catch up

over the last three weeks, i:

{catered a cousin's wedding}
{played the piano at another cousin's wedding}
{made a wedding cake for a friend}
{realized just how perfect our wedding day was}
{survived a convention at work}
{put on a concert for work}
{worked about 70 hours in one week}
{read and answered over a thousand emails at work}
{went on an album photoshoot with an amazing violinist}
{helped brans run electrical wires for our bathroom}
{found out i'm going to have a niece}
{celebrated my brother's 16th birthday}
{and his being ordained a priest}
{cried in harry potter and the half blood prince}
{have not slept through a single night without waking at least once}
{had a lovely evening with alex, sarah and my family}
{remembered how creative and funny my family are}
{and how convincing my mom is}
{picked a perfect zucchini from our garden}
{renewed my crafty side}
{made a darling headband}
{been told that the "cute police" had been called on me}
{let branson buy a new toy}
{had fun nights with nick and kadee}
{made new goals}
{had an encounter with a rat in our driveway}
{felt smaller than i have ever felt}
{ate the most delicious corn - fresh from our garden}
{fallen more deeply in love with my best friend}
{have a renewed spirit}
{... and much, much more...}

bash

yesterday was my brother bryson's 16th birthday.

sweet sixteen.

one of my first memories of brysy (pronounced bry-see) was halloween, 1994. mom made a little monkey suit, and bryson was "abu" from aladdin. i'm pretty sure he was the cutest little monkey i have ever seen.

a few years later, we had a family reunion at the lake in hyrum, UT. bryson was too little to really participate in the water activities, but he stood by the side of the lake and yelled in his tiny little voice, "whoa, baby! dirty water!" - probably 15 times. but everytime, it was hilarious.

bryson, or bash, as his friends call him, is a funny kid. i've previously mentioned that taylor is the funny one in our family, but i have to admit part of what makes tay so funny is how he plays off everyone - especially bryson. bryson can setup tay like nobody's business. its awesome. bryson and i have a very, very similar sense of humor. we laugh at the same jokes. like the same movies. quote all the same lines of those movies and tv shows. one thing about him - he has a memory like no other. he can see a show once and quote lines from it like he's seen it a million times.

b is super talented. he sings, plays the piano and has recently picked up the guitar. he has been in many-a show in high school and junior high- as well as ward road shows (most recently as the cowardly lion from the wizard of oz). he has a real knack for musical theater, and he (thanks to his awesome older sister) has great taste in music. (i pride myself on introducing my brothers to good music. a little while ago, the boys and i were going through their iTunes, pointing out all the music that came from me. i love it.)

along with everything else, bryson is also really, really smart. i've decided i feel bad for pie face. it seems that each kid consecutively gets smarter. austin was smarter than me. tay surpassed austin, and i won't be surprised if bryson beats taylor. poor pie. seven siblings setting the bar incredibly high. good thing she'll be taller than all of us.

as my brothers have grown up, i've enjoyed becoming friends with them. not only are we siblings, we're best friends, too. i would rather hang out with my family that just about anything else. i've been told several times by several different people that we are a lot of fun. and at the risk of sounding arrogant, i think they are right. we are a lot of fun. we have fun together. as siblings and friends.

i am a big fan of bryson. he's such a good kid. i'm so glad he is one of my brothers.

happy birthday bryson!