a birthday wish for a very special grandma

"happy birthday grandma! we send our love from spain" :)

dear grandma, 

i hope you had a lovely day. 

i am so grateful to have you as my grandma & for the example you have set for me all my life.

i loved spending time with you earlier this year & laughing so hard together. i especially love when you laugh at your own jokes. 

you have taught me so much & i know i got my love of traveling from you.

thank you for everything you have done for me.

i love you!

xo, lindsey

alicia turned twenty-one just five days after i did. yay! we ate at bucca di beppo in downtown slc & it was rather filling & delish. smleesh has always been one of the greatest girls i know & i'm so happy to have had her as a best friend through out all these years. so excited to be adventuring in europe with her this summer as well. luff you leech.

birthday neighbor.

dear anthony (a.k.a. tony, antonio, anth, little foot, or amps),
happy sixteenth birthday! i love having you as my birthday neighbor. it was the best birthday present when i was five to have a new baby brother.
you make me laugh & i have loved watching you turn into who you are today.
for instance, a pro at riding unicycles. who would have thought? it's awesome & maybe someday you'll have to teach me your skills.
sixteen is one of the best ages so live it up! (and please get your drivers license asap so you can take over the carpooling ;)
love you brother!
love, lindsey

like, woah.

i am TWENTY-ONE!
there is something about turning 21 that is empowering.
i really feel like this age might be the perfect one. & i'd probably be fine if i stayed 21 for a few extra years.
these past few years have been lovely in so many ways. i think back to when i graduated high school & i realize how much i have grown since then. you think you know everything as a high school student but you have barely even dipped your toes in the waters of life.
these past three years have been a roller coaster of so many experiences & i am grateful for each and every one of them. the good & the bad. i know so much more about myself & about the world around me. i know i will never be done learning though, which is fine with me.
i somehow have been blessed with amazing opportunities & i can't wait to embark on my next adventure in spain. this time with not just one but three of my best friends! yeah, i'd say life is treating me pretty darn good these days.
so here is to being twenty-one! i have a feeling it really might be the best year yet.


p.s. thankyou weather for giving me some warmth & sunshine for my day of birth(:

happy 1st birthday to the most adorable twins ever.

oh how i love them so much!

sister.

mikayla at her 80's themed birthday party

mikayla's 12th birthday was yesterday!

i can't believe it was TWELVE years ago now that i finally got a little sister.

after praying for five years for this girl, i can say that the day she was born definitely goes in the top five happiest days of my life.

and i'm so grateful that it was mikayla who was sent to our family.

she brings so much joy & laughter into our home and even though we love to tease her since she is the youngest, we all love her so much.

she has become so talented as a dancer and pianist and is really good at sports too.

she is much more sporty than i ever was.

i am sad she is growing up so fast but i'm excited to watch her go through jr. high and high school and see where life takes her. i know she will do amazing things.

i love you kaykay!

carolyn, the birthday girl.

carolyn (a.k.a. carolina, caroliners, carrie, carol, caroline, carolyn marie, or karen)

i'm glad that you sat behind me in 7th grade science class.

jr. high & high school wouldn't have been the same without you.

i laugh so much when i'm around you.

& i couldn't be happier to have you living in utah again.

i luff you dearly.

now go party it up you little 21-year-old, you! 

hey brother,

remember how we lived on an island?

and went to school here?

and how you lived in this little dorm?

but remember how i made you stay on the couch at my house sometimes since i'm scardy-cat when i'm alone?

remember how this cool tree was one of the first things we saw when we came out of the airport & we felt like we were in the move Lion King?

remember Hyunsang was one of the first people we met? 

remember the first time we walked along temple beach behind my house & we couldn't believe we were really living in hawaii?

remember watching fireworks at turtle bay for the fourth of july & then cramming in the back of a truck on the way home?

remember how cool the sand was at "three tables" & how we'd spend so much time digging for the best shells & rocks?

remember how we watched a youtube video to learn how to properly cut a pineapple & how the pineapples there tasted like heaven? (also, remember your nasty dirt stache you grew there? & how you almost got in trouble for your jedi-braid like 3 times?)

remember how much we despised the bus? especially when that extra-smelly guy sat right in front of me & i about died?

remember how cool it was to be surrounded by palm trees everywhere we went?

remember how you'd go play in the big waves while i lied out on the shore since i'm a baby when it comes to that huge, powerful thing called "the ocean"?

remember how many books you read during those two months?

