Top 5 Pictures- Kelly

Now these pictures took a little work to get into digital copies so that I could do this post.  There were TONS and TONS more, but I picked some of my favorites.

I had never had a friend that I was so comfortable with that I brought her to family get-togethers with me, until this friend.  My little cousins all knew her by name, because of course they loved her since she has always been a great babysitter and they opened up to her naturally.  I can still remember Jordan calling her Kally all of the time.  We have been through our shares of ups and downs, relationships and break ups, gains and losses, and even though our lives have become separated, I still consider her to be one of my truest, and most real friends.

This picture is from our Senior Class trip is 2005... we look like such BABIES!!!  We went to Florida for our senior class trip and this was one of the nights before we went to Downtown Disney!  That trip was such a great time, and I was happy to be able to create some memories with her!

This one is from the senior breakfast at the "Pizza Lunch Church."  Those of you who went to West York know where I am talking about.  We spent the morning of graduation together and then all went through graduation, which such a surreal moment.  One door closed, but lots of others opened as we all went our separate ways for college.

This picture is from my graduation party and also includes one of my other favorite people-- Kelly's Mom, Cathy!  Now that is a wonderful woman who raised some pretty awesome kids!  I always enjoyed spending time with both Kel and Cathy-- such great people!!

This picture is from the infamous fireworks at Sunset Lane park where we watched from Kelly's driveway.  Some years we'd walk over to the carnival for some entertainment, but many summers you could find us on her driveway, watching the conclusion together!

Gotta add my picture with Cathy from that night too <3

Now I am sure you can put two and two together and figure out that this isn't Kelly in this picture, so let me let you in on a little secret-- it's NOT!!!  In September of 2010, Kelly had a beautiful little girl named Mackenzie.  This past summer, I got to spend an evening with the two of them, and Mackenzie awed me with how smart and creative she was!  She was shy of course at first, but she opened up and showed me her true personality pretty quickly, which I loved.  

So I not only got Kelly out of the deal, I got a mini-Kelly too!  I can't wait to watch Kenzie grow up and hopefully spend much more time with Kelly, Cathy, and Kenzie (Cath-- we should re-do the spelling of your name so you fit the K theme) in the near future!!!

Top 5 Pictures- Ashlee

 You know how you can distinctly remember that roommate you had in college that you NEVER got along with??  Well I had one of those, but it definitely wasn't this girl!  My sophomore year of college, I met a girl who introduced me to Ashlee and her friend, and Ashlee and I ended up living together for not one, but two years of college.  We have gone through the ups and downs of life together and even been a part of each others weddings, and she is truly irreplaceable.

This picture was from a Halloween when I was a bee and she was a bunny.  It was one of the first times we went somewhere just the two of us instead of going out with some of our other friends, and it was a lot of fun!

This picture absolutely cracks me up.  It is from one our get togethers at our house, and we were making strawberry daquris and as you can see, they were spilled all over me.  Ash was in charge of pouring and I was in charge of holding the cups, and well.... you can see how that one worked out!

This picture is from my 21st birthday when Ashlee and my other friend Jessicca took me out for my birthday.  This picture was from the beginning of the night.  I was so thankful to have Ashlee that night because she made sure I was a-okay that night and that we made it home safely

This picture is from our college graduation from Shippensburg University.  At this point I was graduating with my Biology degree, and Ashlee was graduating with her teaching degree.  She started teaching the next year and I stayed at school to follow in her footsteps and get my teaching degree as well.

This picture is from June 2011 from Jason and my wedding and Ashlee was one of my bridesmaids.  She was a great bridesmaid and helped plan my amazing shower and helped the day go really smoothly.

This picture is from two months later when the roles were reversed.  In August 2011, Ashlee and Aaron got married, and I was one of her bridesmaids.  I love that the pictures are in the same order, just the roles are reversed!

True friends are hard to come by, and I'm really lucky to have Ashlee!  Not only do I get to spend time with her, but our husbands get along amazingly, so that's always a good thing too :-)

Top 5 Pictures- Jordan

Today I decided I would pick my cousin Jordan to share my pictures with her.  On my Mom's side, I have many cousins, but Jordan was born far enough after me that I truly remember her being a baby and watching her grow up.  When she was born, I was 11, and now she's a big bad high school student!!

