I'm Legal!

Well everyone, if finally happened! I am officially 21, that magical age where you can buy alcohol (as if that thought has ever entered my head) and have a driver's license that's actually turned the right way. Whoa...I just had one of those moments. You know, the ones where you all of a sudden remember back when you used to think 21 meant you were old...scary stuff man!

So, two years ago my older sister had a baby named Greysen Gene Thinnes. He was born the day before my birthday and is so SO special. I just love him to pieces. This is a picture from his moustache themed birthday party that was held on my birthday. We all had finger staches (as evidenced in the photo below) and it was just cute. Grey's shirt says, "If you really 'moustache', I'm two", which I just find hilarious! I felt pretty lucky to have so many family members gathered together in one place to celebrate Grey's birthday, and also mine kinda...I got my own cupcake with candles in it! It was a great time though, I loved it!

Me, Rache, and Linz

After I got home from the birthday party my roommates and I went to Buffalo Wild Wings and ordered appetizers and desserts. We had a great time cheering on the MMA fighter people, who we lovingly dubbed Monkey Fist and Fish Face, even though we were absolutely horrified by the sport. I believe Monkey Fist ended up winning. Fish Face got beat up pretty bad. Poor guy.

Also, the next big thing in my life is coming up this Friday! My mom, dad, and I spent the morning of my birthday picking out a new outfit for my INTERVIEW FOR PHARMACY SCHOOL! It's seriously so surreal...I can't believe it's actually happening. I was actually fairly calm about it until about Sunday. Then I started to get really nervous. That night my home teachers came over and when they asked that age old question, "Is there anything we can do for you?" I found my hand shooting up before I could control it. "I have a pretty stressful week ahead of me, both with the test and my interview. Since my dad isn't here, I would really appreciate it if you gave me a blessing." How lucky I am to have faithful home teachers :) 

And that is where I end this blog post...hopefully I will get around to posting a quick blog about how I think my interview went...and then a few weeks after that there will be a final decision made...EEEK!

N8OT8O!

Today is Nate's birthday!

I seriously love my brother so much and everything he has done for me.

He has been such a fantastic role model for me and I look to him for strength a lot especially when I have been looking at the same Organic chemistry problem for like an hour and still can't figure out what to do.

Happy birthday Nathan! I love you and your cute little family so much!

Someday I hope I can follow in your footsteps :)

To a very good friend of mine...

Happy Birthday Derek Stucki!

I can't say enough about how much Derek's friendship means to me.

But I guess I can try...

D is for dedicated. I swear, he's been working on the same project for the entire semester and he says he's still only half done with it...I would have just changed my major haha

E is for elusive. I don't think I have ever seen anybody elude drama or just about anything else as well as Derek does.

R is for receptive. He is always willing to listen to me when I haven't been able to elude the drama like he has.

E is for Extremely smart...I ran out of E words. One day he had me read a few pages from his C++ book. I went upstairs and cried because it made my head hurt so much haha...just kidding.

K is for kind. Everyone that knows Derek knows that he is pretty much the nicest person you've ever met. He has an opinion about everything, but he has a very nice way of telling you that you're wrong ;)

I am so blessed to have a friend like Derek in my life. 

He is one of the few people I can say is just legitimately good without having to try.

I'm pretty sure he's the reason I'm alive right now (if you don't know why, see this post.)

And let's not deny it, he's always good for a laugh:

Always gets his rear end in a shot.

For Halloween he was a flasher...which meant he wore a long jacket that covered his clothing and then opened up his coat to show off his GOTCHA sign...

Happy birthday Derek!

Today is MY day :)

Today was my first birthday away from home...
And I was worried that I would be homesick.
But it was pretty stinking good if I do say so myself.

♥ It all started yesterday when I got a call at 1:41 in the morning with the very exciting news that Lindsay had given birth to a precious little baby boy.

♥ Then I treated myself to a haircut.

♥ Then I went to Costa Vida for dinner with one of my very best friends.

♥ While watching Meet the Robinsons around midnight with a bunch of people I was bombarded by Happy Birthday messages from roommates and friends from Soda.

♥ I trudged my way through Chemistry and Chemistry Lab (I was absolutely useless today)

♥ Then I FINALLY got to go to Idaho Falls to visit Lindsay and the little man!

♥ Oh, then my daddy took me to Taco Bell to grab a quick bite to eat. My "big dinner" is coming up on Saturday when I go back for more cuddle time :)

Let me tell you world, he is the cutest, most darling thing I have ever laid eyes on.

He's my little birthday boy (well...close enough)

Even though this little bundle of joy doesn't officially have a name yet, he has wormed his way into my heart already. 

I love love love LOVE him! 

I can't wait to watch him grow up and share lots of birthday memories with him...even though he was born on the 22nd and I on the 23rd.

Dear Little G-baby, you have the best mommy and daddy in the world! 

He is going to be SO loved!

