Happy Birthday Little Sister

"A sister is a gift to the heart, a friend to the spirit, a golden thread to the meaning of life."

-Isadora James

Little sisters are the most special kind of gift. I have only one, which makes her even more special. 22 years ago today, my little sister came to earth to be my real life baby doll. I don’t remember my parents bringing her home from the hospital. I actually don’t remember life without her at all. For as long as I can remember, I have had a best friend. I remember wanting to always be with her, to hold her and protect her. I hardly have a childhood memory that doesn’t involve her. We were inseparable. We built forts together, played house together, played school together (and now I wish I would have let her have a chance at being the teacher), we danced and sang together, played in our tree house, swung on our swings, snuck grapes out of the fridge for our magic juice, we dressed up kitty together, we performed plays together, we talked, giggled and whispered secrets together. As I look back on it now, I know we had a very precious relationship. No, we didn’t always get along, but we did always love each other. We knew everything about each other, and to this day she knows me more than almost anyone. She has a special place in my heart, because she is the only one who at one time in her life wanted to be just like me, followed me everywhere and was always willing to do any crazy thing I thought up and slept in my bed with me almost every night.

As we grew up, we faced our challenges and developed our own personalities. We fought and spent less time together. But we have always had a connection. We always knew the other one would be there if we needed them.

I love my little sister for too many reasons to list, but here are a few.

**When the time came for me to have my own room, I couldn’t wait. I didn’t even have a bed yet, so I slept on the floor in a sleeping bag on camping pads. As I settled in for my first night alone, I heard my door creak open. My baby sister crawled in and snuggled up next to me for a good nights sleep. I probably acted like I didn’t want her there, like I was too cool or grown-up to have her there with me. But in my heart, I missed her and couldn’t have been more happy to have her next to me.

**I once had my heart broken. I had never felt so low and lonely in my life. I was laying in my bed crying when my little sister came in and jumped on my bed and she had brought coffee too! (I had never been more glad to have given her a key to my house). She talked with me and cried with me and then cheered me up and dragged my butt out of bed!

**She always asks for my advice, and sometimes gets it even when she didn’t ask! One night she happened to be at a college group activity with me. One of the ice breaker questions was…. “If you could sum up your life in a 3 point sermon, what would the points be?” Kelly said, “I know what Tami’s would be…… I’m right, I’m still right, and you should have listened to me!” She’s a funny girl!

I love my little sister so much that it hurts. I’ve never had a closer friend. We understand each other and respect each other. We value each other’s thoughts and opinions and we cherish our differences. I know she will always be there for me. I hope she knows I will always be there for her too.

I love you Kelly. I am so proud of you. I could not have asked for a better little sister to have gone through life with. Thank you for your caring heart, your thoughtful words and your sense of humor. You have grown up to be an amazing woman. Never give up on your dreams. And when you don’t have enough energy left to believe in yourself, know that I will always have enough to believe in you.

Love your big sister,

Tami

Megan, What Does Santa Do?

I'm retarded and video taped this sideways! But you get the point, she is adorable!!

Happy Birthday Kelly - part 1 (the pre-birthday party)

Tonight we celebrated Kelly's birthday (almost a week early). We dressed up, ate dessert, sang happy birthday, ate some more, opened presents, listened to some Kelly music and had a great time celebrating her! Enjoy the pictures!

Rocking My Dreams

Note: This should have been posted on Sunday

Last night I rocked my sister's baby to sleep.
I sat on the edge of the bed swaying her to comfort.
Her head was snuggled on my chest as I hummed her a soft song.
I released a hushed prayer for the Lord to send Angels to guard her bed and for His peace to soothe her heart and mind and sweet dreams to overtake her.
There was no where else I would have rather been, then there with my simply delectable niece.
The instant she was in my arms, she was calm and my mind wandered.
I reflected on the priceless miracle I held in my arms that belongs to my beautiful sister.
I felt honored to be trusted with such a gorgeous gift that is Megan.
I whispered assurance in her ear about how much her mama loved her.
I told her how special she was and that she could be anything she wanted to be.
But once her heavy, rhythmical breaths told me she was asleep, I held her a little longer.
I kissed her head and realized I was rocking my dreams and my future.
I began hoping for the day that I would sit on the edge of the bed rocking my own babies.
What an amazing day that will be for me.
Someday when my babies are here and crying, and I am so tired of rocking them,
I hope I remember the night I was rocking my dreams, longing for them.