This picture is one of my favorites of us, and it brings back a lot of memories.  Like I said before, we went to Disney very regularly, and we alternated which side of the family came with us.  This year, it was my Mom's side, and before we went to Downtown Disney, Jordan asked if I would put makeup on her.  Now, at the time I was a middle schooler and all I wore was lip gloss and mascara (which is still true) but MAN was her Mom mad when she found out I put mascara on her.  Oops :-)

 I also mentioned that we take a beach trip with our Grandpa in September, and this was from the year Stevie made us all matching shirts that said Stallionettes on them, and Jordan was walking the boardwalk with us.  She was growing up fast!!

This picture was from Christmas 2006, and she's starting to get some grown up teeth and look older!!  (Wow, I must be just like my Mom... I referenced her teeth).

 

 This picture is from Christmas 2006 and she is still so adorable!  She's definitely losing the baby look and becoming more of a grown up girl!!

I am not sure who took this picture, but I love it.  She is always dressed so cute, so I love her little hat.  I think we were looking at something on my phone.  This picture is from New Years 2006 into 2007

  Jordan and I needed to get a picture together since our shirts were similar.  Of course in this picture she is standing on a chair to be as tall as me, and now she is the same size as me, but that's a whole different story.

And NOW look at her!!!  This was homecoming this year, and to see how much she has grown up makes my heart happy and sad at the same time!!  She has become such a BEAUTIFUL little high schooler and has a great head on her shoulders!  "Uncle Jason" and I love you J!!!

Top 5 Pictures- Karli

It blows my mind that someone can be exactly like me, and not be my sibling.  Every time Karli and I are together, we might as well share the same brain.  What bugs me, bugs her.  What excites me (like Chick-Fil-A and extra dipping sauces) excite her.  It doesn't take much to make us happy, but some people never get it right ;-)

 This picture is from Karli's Prom in 2007.  I think it's really special that most of the girl cousins on my Mom's side share a special trend of seeing each other before the big dances.  For this one, I helped Karli curl her hair at the last minute, but seeing her all dressed up each year has helped me realize that she has grown up :-)

This picture absolutely cracks me up- it is from July of 2007 and I laugh every time I see it.  We are trying to hard to be tough, but the smirks on our faces give it away!  There are an abundance of pictures from this weekend, but this is my favorite.  It sits in a "Live, Laugh, Love" frame in the Laugh section!

This picture is from the summer when Karli and I took a trip down to Baltimore for an Orioles game.  We sat in the nosebleed section, and now you couldn't drag us to a baseball game without our guys, but it was an all girls trip, and it was fun too!

This picture will forever make me laugh.  It's one of those "you are going to tell your kids" stories.  Karli decided she wanted her hair dyed.  For those of you who don't know, Karli's Mom is my Aunt Lee Lee, who is a professional hairdresser, but hey, she was away, so I was the next best substitute.  Well, we put Karli's color on and then decided to run an errand, which took longer than anticipated.  When we got back and rinsed out her color, it was much more orange than we hoped.  Maybe it was the extra time, maybe it was just the crappy hair stylist.  Either way, it makes for a great story, but only because it was able to be fixed once her Mom got home!

Karli and I both have the same giving nature.  For her 16th birthday, she decided that she wanted all of us girl cousins to go to a nursing home and hand out flowers and sing to the elderly people there.  No, we didn't know a single one of them, but as you can see by the picture, they loved it!  She definitely is a giver and it always making other people happy!

I know I am over my 5 picture limit, but I just love this picture, so I had to include it anyway.  This picture is from one of our trips to Ocean City, Maryland, and the place alone reminds me of great times.  We always have a blast at the beach and we usually take a trip with our Grandpa once a year, but have missed the trip lately.

As I have posted before, I don't have an abundance of girl friends, but having Karli more than makes up for that.  I consider her more than just my cousin, she's one of my best friends!  I got really lucky that our family is so close and that I've been able to grow up with her!!  I hope that our children get to someday grow up as close as we are!!

Friends may come and go, but family is forever!

Top 5 Pictures- Eric

Everyone dreams of having a boy and girl so the boy can look after and protect the girl... right?!  No?  Well maybe that is just me.  Having a brother has given me the biggest headache but also the biggest protector at the same time.  Sure, the headaches outweigh the protecting, but that's beside the point.

He has had to fill "Malerie's shoes" as he followed me through school and always be "Malerie's Little Brother."  I must say he's gone a great job at being the complete opposite of me in some aspects, but we love him all the same!  I love the relationship that we have and I know that if I needed him, he would be there for me!  Sibling bonds are unbreakable!