Another birthday and a warning!o

Happy birthday to Maci Lynn!

Here are a few things that remind me of Maci:

M: Missed the boat. This is a term meaning Late. Maci is definitely one to take her time getting ready.

A: Absent-minded. I know I used this for Ryan...but everyone knows it applies to Maci as well. What exactly is half of two-thirds, Maci?

C: Cheerful. Maci is one of the happiest people on the planet. She is always happy and peppy.

I: Ingenious. Some things that Maci comes up with are silly, but lots of them are simply ingenious. Like eating a chocolate bar and stuffing peanuts in your mouth.

Maci turned 16 yesterday, which was a shock to all of us I think. This is also the part of my post where the warning comes in:

She may be 16, but she is still my little sister. If any boy even comes close to breaking her heart I will be just as close to smacking you upside the face. Kapeesh?

Anyway...she had a nice birthday. This is the first year in a long time that Maci didn't make her own birthday cake.

This is a phone cover for her cell phone. She picked it out.

This is a new cartridge for her Cricut. It's got lots of pretty letters.

This one is from me. I passed that frame in Ross like 5 times before I finally decided it was to Maci-like to pass up. Seriously, it's pink. It has pink ZEBRA PRINT and RHINESTONES!

I love this girl more than words can express. I can't believe she's getting so old! Honestly, where does the time go?

Happy Birthday to...

Ryan!

Okay, so I guess this is kinda the big reveal for those of you who haven't seen my facebook....

So, I've been dating Ryan Bringhurst for...9 days now and he had his birthday on Sunday.

He turned 24, which makes him old ;)

Here are a couple things that remind me of Ryan:

R:Red mustang. No matter how much he tries to deny it, his mustang is his baby. Everyone knows it.

Y: Young...ish. I tease him a lot about being 5 years older than me, but it's his own fault for always saying he looks like a 14 year old!

A: Absent-minded. There's no doubt about it, Ryan is definitely forgetful. He completely forgot our first date. He actually asked me if I had been to the restaurant we went to. Then that night he was talking to Derek and mentioned the fact that they had never watched How to Train Your Dragon together (which is a lie. Derek doubled with us and that's the movie we watched.) I'll never EVER let him live that down.

N: Nice. I gotta say it. Ryan is a very nice person. He's always looking out for my feelings and is way awesome with his younger brothers. 

We went to his parent's house that evening for his party and had an awesome time.

I reached out to shake his grandpa's hand and the next thing I knew I was on my feet 

and he was giving me a hug. It was awesome!

Here are a couple pictures of him opening his presents.

This is a Cocoa-Latte. Can you say hot chocolate? mmmm

He has big dreams of bulking up a little bit...

His grandpa gave him this cool little car from...Hawaii? I think it was Hawaii.

His face lights up every time he sees a car, can you tell?

And finally, a car cover for his baby.

I don't have a picture of this, but I gave him an oil vial because his other one was leaky. It's a neat one with little images of the Christus on it. Little did I know he was going to have the chance to use it so soon! 

I was apparently very stressed and sick (with a cold), so for two nights straight I had really bad nose bleeds. I haven't had a really bad one in awhile. I was hunched over a sink with my hair pulled back and my legs shaking because I had lost so much blood for the second time in two days. I decided that was enough. I had Mystie run downstairs and get Ryan and Derek to give me a blessing. I think I made Ryan a little nervous...but oh well! I've been feeling great ever since. 

I'm grateful for the priesthood!

And men who honor it.

My madre's birthday

Today was my mom's birthday! I'm sure she wouldn't want me to tell you this, but she is now *muffle muffle muffle*! Can you believe it? I sincerely love this lady! My mom has stuck with me through thick and thin (not that she really had a choice). One thing that I always thought was really special was that she would let me live my own life. There have been times that a friend came over and the second they left she'd turn to me and say, "I don't like them." I always thought she was judging too early, but she was ALWAYS right in the end. I don't know how she does it! I think she's got more than just eyes in the back of her head to be perfectly honest.
Anyway...so back to her birthday. Maci is one of those thoughtful sentimental people and had mom's present planned out on like August 1st of last year and had it done early. Me...I woke up this morning and was like, "Oh crap! What am I going to do!" I didn't forget it was her birthday, mind you, I just never got the time to run to Alco (the shopping district in Soda Springs) between temple trips, work, and the mandatory fun :)
Maci's present turned out really cute. I don't know how she comes up with these things! This is one of Maci's favorite scriptures.

To be honest, Maci was the mastermind behind my gift too. I saw the jar and she was the one who actually thought of the pens. Mom is always always ALWAYS asking me, "Have you seen my pen?" or "Em, did you steal my pen?" So Maci and I have made sure that can NEVER happen again! We stuffed that jar with as many pens as you could ever imagine...or you know...all the pens we could find at Alco.

All in all I thought it was a pretty successful day. Course, I guess we should leave that decision up to the birthday girl :)