeps so happy to be eating their scolding hot chili and watching TV as a family! Just look at those smiles....you can't fake that! (And K's evil eyes....she gets crazy when I cook!)

Even with all the craziness that goes on, these moments just make me happy and so thankful for the little things and any time together we do have.

Don’t forget to enjoy the little things.



Oh, and in case you were wondering….

- Yes, that is Terry’s ponytail on his shoulder and yes his hair is longer than mine.

- Yes, those are some pretty wicked sideburns he has. (He is keeping them just a few months longer and then chopping everything off before he goes to Cincinnati as he wants a more “professional” look. Personally, I think he has the creeping mortician look going right now!)

- Yes, we eat at the coffee table in our living room. We do have a dining room table, but there is no TV in the dining room so I am sure you understand why we have no other choice but to cram around a coffee table and sit on the floor to eat dinner.

- Yes Kristen will ham it up infront of any camera….she is good like that.

- Yes all these little things that I have mentioned above are just more reasons why I loooooove my peeps so very much.

It is Concert Season Again!!

If you know me, it is absolutely no surprise that I LOVES me some concerts!! If there is a band performing in the area that we love then we are there!



So last weekend Kristen and I and some of her friends went and saw MUSE in concert at the Palace in Detroit. Can I just say their show was flipp’n AWESOME! Seriously, one of the best concerts I have ever gone to! I have heard their shows are pretty great as they use a lot of lights, lasers, and giant screens but being there and seeing them and hearing them in person was just amazing. They had an awesome light show, had three moving elevator platforms for each of them to be on during different parts of the performance, they had giant video screens on and above those platforms that constantly played something that visually fit with the songs, and they had giant balloon eyeballs that popped and sprinkled confetti on parts of the audience! (really does it get better than giant confetti filled balloon eyeballs?! No.) Muse was amazing and they sounded even BETTER then they sound on their CD…which is always a fear sometimes when you see people in concert, that they sound horrible live.  But that was not even close to the case with these lovely gentleman. They managed to give a true rock concert performance and I seriously was in awe.

CLICK HERE for video footage from this tour. It is suh-WEET.

We actually had perfect seats too, second level but first row. (Good job with that K.) We had a perfect view of the stage and the light show and we had no one in front of us which was great because I could just sit there and chill and take it all in. (Yes I said sit, I might be a bit prudish at times.) Muse sounded perfect and really knows how to put on a visually entertaining show. This is a MUST SEE show. They managed to greatly exceed any and every expectation I had. THAT is why I love music the way I do and LOVE going to concerts, I truly enjoy seeing these artists perform and express themselves in the biggest way they can… LOVE IT!



AND, if seeing this concert wasn’t excitement enough for the year the day before we found out that Iron Maiden…that’s right F'N IRON MAIDEN, is touring again and will be around in July! If you remember, their concert was the BEST concert I have ever seen. You can bet your ass that I will be trying to get tickets....which go on sale this weekend!!


Anyone else seeing any concerts this year?!
(I may want to tagalong!!)

Iron Maiden….July 15 at Blossom!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KRISTEN!!!

Today is a VERY special day as today is my lovely sister’s birthday!!! Being just a smidge older then my now 22 year old sister, I remember clearly the day I got to see her for the first time and actually hold her. Older sister mode kicked in at that very moment and I think I became instantly protective of her and knew I wanted to be there for her always and never let anything bad ever happen to her. 22 years later I am still protective of her and I still always want to be there to share in good times with her and comfort her in bad times. However, I would have never guessed back then, that K. and I would have this amazing friendship we have now and be as incredibly close as we are. She is my best friend and I feel so thankful to not just have a younger sister in my life but have someone who means so much to me and is far more than just a sister or a friend. Everyone needs that person for whom they can sit on a couch, watch crappy reality TV for hours with while also eating an entire box of Cheez-its in one sitting and enjoy every moment of that time together!

Kristen, I am SO very proud of the women you are becoming and feel so lucky to have you in my life. You mean the world to me and I will always be there to dry your tears, help you up when you fall (or laugh when you trip down the stairs), listen when you need to talk and of course lend tons of advice even when you do not want to hear it. I will cheer you on with all your successes and comfort you when you need support and I will always be there to laugh at the jokes no one else gets. I know you are going to do amazing things in your life because you are a truly amazing individual. My wish for you this year (and always) is that you are completely happy with yourself and find that path in your life that YOU want to take. This is YOUR life and you need to find the confidence to do the things that make you truly happy.