 This picture is from our favorite place on Earth-- Disney World!!!  We have been very blessed that our parents got a Disney Vacation Club membership so we were able to go to Disney about once a year, until I went to college and couldn't take off school like you could back in high school.  Then, they went without me :-(

This picture is from our Gammy's house, and apparently someone had their greasy fingers on the camera lens (not me!!)  Notice that I have a cup of BBQ chips, typical Malerie style, so I am sure that the greasy fingers were from me!  It seems that Eric is usually busy on Gammy Sundays now, so it makes me happy that we got this picture together one Sunday when he was there.

I think Eric looks extra handsome in this picture, so I wanted to make sure it made it into the Top 5.  I came home from college for his Homecoming, which was something that I loved to do!  Seeing him all dressed up is a lot of fun!!

Here you can see that my little baby brother has grown up!!  This picture is from Gammy's too, but I love that we match!!  I normally don't think we look alike, but I can see it just.a.little. in this picture!

This is my favorite picture of us, and I think Solas Photography did a great job.  I absolutely love the background and the way the colors pop!  That's a real Eric smile and I will always cherish this picture!!!

Friends may come and go, but family is forever!!

Top 5 Pictures- Meghan

You know how you always wish that you had a little sister who you could boss around and she would do anything you asked her to do??  Well, I had one, and she was amazing at it.  That is until she got old enough to say no and tell me to do it myself (which I obviously deserved after having a slave for so many years!)

Before Meghan was born, the family of 4 was living in Dover.  When Mom and Dad found out they were having a surprise third child, we relocated to West York.  We moved from a three bedroom house with awesome architecture and style to an even more awesome brick and siding house with hour bedrooms.  

Little did my parents know, but when Meghan was old enough to go into their room and ask to sleep in their bed, when they said no, Meghan came to me and slept in my room.  Many nights turned into years and I ended up with a roommate until I was in junior high school!  They got me a trundle bed so that we could both sleep in my room, but we ended up sharing my twin bed with our heads at opposite ends.  So while they thought they needed to move and get Meghan her own room, they were wrong!  Having Meghan with me all the time has formed an unbreakable bond that I wouldn't trade for anything in the world!  She always gives me her honest opinion and I respect her for that.  I have enjoyed watching her grow up into the successful young lady that she is.

Here is my feeding my little baby doll of a sister (tell me she isn't the cutest baby EVER!)  What I really like is the face I am making while feeding her.  You know how you always smile when taking someone's picture?  Well apparently I always open my mouth when feeding a baby.  Who would've known!

And she gets even cuter!  My short hairstyle?  Not.so.much.  How about the fact that we are both wearing turtlenecks?  Even.better

But for real, you can really tell how much we love each other!

This is from my National Honors Society banquet and I think it's one of the sweetest pictures!  I loved being a role model to Meghan, and even if she went through an "I want to be anything BUT Malerie" phase, I love her anyway!

Although this is a repeat idea from Christmas morning, I think the blankets say it all.  Meghan and I get a character trait from our Mom that we are ALWAYS covered up.  I'm not talking about only in the winter, I am talking about ALL the time.  In the summer when it's 95 degrees out, I will have a blanket with me at Jason's baseball game.

I have absolutely no idea why this one is sideways, because it is straight on my computer.  None the less, this is Meghan and I to the tee.  First of all, one is tan, one is pasty white (love you Meg) and that is most always the case.  Meghan didn't get the tan genes like Eric and I did.  This picture cracks me up, as well and the last one I just HAVE to share

 

And I know I am only supposed to post 5 and I'm up to 7, but I leave you with my beautiful maid of honor

Friends come and go, but family is forever!

Top 5 Pictures- Dad

Today's post will be about one of the best men in my life-- my Dad.  I know everyone thinks their Dad is the best, but mine really is!  He has supported me through all aspects of my life and inspired me not to give up on my dreams!  His opinions are priceless and I still run some ideas past him just to get his advice!  He is irreplaceable to me, and I'm lucky to have him!

 This picture cracks me up.  It is from the end of my Junior Year of college from the Boys Volleyball banquet at the end of the season.  For those of you who don't know, my Dad is not only a great father, but he is a very well-respected coach as well.  I haven't gotten to experience his coaching from a player standpoint (he always coached boys volleyball, I wonder why he didn't want the emotional girls) but I was a manager for his teams from the time I was old enough to remember until my senior year.

This picture is from the infamous "stick your arm out and take a picture" phase of my life.  While it doesn't make for the most flattering pictures, I love Dad's smile in this one.  It is from one of our vacations to Ocean City, New Jersey when we were all out to eat.

This picture is from a get together at Gammy's where Dad and I were matching in our blues.  Of course he looks much better in blue since he has the eyes to match it, but hey, crap brown eyes aren't that bad, right?

