sleepovers with sissy

over the years,
we have had many sleepovers.
usually proceeding the excitement and/or heartaches of life.
good dates, bad days, first kisses, hard tests, scary movies, breakups....
we always ended up snuggling under the covers together.
sometimes giggling until three in the morning.
sometimes crying until much later.
sometimes with so much to say we fall asleep mid-sentence.
sometimes holding hands because there just aren't words.
always to wake up to my sissy squealing in the bed next to me.
and an unexplainable mess of sheets and blankets practically suffocating me.
(I can sleep on my own and barely mess up the bed. with her, it's a whole different story)

this week has been hard. --oh wait, it's only Tuesday :/
and I have been stressed with tests and papers and projects
so last night when I had the opportunity to curl up in bed at 10
I JUMPED on that opportunity.
until my phone went off and I heard my favorite voice say my favorite words
"sleepover sissy?"

she is getting married this week,
and I was already emotionally planing our last sissy sleepover.
you could say i'm a little bitter about being replaced.
you know, as a sleepover buddy....
so this was the best surprise!
and yes we stayed up way too late.
and yes we woke up giggling and squealing way too early.
and yes my bed was a horrendous mess of sheets and blankets by morning.
(not to mention we have never had a sleepover in a twin sized bed before)
but it was one of the best nights ever.
because I got to share it with my best friend in the world.

and I feel safer with her than without her.

it won't be our last,
but I realize they will be few and far between from here on out.
what I wouldn't give to take back all those years
of wishing I had my own room
and enjoy all the times I got to have sleepovers with my sister.
dang it mom! you were right again.

i love you k-twa!

#sissysleepover

sunshine.

every year, you need to find some sunshine in the midst of winter.
for me, it always comes in the form of a baseball tournament.
the dixie high kent garrett sunshine baseball tournament.
all through high school, it brought warmth and happiness into my cold frozen heart
(that comes with seasonal depression in cold, dry happy valley)
yes, i LOVE this weekend! every year.

this is the last year my brother G will be playing in this tournament.
bitter sweet.
but it was wonderful to watch these cute boys play their hearts out.
and they did very well too.

G hit two home runs in a row in his last game.
I was so proud of him!
it has to feel so good to just slam it out of the park!

the sun did not disappoint.
and I spent some wonderful time with my family.
living in provo makes me forget sometimes
just how much I love them.
oh how I love them.

and I reaffirmed my undying love for baseball.
(sometimes I forget that too during basketball season...
but baseball really is the best!!)

thank you sunshine.
for reminding me that warmth exists.
and tanned skin.
and an excuse to wear shorter shorts than BYU allows....
and thank you hoards of high school students
who brought back a lot of memories
some good and some bad
of what it was like to be a teenager
in love with adventure and weekend roadtrips
and boys in baseball pants
and who manage, somehow, to wear shorter shorts that I do.

i do and always will love you.

birthdayz for dayz!!

Happy birthday Jesi!!!!!

&

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TRAVIS!!!

(as if you'll ever even see this)

birthdays are not a huge deal in my family,

that will not be the case when I have kids of my own.

i just think everyone

deserves to have one day of the 

year that is 100% theirs.

so to me...birthdays are a BIG deal.

we started celebrating this one on wednesday

by getting some close friends together and 

having a mocktail [drink] party

(thanks to jesi who is a bar tender) (she makes delicious drinks) (no alcohol involved)

wednesday was the only day it worked for all of us to get together.

we sang and had a cupcake and a candle.

i had a few silly presents (mostly cereal)

wrapped up for travis. 

and then we watched a movie i put together for

 him of our super fun weekend in california.

friday we celebrated some more. 

obviously.....
by getting breakfast and spending some time in SLC
and driving a Bently in Park City

sunday we had a delicious dinner
and i had some presents for Jesi
and we drove her to the airport
(because her real birthday present was going home)

then when she came back i had more presents
and more fun things for us to do.
pretty much the celebrating will never end.

dear birthday best friends,

i hope you had a happy

happy happy happy birthday!

you may be old

but you are still amazing!

and don't you forget it.

thanks for being the 

greatest friends in the 

whole wide world.

love you to bites&pieces

-C

lately:

I know, two posts in one day?

not cool.

but whatever, I like to pretend people read this

and would even care how many times I post in one day.

