a married twin.

before i left on my mission, 

i shared some deep thoughts about rae,

and the love i have for her.

well somethings never change.

sure i have to share her now,

but there are worst things.

all my life i have felt like the pioneer of the family.

the example that everyone looked up to.

and it never really bugged me.

i honestly love being about to look at what others have done

and improving. make it all my own. 

and having someone there to take it from me

and keep it going.

i think that's honestly why i loved training sisters on my mission.

it was difficult, and there were several weepy nights,

but i grew.

and as i read emails from my family each week,

i realized that we were all growing.

sometimes when you don't see the progress daily

you see the progress actually happening.

the "ah ha" moment after you step back

and get a better view.

rae got married. 

and it was probably the hardest thing for me to grasp.

because one, IT'S A HUGE DEAL.

and two, it's an important first that i didn't make first.

and i was kind of jealous for a little.

(after getting over the initial shock of a having an engaged twin sister).

i couldn't be the first daughter married.

but then it hurt.

because she would have to take this journey without my full attention.

i was just another friend, far far away.

growing up is kind of hard...

and watching your best friend do it alone

was really hard.

but you know what?

she did it.

photo creds to a twist of lemon photography

and dang didn't she look good doing it.

now that i have met my brother in law in person

it makes the realization that she is married a little easier.

i know that eric is a good man,

and that he will treat her right.

she's in good hands.

and now we can do a lot of things that it hurt me not to be able to do.

we can go to the temple together (check!)

we can talk about all that we have seen.

and we can enjoy the promise that if we are faithful,

we will have eternal life.

"Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, 

feasting upon the word of Christ,

and endure to the end, 

behold, thus saith the Father: 

Ye shall have eternal life."

2 nephi 31:20

isn't that promise enough to make you happy forever?

well, hello there

so it's been a while. life got pretty busy there.

i have gotten back from my best eighteen months in nicaragua.

to check up on how that went, go and check out

hermanagraves.blogspot.com

it really was an adventure of a lifetime, and i would love to spend all day

talking about how amazing it really was.

since moving back home, i have seen lots of friends,

spent a lot of fun time with female role models in my life

getting adjusted to the rm wardrobe,

worked, and most importantly, fallen in love with these guys again:

photo creds to darrin perryman photography

we took family pictures right before i left for my mission
and thanks to weekly emails, i somehow survived the
eighteen month sabbatical from daily life.
lots of pictures, and lots of spanish vocabulary words,
made the adventure interesting to retell.
but this time, i got to be there, and that was special.

i am now back to school, trying to get my lazy butt
excited to be at school again.
i have some good motivation hanging over my head,
so there isn't much time to waste.

rae got married to a cute guy named prince eric
and they are great. waay cute couple.
it's a plus that they live a few blocks away too.

bug went to the other blue school
and we have to learn to love the weird again.
#showmethescotsman

russman got big. watch out world.
a stud muffin is a cooking.
chris is as tenderhearted as ever,
and has become quite the little adventurous one.
still holds out for the football player dream,
but there may be some growing that has to happen first.
hannah is the little princess.
she's the only little girl left in the house
and i don't think she will let her brothers forget it, either.
spencer is into everything sports,
which really isn't new to me.
the kid can't think straight if it's not raining outside.
he loves playing outside...


i love my family and i can't believe that
we made it through eighteen months.
congratulations family.
we rock.