My Forever Friend

This gorgeous young woman turned fifteen today.

Would you believe, that just fifteen short years ago, she was this beautiful baby girl?

It's true, but I can hardly believe it myself. You see this beautiful girl is my baby sister.....

I know, shocking isn't it.
Over the years I have had the privilege of watching her grow into the amazing young woman she is today. She is absolutely gorgeous.

Inside and out.

She is kind and polite to everyone she meets, loves and cares for those fortunate to be in her life, and a great listener for anyone wanting to talk. That's probably why people love being around her.

 She is extremely athletic and talented,

and she works hard at everything she does.

Most days she can be pretty girly, always picking out cute outfits, styling her hair, doing make-up and talking about boys non-stop.

She doesn't need any of it though, she would be drop dead gorgeous if she still dressed like this....

(on second thought, you might want to keep the cute outfits Booga!)

Even though she looks pretty girly, don't let her cuteness fool ya.

This girl ain't afraid to get dirty.

She loves being outdoors whether it's camping, climbing, hiking, or just a plain old romp in the woods. My baby sister is tough as nails and can do anything she puts her mind to.

I don't think she's afraid of anything.

If she is, she does a damn good job of conquering those fears.

She is a million different things all rolled into one perfectly sized person.

She is loyal and a great friend.

She is hilarious,

playful,

extremely goofy,

 and as she likes to point out all to often, a pretty good ba-donk-a-donk.

Best of all she's my sister, my forever friend.

 

Never try to be someone else, because you are perfect just the way you are baby girl. You are perfect as you.

I love you Booga!

Love, Jo

The Greatest Man I Know

Today was this wonderful man’s 40^th birthday.

He is a very strong, smart, gentle, playful, loving individual and an amazing father to his 4 children. I should know I’m one of them.

I couldn’t ask for a better dad, because I don’t believe a better one exists. Maybe I’m a little bit biased, but my dad is pretty great. As I was growing up he taught my siblings and I right from wrong, the value of hard work and much much more.

As I look back I have countless memories with dad of hide n’ go seek in the dark, foot races down the street, tucking me into bed, costume parties, learning to ride a horse, camping trips, climbing excursions, building snow forts, playing various other odd games.....

  

and wrestling (we were always wrestling).

He’s always there to cuddle up next to the t.v. with after a bad day at school. Always ready with a hug and a smile to brighten your day. He gives the best advice (even though I don’t always take it) and is always ready to help me with anything I need. Whether it’s pushing me to get back on a horse after a stay in the hospital or to let me know “there’s more fish in the sea,” I know he’s always got my back.

Sometimes he even helps me fly.....

He’s full of weird and inappropriate comments and thinks he’s way funnier than he really is, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

 

His weird sense of humor and ability to make anything fun has rubbed off on me, I think it’s rubbed off on all us kids.

    

He's extremely ornery and mischievous always ready to play a prank or give us a hard time. You can always tell by the look in his eyes.

My dad is a wonderful example and he has taught me so much. He’s taught me how to work hard for what I want while having the mind set to enjoy work. He’s taught me how to have fun and be myself, how to bless the people around me, he even taught me how to dance. Most importantly though he taught me Gods’ Word. Whenever I had a hard day growing up, I remember coming home and dad reading God’s Word to me or praying with me. He did the same when I was sick or hurt and I always felt better afterwards. I couldn’t ask for a better dad, he’s the best there is. I’m thankful for everything he has done for me over the years and everything he has taught me. I am grateful to be able to continue to learn from him and for his willingness to teach me. 

  Happy Birthday Dad! Thanks for all you do, I love you so much!! :)

Dream BIG!!

There are so many things I want to do during my life, so many places to see, people to meet and goals to accomplish. So a few years ago I decided to jot all those things down and scratch them off as I complete them, sort of a bucket list I suppose. Tonight, for whatever reason, I decided I would share that list with y’all. Mainly, because I’ve had writers block for the past week and don’t know what else to write about. So here’s my Bucket List, in no particular order. Enjoy!

Bucket List

»       Learn to play an instrument

»       Speak God’s Word to an unbeliever

»       Continue to grow in God’s Word everyday

»       Fall in love and marry a man who has a working relationship with God

»       Have my own kids

»       Ride an elephant

»       Experience a legit Notebook kiss

»       Learn to cook a real Italian meal

»       Watch the Northern Lights

»       Spend an entire summer night doing nothing, but watching the stars from sunset to sunrise with someone I truly care about

»       Walk along the beach at night with an amazing guy

»       Never stop learning new things

»       Slow dance in a summer thunderstorm

»       Go white water rafting

»       Get married at a truly beautiful location in Kansas

»       Get my Bachelors degree in Animal Science and Industry

»       Get my Veterinary Assistant certification

»       Go to Veterinary school

»       Own a pet otter

»       Raise and break a horse on my own

»       Carry on my Grandma Bader’s holiday traditions

»       Read everything published by Edgar Allen Poe, Shakespeare, Mark Twain, and Steinbeck

»       Go bungee jumping at least once

»       Skydive

»       Learn how to base jump

»       Tour the entire country of Italy

»       Visit all 50 states and see their National monuments

»       Hike in every National forest

»       Swim with Dolphins

»       Scuba dive in the Great Barrier Reef

»       Learn to surf

»       Sit on top of the Hollywood sign

»       Backpack across Europe

»       Go on an African safari

»       Hike across the Galapagos Islands

»       Visit Greece

»       Learn to belly dance

»       Go on a cruise through the Panama Canal

»       See the Himalayans, Niagra Falls, Mount Kilimanjaro, and Mount Everest.

