siblings.

So, remember how the other day I graduated?  And that was sad?  Well, yes. It was sad.  But one really cool thing that came as a result of me graduating was the fact that my whole family came out for my graduation!  That meant that my parents and two little brothers came from California and my oldest brother and his wife came from Manhattan and my other older brother and his wife came from LA.  I know graduation is kind of a big deal, but flying all that way just to watch me have three seconds to walk across the stage is super one million nice (and also bonus feature they got to watch me dance for a solid 15 seconds down on the floor of the Marriott Center for a couple thousand people to see while we waited for graduation to start--why?? seriously, I don't get me.)

My two younger brothers are still in high school and one of my older brothers is in dental school which meant they even had to miss some of school just to come see me.  And then of course, my other brother had to miss work! I mean, that's just so nice!  Obviously my parents came too and that was just as big of a deal, but that's stuff to be written about in another post.

I guess what I'm saying is I'm super lucky.  I was looking at this picture above and I'm kind of obsessed with it.  I guess I hadn't noticed until I looked at this picture that it's just me and the boys these days.  My one and only sister is currently serving a mission for our church in the Dominican Republic and was unable to be there which meant that I'm the lone female.  And if you have brothers, you know what that means.  Instead of them incessantly teasing me and my sister, all of the teasing was directed toward me.  And oh how they love to tease.  But in all honestly, I love to be teased.  Because in our family, teasing basically equals love.  And I love to be loved through teasing, I'll tell you what.

Plus, in my family, we just get each other.  We all joke around all the time, and we're pretty sarcastic and I seriously just have the funniest family.  Over the years though, I've noticed that more and more Danny and me are racing to tell the same joke.  I swear someone will say something and then we'll both start saying the same joke at the same time. It's the worst because I want all the credit for telling a funny joke, but then he gets half of it, plus it's less funny when two people tell the same joke at the same time. Try it someone...it's super lame.  Also, Danny.  I know I've said this before, but he's a good big brother. He's always thinking about other people.  He left for college when my littlest brother was 3 and I just remember how he made such a good effort to keep good relationships with us.  He would always hang out with us when he came home on break and I just thought it was the greatest thing ever.  Also, he grows a pretty nice beard. Which is convenient, since he hates shaving.

Even though Matthew tormented me for the first decade of my life and snapped my bra all the time and always teased me about boys and stuff, I just love him.  He is pretty much the greatest example to me of what the nicest person in the world is supposed to be like.  And not only is he nice, but he's smart. One BILLION smart.  Actually, all my siblings are geniuses...and I'm just like, Oh yeah!  One time I was in the spelling bee! Okay, yeah, I got out on the first round, but STILL.  Anyway, Matthew is the greatest and I always loved how he just did what he wanted in high school and college and wasn't ashamed, whether it was bleaching his hair, wearing headbands and long socks for badminton, shaving his legs, growing a mustache, or wearing a variety of interesting costumes/outfits.  Kid kills me.

While Matthew may have tormented me in my younger years, these days it's Thomas. When I was in high school, I used to always tease him about which girls he had a crush on and I would try to embarrass him by giving him a kiss on the cheek in public, but oh how the tides have turned!  I swear the kid doesn't let a day go by without send a text to me that starts with "hey baby" and he is always pretending to be my boyfriend in public by holding my hand or kissing me on the cheek or making me take engagement-looking pictures with him.  Ugh, it's the worst, but he thinks it's hilarious.  I suppose it's payback though.  Also, this guy is hilarious.  He is always coming up with this hilarious one-liners and he's always doing things like catapulting fruit roll-ups across his physics class and making weird movies and teasing girls all the time.  The kid doesn't even know it, but every girl ever loves him.  And it's not just because he's hilarious, but also because he's just nice.  He's a good kid; he does well in school, he is respectful to others, and I mean, yeah. He's pretty cute, too.

And then there's Jakey, who will forever be my baby brother.  It blows my mind that he's 15.  I have no idea how that even happened.  Just like everyone else, Jake is hilarious.  He sends me snapchats all the dang freaking time and I'm like, where does he come up with this stuff?  He has the best dance moves and I just love it when he laughs.  Also, the kid comes up with the most random and hilarious things to say out of the blue sometimes.  And Jakey, oh my little Jakey.  He is just the nicest little guy.  He is so loving and so kind and usually so willing to help.  He is going to be the best husband, I'm not even joking.  Both him and Tom (and Matthew and Danny) are really smart at figuring out how stuff works or finding the answers to questions and it amazes me because I'm just like, uhhh, the microwave is too complicated.  Or DVD players are so over my head, not a joke.  But those kids, geniuses.  Jake has always been obsessed with traffic and city planning and design and I'm not kidding when I say that when I was a teenager I wouldn't bother asking my parents for directions to places; instead, I would just take Jake places with me the kid had the place memorized since he was like 5. We didn't need a GPS because we had the JakePS. Plus, bonus feature--Jake is like the most studious student ever.  I think he takes after my mom.  It's a really great quality, and I hope he continues to have it all the way through college. Kid is so cool.

Anyway, what I just spent the last year trying to tell you is that I love my brothers and I'm so grateful for every single one of them and for what they contribute to my family.  Together with them (and my sister!) we kind of make the most perfect team and I love it.  I love every little thing about it.

And now, a million pics for your viewing pleasure.

I just love them.  Thanks again for coming!

p.s. obvs a post about my parents will be coming soon.