"Families are okay" -Eleanor Roosevelt probably 

I'll start with saying I personally love my family a lot. I'm the youngest of my two sisters and two brothers. This kinda gives me a good perspective of how to deal with family in your twenties. Because when you get older, family changes a whole lot. My family grew twice the size, and now I have a million other siblings in my life. 

Out of the above people you see, I only grew up with two of them. Below are the idiots I grew up with, (minus my oldest brother Matt).

The gawky santa in the back is my brother Zach, the girl with glasses big enough to be seen in space is Jenna, the girl with most likely my Barbie doll is Laura and I'm the unbathed rude little girl in front. Together we were chaos. 

Now having my siblings grow up faster than me was an interesting transition into my adult life. I saw what high school might be like, then college and then post college life. Each of them a little different, I saw multiple paths to my future and how to get there on my own. But at the time I hated it. I hated when they left home, I hated when they moved out, and I hated the idea of having to share them with their own families. Now I was young when having these feelings and I didn't know I would actually love my in-laws more then my blood siblings; I wish I could have understood what was going on. 

Well here it is, they were growing up. They were moving on in life. Things change. 

And it's a good thing!

Now below I am going to list a couple things I wish I would have known about a family growing up. Because readers, you are adults now! Your family is going to change, if it has not already.  

WEDDINGS

Stress stress stress. No matter what they say, it's stressful. Even at my brothers wedding, at age 8, I was so stressed out about not getting red lipstick on my dress I barely enjoyed the getting ready. I also did end up getting lipstick all over the front of the dress, and had to borrow tide from the mother of the bride.

Tips on a stress free wedding day

1. It's not about you, it's about your sibling. Do what you can to make their day easier and maybe don't put red lipstick on your white flower girl dress.

2. Go over your speech ahead of time. No matter what you think of yourself, you are not a stand up comedian or inspirational speaker. Type out a speech and stick to that.

3. Make sure the guests are having a good time and your sibling is having a good time. Make sure they eat and don't have to fix any messes that occur.

Here are three pictures from three of my siblings weddings! 

IN-LAWS

It's really not someone who takes your sibling away from you, it's getting a new sibling that will treat you better then the sibling you already have. In-laws are awesome.

Tips:

1. Include them in family events. Let them be apart of your sibling dinners and outings, they want to be included!

2. Get to know their family, try to take interests in what they like. My brother Stu is the biggest Auburn fan in the world and now I love Auburn too! And it makes our relationship better.

3. Hang out with them without your sibling. You want to be able to get to know them for them, not just what your sibling says about them. Plus you can dish about what makes your sibling the worst.

Here are the before and after pictures of my family.

Because of Zach, I have Nikki.

Because of Jenna, I have Stu. 

And because of Laura, I have Travis. 

And Lastly, 

NIECES/NEPHEWS

There's nothing better then having a niece or nephew. These children are like your own, except you don't have to worry about them growing up to resent you. They love their aunts and uncles and will automatically think you're cool because you're not their parents. 

Tips:

1. Don't tell your siblings what you let the children do. If they had some candy or broke their arm on your watch, its not really necessary for them to know. 

2. Don't try and parent them, be the cool adult that they will listen to and want to hang out with.

3. Be there for them at special events in their life. Go to the recitals and games, be present because they're going to remember who was there for them while they were growing up. 

Here are two of my nephews. They're awesome and way better then their parents. 

Semaje!

Isaiah! 

Last tip: Love your changing and growing family. Life is beautiful.