my 21st birthday

I turn 21 today. yikes I can’t believe it=)

This is the 21st birthday on the 21st of August…this will only happen once. thus the reason for this post=)

The picture is of me and my brother Jonathan. His birthday is on the 19th of August. He’s 10 years older than me and for this reason we’ve always been favorite siblings=) He’s amazing and I could go on and on about all the things he’s taught me in life. Growing up he loved green beans…so I learned to love them as well. He’s the reason I do 50-100 crunches every day. He’s the reason I ran the mini marathon (check it out). Okay I’ll stop=) But let me add, he’s the best brother any girl could have =)

I’m 21 now…hard to believe. As a kid this seemed so far away and old. I still feel like the same person I was, but I know I’ve changed (my family reminds me that I have) 

My life seems so full already. But I can’t wait to see what this next year has in store for me. Honestly looking back I don’t see a lot of  “I wish I had done that differently” moments. But I do see mistakes,  I wouldn’t change any of those because I learned so much about life and myself going through them. They’ve made me into the person I am. Since my high school graduation I’ve learned so much. Here are three of the most important things.

1st:  Family is most important. They are the only people who will always have your best interest at heart.

2nd:  Learn to love yourself no matter your insecurities. Don't let them define how you feel about yourself.

3rd:  Stay true to your beliefs. People will admire you for choosing to do what’s right and what makes you happy, and not just following along with what people and your friends think is cool.

I've come to realize that both success and loss make you the person you are, but it's not so much who you used to be, but who you want to become. I would love for this next year of my life to be one of mostly success, but I know that I will be able to overcome the difficulties it has to offer as well. And how do I know this? I've survived 20 years filled with ups and downs and twist and turns. And I’ve had a fabulous time doing it=)  21 better be ready for me!

I’m starting off my 21st year with a trip to North Carolina. First trip by myself…flying and all! I can’t wait.

Mother’s Day

I know lately I have had a lot of post up about my mom…but bare with me this is the last one…I promise.

To start the day off I made pancakes, so my wonderful mom could sleep in, take a shower or whatever and not have to worry about helping fix breakfast (and she did good, she actually stayed out of the kitchen for once)

Church was packed, almost more people than on Easter Sunday…now I don’t like a service -  where when everyone stands you can’t see the minister. And this was one of those Sundays.

Anyway, enough of my complaining=)

At home all we had to do was fix a salad and decorate the cake. My amazing sister Victoria made Mexican slop and it was piping hot in the crock pot. But since the meal was just so easy to prepare it took us an hour to finally get everything together and sit down for the meal. If you ask me, I think we had too many girls in the kitchen at once=)

After the meal we opened gifts!

Then came the games. We played a trivia game about my mom. We gave her a bowl of questions that me and Christina had come up for her. (stuff we didn’t know…like when was her first date, first kiss, life questions etc.) Mom would read a question and all of us would come up with an answer and write it on a piece of paper…then she would read through all of them and the winner/winners would get a point for their correct answer. I don’t remember exactly but either Jonathan or Grace won this one. It was so neat! I know so much more about my mom now=)

The boys planted the four rose bushes we all bought her and put the sand box in. Dad picked up sand on Thursday for it and now the only thing missing is some kids - to play in it=)

The decorations! Absolutely lovely=)

A few of the party…I was so busy helping with the food etc. I didn’t get too many of this actually. And the party games were so interesting I didn’t use my camera at all then.

I love Samuel’s smile, he hardly smiles in pictures any more. and by that I mean a genuine little boy smile=)

Victoria pretty much rocks at cake making…don’t you think!?!?

Putting the sand box in…I love mom and Christina in this one=)

The many face expressions of Jonathan…oh that just one face expression=) I wonder what he was thinking about.

My beautiful mom<3

Jonathan doing what he does best - telling his brothers how it’s done=)

I seriously would love to know what this was all about….apparently dad wasn’t too impressed to start out with=)

I love my parents!!!!!!

Oh and I got one! I know they are so rare=)

So that was our mom’s special day. What did you do on Mother’s Day? or can you remember?

All Atherton Guys…but not all the Atherton guys

So we’re having new carpet put in next Monday…so excited!  Then Christina and I get to move back into our room…pictures will follow of our new decorated, painted and carpeted room. Did I say “I’M SO EXCITED!?!?!?!?!”

Anyway…they guys went a head and pulled the carpet up around the entry and put in this hardwood entry way…it’s beautiful! It’s perfect!

The three Atherton guys who laid it…=) (the other two weren’t around that weekend)

What Jonathan’s boys were doing in the meantime…

Jonathan’s many face expressions as he slowly turns around after I’ve been bugging him for awhile…=)

Gotta’ love that face!

Isaac cleaning up…this job fall to him a lot, being the youngest and all. But believe me he’s better because of it. I trust him doing anything I do (besides cooking, haha) and I can’t say that about just any of the guys I know.

Mom grading school. Never ceases to amaze me how she can do this with all the conversations, etc. going on around her.

Dad watching the clean up process…he finally sat down! (Believe me it was the first time) If I could be more like this when I’m working on a project, seriously I think I’m entitled to a break after the first hour. And any excuse will work…head ache maybe=)

The piece of wood both Jonathan and Isaac wanted to put in. Mom said ‘'NO”. yeah it’s neat and all but it would stick out like a sore thumb. What do you think?

So that’s our new entry way…enough room for all of our boots. We won’t be destroying our carpet either….so a win/win, huh?