legality: the final frontier

21, yo.

i got my hair did,

ate lunch at sweetgreen,

and shopped too much.

and then i watched pitch perfect at home with my sister.

it was not what i pictured 21 to be.

but it was happy.

and happy is all i asked for.

birthday picnics and instax

my friend lexi is amazing. lit'rally.
she is so talented and generous and loving and genuine.

and lesbehonest, way cooler than me.

and she turned 18!

so she threw a picnic and made caprese salad and pina colada and it was sweet and totally picture perfect.

WHAT UP

Yesterday was my birthday.
52 minutes ago was the first day of my 20th year and it was perfect.

I slept in (cramps. also, my birthday),
ate chocolate covered strawberries in bed,
was a superb grocery shopping companion for Cameron,
talked to all my favorite people,
and was thrown a great party with amazing cupcakes by my brand new roommate.

Seriously, she hasn't even known me a week, and she did so much for me today.
It was the best.

So please, head over to my instagram to see the ridiculous amount of photos I posted today.
It's worth it?

i actually did some things a long time ago.

For McClane's birthday at the beginning of July, I sent him a box of sunshine.

It was random and mostly yellowish.  In theory it was awesome, 

and I wonder if he even got it, but I felt like I was being happy & supportive.

Then Maddy and I joined (several times) our dear friend Daniel to pick raspberries in his back yard.

I may have spent just as much time playing with Lily the sweetest dog as picking, but that's how I roll.

We took those millions of raspberries to Smithfield 

where we babysat & I made my first ever batch of jam!

I'm pretty much a domestic goddess now. 

(Also, freezer jam is the easiest thing ever.)

We also had some Aggie Blue Mint, cause how can you not?

Jean's Dream Machine 2012

In exactly two weeks and one day, the last of my more manly friends will be leaving on his LDS mission to the Philippines. (see previous goodbyes here)

I've been telling everyone lately what an awkward time of life this is!  It's not that I don't want to make friends with men older than me (trust me, I do), but it's just that all of the sudden, these boys I grew up with are all gone, and I'm trying to replace them one by one.  I don't necessarily want to, but it needs to happen.  

To celebrate his growing up and our freaking out, we road tripped it to Bear Lake this weekend!  I had never been, so at the beginning of the summer I causally suggested that we go.  Then all the sudden we were making plans, buying food, and test driving the Party Bus/Jean's Dream Machine!

We headed up Friday night after the Bountiful Parade (which I did not know existed until this week.  Pioneer Day just isn't a deal in FL, okay?!), but it lasted a lot longer than anticipated. However, we just had to stay and watch all our boys march with their fellow "2,000 Stripling Warriors."  I'm pretty sure I would have been more excited about it if I wasn't crabby about waiting to see the lake.  

 We watched them walk by twice and it took a long time.  

One day we'll find out if 2,000 of them actually showed up.

 We finally left and I took up residence as DJ.  Everybody loved it I'm sure.  Karlie took a nap because she works hard during the week making sure her pre teen campers don't die.  She's the best.  

Luckily, she slept through a scary tale about the abandoned nunnery in Logan Canyon, that Justin thought would be good to relate at 11 pm whilst driving through said canyon.  Awesome.

 We dropped by Rachel's brother-in-law's condo to get directions to the property.  At 12.30 am we pitched our tents in a beautiful meadow, then decided the bottle opener in the van needed to be used.  That moment, sitting in a crazy van with an IBC and some of my best friends, was perfect.  

I'm pretty positive that set the mood for the rest of the weekend.

Saturday we partied on the boat all day long.

Karlie was the most photogenic and beautiful of us all.  Even after getting wet.

 Justin got up on the water skis for the first time and became a real Keate!  We are so proud of him.  Karlie made a valiant effort, and I decided to be lazy.  I was raised on a sailboat, so even when I get the chance to be on a party boat, I can't help but just relax and enjoy the sun and wind.

 For the record, I did spend a good amount of time bobbing in our homemade waves in my dead baby life jacket.  The water never felt better.  And as the palest one in attendance, I feel it important to mention that I was the only one to come away without a sunburn.

Saturday night, we may have made Justin light his own birthday candles and barely managed to squeak out "happy birthday!"  Oh, wait. That was just me.  I managed to go from happy & tired to so sick in about 2 minutes.

Sunday morning I made everybody wake up earlyish so we could get out of there and back home so I could shower and make it to church to hear my sister speak in my aunt's ward (twist!). 

Once I had a good long nap and actually thought about the crazy weekend I just had, I couldn't believe how wonderful it was.  As my dear uncle always says, it was "a little slice of heaven."

chasing pavements

Last Saturday, I had my family birthday party for the big 1-9!  

It was coincidentally the same day as Lauren's and Eleanor's.  

They only overshadowed me a little because Lauren announced she's pregnant and Eleanor is 1 and adorable...

Anyway, this year it was Safari themed!  Usually my Uncle John and I share this partay, because his birthday is just a week after mine.  But this year we got cousin Clara who was lucky enough to be born at the end of January last year, and cousin Matt (who sported an impressive loin cloth) whose birthday is today!

We didn't get any group shots because we were just so excited/tired, but it was so fun.

the monkey in his natural habitat.

loin cloth/voodoo baby birthday boy.

aminal prints! 

tour guides love their khaki.

the most bromantic photo.

filled cupcakes:)

Until next year!  I gotta go live up my last teenage year and do some homework and stuff.