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A Birthday Shoutout to my Favorite Missionary Cousin!

What better way to return from my unintentional blogging hiatus, than to write a birthday blog in honor of my favorite cousin? Whenever I describe Matthew to my friends I refer to him as, "my cousin who's kind of more like my brother." In honor of his birthday, this weekend I was reading through some of our e-mails that we've written to each other while he's been on his mission and selected my top 10 favorite quotes that encapsulate ten of my favorite things about Matthew.

1. He will forever be a matchmaker. "So a guy in my ward sent you a message on Facebook. He was going to say that he's single and looking for a girl to take to the temple. I said that would probably be a little strange." Side note: He sent it to the wrong Sarah Freeman, so I never got it. 

2. He appreciates good television. "So I've been e-mailing Michael Scott. I thought you would appreciate that he's been working in the mission office. Please think about that for a minute. Think about it until you understand." 

3. He's levelheaded when natural disasters strike. "Yes there was a hurricane last night, although we didn't know it was a legitimate hurricane until 10 pm last night. This morning for exercise we jogged to the seafronts and ran against the 80 MPH winds. We also took some pictures. It was intense." 

4. He keeps it real. "It's just funny because everyone is like, 'How's London?' and they don't realize that I've only set foot in London once."

5. He loves a good pun. "I've been transferred to Basingstoke. Yes I am Basingstoked."

6. He's a tough critic and always fears that things will not live up to "the hype." "Is California all that it's hyped up to be then?"

7. He's becoming completely British and sometimes neglects American holidays. "Hahahaha Martin Luther King Day. I forgot that even existed."

8. He keeps up with current events. "WHAT?! I didn't even know the Olympics were happening. Haha awkward." *Please don't worry, he was referring to the Sochi Olympics not the London ones. 

9. He shares in my excitement when good things happen in my life. This is his response after I told him I was accepted to study abroad in London. All caps and ellipses for dramatic effect were copied straight from his e-mail.
"THAT IS SO EXCITING!!!!!  wait a second... WE'LL BE IN ENGLAND TOGETHER OH MY GOODNESS. Oh by the way... wanna know a fun fact? BYU study abroad students..... ATTEND WARDS IN THE WANDSWORTH STAKE WHICH IS IN MY MISSION AND I HAVEN'T SERVED THERE YET. WHAT IF I SERVE IN YOUR WARD?"

10. He shares my love of GOOD music and only good music. Yeah we're music snobs. This is his response to Amy and I meeting Alex Boye: "YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS OH MY GOSH YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS JEALOUS. Also you and Amy's eyes are looking good. ;) Class iPhone picture." :)
I mean he wasn't wrong... 
There's many more fantastic ones that make no sense out of context, but I still got a huge kick out of rereading them. I'm so thankful to have such an awesome cousin who's almost finished his two year mission faithfully serving the Lord and being an incredible example to so many! I'm grateful that we've been able to stay in contact through e-mail and share our experiences with each other and become even closer friends! Happy 21st Birthday Matthew!! 

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