Uncle Brian

Brian at our last family reunion (at Jenny's house)

Brian singing to us at a reunion.  I loved it.  I stole this picture from his facebook page.

Another facebook picture.  Brian likes to hike -- and go backpacking with the brothers.

Brian had his birthday last Sunday (the 10th) -- the day after Connor's.  Connor moaned on his birthday because Kayli told her friends that she was going to stay home for her little brother's birthday.  He didn't like being called a little brother.  It wasn't until the next day, when I was thinking to myself "it is my little brother's birthday" that I realized I call Brian my little brother, and Brian may not like it (now that he is aware).  He's not smaller than me, so I can't really call him little.  It must be a habit from years ago.  He's really my super awesome younger brother.

Derek, Connor, Kayli, and I were talking about Connor and Brian's blogs and it was suggested that I could do them together since they like many of the same things.  Brian loves to read, loves to write, is coordinated like Connor, and, at least when he was younger, had some awesome moves like Connor.  I still remember him doing a very impressive Elvis Presley, singing "He ain't nothin' but a hound dog", complete with air guitar.   Brian would also be great at doing puppet shows (like Connor).

Brian has written books, and learned to play the real guitar (as opposed to the air guitar).  He sings, and he helps me with computer problems.  He is a good dad and a good uncle.  He loves the scriptures and is a good listener and a compassionate person.  I think he is impressive.  When we were young we spent a lot of time playing together.  He did do some of the annoying little brother things, like hanging our stuffed animals by their necks and laughing when we cried about it.  Still, he had his own stuffed animals too, and he participated in our creative stuffed animal dramas (for lack of a better way to describe how we spent our time). 

A few of us had monkeys.  Jenny's was Tiny, which fit with her size, and I think Brian's was Bop because he would bop us all with it.  The name of my little monkey might have been Bo Bo.  I'm having a hard time remembering.  Clingy the mom monkey is still at my house, much to Derek's chagrin, but Bo Bo leaked beads and finally had to go.  I really was blessed with good people to grow up with, and I have such good memories of those years together!

I love Brian.  Fairly recently (within a couple of years) when we were just getting to a church parking lot for a family occasion, Brian pulled up and I said "Brian's here!" and then promptly burst into tears because I was so happy to see him.  I had to get a grip really quickly since it was time to go in.  It had just hit me how thankful I am for Brian.  He is good to me.  He has always been good to me.  I hope he had a great birthday.