Happy Birthday, Tanner!

Happy 19th birthday to my little bro! He is not only an amazing brother, but one of my best friends! There are so many things I love about my brother, but here are just a few:

*I love that he is always up for anything! He is extremely friendly and outgoing and very likeable! Anyone that knows him, loves him!
*I love that he sucks at snowboarding just as much as I do. Christmas in Whistler wouldn't have been the same if Tanner wasn't on his butt as much as I was. Or if he wasn't there to literally face plant down the mountain and eat snow right in front of me to make me laugh when I was getting tired or frustrated! : ) (Except he didn't do that on purpose to make me laugh, he just really sucks that bad) : ) ha ha

*I love that he buys yummy $20 chocolate pies from Bashas and brings them to me when he stays with my husband and I...even if he eats half of it himself before we even get home : )
*I love the fact that he is very brave...except for when it comes to big-A spiders in Guatemala...then he stands on the bed and yells at the girls to kill the enourmous spiders. : ) Oh yeah, and except for when it comes to howler monkeys screaming at us and chasing us and throwing things at us...then he runs for his life!

*I love how protective he is of me. He is 6 1/2 years younger than me but has always acted as an older brother and looked out for me. He acted as my "personal bodyguard" for 4 weeks in Guatemala and never left my side. While there, he held my hand the entire way up the side of a crazy-high cliff in the pouring rain and in the pitch black dark...I was near tears and seriously thought we were going to die, but Tanner just held on tight to my hand and cracked jokes the hole way up the mountain! He protected me many times while we were there and I am quite convinced that I would have been mugged or worse if he hadn't been by my side the entire time giving dirty looks to everyone around us!

*I love that he is literally one of the funniest people I have ever met. He has always been able to make me laugh (whether I am laughing at him, or whether I am laughing with him). Every night we were in Guatemala, when I went to bed at night my abs and cheeks literally hurt from smiling and laughing so hard! I'm not kidding!
*I love that he shows off his huge muscles any chance he gets...even when he is visiting my kindergarten class. He whips them out and compares his muscles with my little 5 and 6 year olds and it makes me laugh. : )
*I love that he has the exact same sense of humor as me! Maybe that's why I find him so hilarious...He manages to make things funny that other people find completely inappropriate...like when he pretended like he was being sacrificed on the Mayan ruins in Guatemala : )

*I love what a spiritual person he is and what a good example he is to me. He matured and gained his own solid testimony at a much younger age than I did.
*I love that he is going to make an amazing missionary, and an amazing husband and father someday!


I hope you had the best birthday ever, Tanner! I am going to miss you so much more than you know when you leave on your mission...but I am thankul that we have made so many amazing memories together that I can think about while you are gone : )