My Sister...

I feel it necessary to tell about these pictures tonight. Last week I was blessed to graduate from Simpson University. It has been quite an adventure finishing a bachelor's degree. In addition to being together as a family; we were blessed with absolutely beautiful weather. It was record breaking temps in the mid 70's.

We decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and walk across the Sundial Bridge in Redding, CA. My dad enjoys that type of thing and the kids all got a chance to get some energy out after sitting through the graduation ceremony.

The day was filled with many photo opportunities. We were greatful for that because last summer when my dad was here visiting from MN, we failed to take many, if any, pictures of everyone together.

These are just some of the beautiful pictures we got on the Sundial Bridge. I promptly posted the pics on my Facebook page and "tag" my sister so she will be alerted to their presence. To which I receive her thankful reply saying, "Was that your attempt at HUMOR??? DELETE the photo or else. . . For those of you that don't know. . . NO I am not six months pregnant!!! "

I find this to be very disturbing.

First, my sister has the benefit of being younger than me by 1 year, 11 months and 5 days. That in and of itself, is an advantage in this picture.

Secondly, She has always been smaller than me. An inch or two shorter but about 30 pounds lighter. I remember trying to give her a pair of size 3 jeans I had grown out of and her innocently replying, "I wear a 1 or a 0...those won't fit me."
That sure made her big (pushing a size 9) sister feel pretty darn...ugh... good???

Lastly, I think I value my family quite a bit. I will admit that the family I value is probably the one I have made up in my head. It is the family I dreamed of having instead of the one I got. It is the one I have strived to make for me and my children. So...to me...these darn pictures were pretty important. I want my friends to look at them and say..."Wow, there's Heather and Carrie. They sure grew up and turned out to be beautiful, succesful women."

So,

To my sister and her complaining...go ahead! Complain away! I think you are beautiful and you fit the mold for the family I dreamed up in my head. So, unless you somehow manage to figure out my Facebook password, you'll never be able to squash my dream family.

Oh and Carrie...I don't think you look like you ate a whole watermelon...maybe one of those cute little personal watermelons that are as cute as you are, but definitely not a whole watermelon.