Friends-this will be a long one, sorry!

I have a TON of AMAZING friends, and I just wanted to put a note out there about how grateful I am for all of them. It has been interesting to me to think about all my past experiences and realize how blessed I have been to have each one of them in my life. Whenever I have a bad day, or am having a rough go at life for a while, I can think about all the awesome memories I have with different people at different times, and see how truly blessed I am. One of our new favorite songs in this house talks about being "lucky to have been where I have been", and this is so true for me. Of course sometimes have been better than others, but we have to go through the down times to really appreciate those people and friends that we have that bless our lives. Growing up I was extremely blessed to have a great group of friends, who were all just great people. They never even tempted me to do anything I didn't want to do, and provided a great atmosphere. Then in college, I had some of the funnest times of my life with some of my very best friends in the entire world. I found my girl soulmates and will love you forever. ;) In Michigan we like to refer to our friends as "the dream team" or "the wonder years", because we just had so many awesome friends that we were so close to and really relied on each other. It was such a special experience for us to share important events and holidays with you guys, when our families were absent. It built us up, and truly made you all as close to us as our real family. And what can I say, I found more soulmates! And then back to recent history-through some really wonderful neighbors and serving in the Church I have gained lots of other amazing friends, who truly inspire me. I have been blessed with so many wonderful people in my life, and every one of you has been important in making me who I am, or better who I would like to become. So to those of you who are struggling with different things, be it physical or emotional, I want you to know that I love you and everything will work out. The doctors will do it right, the economy won't be bad forever, your neighbors just haven't discovered what a gem you are, you are so completely sweet and funny, and I love you to pieces!!!! Thank you for being my friends. Noah always tells me I have too many "best friends" but oh well, I can't help it! And just for fun a quick ode to some great memories: girls camp, shipp hall, midnight movies, scrapbooking, cleaning check pizzas, double tvs-dr. mario, roadtrips, in-n-out, jelly bellys, oceanside, double Thanksgivings, letting you cut my hair, Colorado every weekend, Blue Rodeo, missionaries-uuuggh I'm glad that's over, sleeping in the living room, Princess, first kisses, "wake up, we're in love and we're engaged!", Mormon strip poker-don't ask, ice cream, ice cream, ice cream, toilet hair washing, Lake Michigan, Tasty Twist, Halloween parties, Famous Dave's, stampin up nights, nerts, "would you wear a clown costume?" Toronto and Tim Hortons, did I mention Tasty Twist!! we're like Tom and Cruise, and two of a pea!Dr. Pepper, Statten Island and baby ice cream cartons, book club, France, petonque-we need to play again, airplane rides with 22 month olds, castles and kebabs, kebabs, kebabs! girls camp again, sit and chat, fondue, soccer games, our husband's are the same!!, and way too many more silly times to count-thanks for the rant if you made it all the way through! And I'm just too pooped right now to post some pictures, those will come later, sorry!