FAMILY

Oh Goodness...Family; You can't live with them, and unfortunately you can't live without them.  You can't hate them without loving them two minutes later.  You can't call them a name without complimenting the after.  And you can't smack them in the face without feeling just a little bit bad after. . . 

Now I may not be an expert on the whole living without them part, but I do have a good, long 17 years of experience of the Living With. . . 
I have lived in Utah with my mother and father, my two sisters and two brothers for my entire life. Well, from the time they were born..That makes seven people, including me. I've been in walking distance (or short driving distance) of five uncles, five aunts, and 14 cousins. OH, and we can't forget about uncle Mike:)
PLUS, I have great aunts and uncles & other distant cousins, not to mention the most amazing Grandma in the entire world! 
So..  7 + 10 + 14 + even more... = a lot. 

So basically, I know a little something about la famille: The ups, and the downs. The positives and the negatives. The things that will be missed, and the things that most definitely will not  be missed. 

Anyway, I've heard that when you are a member of a large family, you have no privacy. But I'm not sure if that's true because I'm not even sure that I know what privacy means..
(Ha Ha, see what I did there?)
And even though I have nothing to hide, I really would love to experience this whole privacy thing. But that's clearly not gonna happen.  
Another thing is, the constant feeling of being on L o c k d o w n. 
Like, curfews suck. 
There's nothing fun to do around here until like eight or nine o clock. 
Or when your parents think they can relate to every problem they think you're having & they totally can't. 

And it seems like, with my family at least, that there is always something negative to be said. I even catch myself doing it, and I don't like it at all. 

"Family Time"...Oh my goodness, really? I don't know how many hours are in a week, but a lot of those hours are spent with family.
Or when they say we need to study, or that we don't spend enough time on school work...We're at school for 7 hours a day for 5 days a week plus homework! AHHH! 

I can't bring friends home because my siblings don't leave them alone. 

Parents say they know what it's like to be a teenager, but that was atleast 25 years ago..They don't know much.

Now for the lovey dovey stuff... <3

Having family everywhere is probably one of the greatest blessings I could ever have. How lucky am I to have hundreds of my Best Friends so close to me, and six of them in my own home.
I always have somewhere to go where I know I am welcome, and loved. 

We laugh together.
Oh boy, we most definitely laugh together...&Those moments will be some of my best memories.

We even Cry together.

Which isn't as fun, but it always bring us closer. And those moments will also be some of my best memories. 
plus so much more. . . 

I've recently learned that the quote, "Friends come and go, but family is forever", is 100 percent true. 

And I hope and pray that I will never, ever forget that..