Family!

I want you all to know how much I love my family. Individually. They are all such great examples to me! I had it so easy growing up. We hardly ever fought. I think the one family member I ever got mad at somewhat regularly was Tasha, and that was probably just because we're so close in age and we're too alike. And even then we got over our tiffs in like... 5 minutes. From what I hear that is not normal, especially in a big family. I have two really good friends (not gonna say names...) who are sisters, and man, they just go at it all the time. Like, if you can't even have peace and happiness in your home, where the heck are you gonna find it?

So congratulations, mom and dad! I don't know how you did it, but you managed to pull off having an incredibly non-temperamental family. I really hope I inherited that skill so I can implement it when I start a family.

I just cannot express how grateful I am for my family. I love where we're at right now, especially. I have two adorable little nieces (credit to Leila and Josh) that I can't get over! I thought life couldn't get any cuter after Cora was born, and then Esther popped out and it just DOUBLED! Gah. It's too much.

And then we welcomed Shauna into our family last year. She is great, and her and Clayton are just so happy together. So much love.

Lars as of yet remains single, but that's okay because we have this competition going on. We're sort of... racing... to see who can get engaged first. Is that bad? Probably. I mean it's not like we're gonna get married to the first person who asks just so we can win. Why would you ever think that? But still. Secretly I hope he beats me, because he needs it more than I do. He's an RM, what else does he have to live for besides finding a wife? Seriously.

Then there's Tasha. Tasha and Ben, Ben and Tasha. Treats and snoozin', snoozin' and treats. That's about it.
Haha no but really. Hey Ben, welcome to our crazy family. Though apparently his family's bonkers too, so it's all good. With that in mind, I can't wait to see how their children end up. It could either be intensely horrifying or unbearably cute.

I come next. Hey guys! Just letting you know, I AM single. I know lots of men will be happy to hear that.

Keely. Girl, just go out there and take over the world. Don't be bound by other people's expectations of you. Especially the ones about you being just like me. You're really not, and that is a wonderful thing. I mean,  you can aspire to be like the good parts of me, that's okay. But when people say, "Oh, you're just like Rina!" I give you permission to smack them upside the head. I know I wanted to do that sometimes when people said I was like Tasha. No offense Tish-tosh.

Can I tell you all how much I love my little brother Jens? He is the funniest kid. And holy crap is he a genius. I knew something was up when at the age of 2 he could recognize and say the name of like 100 countries just by looking at their flags. He's 12 now, so everyone be looking for his name in the papers starting in the next couple of years. It'll probably have something to do with curing cancer or making an affordable, energy-efficient hovercraft.

So, family, if you're reading this, I love you all. I can't wait to see where we are in the next ten years. The rest of us could all be married by then! Shoot that's weird.

If you haven't figured this out based on my other posts yet, I'm really quite pumped to fall in love, get married, and raise children of my own; however, I know that my thoughts are not God's thoughts, and He has the master plan. Although sometimes I just really wanna peek. 

"The greatest joys and the greatest sorrows we experience are in family relationships. The joys come from putting the welfare of others above our own. That is what love is. And the sorrow comes primarily from selfishness, which is the absence of love. The ideal God holds for us is to form families in the way most likely to lead to happiness and away from sorrow.” -- Henry B. Eyring