My family, my family, reminds me of a bagel.

People, people...calm it down! I know. You're all really upset that I've abandoned my blog and haven't updated you on my life in forever. I apologize. I should be more considerate of your feelings. I know reading my blog is the highlight of your month. I will try to be better. There. Are we all okay? No hard feelings? Alright...then we can move right along.

Wow. My last post was about Christmas. A LOT has changed since Christmas. The biggest change probably being...well you know...how I now have a...I mean I'm...it's my first...I started...using liquid eyeliner. Woo. I'm glad I got that out. ;)

So this last weekend and the weekend prior I had the chance of watching 5 WONDERFUL session of General Conference. Conference is the BEST! It's hours and hours of spiritual uplifting and answers to questions you've been pondering the last few weeks. I love it. This conference the topic of family and marriage seemed to be mentioned a thousand times. Which resulted in a ridiculous amount of people telling me they were engaged in the following days. While the talks didn't cause ME to hear wedding bells (because I'm not INSANE) they did give me an overwhelming feeling of gratitude for the family I do have.

SO. In the spirit of gratitude I decided to write a blog post explaining why having a big, loud, crazy family is the BEST.

The title of this post is actually a great example of the point I want to make in this post. SO many inside jokes. From Moroni talking about the thousands of car cases spread across the land to reciting in unison "We're all Pelley's here!"...dinner at our house can be confusing unless you learn to tune out the crazy.

Sooo many hand me downs. This can be good and bad...no Emy I PROMISE overalls are totally still in! Everyone will be totally jealous of your awesome skort! Shoulder pads are ALL anyone is wearing nowadays. Lies. All lies.

Kids without having kids. I love my little nieces and nephews SO much...and the fact that I get them without having to go through that whole childbirth thing makes them that much better. I can play with them all I want, but when I'm tired I just pass them back to the parents and go and take a nap.

Trial and error. Without the trial part. I never had to bleach my hair, dye my bangs with Kool-Aid, or come off a plane wearing a sombrero to know it would be a mistake. I watched and I learned.

There is always someone you can talk to...no matter the life situation I can pretty much guarantee one of my family members has already been through a similar situation.

Big enough team for family feud! Who wants that random second cousin on your team??

Protective older brothers. I know if I ever need to have someone beat up I have 4 older brothers that would help me out. 

Always someone else to blame.
Midge: Who moved my stuff??!! Me: Midge you know I respect your belongings...but you know Rich was over earlier and I saw him just throwing all your things on the ground. When I pleaded with him to respect you he started spitting on your backpack...so I thought it best to just let it go.
Mel: Get OFF MY DOOR. Me: I didn't touch your door...Matt however was just boasting about how he could do anything he wanted and you couldn't touch him...so he sounds like a prime suspect!
Dad: who finished my cookies!? Me: Oh...jeez dad I'm pretty sure when I pulled up I saw Ana running out of the house waving Oreos in the air and screaming, "Danny I got them!" So...one can only assume...
Mom: Wow! Who cleaned out the dishwasher!? Me: It was Ana! Wait...

This brings up an excellent point...being at the end of a big family also has the benefit that your parents brains are basically mush by the time they get to you. So dad would totally believe that crazy story. You're probably thinking...Em you realize Dad reads your blog right? The answer is yes. But you weren't paying attention...remember my parents are old now. He might be mad now but he'll forget all of this by the time I come home.

Just kidding pops! Everyone knows you're still sharp as a tack! I mean look at you in your uniform. Still killing it.

Their friends. Older brothers meant older brother friends hung out at our house which meant plenty of boys to crush on. Unfortunately, I found the transition from best friends little sister to potential future wife is harder than one would think.  

In-laws. My family is constantly growing and changing. I love seeing the size of our family table(s) grow and grow as my siblings marry wonderful people. They also occasionally give you a chance to go to Mexico in December.

You get text messages like this:

That pose though. On fleek.

Never feel like a failure. Sometimes life is hard. Sometimes you fall down and it seems impossible to pick yourself up. Sometimes you're planning to move to another state where you don't have a job or a living situation and you're afraid that you will end up living on the streets. But no matter how alone or scared you may feel you know for sure that at least 9 people love you. And sometimes that's all you need. (Plus at least one of those 9 people has offered us a spot in her backyard to campout if all else fails #blessed)

My favorite family picture to date.