20 Years Young

Celebrating my birthday has never been a huge extravagant thing for me. It's been more or less a day to be grateful for everything I've experienced in life. My past is an ugly one. I like to pretend I've lived with my adopted parents for 20 years, but we've only been a family for 5 years now. The 15 years before that were nothing but hell. So every year when my birthday rolls around I thank the heavens for the family I was blessed with and the wonderful years I have had with them. I never thought i'd make it to twenty. It was a relaxing day spent with my family doing absolutely nothing. Brielle woke me up with a picture frame she picked out and her favorite picture of us at her birthday, my mom got me a beautiful Peridot ring, my dad got me a brand new Fuji 4800 Camera, and my honey bought me my seventh tattoo. The three best gifts I could have ever asked for. 

 Oh and Ethan made me delicious dinner! :D 

( Phone picture ) 

Memorial Day

Happy Memorial day everyone! Memorial day every year is a tough one for me. The whole reason I moved to Utah is because my blood mother married someone in the air force and we got stationed out here. He was the most amazing step dad I had ever had. Before he left my blood mom he swore to me that he would come back for me when he was done serving our country. Sadly a few months later we got the call that he had died fighting for our country. Things turned out in the end of course because I got adopted by the most incredible family, but for so many years before I met my adopted family I wondered how much better things would have been. I miss him like crazy to this day. He's forever in my heart. 

Ethan's brother served our country as well. He died six years ago in a fatal motorcycle accident. When Ethan and I first met in high school it hadn't even been a year since his brother passed away. Ethan has come such a long ways and I'm so proud of him for working through everything instead of just acting like it didn't happen. 

R.I.P Kasey Hunt and Gary Holley. Thank you for all that you did for us. 

To celebrate Kasey's life we went to Fort Douglas to put some flowers on his grave and pay him a visit. Sadly Gary wasn't buried in Utah so I just had to keep him  in my thoughts. It was a very calm and relaxing day. We spent it with Ethans parents. 

 After visiting Kasey we went to Ethan's and had a nice BBQ with his family and played in the pool.

 

Happy Easter!

For Easter I took the weekend off and drove down to St. George to be with my family. First time in years everyone has agreed to meet up spend a holiday as one happy family. Well it didn't turn out that way, everyone ended up fighting and just my grandparents, my parents, Brielle, and I were left at the campsite. We made the best of the situation. We all colored eggs, went four wheeling through the dunes, went to the Indian ruins, and enjoyed some good dutch oven food. Sadly Brielle still hasn't got to meet any of her cousins but at least she had her great grandparents all to herself! 

 The Indian writings (:

 Brielle and grandma

 My little poser

 My mini me

 Breaking stuff

 Only flower I found in the desert ):

 Grandpa helping Brielle color her eggs

 Our eggs. They have adorable faces

 Brielle and grandpa at the pilgrim fort

 Brielle and grandma on the fourwheeler

 Shooting my daddy's 22 AR

 Grandpa with his old school 22 AR

 Clouds were so pretty (:

 Egg dye cups

I love this picture <3
Regardless of all the family tension it was a wonderful Easter and I'm just happy to have my parents back in my life. I don't know what I would do without them. Hope you all had a wonderful Easter!

Memorial Day

Freddie and his family invited me up to their cabin, in Idaho, for memorial day weekend. It rained most the weekend but it was so nice to get away from the city and breathe some fresh air. First night was just Freddie, his twin, Marquee, and me. We had a lot of fun just laughing and being a little tipsy. I ended up holding poor Marquee's hair for an hour but what are girl friends for? (: Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday we pretty much sat by the fire, watched movies, and played cards. It might not sound exciting but it was nice to catch a break and just relax. I missed Brielle quite a bit and that's the longest I've ever been away from her but her grandma sent me a few pictures to let me know she was doing alright. Monday the sun decided to poke out so we went to the pool but sadly didn't have time for the hot pots but it was still a nice day that ended with some amazing pizza! I felt like being a photographer and I got some really neat shots.(:

 My snack for the ride there

 Phase 10!

I just want to say how grateful I am to all the men and woman in the army. I've lost an amazing step dad and an uncle to the war. This is their day. I'm also grateful to Freddie who also serves our country and has helped me get on my feet and move on.