Happy 28th Ladies!

Three of my very best friends are celebrating their 28th birthdays. Ellen and Josie both turned 28 today, and Emily has been among the ranks for a few weeks now (sorry Em, just remembered). Here area a few reasons why I love them so much! Ellen and I have been friends since High School - I was a bridesmaid at her wedding. We have had so many fun times together. Ellen was the first one of our high school friends to get married and have babies. We have all followed her example - got married, had a baby boy, then had a baby girl (she then had a another baby boy and another baby girl - so we have some catching up to do). Ellen is the epitome of a wonderful Mother. When we were together this summer she said something along the lines of, "I consider being a stay-at-home Mom my job. If I were to work for a company I would give 110% all day and would constantly try to do my best and come up with creative ideas. Since being with my kids is my job, I try to work as hard teaching them and taking care of them every minute of my day - just as if it were a paid full-time job." OK, so I didn't say that as eloquently as she surely did, but you get the picture of her wonderful attitude. Ellen is 100% proactive in everything she does. She is an analyzer who figures out the best way possible to do anything. When I was on the phone with her today I joked that I should call 1-800-D R. E L L E N to talk to her as she gives as good of advice at "doing the right thing" as Dr. Laura. Happy Birthday Ellen! You are amazing.

I met Josie at church on my first Sunday in San Francisco. I had prayed so hard that there would be someone in the huge city that would be like me and be my friend. Josie came walking up to me in her jazzy knee lengths boots and perfect accessories and was that answer to my prayer. It turns out that we were the very same age, were at BYU the same time, went to BYU Jerusalem just months apart from each other, and had little boys close to the same age. After meeting her, I knew I would be taken care of in San Francisco. Josie was so good at inviting us to do things and making sure I was surviving the city.

Josie is hilarious! I honestly don't know of a funnier person on the planet. She has a way with words that can cheer anybody's day. Josie makes everything fun and is the life of any party. I loved to be around her to hear what hilarious story she would tell next. She is a California girl who knows all about style - something a "country bumpkin" from Idaho could only admire. Meeting Josie has been such a blessing to me. Happy Birthday Josie!

I was blessed to have Emily as my roommate at BYU Jerusalem. I remember the first time I met her I thought, "Wow, I think I could be good friends with this girl." Little did I know that we would grow to be wonderful friends. We had an amazing time in Jerusalem and I was lucky enough to get to be her roommate during my senior year at BYU. The semester after Jerusalem was my first semester in Provo. I was living with my Aunt, had no connections to other college students, and was feeling totally insignificant. During my first minutes on campus, I ran into Emily at the bookstore. She immediately made me feel like everything was going to be OK. At the time, I was waiting for Dan on his mission and anxious to wish away the two years until he came home. Emily made me realize that life could be fun and that I needed to enjoy every moment of being a carefree single girl. Thanks Emily! Emily gives wonderful advice. She is genuinely interested in what is going on in your life and what she can do to make it better. Emily loves to learn and you feel smarter just by being around her. Happy Belated Birthday Emily!