Stay Positive

Meet Jeff. My uber-cool, artsy-fartsy little brother. He turned 24 this week. Happy Birthday Jeff!

In complete seriousness, I think Jeff is the coolest person I know. And he'll even claim that he knows me, too. I think Jeff can find good and fun in any situation he finds himself in...probably my favorite trait. He's never afraid to try anything new. He's always up for an adventure...big or small. He has a very creative mind and could have a promising career in so many things...fashion, music, entertainment. He'd be an excellent buyer, critic, journalist, philosopher, politician or entrepreneur. He has great taste in everything (except politics). So what is he doing now? Traveling the US installing home security systems. In his defense, he's making big summer bucks before school starts. He's been accepted to ASU. Nice work Jeff!

Lucky for Jeff, he was a high school freshman my senior year and got to ride the coat tails of his ever popular older sister. Jeff pretty much bought into anything I told him was cool...which made us instant friends. Why anyone would trust my opinion of cool, I'm not sure. Nevertheless, our relationship really blossomed once he entered high school. If I remember correctly, we always got along decently well, but became much better friends during those high school years. We've remained good friends ever since.

It may have been this event that sparked our friendship...shortly after this picture was taken, we were strapped together to a parachute for a little para-sailing fun. Jeff didn't weigh enough to go alone so we flew tandem. If you're wondering why we have no pictures of us flying...it's because my neglectful parents let the two of us go off to sea with a couple of strange men to strap ourselves to a parachute while they stayed safely on shore. Poor Mike was away at college and totally missed this trip to Hawaii.


Maybe we have a thing for boating.

My favorite part of this picture is not the underwear on his head, but the elastic waist shorts.
This is about as cool as it gets in junior high.
A typical winter day at the beach...

And of course I have to include this one.
Yeah...keep trying Jeff. I doubt he's gained a pound since then.

I stole this off his Facebook page...he has a thing for jumping in pictures.

Matchy, matchy green squared.
I'm not really sure why he's dressed like a midget, but I think I did that to him.

Even at this age, my mom wouldn't let us help decorate the fancy Christmas tree in the living room. We had to decorate this one up stairs in the bonus room where no one would see it. And no, those are not pajama pants.
Michael's mission homecoming.

The day before my wedding, Jeff came downstairs asking if his black shirt looked good with his dark suit. My reply was that it is not a funeral. I don't blame him for mourning when his sister was moving on. He misses me.
We made many thrift store trips back in the day...collecting beautiful pieces like the one he's sitting on...and probably the vest, too.
I'm sure something from this ensemble came from a thrift store, too.

Jeff was always around when I came home from college with my friends. My friends all adored Jeff and he frequently hung out with us. Here he is pictured with Justin Collins and my roommate Tammy.

Dad's funeral.

Jeff flew up for a visit my freshman year of college. I thought it would be funny to pick him up from the Salt Lake City airport like this...all by myself. I think we ran into the Aragons.

This is the same trip...it was Easter Sunday. My mom sent us some money so we could make a nice Easter dinner. Instead I cooked something regular and we used the cash to have fun. Sorry Mom. But I bet our memories of good times far out weigh memories of a good meal. And those were some good times!

This is one of those things I convinced Jeff was cool...dressing up for school spirit days. I think this was 40's day or something. It's hard to believe Jeff was ever shorter than me. This is only one year before the previous picture. He grew at least a foot that year.

And this is the man Jeff is today.

I miss having him around. He flew up to Ohio to help us make the move to Texas. Driving cross country with him was so fun. We haven't had that much time to hang out in I don't know how long. We had a great time reminiscing. We have made many, many, many good memories.