be yourself.

"simply the thing that i am shall make me live."
-william shakespeare

my birthday was in september and for the last few years i've had the tradition to go to a concert on or around my birthday. this has only been practiced for the last five birthdays of mine but it's a tradition i plan to continue. i was getting worried about going to one this year because the only people that we're coming close enough to my birthday were t swift and rascal flatts. like them both (though i really don't choose to listen to either of them on a regular basis), and i definitely didn't want to spend $100+ on a ticket. heavenly father really does care about us, even in the slightly unspiritual things...my friend alan day gave me a call and told me that the rocket summer was doing a free show at utah state september 3rd. one of my favorite bands-check. near my birthday-check. free-check. i was stoked. before the concert alan suggested that we go fly kites on antelope island. i didn't even know antelope island existed. it was very pretty though and simply fun. i hadn't flown a kite in years. i brought ash along and she was tearing it up doing two kites at once. actually not really but it looked like it in the picture. 

oops sorry for editing only this pic

after antelope island we headed to logan to camp out front row for the concert. we waited patiently through the openers (one actually wasn't too bad. ash crushed on one of them.) and finally bryce had his turn. within the first 30 seconds of him being on stage the crowd had turned into the worst can of sardines i had ever experienced. i was getting so worried for ash because even i couldn't handle it. this was ashlee's first concert by the way. so after throwing some elbows and yelling at a few huge guys that didn't even look like fans of the rocket summer, i turned to the guys we were with to tell them we needed to get out. as soon as i look at ash i heard, "i think i'm going to pass ouu...." and she was in my arms. i started freaking out, yelling at everyone, trying to get ash on top of everyone so they'd crowd surf her to the "security guards" in front. i use the term security guards with caution because they were really student government people from usu. i tried telling them during the first song that they needed to do something about the moshing but of course they were just jammin out to the music. anyways, i follow immediately after ashlee by clumsily climbing over the front rail looking like a mad woman. i was bawling, ash was barely conscious, but she was getting taken care of. we were in the back tent for a good 3/4 of the show. after weeks of preparation of ashlee and i listening to his new album and we were listening from back stage. but really it was not a big deal and it was quite fun once ash was feeling better. we even met some of the band that was playing with him that night. we were determined to meet bryce and felt like we had a good enough reason to. so we stayed after the concert (found ashlee's shoe that had fallen off during the incident) and waited semi patiently until bryce would see us. after he greeted back stage pass people he came out to us and seriously talked to us for a good five minutes. he said he remembered us (probably cause i was screaming so loud he could even hear). he signed ashlee's shoe and my new rocket summer shirt. you can see in the pictures that he was just as stoked to see us...well i actually don't know what his face is doing in the second one. but he was so real to us and was so humble and sincere. i love his music and think he's a talented musician but i also admire him for having clean uplifting lyrics and for being so real, even though he is a famous rock star. thanks ash, bradyn, alan, and especially bryce avary for a memorable 22nd birthday concert!

my sister was so sweet to me on my actual birthday. She was going to be busy and i wasn't going to be able to see her and i kept giving her crap about it being the first birthday in three years that i've been home for...i shouldn't have made her feel guilty because she went above and beyond. so sweet.
the birthday began with a surprise kidnapping to denny's for a midnight birthday snack. i had been asleep for one hour but i felt like it was already six am. i was put in a trunk, yes a trunk and driven to denny's. when we got there i thought it would just be ash, eric, kev, and ali (those who were the actual kidnappers) who would be there. all of the sudden mich and mick drive past, then jeremy, and as we were walking in andrea and rachel were just sitting on a bench by the door! i'm so blessed, seriously. my friends are the best. it got even better when winston, paul, colton, and their friends came to join us. such a fun time with them. i went back to bed for three hours, got up for class and enjoyed breakfast cereal with my family. rachel stayed in provo long enough to indulge in jdawgs (her first time) for lunch. while i was at school my adorable little sister decorated the house and my car. i can't stress how nice she is to me. without having time for my stomach to empty i headed to brick oven for dinner with my parents and the hirschi family. then kaelo and i (the september birthday girls), my mom, and eric headed to the drowsy chaperone at the hale. it was such a funny show. i was laughing all night. then eric and i went on a full moon ride up sundance with some of his friends. it's not funny how much i love the moon. it was a great birthday and i'm so grateful to my friends and family for being so wonderful to me.