April 16th

Today I wish more than anything I could give some sort of creepy happy birthday greeting to this fine sir below.



I sure miss him! I can't wait for the adventures to come when he comes back home. I can't believe he's twenty today! Buon compleanno Johnny!

Happy...

St. Patty's Day AND Happy Birthday to my second mom! Scott called you this morning at 5:30 your time (6:30 our time... he was just getting to work) so he could be the first to tell you happy birthday! I was kind of mean and pointed out that Margy had been up in New York for two hours longer than we had been up, so she might have been the first one. But then I felt bad about saying that, and I hope you enjoyed your birthday message from your son! Happy Birthday, Lynne! I hope you have a wonderful day!



Lynne happens to share this day with my cute cousin Lizzie (on the right). Happy birthday Lizzie! I think she turns eleven today. I can't believe how old these girls are getting! I have the cutest cousins! I just have the best family in general! This picture is from our wedding.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STOKES!

Not many people are so lucky to be in a Stoker sandwich like this one... especially with a giant French snowman with an inner tube beret.
Although there's probably no chance that they're reading this.... HAPPY BIRTHDAY to two of my best and longest friends. Amelia and Sydney have been amazing friends to me for the last well... ten years now that they're twenty-three! Geez! That's a long time! I couldn't ask for more amazing friends. These girls teach me so much about life and how to be the best version of who you are. They are living exciting lives, and doing so much for everyone they come in contact with along the way. Amelia has a way of always bringing me back to reality and helping me see the world in a different light than my own experiences. And Syd always makes me laugh. She has an excitement about her that rubs off. She is a positive and upbeat person. No matter how much time passes between when we get to see each other, I always walk away feeling overwhelmed that I have such wonderful friends!

Here they are laughing at me cause I got married.... I guess none of us ever thought it would really happen. My life would be completey different if they weren't in it. These three girls, in fact, are a big part of why I am who I am. I love you guys! Happy Birthday Mel and Syd!!!! In middle school and high school we used to do such elaborate birthday celebrations (Em and I are both in May, so we'd have a big October birthday bash and then one in the spring). I don't have a single memory that doesn't have one or all of these girls in it!!!

TWENTY-FIVE

I am WAY too behind on this blogging business, so I'm going to do a quick recap of the last few weeks... or months. This will probably mean I will be catching up bit by bit for the next few days!

To start off, Scotty turned 25 in June! Happy Birthday to Scotty! We had such a fun birthday! I feel like it was my birthday too... I get way too into holidays! Scotty and I spend the weekend eating delicious food, hiking new trails, reading new books, and taking pictures with our new camera! We even went to the mountains above our house and flew a kite all of Sunday afternoon.





Sunday evening, we went to my parents house for a birthday/father's day shindig. Scott is a perfect fit in our wild family. He's quickly caught on that his jobs are putting ice in the glasses for Sunday dinner and entertaining/pacifying his two hyperactive nephews. He is a great uncle! I made Scott's favorite, carrot cake. It tasted better than it looked! I swear! I know every girl has made that cake before.. the one that has a pool of frosting on the top to fill in the giant hole that was created when the non-stick pans decided to dig a chunk out of the top of the cake...