Friendship

Friendship has been on my mind so much the last couple of months.  I have been thinking about how blessed I have been through out my life by my friends.  I can remember growing up feeling like  friends were everything to me.  To a tween/teenager… they kind of are!  That is where my blessings come in.  I have always had the very best of friends.  Friends that looked out for me and had my best interests at heart.  Friends that I could look up to and who were always there for me to offer advise and words of encouragement. When I would be tempted to make the wrong decisions, my friends were there to talk me out of it.  Sometimes we would make the wrong decisions together, but mostly we were really great kids!  That is a huge blessing!  Especially now that I can see things through a parents perspective first hand.  I know how important friends are.  I especially know how important GOOD friendships are.   I hope and pray for my kids to choose wisely who their friends are and always remember to BE a good friend. 

Friends can be your second family.   Of course my family has had a huge impact on who I have become and the ways I have grown through out my life, but my friends have been there to teach me new things and to give me a different perspective on life at times.  Just like my family, they have helped me become the person I am today.  Everywhere I have moved and at every stage in life, I have been blessed with meaningful friendships that have made me stronger and taught me something new about myself.  I think that is a wonderful blessing! 

I spend a lot of time with the young girls at church from the ages of 12-18.  I see how they struggle with friendships at times.  Everybody does.  I even remember having hard times, but mostly I remember all of the good.  And then I wonder why I was so blessed.  I have always wondered that.  What did I do to deserve such great friends?  I don’t think I necessarily did anything to deserve such great friends.  I just know that it was and has always been a blessing in my life.  Mostly, I am just grateful for my experiences and all of the things I have learned; most importantly being able to recognize the Lord’s hand in my life. 

Speaking of friends…I thought I would share some pictures.  Yes, I am STILL working on cleaning out the millions (maybe not millions, but it feels like it) of pictures on my computer.  Some of this is old news by now, but I am giving my pictures and thoughts a home and that makes me happy. 

Here are a few of the recent things we have done with our friends.

The Swenson family came to visit us for New Years.  This is a friendship that I could not do with out.  Gosh, I can’t even imagine honestly.  My heart breaks just thinking about it.  Andrea and I have been BFF’s since our newly married days in Logan.  We have been learning, and growing and sharing and having fun together ever since then.  We hit it off right away.  We have pretty much been doing and thinking the same things ever since.  Our brains think so much alike and we can relate to each other in every way.  Sometimes it is weird how much alike we are.  Like both of us having baby #4 just 9 days apart.  Both being beautiful little girls.  We are too lucky!

Here are some snap shots of our weekend.  Our kids have so much fun together and consider themselves cousins. 

I am also lucky in the fact that I get to live by one of my very best friends I grew up with.  Sara and I were inseparable.  Except when we had to share each other with our boyfriends. :)  Sara married her high school sweetheart who also happened to be an awesome friend of mine.  They move around every two years for Christian’s job and this last move they ended up in Texas.  Texas is huge and so is Houston.  We were so excited when we found out they were going to be able to live right by us.  We live in the same neighborhood, attend the same ward at church and our kids go to the same school.  Talk about a dream come true.  When you were little girls or making college plans with your friends, who didn’t dream of living by their childhood best friend?!  We know it is short lived and won’t last for that much longer, but we are definitely enjoying the time together.    

We went to their house for the annual Super Bowl party. 

These are Kaylee’s two best friends.  I love watching her with her friends.  It reminds me of myself growing up.  I am so glad that she has made real connections.  This is the start to friendships she will remember forever.  It is especially fun for me because they are daughters of some of my own BFF’s.   One of them is Sara’s daughter and the other is Tami’s daughter, my Texas BFF. It makes getting together that much more fun for all of the families.

Here are some snapshots of our night.

Our next little (actually BIG) outing with our friends is a cruise with Tami and Tony!

We can hardly wait!!  This will be me and Casey’s very first cruise.  The four of us are leaving the kiddos with grandparents and making a run for it.  Almost a week from now, actually.  The count down is on!  The count down  started over 6 weeks ago.  I can’t believe the time is already here.

We were so glad when the Dickamore’s moved here.  We invited them over one day for family night and everybody hit it off.  We have SO much fun with them and hang out any chance we get!  Tami and I occasionally do lunch dates during the week and swap Kai and Ady around between the two of us.  We are both their mommas.  The nursery leader at church a couple of weeks ago told me she actually wasn’t sure which one of us was who’s mom.  I laughed at that.  Kai and Ady have such a cute friendship.  They are getting married when they grow up.  We have already decided.  Tami and I were pregnant together so Kai and Ady have a special bond!  They were born for each other. :)  Let’s not forget that Drew’s first crush was on Aliya, their cute little girl and of course Taeya is Kaylee’s BFF.  Our Houston experience would definitely not be the same with out the Dickamore family!   

We love our friends.  We are so blessed to  have such wonderful friends near and far and love and appreciate each of you.  Each one of you have made an impact in our lives one way or another.  Even those of you we aren’t able to see often or talk to as much as we would like are thought of often.  Friendship is a gift from God.