18 CANDLES

On Friday I turned 18.
Which is really freaking weird because, woah, adulthood.
I've got three months left of my senior year, I've decided on a college (more on this coming soon), I have a job, I even had to pay taxes this year.
Life is kinda weird sometimes. But it's a good weird, ya feel me?
Shoutout to everyone that helped make my 18th birthday such a great one.
I know everyone says this, but I've seriously got the best friends & family in the whole wide world.

THIS ONE'S FOR LAURA

Once upon a time, Laura asked me to dedicate a blog post to her. I said "sure thing!" but since I'm basically the worst blogger on the face of the earth...it never happened.
But guess what? This girl turned the big 1-6 on Tuesday (even though, if we're being honest she's been the big 1-6 for awhile now...)
So here ya go, LSK! This ones for you!

 

Reasons why having a Laura as your best friend rocks:

 

-She has the best fashion sense ever and an endless amount of colorful gap tees, and she (almost) never minds when I raid her closet and steal things and don't give them back for months.

-She's got great taste in music and will be your concert going buddy till the sun goes down. (not sure if that just made any sense...?)

-Also she listens to terrible music sometimes, but makes it seem awesome and cool and I don't know how she does it? Like, I've never seen someone dance and sing to Fergie quite like Laura does.

-She's basically a member of the family because she comes with us on all of our family vacations and thus, has to put up with my dad's endless teasing.

-She's the only one I can talk in hashtag to without automatically feeling stupid and wanting to take it back. #indatub #wifey #handsineachothersbackpockets #holla #hashtag

-We both hate the same things. It's great.

-She puts up with my teasing her about her age. She's 1 1/2 years younger than me and I never let her forget it...

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAURA! ▲▲▲

 

 

SWEET 17

WOAH WOAH WOAH. I haven't blogged about my 17th birthday party yet? Shame on me.

Ready for a picture overload?

 almost all of these pictures are out of focus. oh well.

 

 this is my friend jasper. he's an exchange student from germany. he's basically the funniest person you'll ever meet.

 

 please note my hand on mackay's chest. uhhh...where did that come from?!

 

 the thug life chose us. (?)

 

 hot hot hot.

 

 this is my best friend whitney. she's a babe. // this is my friend max. he just got his mission call to brazil. (!!!) i am so proud of him!  

 

we're in love.

 

trevor & mackay; the two studliest guys i know.

 

 someone on instagram said that this looked like a movie set, which made me think: wouldn't a tv show about my life just be the BEST?! // #thatawkwardmomentwhen you're looking back at your pictures and find this. grooosssssss.

 

this is cerena. she is one of the sweetest girls i know! total softball star, too.

 

it's so hard to be surrounded by guys like this.

 

 i am SO blessed to have such a great group of friends in my life.

thanks to everyone who made this day so special!

 

post script: shout out to my mom for making me have a birthday party this year. i haven't had one since i was 11 ( i'm not big on planning things) and i was really nervous about it for some strange reason, but it turned out to be so much fun!! 

ROADTRIP PART THREE: A BIRTHDAY HE WILL NEVER FORGET.

            On August 8th we decided to go canoeing for Canden's (my little brother) 12th birthday. He was now an official boy scout, and he desperately wanted to get his canoeing badge.
          When we arrived at the river all 20 of us got situated, organized, and into our separate canoes. I went with Canden and Jack, our 10 year old cousin. We didn’t get very far down the river when we decided to stop and wait for the rest of our family. Another one of the canoes (caring two of our younger cousins and a foreign exchange student from Japan) paddled up to us to also wait. They lost control, and ran into the side of our canoe.
            Out of nowhere, I hear Canden yell, “My finger! It fell off!” Yeah right. I thought to myself. Canden was notorious for being overdramatic about things and besides, the other canoe barely hit ours. I looked over at Canden just in case, and to my dismay saw blood everywhere. I stood up and leaned over him to get a better look at his finger. You know when you cut a hotdog in half long ways, and both sides just kind of flop over? Yeah, that’s what his finger looked like.
            My instincts (and multiple years of first aid training) kicked in. I quickly took off the T-shirt I was wearing over my swimsuit and wrapped his finger up with it to try to stop the bleeding. Fearing he was going into shock, I hugged him and whispered, “It’s going to be okay. Don’t worry, it’s not that bad. Everything will be fine.” An ambulance then came and rushed him to the nearest hospital, 2 ½ hours away.
           The doctor said the canoe must have hit his finger just right, because it literally exploded. He fractured the bone and had a partial amputation, but his tendons, muscles, and arteries were in perfect shape. Long story short, it was a miracle.
           While he was at the hospital with my mom and dad, my cousins and I threw him a little surprise birthday party. We decorated the whole house with balloons and streamers, the whole getup. All of our younger cousins drew him pictures and made him cards, while us older cousins wrapped presents and made food. When he came home a few hours later, we turned on the lights, jumped out at him and yelled "surprise!" Even though his finger was all wrapped up and he was clearly still pretty out of it from the drugs, he was so happy! He couldn't stop smiling and laughing and telling us all about the new chuck norris jokes he made up. Oh, that little boy.

Dear Laura,

Happy happy birthday my dear.

Love you like a fat kid loves cake! :)