my 17th birthday

On Thursday I celebrated my 17th birthday. First off, let me say I am 100% so happy I am not 16 anymore. I know that sounds dumb, but I hate the age 16 just because of all the "privileges" that come along with it. When you turn 16, you're expected to drive, to date, to be a "responsible adult" (oh good gravy.. what does that even mean?) anddd more. 

So! Here I am, out of that stereotypical age. 

Thursday morning I woke up early to go grab caribou before I was dropped off at the Gruba's to drive to school. When I got to the Gruba's, Peter had surprised me with a jello creation and HUGE card he made. It was like an ocean… blue jello, gummy fish in the middle of the bowl, and cool whip on top with 17 gummy worms and a couple gummy frogs too. It was the most creative thing I've ever seen a boy do, and the card was amazing as well. :) 

After class, I pretty much forced Sarah to come home with me because at this point, I thought it was going to be a pretty boring birthday. She skipped a class… talk about true friendship. hahaha. We pretty much laid in bed for an hour and sang to Rosie (story of our lives.) Then I was off to work. After work, the family went out to Texas Roadhouse for dinner and then off to Catching Fire. It was a really good movie, but hard to enjoy thanks to the lady in front of me that kept reclining her chair too far. (I'll definitely be going back for more relaxing viewing of the movie.) 

After the movie… I went home and was planning on going straight to bed. To be honest, I was really missing Ellie and Myles. They were both the first people to wish me happy birthday and I just miss them so much that I really wanted to spend my birthday with them. I went upstairs and changed and then went downstairs to "let the dog out." Well…

From L to R: Sarah, Lily, myself, Kate, Lauren, Andrew & Peter

These people are amazing. :) I think they all knew I was having a bit of a bum day, and I was so happy they were there to cheer me up. I was so incredibly happy to spend a couple hours with them into the early hour mornings. 

Can we also just recognize how much food I ate between dinner and midnight. Oh my gosh.

Overal it was a great day. Anytime we have anything out of the normal going on, I think of Ellie and Myles and the family back home. I guess I've just been used to being with them on big days. It's still amazing to me that God gave me such amazing friends that I will never forget. I am so beyond blessed to be another year older… to make it another year. 

Here's to not being 16 anymore! ;)