21

Another year down in the life of Lynelle. 21 isn't so bad. Do I feel how I imagined I would feel when I would turn 21? Absolutely not. I don't have as much wisdom as I imagined I would. The friendships I have and experiences I've gone through are not what I imagined would have happened when I turned 21, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. I'm blessed beyond measure. I felt especially blessed this birthday. So many friends and family thought of me and made my day special. As I get older, I've realized I appreciate notes and texts from friends and family rather than actual gifts. My birthday was about a 5 day celebration. No big parties or anything, just people who wanted to celebrate with me at different times. I will admit, I absolutely love birthdays. There is just something special about a day that's just for you. And, I enjoy looking back on my last year and see the growth and everything I experienced the past year. It's special, because each year is different. One friend asked me what is the biggest thing I've learned in the past year. I think one of the biggest things I learned was how to relate better with people. And maybe that's not really the right way to say it, but I've learned that you can't just treat everyone the same(pretty obvious, huh?) I guess I'm just sort of oblivious sometimes, and really you have to learn about people. You have to learn what you can say to them, and what you can't say. We recently took the personality test in our family, and no one, and I mean no one has the same personality in our family, which is kind of funny, but you have to learn to get along. Something I've learned is that you have to get to know each other. You have to learn what makes the other person tick. It seriously changes relationships. Like majorly. Anyways, that's what I've really learned this past year. And it fascinates me. People just fascinate me. Seriously, if you just think about your friends and family and all the different personalities, it's crazy. Anyways, back to my birthday festivities.

 After Monday night nursing home singing, I went over to Holly's and Sadie met us there and we celebrated. Oh, and Sadie and I matched (matching is my favorite)

 These girls sure know how to celebrate:)

 I don't even know what this was called, but it was so delicious. Also, have I ever mentioned that I LOVE ITALIAN. It's my favorite food.

 My sweet friends bought me this tea cup for my birthday. You may think it's a silly gift, but I love tea cups and all things fancy, so I love it.

 This lovely ladies took me to a tea room for my birthday on Saturday. I've always wanted to go there, and they surprised me by taking me there. All I was told was to dress fancy. No complaining from me.

 We even got a picture with the queen, a cardboard cutout of the queen that is.

 The girls are the best. I'm so thankful we got to spend a few hours together. It's becoming harder and harder to hang out, because everyone's schedules are different, so I cherish the time when we are together. They definitely made my birthday 10x better.

 We each got one of these as our lunch. It had so interesting things on it, but it was all very good.

 And of course there was tea. They served us about 5 different kinds of tea, which were all very good. I love tea. Actually, any sort of hot drink I love. I love coffee, I love tea, I love hot chocolate, I probably would even drink hot water if it was my only option. Anyways, a tea party was the best way to celebrate my birthday. My friends know me well:)

And then on Sunday after the singing in Washington, Kristin Fehr and I met Holly, Charity Steffen, and Lindsay Ploussard at Steak n Shake for some more celebration. Then on Tuesday night, my Dad took just me out to Lariat Steakhouse for dinner. It was special to be with just my Dad. On Wednesday night we celebrated with my family. Basically it was just supper with almost everyone home. This year my only two requests were chili and pumpkin pie. So good. I'm convinced my mother makes the best pumpkin pie. Anyways, as you can see, I was quite spoiled. Thanks to everyone who made my birthday special!