& remember all the amazing hawaiian sunsets we saw?

i could go on & on, but remember all the adventures we had together in hawaii? 

  i don't think i ever thanked you.... but thanks for putting up with me for seven weeks. you're the bestest. 

most importantly....

HAPPY NINETEENTH BIRTHDAY

to my best friend/brother:

i sure love you!!

another belated birthday girl.

i am late on this once again... but i decided to do it anyway. i think doing these little birthday posts are fun. ha.

ohhh celia-be-delia. how i love you so.

being carolyn's older sister, you were basically all of our big sister.

through out those sleep overs in jr. high you taught us girls everything we know... hehe. 

you are always a party. and i'm pretty sure there is never a dull moment when i'm with you.

(we have many pictures&videos to prove that).

i luff your craziness so very much. however, you are also the our little "mother" and keep us in line.

(somebody has to do it!) 

happy belated birthday my dear! 

now.... when is our next adventure?? ;)

belated birthday girl.

savannah marie.

this dear girl always has her birthday overlooked since all us girls usually go our separate ways in the summer but luckily we still celebrated this year (just over two months later.....) and hopefully it made up for it!
savannah and i always had tons of fun growing up as cousins so close in age and when we finally were both going to the same high school (we anticipated this for years) we also became best friends. we always got asked if we were sisters at school and my best high school memories were spent while cruising around in her bronco (a.k.a. the beast). then we became roommates after I graduated. it was a blast and i know my freshman year of college wouldn't have been nearly as fun without her.
now we are continuing to grow up (she is now twenty-one!) but we are still just as close. especially after the scary day when we got hit by a semi-truck since we have had to go to physical therapy like every day together. sometimes we fight like sisters and joke around by saying "it sucks we are cousins and not just friends because now we're stuck together for the rest of our lives!" but really i'm so happy that we are! life is getting busier and although we can't spend every weekend just cruising state street & pulling all-nighers; we still have plenty of memories to make.

i looove you savy-annah!

twenty.

i am officially twenty years old.... or should i say twenty years young?

it's kind of a big deal to turn twenty to me. i am no longer in my teens & it feels old. but then again i think about it and it's not very old at all.

i just feel like one chapter of my life has come to an end but another one has just begun & i am looking forward to what's to come in my twenties.

my teenage years were a blast. i have so many good memories & i have no regrets. i think i lived those years as fully as i could so i hope to do the same in my twenties.

i'm sure the next ten years will be great (although i'm sure there will be some hard times as well) and even though i thought life couldn't get any better in my teenage years... i do believe that those years are no where near the best years of my life.

i have so much left to experience & to accomplish.

so here i go.......

my dad. the best dad.

"My father didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it."

-clarence b. kelland

It was my dad's birthday on Wednesday & with all the stress from the accident, the day wasn't very focused on him. Although, we did have a small birthday party as a family for him after having a Spaghetti dinner (my dad's and my favorite). I know he didn't care though because things are never about him; its always about his family.

He is the most selfless person I know & has never once thought about himself over us. After all, he drives the crappiest car of all the cars in our driveway. Usually parents have the nice cars and the kids have the old clunkers. But he sacrifices so much for us when we don't even ask him to and has worked hard every single day of his life to make sure we have everything we could ever need & more. We have never gone without. I know most fathers do that for their children, when they are children. But he has done everything he can for me even as I have become a young woman. He has always been there for me & I know he always will be right behind me. He is such a strength in my life & I wouldn't be who & where I am today without him.

He has always told us to "live, and let live". So to not judge others but just live your life how you want & let them live theirs how they want. I think that is how he has raised us. He has always let us be who we want to be and has never forced us to do or be something we didn't want to. He has just supported us in everything we wanted to do and I love him for it.

I know i'm a little biased, but I think my dad is the best dad there is. I love & appreciate him more that words can express so I guess I just hope he knows that.

I love you daddy.

Love, Squirt.

P.s. Please don't pay much attention to my poor, bruised, neck-braced-face in the picture. hehe.