What Happens in Vegas...ends up on youtube

Okay, I know you have probably been dying to see my Vegas post, right? Well here it is. We had a great time. Our time there went so fast. But our trip can pretty much be summed up here in these photos. So grab a diet coke (mom) or coffee and settle in for a lot of pictures.

Here is the view of the sunset from the airplane on our way to Vegas.

Here is D's airplane girlfriend who talked to him the whole way there.

We had just landed and gotten the rental car, aren't we cute?

This is our hotel entrance. We stayed at THEhotel at Mandalay Bay and it was awesome! It was really modern and stylish and perfect! I wish this picture would have turned out better. But, oh well.


These flowers were amazing in THEhotel lobby. I loved them.



Self-Portrait stop on our first morning out to explore. Right after this, D rode the New York, New York rollercoaster, which he loved.

Here is D being sweet about me wanting to take his picture everywhere we go. :)



This is my "I can't look into the sun and smile" picture. Hot, I know.


We ate A LOT of food while we were there. We ate at the ESPN Zone, which might as well be called "Man Heaven." It was pretty awesome.


Hard Rock Cafe (which is actually off the strip, weird, huh?)
This picture is sweet because we're holding hands....cute!



This sign was inside the Hard Rock Cafe, I loved it.



We ate breakfast here on Tuesday morning and it was good.
We even had a 2 for 1 coupon!



And the Hoover Dam.......it's incredible. D had never been here before, or to Las Vegas. It was fun to do something with him that he had never done before. He is always taking me to do new things! The weather was perfect the whole trip, so we got some great pictures!


They are building a bypass around Hoover Dam. You can see the bridge under construction.
It is amazing, I don't know how they do that. Arizona is building the left side and Nevada the right...the plan is for them to meet in the middle. Crazy, huh?


Monday night, may have been my favorite time of the whole trip. We went to the Bellagio and the Paris hotel and the Venetian....

We watched the water show at the Bellagio....which I LOVED! It was amazing!!







When we were at the Venetian we had gelato (I had cinnamon and D had strawberry) and then went for a gondola ride, the gondola person even sang to us, and it was amazing. She was pretty funny. She told us to kiss under the bridges because there are less cameras, because you know what they say...what happens in Las Vegas, ends up on YouTube. :)
She showed us the bridge at the venetian and told us that it is said if you kiss your true love on that bridge that you will spend all of eternity together. Cheesy, but so sweet and romantic at the moment.



On Tuesday night we got dressed up and went to this...and it was AWESOME!

We also tried to watch the show at Treasure Island, but it was retarded, inappropriate and so stupid, so we left.



At some point during our trip, we went to the MGM Grand and saw the Lion Habitat. They were so cute! I love it. I could have watched them all day long. They actually have 37 lions and they live on a ranch like 12 miles from the strip. The Lions take turns being in the habitat and it is all soundproof for them, so they only hear the waterfalls. It is a $9 million habitat.







And this is just a random picture to say "Merry Christmas!"


We also went here....



And I wore these ridiculous things....

Also at M&M World, we got the niece and nephews really cute shirts!
(Kristie....put a pic of Megan wearing her's on your blog.....:)......)


And this is just another random picture D took of me.



We had a fantastic time and are so thankful that we had sometime to relax, get away and have some fun! So there you have it, nothing we did in Vegas, stayed in Vegas, because it is all on this blog!!!