»       Visit the Australian outback

»       Go on a Jungle expedition

»       Experience an earthquake

»       Find something I’m passionate about and hold on to it

»       Go skiing and/or snowboarding

»       Learn to skateboard

»       Visit all of the 7 wonders of the ancient world, new world and natural wonders

»       Learn how to bow fish

»       Become fluent in Italian and Spanish

»       Stay best friends with my siblings’ my entire life

»       Never regret anything, but instead learn from my mistakes

»       Conquer ALL my fears

»       Write a song and a poem

»       Explore the Amazon

»       Spend at least a year away from everything I’ve known my whole life

»       Always appreciate the little things

I realize several of the things on this list are ridiculous, but it’s my list so I don’t care. :) I keep adding to it as I think of new things, hopefully I’ll get to achieve all of them. I realize there are a lot of things on this list and they’ll cost a lot of money, but hey if you’re going to dream you might as well dream big. So that’s what I’m doing, dreamin’ BIG, big as the ocean blue!

Do you have a bucket list? If you do share it! If not, you make one, its fun. DO IT! Here’s a song to help get ya started. :)

That’s All For Now Folks!

Why I Write

Writing is freeing, writing is wonderful, and writing is….tricky. Well it is for me at least. I absolutely LOVE writing it’s one of my favorite things to do and I like to think I’m good at it. I can put off writing a 5 page essay for weeks, then the hour before it’s due the words will just fly from my fingertips. I’ve done this all through high school and college and never gotten a grade lower than a B on any of my papers, the only reason I’ve gotten that low is because I’m horrible at grammar. Writing is just so easy and natural for me, but I also find it….well tricky.

Writing is freeing, you see I’m awful at having serious conversations with people; it is easily my biggest flaw. This is mainly because I HATE talking about feelings. For some reason I have this thought that if I tell people what I’m thinking or feeling they will think I’m crazy or stupid and make fun of me. I know the probability of them actually doing that is extremely slim, but that one little thought becomes a ticking mind bomb. When I have to have a serious conversation with someone I start freaking out, I stumble all over my words, I have a million thoughts running through my head, and then I completely blank on what I want to say. I’ve tried to get over this stupid flaw by forcing myself to have serious conversations with people, but this tiny little mind bomb always ends up exploding. I’ve only been able to have a serious conversation with two people in my life without tearing up or walking out during the conversation. One of them is my older brother, the other my best friend since 8^th grade. I HATE talking about my feelings, telling people my deepest thoughts and feelings makes me feel weak and powerless. It makes me feel like that person will somehow use the information I’m giving them against me. I know most of the people in my life would never do that, but that thought is still there. To me that is the worst thought and feeling in the world. So I avoid serious conversations like the plague. When someone asks me a personal question that I know is going to lead to a serious conversation I freeze; I get super quite, I will tap either my fingers or foot, and I wait for them to change the subject or I give them a short answer, avoid eye contact and walk away. Over the years I’ve gotten better at forcing myself to have more and more serious conversations with people, but it still freaks me out every time, so instead I write. I write down all my thoughts and feelings, I write exactly what I want to say and it always flows the way I want it to, without any interruptions. By writing down all my thoughts and feelings I can keep myself from bottling everything up, but at the same time I can avoid talking about it. Writing is freeing.

Writing is wonderful, it allows me to vent in a way. Since I’m no good at serious conversations, I write down all my thoughts and feelings instead. I know it’s a bit ridiculous, but it’s a way around my stupid little fear. Writing is my escape from reality. When I write the words just flow, I can write about anything I want; my inspiration, my dreams, my feelings, my day, a story, anything. I write almost every day, I can just sit down in front of a blank page not even knowing what I want to write about and after about five minutes ideas just start flowing and words fill up page after page. The blank page won’t judge me for what I tell it, it won’t laugh at me, or think of me any differently. It just lets me fill it up with all my deepest thoughts. After I’m done writing I always feel a huge sense of accomplishment, almost like a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders. I may not have been able to have a serious conversation, but I was able to tell that blank page everything that was on my mind and I was able to do it without any interruptions, judgmental looks, and a mind bomb exploding. When I write I can choose to be as vague or as descriptive as I want. Usually when I’m in a bad mood my writing is short and abrupt, but when I’m in a good mood my writing is long and elaborate. I can paint a picture of my thoughts so you’ll feel like you were there, like you lived it. I can’t do that in a serious conversation so yes, writing is wonderful.

Writing is….tricky. I usually do my best writing when I can’t sleep, I wrote my first blog post around 2 in the morning while fighting to keep my eyelids open, it only took me about an hour and a half. Right now it’s 11:00 at night and I’m having a hard time ending this post. Ridiculous! When I write during the day I feel like the words never flow as well, almost like I think too much when I’m writing instead of just writing. Also, if I walk away from my writing for longer than a couple minutes, I have to start completely over. I’m not sure why, but it’s suddenly not what I want to say anymore. If you were to go through my computer you would find tons and tons of half written documents. It’s a problem. Writing is tricky. On top of that writing for a blog is scary. Since I mainly write about my personal thoughts, feelings and experiences it’s extremely scary to share my writing, and I will never share my writing before it is finished. Since I never finished a lot of my writing, I never show it to anyone. This blog is the first time I’ve attempted to finish my writing and the first time I’ve shared my personal writing with the public, so if there are long periods of time in between posts I apologize. All I can say is writing is tricky.

A few quotes I love about writing… 

Writing is the best way to talk without being interrupted.
Jules Renard

For me, writing is exploration; and most of the time, I'm surprised where the journey takes me.
Jack Dann 

Write something to suit yourself and many people will like it; write something to suit everybody and scarcely anyone will care for it.
Jesse Stuar