Marts

My Marti turned 31 this week!  I started this post a year ago and finally finished it!

I don't remember before Marti was my best friend.  We are 22 months apart and we were always "the little girls" growing up.  The last 2 kids in a family of 6.  I am so glad I got a little sister.  We had lots of matching dresses, and Christmas presents we would sometimes tell people we were twins.  We would play house or "college girls" for days before we'd have a spat and then start a new pretend play game.  We begged and begged to be able to share a room again so we could play more.  That did lead to some fights over rock collections, window stickers, and when to turn off the lights.  She would ask me to sing to her and I would sing her every song I knew.  The next morning I would ask her which song she fell asleep on and she would tell me the 3rd or 4th song.  In high school I moved out to the rock house so we could all have our own room but we missed talking at night so we would still hang out in each other's rooms and get it trouble for laughing too hard.  We love to laugh. So.hard.

We were at a Lord of the Rings and some character set himself on fire and ran off a cliff and Marti and I could not stop laughing.  The other people in the theater did not appreciate us.

I was so sad to miss her high school Valedictorian speech, we were stuck in traffic coming back from Tucson the day before our wedding reception!

My college graduation from NAU

Camping with baby Maya!

Meeting baby Charlotte right before she left on her mission!

We always have birthday celebrations for Marti at my house! She always chooses 4 layer delight!

Post mission- Charlotte and Spencer!

We both loved to read.  She introduced me to Harry Potter- we read most of them out loud together and again with dad.  We went to most of the movie premiers together.  We would argue who got to read the quittich chapters.  We dressed up as Fred and George at the last book party in Georgia with Alyn's family.

She hogged the whole athletic gene pool.  Soccer, softball, tennis, cross country, volleyball.  I went to a ton of games.  I was a little jealous but mostly proud.  I figured we were similar enough that when I finally found a boy I was interested in they would meet Marti and like her better because she's like me but more athletic!  About 8th grade, when she was in 6th people would say over and over to me, "Do you know your little sister is taller than you?"  I'm 5'1" and she kept growing to 5'6" so now I get her hand-me-downs instead of the other way around.  

We had a deal about clothes, if you borrowed something and someone complemented it you had to tell them it was borrowed from your sister.  In high school we ate lunch together a lot and we were in FBLA together.   

She left for her mission right after Charlotte was born.  She called her button because of her round little face.  By the time she came home I had 2 more kids!

After her mission she moved down here and saved my life by coming by almost every day to hold crying babies or go on outings with me.  We started running together a few mornings a week when she lived in Mesa.  She taught me to run through a side-ache and hill repeats and tricked me into running 9 min miles instead of the 10 or 11 minutes we trained for.  

Going on a zoo outing!

She is Super Auntie!  My kids know and love her!  We see her usually 2-3x a week.We eat together and hang out almost every Tuesday and Sunday.  She takes them to ball games, she comes to their games and recitals, Auntie dates, helps put them to bed, teaches them and loves them.  I am jealous they get to have an aunt like her.  It's a very cool and unique relationship.  They are constantly hoping Marti will come over or show up to things like she's a celebrity!

We've entered a new phase!  Now that my kids are older we've gone to Orlando and New England the last 2 years on girls trips!  I LOVE it!  I hope we get to do Europe or Prince Edward Island or New York City someday.  It's fun to travel with someone who gets you so well and wants to listen to Little Women in the car too!

We've always had plans to own houses next to each other so we can share a back yard.  I don't know if that will ever happen. Maybe when we're old ladies.  But it has been awesome to have a best friend my whole life!  Thanks for understanding me better than I understand myself Marti you really are the best and I don't want to know how sad my life would be like without you!