It's just, I forgot to hit publish on the Disneyland post yesterday.

(cool ciarah...now you look like an idiot!)

Whateves....

Soooo....life lately huh?

I think pictures say some things better than I ever could. 

First things first---going back to 2013 I got the opportunity to go to San Fran with my future brother-in-law to help him surprise and propose to my sister. It was such a great opportunity! We spent the day roaming around the city with my "find my phone" app on so that we could track where cass was and avoid her while trying to buy a ring and flowers and print off poems and hide it all in the hotel the football players and their families were staying in and make it to the bowl game. But it was such a good time! 

Jeff was so fun to plan everything with. 

and she said yes so I guess we were pretty successful :)

this is how i spent new years eve:

#weplaycards

 this is how i spent the first day of 2014....just making sure i keep all my resolutions by eating as much ice cream as possible!!

These are my people!

My best friends in the world.

We always have a party this time of year....usually closer to Christmas.

But whatever.

It was so good to see Carly again!!

Ecuador stole her away from us for a while

but we were all united again for this amazing night.

it makes me sad to think that we might not always be able to do this every year

(NO BODY GET PREGNANT)

It is hard to spend quality time with a bridezilla 

but sometimes we have late night adventures

and every once in a while we take time to do something together

without fiances and roommates and siblings 

and crazy wacko mothers who think we should be planning a wedding...

BLAH right??

like, lets paint plates instead!

and send ridiculous snapchats of whatever we are currently doing!

I like to hang out with my sister

and run away with my best friends

(this was a weekend in January that Kris and I went down to St. Geezy)

((we mostly slept and watched movies--which was necessary))

(((but we forced ourselves to hike around snow canyon one day for a while)))

((((it was the best decision we have ever made))))

this is carly. can we say struggle?
but it was beautiful.
thank you MLK for ultimately canceling school
and allowing us time on the slopes.
you made all our dreams come true too.
(oh Fran came too)

i seriously love my friends!

and my sissy.

and skiing.

Deer Valley is such a wonderful place to go.

My little brother turned 14 this last month. 

to celebrate the whole family went up to soldier hollow to go snow tubing.

(is that two B's or one....)

Kade is the one in the tube in front of me in the second picture. Happy Birthday cutie! 

I keep spending time with this lovely lady. 

and she keeps teaching me every day!

we have been singing a lot lately.

it is amazing how happy music makes her!

I love this woman.

I have also been spending a lot of time with this [these] weirdo[s]...

I guess I like to spend time with old people.... (just kidding granny, you ain't old)

And I had the amazing experience of meeting President Packer!

What an amazing night.

Just look at that smile!!!

                                         

this brother of mine got into BYU!!!!

i am so proud of him!

In addition, 

I have been doing a lot of grocery shopping.

Target is not good on my bank account...

 oh and sprouts... 

I eat. I eat a lot. 

and have a lot of random cool moments that mean a lot to me. 

like being given flowers.

on dates or with a letter asking you to be the maid of honor in your sister's wedding.

and pretty dates to the ballet

 and lobbying at the capitol.
this building is beautiful!

and spending quality alone time writing letters and watching chick-flicks while eating ice cream

(ok I have a problem...I eat too much ice cream)

 and trying to decide which books to read.

and exploring neat corners of downtown provo.

and making sure my sister's amazing hand-written envelopes get to where they need to be.

these missionaries better be at the wedding ;)

and all kinds of random adventures.
I make [Jesi make] cookies all the time
and eat the plate full with a fork.

and we make sunday dinners for our friends.

(I am actually way proud of this)

i seriously have the best roommate ever.

i mean, we both own--independently of each other--superhero onesies...

some things are meant to be.

I have the best friends! 

the kind that stay up all night talking about the strangest things

(even though brett wanted to watch a movie)

and the kind that roast marshmellows at one in the morning in the fireplace

because the heater wasn't working and we were freezing to death

and the kind that help you hang up my attempts to make a house cute and decorated.

(it didn't work...the pictures wouldn't hang with the sticky stuff we were using...guess we will have to invest in some nails...and a hammer)

and the kind that go to concerts with you and become obsessed over brick walls.

 and the kind that put up with how closely you relate target to heaven...

ok...I feel caught up now.

-C