Megan

Yes Megan is my sister, but since we haven't lived in the same house we have become great friends :) Where do I start... when we were kids we loved to play barbies, my little ponies, house, dress up, cowboys and indians, kick the can, hide and seek, capture the flag but most of all we played together. Don't get me wrong we still fought...it was mostly me doing something to Megan and then her telling on me. As we got older it was still the same, I would do something I wasn't supposed to and then I would have to beg Megan to not tell on me. :)

Now that we are "adults", married and pregnant, we have grown to appreciate each other and our differences. Even though we are sisters and only a year apart we are very different people. For instance I like to be outside (summer only, I hate winter), hiking, camping, walking, swimming... whereas Megan would love to lay oustide on a blanket and read a book (summer only as well).

Our differences hasn't stopped us from going on vacations together with though :) A few years ago Megan and Ivan came to Spokane and we decided we would take a few days and drive to Seattle and then the Oregon Coast. We had a blast, except we said we were going to camp every night and we ended up camping one night (all of us in one tent), and then staying in hotels the rest of the nights. We didn't plan that trip well, but we still had a blast. Luckily our husbands really like each other! Then we planned a trip to Hawaii for Brandy's wedding, Ivan got shipped to Iraq so he didn't get to go, but my parents went also. We had a great time there too. For the most part we all got a long and did everything we all wanted to do. It is hard to go on trips with your family as an adult because usually everyone wants to do something different, but we still had the time of our lives :)

The most recent trip I took was to Germany to see Megan and Ivan (and to deliver her cats to her). It was great! I love Germany and I am jealous that Megan gets to live there :) (more about the Germany trip in the next blog).

Megan is the most loving, sincere, selfless person I know (almost the exact opposite of me:), and I love that she is my sister. Even though we are so different and we can only stand each other for a few days I know that if I need her for anything she will come running pushing everyone else aside to get to me. I love you Megan and miss you everyday!

Lacey

Lacey and I have been friends since 7th grade. Since the first day I met her we were friends. In Junior High we played basketball together, spent the night at each other's houses, took walks to meet up with boys, and many other silly things. In high school we played basketball together, spent the night at each other's houses...well it was pretty much the same as junior high :)
Since high school we have both grown up a lot. Lacey met Dave, got married, bought a house and now they have the most amazing kids. Arabelle (one and a half) is the cutest little thing you have ever seen. She is shy at first but once she opens up you can't stop her from showing off. The other night when I was over at their house she was showing me her somersaults (she learned how to do them all by herself). She is the smartest little girl.
James their newest addition, is only a few months old...well maybe only one month. He is a very good baby. He never cries (except when he is hungry), he loves to see everything that's going on, and he wiggles like crazy :)!
Lacey is amazing! She has her own business (http://www.cookermomcreations.com/), she has two children, she loves to do research :), she helps me out with everything (I have so many questions regarding this motherhood thing), and on top of everything else she uses cloth diapers (she actually is the one that inspired me to try cloth diapers as well). She reminds me a lot of her mom (she is going to kill me for that). I love you Lacey, and I love your family! Thank you for everything.
Again I am at work so I will post pics later.

Jaime

I didn't know Jaime in high school but I feel like we have been friends forever. Jaime and I have a lot of fun together. Every week we try to get together for dinner at one of our houses, we walk our dogs together, we crap it up together (that's what we call crafting) and we just hang out talking about everything. Actually her yellow lab Ivory is Tucker's girlfriend and her hound dog Harley is Kaiia's boyfriend (it's a love hate relationship for Harley and Kaiia).

Jaime is a great person. She would do anything for the people she loves and she does. No matter how busy or sick or mad she will drop everything if you need her. She will sit and listen to you (or me) whine and complain about silly things that don't even mean anything, she will watch your (or mine) dogs for a week and expect nothing in return (and believe me my dogs are not fun to watch, well not for a week anyway), and most of all she will love every minute of it.
I love being around Jaime and I love Jaime for being Jaime.

I win!!

It's a girl!

SEX

Of the baby, get your mind out of the gutter :) John and I made a wager on the sex of the baby, he thinks it's a boy and I think it's a girl (mostly because I think I am going to have the opposite of my sister and she is having a boy). So the wager is: If I win and it's a girl John has to give me a back rub once a week (and maybe buy me a real massage sometime during my pregnancy). If John wins then I have to go to an MLS soccer game. The winner is...