I love you bunches!

XOXO

Jenn

 

Reason #1,368,942 Why I Love My Sister

Because after I am off work for a few days and come back in the “I don’t want to be back here already” funk I find a bunch of post-it notes all over my desk that cheer me up!

This was my favorite!

These are a few of the other notes I found scattered around my desk.

After I took the picture I found two more in drawers. Though I still am not ready to be back to work, this made it easier. I love working with my sister!

Thanks K.!! XOXO

Comments Like This Make Me Realize We Are Indeed 8 Years Apart.

Yesterday in the car, a commercial for the Richard Marx concert in Toledo came on. Of course I made a comment about him to which my 21 year old sister said the following:

“Who is Richard Marx?”

GASP! I know! Did your heart just break a little like mine did.

I proceeded to ask her if she was serious and how she could not know who Richard Marx was. I also sang a bit of one of his songs, but she still didn’t recognize it…..and she should have because it was spot on.

So yes, my sister does not know who Richard Marx is and I feel sorry for her. The cheesy lyrics, alluring voice, seductive looks and amazing hair of Mr. Marx has melted the hearts of many a ladies over the years. And from what I can tell he still looks and sounds amazing. I will be getting out my greatest hits CD this weekend and forcing her to listen to it and swoon with me.

I mean how could you not know “Now and Forever”….oh my gosh, when I heard this song it may have been the first time I actually got giddy and started daydreaming about a singer and then subconsciously started setting unrealistic expectation on relationships and what men should say (or sing) to women. “Terry will you love me until the day the ocean doesn’t touch the sand. And will you now and forever be my man.”

Or how about Right Here Waiting. “Wherever you go, whatever you do, I will be right here waiting for you.” I know you will be Richard.

Or Hold on to the Night. “I wish I could give you something more, I wish I could be yours.” (melted.)

And so many, many more. Ahhhhhh, I feel all flustery like a teenage girl :)

I may love my rock and metal music, but there will always be a place in my heart now and forever for Richard Marx and his love ballads.


*I will not apologize for the extreme cheese factor of this post.

Because We Just Can’t Get Enough of Each Other

My sister K. and I have just added another dynamic to our relationship...…..coworkers.

Yep, apparently my sister cannot spend enough time with me (even though we live together) and has accepted a position to work part-time at my current place of employment. This will definitely be different for both of us, but I think it will be good for her to work for with me. It is absolutely a great job for K, and a hell of a lot better than Wendys.

K. will be doing many different jobs and under my tutelage she will become a great worker as she gets to see firsthand what an amazing worker I am. She will be my little apprentice and I, the master, will mold her into the perfect servant employee.

Yep, this should be good. I don’t think my employer knows what they are in for with having us both there. Mwah ha ha ha


I seriously am excited that we will get to work together! I left when I was 18 for college and K was only 10. Though we saw each other, we missed out on a good chunk of time together until she moved up here to attend BGSU. The weird thing is, from the beginning we have always had this strange closeness, strange in the sense that we are 8 years apart in age but are so similar. It can be truly eerie sometimes just how similar we are despite the difference in age and how long we lived apart. So in honor of her new job and because I promised to post pictures from when we were young (ok, and because I am a sap and just love love love my sister) I have posted some pics of Kristen and I from over the years. Enjoy :) And Kristen, I will see you bright and early at 8am....be prepared to work!


True Fans


Everyone needs a fancy hat!


I think I scared her with my purple short shorts, orange shirt, big glasses and amazing hair cut.


She was so small, my little doll that actually cuddled back





That was the hair style I was going for...so back off!!! You don't just roll out of bed with those bangs.


LOVE this picture.


This is one of my favorite pictures of us ever.






The traditional "First Day of School" picture


Tight curly frizzy hair + big glasses + braces = The dorky trifecta. But Kristen is pretty darn adorable!!


Bachelorette Party


Ginger Bread House Decorating Competition...I won.


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Love you K!!!