My favorite big sister

This is my sister, Alicia~ 

She's my favorite big sister! She's also my only big sister, but if I had more than just one---

I'd choose her as my favorite for sure.   

She's 3 years older than me. So, naturally, between the ages of oh let's say... 12 and 18... she spent her days wishing that I didn't exist and barricading her door so that I wouldn't touch anything in her room! But, as soon as she moved out of our parents' house, we actually became friends.  

A few months after she'd moved away to college, she invited me to come up and visit her. To this day, I remember every minute of the hour and a half drive north on I-75. It was my first time driving a long trip on the interstate, my hands were at 10 & 2 and completely white knuckled. I was terrified, but even more excited since it was the first time she'd invited me to come visit her. Not only was I allowed to acknowledge that I knew her, but I was allowed to talk to her in public, sleep in her dorm room, and meet her friends!  For those of you that don't have siblings, this is BIG---I mean it breaks all the rules!  

I remember something from each of the trips I took to see her. Some memories are sweet, like eating McDonald's together and talking about the "old days" when Dad would take us to McD's for ice cream sundaes. She always ordered the strawberry toppings on hers. Some were expensive, like the $300 trip with Mom to OldNavy--- man, can she shop! And, some memories are more terrifying, like when she fell asleep at the wheel. Yes, her eyes were COMPLETELY CLOSED! I'm sure she'll leave some comment on my blog denying that she did this but I KNOW it's true! It was the longest 3 seconds of my life!!! We were coming back from a concert, it was late, and even though we'd turned the air to the coldest and highest setting, she fell asleep! Don't worry, she quickly woke up when I started screaming, "aaaahhhhh YOUR EYES ARE CLOSED aaahhhhhhh YOU FELL ASLEEP aaaaahhhhh!!!!!!"

We made it home alive that night-- and since then have made many more memories of our times together. We're both military wives so for the past several years, we've lived in different states. Every time I get to see and talk to her is very special for me. She's always fun to talk to, has lots to say, makes me laugh, leaves funny voicemail messages and Facebook comments, gives good advice, and the list goes on and on.... There are so many reasons why I love her and here are just a few more of them.

She's determined and fit --- This is her after biking 100.8 miles in one day! Wow--- I can't even ride in a car for 100 miles without complaining. (Seriously, ask Brendon, it's true.) She actually biked 150 miles that weekend. Somedays when I'm trying to convince myself to finish my 30 minutes of cardio at the gym, I think of her on this bike ride. 

This is Alicia and her husband, Matt.  I always hoped she'd use this picture in their Christmas card, but she never did. It's my favorite picture of them. :O)

She's a military wife and because of that she understands the way my life works.  She's a Navy wife and I'm an Air Force wife, so we use different acronyms, but still speak the same language. When I found out that we were moving to Louisiana, I was really upset.  I had the most wonderful life, friends, family, and job where we lived in California--- I didn't want to move! She didn't just offer advice--- she offered her experience. She knows what it's like to move and change your entire life once every 3-4 years.  That helps me.  

She's got pizzazz!  This is her while cooking Thanksgiving dinner.  It was her first time hosting Thanksgiving at her house for our family and she did great. It was beautiful, tasty, and fun.  

Brendon, Owen and I spent a few extra days there with them after Thanksgiving.  It was so much fun~ Matt, Alicia and Brendon went bike riding around Jacksonville and I got to spend time with my beautiful nieces!  She offered to watch "the Owen-ator" (her nickname for Owen) and even let me borrow a dress/shoes/necklace to wear to our fancy dinner. As you can tell, we've come a long way--- I'm allowed to touch her clothes now!  haha 

This is the most recent picture of our little cuties together.  Oh, I just love those sweet babies! 

She sends funny cards-- I've saved this one for years because it made me laugh so hard! I actually hear her voice screaming, "It's not a decorating contest!" :O)

She keeps me laughing.  This is a picture of her fluttering around while we got ready before my wedding. I didn't even have time to cry or get nervous because she was making me laugh so hard. 

Apparently, she was spending too much of her time fluttering and forgot to bring Brendon's ring to the ceremony... oops!  This picture cracks me up--- I look so confused.  

Let me just paint a picture for you---- I've walked down the aisle, Dad's given me away, and we begin to pray.  Every head is bowed, including mine, until I felt her hand touch mine.  My eyes opened and she was leaning in.... whispering.... I was terrified! What was she trying to warn me about? Did I have toilet paper on my shoe? Food in my teeth? Was she going to tell me to run for the hills? What? 

She leaned in and said, "I forgot Brendon's ring, so you're going to pretend like you have a ring. Okay?" 

I didn't have time to ask questions because everyone was saying "Amen." 

I'm not sure if our photographer knew what was going on, but she took a super-close up picture of our hands and every time I look at it I think of how we got married with one ring.  We're such good actors, you can't even tell that I'm not wearing a ring and Brendon has my tiny wedding band on the first knuckle of his ring finger. :O) 

Alicia's also very talented! These are pictures of the crib set she's made for our family. The puppy dog set was for our cousin's baby.  The colorful zebra bumpers are for Rylee, our niece. And, the little critter bedding belongs to Owen. She puts a ton of time and effort into making these and we love ours.  Owen likes to look at the little animals while he sits in his crib, I tell him that his Aunt Lisha made it for him and that she loves him very much. 

Not only can she sew, she can paint! Isn't this beautiful?  She just whipped it up--- I'm jealous of this talent of hers because my paintings look like an elementary school art project. 

She painted the large canvases and the 3 framed paintings on the right side.  My favorite part of the artwork in the girls' room is that she put Annika and Danya's little hand prints on the canvases. 

She's very good at organizing. I want to copy her and put these hanging file holders by my door. She even made little chalkboard painted labels for the girls' bags. :O)

There are so many reasons why I love her and these are just a few.... I'm lucky to have sister like her and especially happy to call her my friend.

Alicia's quote of the week----

"I do my best work when I don't know what I'm doing. - you can quote me in your blog"