I'm thankful for my brothers...

John and I
Robert and I
John and I at his wedding
I love this picture of John, he is so handsome!
I love this picture of Robert, he is also handsome and it shows off his art work

I wanted to take a moment and tell the world my love for my brothers. They are my best friends. I love the men in my life and I feel blessed to have such an amazing assortment in my life. My dad, uncle's, male cousins and my brothers. But, particularly I want to pay tribute to my brothers.

John

My oldest brother John is amazing because he is intelligent, hard working, loving, adventurous and he always looks out for Robert and I. There are not many men who I think care for his siblings the way John does. I feel safe and secure knowing my brother is in my life for good. He gives me sound advice on dating and helps me navigate my way through the sometimes confusing realm of dating. I can not tell you how many times in the past 3 years he has given me advice about the men I have been interested in and it has benefited me greatly. He makes me feel loved and special and he values who I am as a person. John has always pushed me in a good way to achieve my goals and ambitions and never to hold back. He has accomplished so much and has always inspired me to as well.

I love how we can talk about all different things and for any length of time and we have so much in common. He is an excellent example of generosity and caring about others. He has always befriended those who were in need of a friend even when others did not desire their company. He has a good sense of people and what they are about. When we were walking to our elementary school, some of the kids started making fun of myE.T. initials and I got sensitive about it and started to cry and walk back home. John put his arm around me and told me to ignore them and then he told them they better never make fun of me again!

Robert

My second oldest brother is amazing because he has endured so many different challenges in his life and has tried to remain positive. He has a way of making friends easily and he includes everyone. He has a love of missionary work and is always handing out Book of Mormon's to people. He always has a way of making me laugh when I need too and when I don't! Robert always tells me that he believes in me and loves me. He has so many talents and he would give anyone the shirt off his back. In High School, I was particularly hard on myself and I remember Robert taking me to get a smoothie and I poured out the issues weighing on my mind and he made me feel a 100 times better. Robert makes me feel beautiful inside and out and he is also protective and caring. Robert is smart, talented and a sweetheart he has a good heart and I am thankful to have him in my life.

So many of my best childhood and adult memories so far have included John and Robert in them and all of the time we have spent playing together. I do not know what I would do without them and I am thankful the Lord saw it fit to but us together as siblings. We are all not perfect, but we have a strong connection to each other and how blessed that makes me feel. Even though we are thousands of miles apart, distance never really separates us. I also am thankful to have such a great sister-in-law but her tribute is coming on her birthday (June 7)! I also have to say these are short tributes to my brothers, I could write a book for each of them of the values, attributes and stories that make them special and men of God in my book!

Ashley and Jeff's Grad Party!

My dear friend Ashley! She graduated with her Masters! She is so smart and earned a 4.0 GPA in her Masters!
Tara and I before she left for Utah! I miss her all ready :)
Here is a picture of all the girls, the guys were taking the pictures
I thought this was a sweet gift favor! Nerds are the best and you know it makes you smart just eating it. We like to call it the smart pill!
Ashley's parents! I know her Mom from when we were roomies and I just love her so much. She has always been so kind and thoughtful. She is awesome!

Happy 89th birthday Hazel!

Hazel is one of my dearest friends and she is the best company in my opinion. I love her quick wit and ability to communicate well and her never ending supply of comfort, friendship and laughter. I love all the stories I have learned about her life and I think she was sent to me this past year and a half to be my angel! I love you Hazel, Happy Birthday!

Thank you Caralee!

Last week, I would say I was tired from so much lack of sleep and a few things weighed on my mind and to be quite frank I was somewhat emotional and drained on Wednesday and Thursday. So on Thursday night when Tara and I got back to the house after going to the beach. My roommate Caralee surprised me and she had cleaned the kitchen, did the dishes, counters, floor, bathroom upstairs and downstairs. It smelled so clean and wonderful. She even bleached the counters.

She said something like, "I know you have had it kind of hard these past few days and I knew this would make you happy and since I had time I could do it!" Thank you Caralee for going the extra mile :)

As a note of reference, I am in charge of the household chore chart and getting everyone to do their part is a challenge and sometimes I end up doing more and picking up the slack for everyone. I mainly do it not always out of charity; but because I really like a clean, clutter free house.

Normally my sanity is saved by keeping my room really clean and organized so when the rest of the house is not up to par I can still function. But with my room being occupied with two of us it had been tight quarters so I was thrilled that Caralee did this; she has no idea what a lift that did give me for several days! Thanks Caralee!