For years my Dad has had season tickets to the Philadelphia Eagles football games.  Each season I have been lucky enough to go to at least one game with him and this is from one of those days.  I posted back in November about our latest game we attended, but the bonding time is irreplaceable to me.  We have made traditions from stopping at Wawa to getting subs to take into the game to walking around before the game.  With next season up in the air, the memories are even more priceless to me!

Is my Dad handsome or what?  I am sure you can tell this is from my wedding day, but he looks great!  Although just a picture, this summarizes how I feel about my Dad to a T.  I owe him lots and lots and I am very grateful to have him in my life!

Friends may come and go, but family is forever!

Top 5 Pictures- Mom

Today I chose my Mom to put on display.  I chose her because she has been one of the most constant and supportive things that I have going for me throughout my 25 years of existence.  And of course because without her, I wouldn't be here.

Of course I need to start out with a throwback picture, and MAN does her hair look good?!  From what I understand, I wasn't the most easy baby, so the fact that she had three more after me is pretty crazy!  She and I spent a lot of time with my Aunt Lee Lee and her son Drew since they both had off work, and the home videos are too cute for words!

 This picture is very special to me because it is when my Dad and I secretly planned a surprise 50th 25th birthday party for her at Alexander's Restaurant.  It was really hard to plan from school, but Dad was an excellent helper, and we got it done, and even surprised her!  Their surprise 25th wedding anniversary party?  That's another story since I didn't have EITHER of their help to plan it.  Thank gosh for my Aunts! (more about them later)

This picture is from my friends Emily and Tyler's wedding.  Their wedding was fabulous and it was the first wedding that Jason and I were both in together, so it meant a lot to us that Emily and Tyler invited our parents as well since we had all been at baseball games together.  I think my Mom looks beautiful here, so I wanted to make sure I included it!

The roles were reversed for this one, and my Mom and my awesome bridesmaids planned me the BEST surprise bridal shower.  I know the pictures are supposed to be of her, but in case you were wondering if they truly surprised me, I think that this proves it:

They even got Pastor Wayne in on the surprise because they had me convinced that Jason and I were there for one of the pre-marriage sessions that you go through before he will marry you.  Little did I know, they were all LIARS!  The shower was great, it was all of my favorite foods and all of my favorite people in one place!  I truly am so blessed!

The last picture that I picked was from our Rehearsal Dinner which was graciously put together by my in-laws at Bistro 19.  We had never been there and the setting was perfect!  I love this picture because it is the last picture we took together as Barton girls! 

Friends may come and go, but family is forever!

Top 5 Pictures- 3 Siblings

Since I am having a really hard time deciding who to start with, I decided to start with the 3 siblings together.  The pictures will be me, my brother Eric, and my sister Meghan.  I will provide a description for each picture so that you can fully understand where it is from.

 Of course I had to start with a throwback.  This is my first day of school and Meghan and Eric were there to see me off.  Notice Meg's bleach blonde hair and Eric rocking the Yankees gear even back then (thanks Dad!)  My very favorite are my shoes, I LOVED those shoes!

 Fast forward quite a few years, and this is the first day of my senior year.  My first car, a 1999 Mercury Cougar is in the background and I drove Eric and I to school that year.  That was one of my favorite outfits and I can remember that my shirt was from Old Navy, and my skirt from Abercrombie, which would NEVER pass the dress code at my school, haha

 This picture is from my senior year of high school and I love that Meghan has a Ship sweatshirt on.  By that point, I had decided where I was going to go to college, and she was supporting me even back then!!  Eric looks like a little baby!!

This picture is from Eric's graduation and we were SO proud of him for graduating!!  I think Meghan looks so beautiful in this picture, and Eric will be happy with the way his hair looks!

 This picture makes me laugh EVERY. SINGLE. TIME!!!  I knew I wanted a picture of the three of us at the top of the stairs on Christmas morning, but this one was icing on the cake.  If you do not know it, I am the oldest, Eric is the middle, and Meghan is the youngest.  You can see that Eric and I have outgrown the cute morning person mentality of mornings by this point, and Meghan is the only one smiling anymore.  This absolutely captured our personalities to the tee.

Finally, here is one of the three of us from a vacation at the beach in Ocean City, New Jersey.  We have been fortunate enough that most years we have all be present for our family vacation, but I am not sure that will always be the case.  This was a few years ago,  but it was right after we completed our morning competitive game of miniature golf with our Dad and some other family members.

Friends will come and go, but family is forever!