Emily

Where do I start with Emily... The first time we really hung out was in 7th grade at my house. She came into our house and an elk head stared her in the face (at the time Emily was vegetarian, she is now vegan), then after awhile we went down to my room and my porcelain dolls freaked her out and she couldn't sleep all night. We've been best friends ever since :) In high school we were together a lot (except when she was dating Kaipo, but that's another story). On Emily's 16th birthday (she turned 16 before everyone else) we took her parent's van out for a drive. We picked up pretty much everyone we knew and cruised around. There were probably 10 people in a 8 passenger van and we took this bump at 40 mph. We were probably in the air for a good 5 seconds. It was crazy! Then when we started taking everyone home Emily got pulled over. Everyone was freaking out (I was laughing I'm sure) but she only got a warning and the police office told us to get home right now. After we dropped everyone off, Emily and I ran up to my room and burnt the warning ticket (yes in my bedroom). She was so scared that her parent's would find out and never let her drive again :)

Emily and I have stayed really close since high school. She moves around a lot and I love that about her. Her life is constantly changing, which means that I get to go visit her in som really fun places. A few years ago Bethany and I went to Asheville, North Carolina to visit her. We had a blast! Actually everytime that all 3 of us get together we have so much fun. Last time we were all together was a Surprise (for my birthday, which was months before). I went to visit Emily in Portland for a weekend and it happened to be during one of the presidential debates. Emily and I went to a pizza party at one of her friends house and started making pizza (the pizza was awesome!). The debate was about to start so we all headed downstairs to watch it. After awhile Emily got u pand said "Bridgette will you come help me, my friend is coming over", I was thinking, is her friend in a wheel chair or something, why does she need my help. I went upstairs with her anyway and walked outside. There was Bethany!! I was so excited, I could hardly contain myself. It was the best belated birthday present ever.

Emily is one of my best friends and no matter how long it's been since we've seen each other or spoken to each other, whenever we get together it's like time stood still. I love you Emily!!

P.S. I will post pics later of Emily, I'm at work :)

Brandy

I don't have a "how we became friends" story about Brandy, but I do have a few good ones. In high school Brandy and I would skip class all the time, and not for any good reason either. One time we skipped and drove the "back way" to Sandpoint. It was a hot day so we took off our shirts and drove in our bras :) Yeah weird I know. We actually didn't know we were headed to Sandpoint because we would just drive and end up where we end up. Another time we ended up in Spangle, again another "back way". Don't get me wrong we got good grades and we did graduate :), but we didn't attend a lot of classes our Senior Year of high school. If we weren't driving around skipping class we were over at our friend, Sean's house (he was in college) just hangin out eating pizza and watching TV.

Since high school we have actually taken a lot of trips together. For John's 21st birthday we all flew to Vegas to celebrate. We had a great time. Jaime (coming soon), Brandy and I hung out most days together because we were the only ones not hung over :) We walked the strip and checked out every hotel, ate at all the good restaurants, and enjoyed every minute of it. Until we stopped and realized our feet were killing us. So one night we stayed in the hotel and soaked our feet in the bath tub. It felt so good, but when we drained the bath tub we realized how dirty our feet were. There was a black ring around the whole bath tup, it was pretty disgusting, but John and his brother did have their feet in the tub too :)

Another trip Brandy, John and I took was to the Oregon coast, but it wasn't supposed to be just the three of us. We had been planning a trip with some of our friends (I can't even remember where we wanted to go) but the day before we were to leave everyone bailed except the three of us. So we decided to just plan a trip for ourselves, and we did. We drove down the Oregon Coast just John, Brandy and I and we had the best time! It was actually kind of funny because we camped most nights and all slept in the same tent (me in the middle) but one night we wanted to splurge and get a hotel. We spent around $40 for a hotel and the room was awful, the floor was soaked, the bed was nasty and we were even afraid to use the shower :) That night we all slept on the same bed in our sleeping bags with our shoes right next to the bed. It was really funny!

Brandy and I always have a great time together no matter the circumstances, and that's really what I love about her, we can always have fun!