Glendale Centre Theatre to see "Pillow Talk"

Caralee and I went and saw Pillow Talk the play, for those of you who have not heard of it the basis premise of the show is that she is an interior designer who shares a party line with a player who is a music writer and when he learns that Jan is beautiful he wants to meet her. She is not exactly happy with him and so he pretends to be visiting from the country and goes by Rex Stetson instead of Brad Allen. Eventually it all comes out who he is and she is of course upset because she felt he had done it to mock her. When Brad realizes he has fallen in love with her he is wiling to do anything to get her back. He schemes with the her maid and he asks Jan to decorate his apartment.

She agrees and decorates it in a horrible manner and when he sees it, he is upset and goes to Jan's apartment and carries her into his apartment and then of course love is eventually proclaimed and they marry. In the movie it shows them having a baby. The play was amazing and very funny, thanks to the wits of the maid and the assistant to Jan who helps her with the clients. After the play we were starving so we went to this bakery and we shocked at the great prices and stunning display of desserts. So we each bought what looked good and shared it. I also could not resist taking pictures of the desserts so you can see how great they all look!

We made fire!

So when Tara was here we were daring and decided to go to the beach and roast hot dogs. (The reason we were daring is we built our own fire and we both had never done it before) It was really exciting and I took pictures of the whole thing to document such an exciting adventure. I am so glad we did this last Thursday it was nice to be at the beach and it felt like we could have been camping at the beach.

After sitting and talking a long time we went and put our feet in the surprisingly warm ocean water and it I really can not capture just how wonderful the night was but I will always remember it because it made me happy to be where I was and having fun with my friend. What a lifesaver it was to have Tara here for a few weeks when I needed her the most! Thanks Tara for coming!

My haven from the world...

My room is such a source of happiness for me. I have loved decorating it and finding my own designs for it. I have grown to absolutely love yellow. I have always loved daisies and so they were the inspiration for my room. I thought I would share some of the things that are of interest in my room that mean something to me. Above my bookcase is a framed picture of a daisy and I happened to take that picture. When I printed a 5x7 and saw the clarity, I knew I had to print it to a 8x10. The picture that inspired my whole room is the framed daisy painting over my dresser. For the longest time I could not figure out what I should do with my long wall and when Ashley took those portraits it became a part of my room.

The only downside is I look kind of conceited with pictures of myself on my wall. I like to think of it as photography art. Can I help the model happens to be me? (haha) So in truth, I just happen to love those those pictures and its a source of happiness to look at them. So Caralee, my roommate can make fun of me all she wants! :) On the back of my door is where I keep all of my goals and a chart of progress with the goals that are most important to me. It keeps me motivated and on track with accomplishing what I desire. No one is normally allowed to see this so you got a sneak peak!

Today when I went to Trader Joe's, I saw beautiful daisies sitting on the ground. Normally I admire all the flowers and then put them back or just look; but not today! I bought myself beautiful daisies for 5 dollars! I then went to Home Depot and got a beautiful blue pot for my room. They will most likely not grace my room for a long time since they could become a mess. I will then proceed to move them outside, but at least right now I can be deliriously happy to have real flowers in my room.

On many of my photo frames I have used my jewelry to accent the pictures and add a feminine touch to my room. After three years I still am not tired of my white duvet cover on my bed and I just purchased another one for my room! Okay so I think I could write more about where I bought everything, all the good deals I got on my furniture, but I will spare you all the details! I still need to get a cover for my bed and to figure out a way to hide the cords, so for any of you who have good ideas on those things, feel free to comment.

Jazz class ends and another begins!

On my way to the last class
The final ones who made it through the semester of dancing!

My instructor Dennon; he is incredible and a talented dancer. He made the class really fun and I learned so much from him.

My jazz class ended on Saturday and we did a cool dance routine that was fun for our final. Here are pictures of my friends and my dance instructor.

Please ignore what I am wearing, I normally try to dress very modestly. Not trying to justify, but just remember that when your dancing in a very hot dance studio (since they don't run the air) you can get a little desperate!

Hopefully you all recognize this is a brave move on my part to post such pictures, since I had just gotten done dancing for an hour and half and was glistening with perspiration!

Twins!!!

Tara and I were making brownies on Saturday and as I cracked the two eggs a little surprise happened! There were twins in an egg! What a special occurrence and how sad at the same time that they could not have been alive! The brownies turned out really good and my roommate told Tara in the morning that,"Emily's brownies are always perfect because they are not to hard or too soft but just right!" Thanks Amrah for the praise!!! I will make brownies anytime with compliments like that!

Lazy Dog Cafe; Last Wednesday....

Tara and I decided to try a new place; "Lazy Dog Cafe." We split a meal and it was really good! I loved the setting it was fun to be in a more rustic setting!