Old Friends=Best Friends

A couple of weeks ago I was blessed with a visit from one of my oldest and dearest friends, Anne. She lives in California, but was attending a wedding in Nauvoo, IL and drove down here for a short visit before she had to fly back. I was so excited because NOBODY ever randomly visits us...it seems like all of our faraway friends are out west, and they tend to stay out west. Now, when I say one of my oldest friends, I'm not talking a few years. Ours is a unique story.

Anne and I were best friends in elementary school when we both lived in Louisville. In fourth grade, her family moved to California and it was nearly the end of the world. What would I do without my best friend? We wrote letters back and forth (remember the days before email?) and always promised to reunite at BYU for college. We even got together in Utah one summer:

My guess is that this the summer after 5th or 6th grade...obviously, I have always been a pinnacle of fashion. Anyway, time went on and we lost touch.

Fast forward to first day of freshman orientation at BYU. I'm moving into my dorm and see Anne's mom in the lobby. I give her a hug and ask if Anne was in the same building (which would be a cool coincidence in itself, seeing as how BYU has like 6,000 freshman and tons of dorm buildings). She then proceeds to tell me that not only is Anne in my building, and on my floor, but she is assigned to the dorm room right across the hall from me! To make a long story short, we met again, became best friends again, and lived together until she left on a mission and I got married.

This is a picture of us during freshman year...

And here we are with all of our kiddos.

Kate, Jonah, and Javi (Lincoln had pink eye, so we had to keep him separated, poor thing)

It was so fun having Anne and Javi stay with us. We had wonderful weather (thankfully she brought it with her from California!) and just basically hung out and caught up and talked and talked and talked...we hadn't seen each other since her wedding, which doesn't even really count since you can't really talk to anyone when you're the one getting married. But even though it has been years since we've really hung out, it felt the same as if she came over all the time. I think that is a sign of true friendship...it doesn't matter how many years are between you, when you get back together you feel totally comfortable and have just as much fun.

Anne's visit just made me miss my old roommates even more (the picture above is from freshman year also...we all lived together through our junior year or our missions/weddings, whichever came first). They are such great friends and we had the best times together. When you live with someone, they see all sides of you...and when they still like you anyways, you know that you'll be friends for life. We are kind of spread out everywhere, but we're hopefully going to get together for a reunion soon. I feel like having such good friends is truly a tender mercy of the Lord and I thank him daily for the wonderful people that he has blessed my life with.

Prima Ballerina

A couple of weeks ago, Kate's teacher had an open dance class; that is, the parents could come in and watch. I was very excited, seeing as how before now I've had to rely on Kate's reports of what was going on in class each week (which, you can guess, are often kind of vague). It was so cute to see all the little girls do their little routine. Kate did pretty well--she's still trying to figure out her right from her left--and I think her favorite part was the "leaps."

With so many blogging friends who have nice cameras, I was wishing I had one to take better pictures that day. This was is kind of blurry but I thought it was super cute. My little girl is doing ballet!

Here is Miss Tiffany teaching Kate the new step "boogie-woogie" for their recital tap routine. Kate had some trouble and she still says that it's "kind of tricky." I can't wait for the recital, though. It's going to be so cute! Kate has started sining the song and doing the routine for us at home, too, so I know she's excited...I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that she doesn't freeze up on stage!
Pretty girls all in a row...

There is something about little girls doing ballet that just makes me smile.

From a Kid's Perspective

For Christmas, Jonah and Kate both got their own digital cameras. These are the Fisher-Price "Kid-Tough" cameras, which claim to be able to withstand any crazy form of abuse that could possibly be thrust upon them by small children (so far, so good).

The kids have been taking pictures ever since the big day, but Jonah recently hit #300 on his memory card, so he wanted to celebrate with a blog post. It really is fun to see what the kids consider to be photo-worthy.

Kate:

A funny-faced Aunt Brittany

Mom

Herself---we found that self-portraits are Kate's favorite subject

I thought this was interesting--it shows just how tall an adult can look to a 3-yr-old

Another self-portrait

Uncle Michael and Jonah; Next to herself, Kate mostly likes to take pictures of Jonah

Jonah:

Jonah likes to take pictures of his toys and things he likes around his room (such as his rug)

Jonah's shadow

Silly Uncle Michael--he does a good job posing for his niece and nephew (oh wait...I think is just his natural look)

Kate--another one of Jonah's favorite subjects

Jonah's self-portrait

Tom and Jerry on t.v.--he has a lot of shots of his favorite shows

Ms. Diana, his preschool teacher (he took the camera to show and tell once)

This is just a sampling of their many, many efforts at photography. I think we have some budding artists on our hands...perhaps we'll have a Pulitzer in our future? (Or maybe a career as paparazzi?)

A Wubulous Week

Last week was the birthday

Of Dear Dr. Seuss.

The result?

We had 3 crazy kids on the loose!

At preschool they partied

With Seuss books and more;

Crazy sock day and movies,

And fun snacks galore!

Last Wednesday was WACKY

(Don't you dig Jonah's hair?)

With his and Kate's styles

We've got a mighty cool pair.

The Cat in the Hat visited

To read a story at school

Kate got to stay and listen

Which she thought was quite cool.

Go back one week earlier

To Story Hour Show and Tell

Kate showed off her silly hat

And two princesses as well.

And don't forget Lincoln

Who rolled finally this week!

I think this hat accents

The cute chub in his cheek.

And the wackiest member

Of this crazy Shirts crew

Turned 31 on Friday--

Micah, happy birthday to you!

So grab one more helping

Of green eggs and ham

We loved all this Seuss fun

Love, The Silly Shirts Fam!

For Grandma-Great

Thanks for the cool clothes, Grandma-Great!

As you can see they really made us smile...
(among other various facial expressions.)

We love you and miss you--

Can't wait to see you again this spring!