Friends FO-EVAH!

WOW! I'm a guest blogger! Our cutie-patootie little Miss Talia is off with her family at Disneyland this week! (Being a Disney-junkie myself, I'm green with envy!) I'm so excited for her to return and tell us all about their first trip with the girls!
I guess I should introduce myself! I'm Kourtni and you can find my little blog over here. I've been good pals with Talia for about 8 years now! And I have to tell you... once you've been friends with someone for the better part of a decade... you're bound to have a few old and embarrassing photographs!! It's amazing that she trusted me. MUAHAHAHA! Just kidding. I will go ahead and preface this blog with my deepest apologies about the quality of some of the pictures since they were scanned in.... also for having to look at my very very very 90's style bangs. Talia darling... why did you not intervene!!?? My post today is going to be somewhat cliche in that I've decided to blog about our friendship throughout the years.

Talia and I in 2000... obviously suffering from some

lingering 90's wardrobe issues. Overalls?? Really??

When I first came to know Talia I was about to become engaged to my husband, Andy. Talia was most definitely thrust into my crazy, wedding planning, bridal obsessive life. We became fast friends (how can you not like TALIA?) and she was SUCH a jewel through it all. She ran errands with me, came to all the parties, helped out tremendously with the planning process, and listened to me ramble on and on about getting married. In November of 2001 she stood up with us on our wedding day as one of my bridesmaids. Andy and I are about to celebrate our 7th anniversary and I'd like to take this opportunity to express how blessed I am that Talia was one of my bridesmaids. We get so caught up in the planning of a wedding... the flowers, the cake, the dress... sometimes it's easy to forget that those who stand up with us are also making a commitment to the bridal couple. The commitment that not only do they support the marriage decision, but that they will pray for and encourage the couple throughout the marriage. Talia, you have most definitely held up your end of the bargain in this area... and I'm incredibly thankful for you and your friendship. Another fun wedding fact- Talia's dad performed our wedding ceremony AND her little brother Josiah was our cute ring bearer! I also *much later* learned that Talia was the only one of my bridesmaids who actually liked her bridesmaid dress.

My bridal party

Talia, Samantha, Angela, and sis Ashlei

After all of this, Talia and I only became closer friends. She was ALWAYS there to listen, laugh with, and lean on. She just radiated her cute little personality! If you have met her, you know exactly what I'm talking about!

Us in my parent's kitchen... more bad bangs.

Jeremy and Talia days after the birth of my son, Logan.

I think they were about to be engaged!

Happily, I was able to return the favor and she asked me to be a bridesmaid in her own wedding! I was even honored to host her "bachelorette party" at my condo. The highlight of the evening was definitely when we asked her a series of questions about Jeremy. Another friend and I had pre-recorded Jeremy answering the questions. For every answer she missed she had to stick a piece of Bubbalicious chewing gum in her mouth. I have no idea how she was able to keep all that gum in her mouth and still answer questions! We even made her save it in a Ziplock to show to Jeremy later. Yuck! Who's idea WAS that?? At the end of the game, Jeremy had a very heartwarming message to Talia that we played. It was very very cute.

You can see that our version of a bachlorette party was

pretty tame. My baby even attended!

Shortly after their wedding Talia and I were able to experience pregnancy together with her first child, Emma and my second, Juliet. The girls were born a mere 3 weeks apart! We fondly call this.... "The Year of a Million Little Girls". Well.... something like that. Our small group of friends managed to crank out 6 baby girls that year in the forms of Allison, Emma, Juliet, Ambria, Lauren, and Penelope. Whew!!!

I so wish I had a picture of all 6 together, but

this is 4 of them anyway.

Penelope, Emma, Allison, and Juliet

Most special to me is that Emma and Juliet share the same baptism day! It was an incredibly joyful experience and so of course it was amazing to share it with such a good friend!!!

Just look at those cute lil' babies!

Over the course of the last 8 years we've had so many experiences together. For example... last year at Easter we both assisted in putting out a real live fire that threatened to burn my parent's house to a crisp! As we sat on the patio in the middle of the Easter day- just enjoying each other's company and watching our Easterly clad children run about.... a billowing curtain that my mom had put up to keep the sun off the patio floated into the HOT CHARCOAL BBQ GRILL and caught completely on fire! As it went up in flames there was much teamwork as we jumped to our feet and Talia yelled, "THE HOSE!" ....and I grabbed the hose.... and she turned it on.... and we saved the day. Ah. Memories. There are many times of laughter and fun and sharing we've had together. And speaking of sharing... my brother is married to Talia's sister in law, Jessica! So our children share an Auntie Jessica and Uncle Luke and dear cousins Faith and Jason. I've even had my kids ask me if Emma and Annabelle are their cousins too. I've decided that if they want them to be... then why not?

This is a woman who I completely admire in many ways. Her devotion to her family... which is so apparent, her way of making things beautiful (as you've seen in many of her blogs), and most beautiful, her faith in our Lord which is evident in her words and in her life. She's a delightful, encouraging, dynamic, and lovely friend. Quickly becoming an "old friend"... and aren't those the very VERY best kind?


I wish I had more recent pictures to end my post with... but instead I'll leave you with something else.... maybe a little cuter even. Our little girls!

Emma and Juliet Easter 2006

Proudly modeling their homemade from

"Auntie Jessica" aprons.