Ode to a little sister

I recently had the chance to take my little sister, Miriam's family pics. I was editing them and ready to post a few to my photography blog when I decided I had other plans (you can see the pics of my beautiful sis and her beautiful family at http://annamariemillerphotography.blogspot.com/).

Miriam was born when I was 23 months old. I dont remember that ;) What I do remember however, is cutting off the hair of her brand new Barbie, and telling her it had cancer. My mom made me give her my new Barbie.

I remember being such a smart cookie. No really. I decided I wanted to carve something, as all children do, into the dresser. And as any smart child knows, you DO NOT carve your own name. So I carved Miriam's name into the dresser. My parent's came a yellin' soon enough. She insisted she didn't do it. Of course, they didn't believe her. I remember them saying, "Oh really? I'm sure it was Anna who carved YOUR name into the dresser" And she received her punishment.

I remember (in spite of what I have told you thus far) being a timid child, while Miriam, was....not. And thus began the pattern of me daring Miriam to do anything I didn't dare do. That way, if it turned out badly, I would know before I was the one in over my head.

Case in point: One day we went out to the Huntington Lake. We went in the back side where there was a rope swing. I was not the rope swing, type. Miriam, on the other hand....so like any chicken big sister who wished she were a little more daring, I said, "You go first, you're the brave one!" Never one to turn down a dare, off she went flying through the air and into the...barely inches deep water. One or two hollars later, we were carrying her out of the water and out of the park. Yup, foot was broken.

I remember many fights about her taking and wearing my clothes. I clearly remember the day my father told me, "Someday she will be your best friend." I just as clearly remember rolling my eyes thinking my dad was a complete idiot if he thought she and I would be friends.

I remember teasing her ceaselessly about how the boob fairy skipped over her and visited me twice. Oh wait, I still tease her about that. The height fairy did the same thing.

I remember one small bathroom and 3 teenage girls. And I vivdly remember 1 small bathroom and three teenage girls - with PMS!

Don't let me make it sound like I was a trouble maker and poor Miriam was the victim. I assure you, Miriam could hold her own! One birthday, I got given a *songs from heaven* Tetherball! I was so excited. We headed up to the park with the whole family to play. Somehow Miriam got hold of it and was holding it over her head, threatening to throw it as hard as she could, just because she wanted to (it wasn't attached to the pole at the time). I very calmly said to her, "If you throw that, I will hit you as hard as I can." She threw it. I hit her has hard as I could. My parents watched the whole thing play out and told her, "She told you...." The only time I ever hit anyone.... And Miriam did get her hands on a knife or two in her day. You'll have to ask Rachel about that one....

I remember when one day my dad was right. All of the sudden, she was my best friend. All of the sudden, I didnt care if she borrowed my clothes. In fact, we readily enjoyed sharing each other's wardrobes (as much as the 6 inche height difference would allow that is!), talking late into the night about boys, kissing, clothes and girlfriends.

So here is my ode to my little sister. Miriam, I love you! I am so thankful I have you as my little sister. I cherish every memory we made growing up, even the ones that caused you broken bones and trips to the ER :) Stay beautiful, inside and out, as you always have. You are amazing.

Love, your big sis.

P.S. Rachel, I haven't forgotten you babe...that's for another day ;)

A week of Dancing...

Wow. We survived last week! Amazing. Oh, and for those of you who don't remember me, I am AnnaMarie and I used to blog ;)

Anyway, last week was insane. Monday, Savannah had gymnastics, as well as rehearsal for her ballet/jazz finale. Tuesday at noon, I had my rehearsal at the Civic Auditorium for my ballroom performance. Tuesday at 4, Savannah, Mason and I all had our dress rehearsal for the year end ballroom concert. We finished up with that about 10:00pm. Wednesday evening was our performance. First of all, let me just say that Staci puts on an awesome program and it was amazing!

Savannah performed first. Her mini's class did 2 numbers. The first one was "Wishin' and Hopin'" and was so cute. Then they did their "Who let the Frogs out?" cha cha, which she loves. They were adorable! Sorry for the upcoming photos that are so small. My FTP is down and I can't get to the full size files (I will replace them when my FTP is back up) so this is all I have!



Mason performed a little later on. They did their "Lollipop" cha cha and their "Shake your Groove Thing" disco. That one is so hilarious!



I performed later on....eek. Anyway, we did a cha cha/samba/jive medley to Mama Mia and had a great time. We started off wearing robes and each doing some sort of household chore. I was sweeping. Then we moved to the side of the stage and took off our robes (yeah, I stripped on stage, for the record ;) and dropped our props. Then we did our dance. At the end, we all fell on the stage in exhaustion as the lights went down. When the lights came back up, we were still laying there. The announcer said, 'Ladies? Ladies?" and then they made the boys come pull us off the stage ;) Aren't we funny hehe...

The entire program was so great! My kids have both loved being a part of it this year and they cant' wait for tryouts next week to see which team they will be on next year.

Thursday night was Savannah's dress rehearsal for her ballet/jazz recital for Dance Unlimited. Friday night, Mason had a performance at the church for a ward party. He did both of his dances and did a great job.

Saturday night was Savannah's year end recital for Dance Unlimited. She performed "I'll be there" ballet number, and "Popsicle" jazz number, as well as a little cha cha number at the end with the boys hip hop class. She did so great! Afterwards, after she chastized me for not buying her flowers (telling me, "fine, I'll just get made fun of then"), we went out to eat with her best friends, Maycie and Taylie, and their family. We had a great time together!

I am so proud of both of them for the job they did! While it was exhausting, it was a fun week and they did amazing!