The People I Reference

Now I talk about alot of people but here are some of my closest family and friends. Enjoy. 

These are my parents! They are super goofy!
Dad is always there for life advice and for a laugh!
Mom is always there for relationship advice and to be my best girlfriend!

This is my brother Drew! He is hilarious, quick-witted and good at anything athletic.
He is way stronger than me and much better at comebacks.
It's a lose lose situation on my end.

This is my brother Grant! He is super funny, talkative, and amazing at trombone,
He can beat me in almost anything academic wise and especially the French language.
(he helps me with my college homework)

This is my neighbor Grant!
He is one of my oldest slash closest friends and the only one who can put up with me.
He also shot me with a potato cannon which was awesome!!

This is Logan! He is my best friend!!!
He and I do almost everything together. He knows me better than I know myself.
He is super smart, hilarious, and my teacher in the art of zombie killing.

This is Zara! She is one of my best girlfriends. She is an amazing photographer, and great with kids.
She is the one I run to for help and the most caring and patient person I have ever met.
She cracks me up and gives wonderful advice and goes shopping in Newark with me!!

This is Rachel! She is my other best girlfriend!
She is also an amazing photographer and one of the goofiest people  ever.
She is open to anything and is awesome to talk about deep things with.

This is my boyfriend Chris!
He is super outdoorsy and loves to do anything that gives you an adrenaline rush.
He is super goofy, hilarious, and always smiling.
He pushes me to try new things and helps me not fall off cliffs.

This is Erin and Sam! They are my two best girlfriends at school!
They both are so funny its hard to not pee your pants from laughing!
They also keep me grounded in my faith and are always there to put a smile on my face and remind me I'm loved!






All these people have made me who I am today! I love them all because of it and I would not trade them for the world! <3

The Grinch's heart grew three sizes that day

Now, Christmas has just passed. This makes it okay for me to now sarcastically comment on traditions slash Christmas music without being put on Santa’s naughty list (everyone knows that Santa is on vacation for the few weeks after Christmas so you can pretty much do whatever you want without fear of losing presents)


Christmas has many traditions that seem normal when barely thinking about them. But, if you take a closer look at the elements of Christmas, our traditions are very strange and often times incredibly creepy.


Lets start off simple. Santa. Obviously a clear-cut case of breaking and entering. And for some reason everyone is quite all right with a large man breaking into their house, not only do we ignore this fact, but we embrace it. I mean goodness, we feed him and his mode of transportation (or maybe it’s only my family that put out carrots for the flying deer) I don’t know but I feel as though we should not be rewarding this behavior. But this is not as much of an annoyance to me as Christmas music.


I work at a coffee house year round. So immediately on Thanksgiving that horrid music is turned on. Not only is it around the house, but in the car, in stores, and even in the musical seasonal decorations that are put out.


Now this music is not normal music that is tolerable. It is small children singing in an obnoxious manner about candy canes and snow. There are also only ten songs that are well known and each song has about a million and one spin offs. In my humble opinion, this is what leads to the excess alcohol sales during the season. I mean really, they were all made during the 40’s, no one rides in sleighs anymore, and children shouldn’t be so perky about Mom cheating with Santa. Also Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is a weird film. I saw it for the first time this year and I have so many questions. Why is the elf a dentist? Why does the lion have a crown and WINGS?! And why do they hire the scary yeti to put a light on the Christmas tree? They are paying a Yeti year round to do a job that is easily done with a ladder and only takes 2 seconds. Just saying.

Sitting on Santa’s lap. A tradition in my family. This was fine and dandy…. when I was 5. Nowadays sitting on a large strangers lap while he puts his arm around me and asks me if I’ve “been a good girl this year” just seems creepy. I don’t even sit on my boyfriends lap let alone an old man who usually seems much more cheery than he should be. (I sat on a girls lap one time and broke her wrist- ya I know, skill.)

Off to chop down the tree. I have no clue who started this tradition. But in my mind it is one of the most ridiculous. To me, plants… (Wait for it)…….. Should be outside. A new idea, I know! But the fact that everyone gets to be a woodsman I guess is kinda cool. But I still feel the tree should be outside. Santa knows where to put the goods, and I mean if not, what’s the harm? I mean he already puts paper wrapped things, hanging from cotton socks, dangerously close to the fire. Also! I am allergic to trees. VERY ALLERGIC. So having a tree in the house literally makes me sick along with the fact that when I touch the tree I break out in a rash. My dog also usually drinks the tree water that makes her violently ill for most of Christmas week. Aka Barf EVERYWHERE.

This may sound like a rant to you. But I love Christmas. Some of it is just very quirky to me. But I have many things I love. I LOVE giving gifts. I don’t care if I get any I just love giving them. I also love driving in the car with my family eating doughnuts and watching the light decorations. My family also used to cut down our tree and when it was almost cut my brothers and I would lie on the ground and my Dad would yell timber as he dropped our tree on us. I love our Christmas card (it’s a collage of pictures of the years happenings). I love making monkey balls (monkey bread to the rest of the world) and eating the whole thing on Christmas morning. I love singing Happy Birthday to baby Jesus. I love setting up the Raggedy Ann collection with my Mom. And I love the cheer and love that is everywhere.

And even though traditions are weird and I am a scrooge about the seasonal music, I love Christmas and being with my family and everyone I love. So it may be a bit late but, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store? What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more. ~Dr Seuss


Three phrases that sum up Christmas are: Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Men, and Batteries not Included


I once bought my kids a set of batteries for Christmas with a note on it saying, toys not included. ~Bernard Manning