Celebrating My "Little" Brother

.  For one reason or another, I recently realized I have failed to mention on LSM a very important man in my life: my brother, Tyler.

As you may have noticed, I referred to him him as my "little" brother because even though he's four years younger, most people assume he's older simply for the fact that he dang near towers over me and I think my body alone may barely consist of one of his muscular legs.

To compare not only our physical appearances but also our interests is quite comical because we really could not be more complete opposites.  But hey, that's what makes life interesting!  I've watched my brother grow from a somewhat rebellious child to a driven, motivated, and humble young man.  Words can't explain the admiration I have for him and his passion for life.  He never takes a second for granted and is constantly on the move working towards his next goal.  We could all learn a thing or two from him, believe me.

Anywho, Tyler is now a senior at Winona State University and only has one more semester before he hits the 'real world.'  But his 'real world' reality is quite different than most, as Tyler is training to become a cop and is also a part of the ROTC program at school.  Crazy guy, huh?  But he's had an innate passion for these careers since he was a little tike.  Oh, the stories we could tell!

But an important celebration for his ROTC program involves an annual Holiday Ball where  families and friends comes together to honor the students and all of their accomplishments.  We're still debating this, but Tyler 'inadvertently' forgot to invite his family to the prior years Holiday Balls but fortunately for his final year, we made the cut.  So this last weekend I ventured back to Minnesota to participate in this special night!

As you can tell, I'm a bit sour about the fact that we only made one Ball because my family and I had such a wonderful time!  It was so amazing to finally meet all of the people that have been such an integral part of Tyler's life for the past four years.  And my, are they wonderful people!  It was a complete honor to be in a room filled with the future men and women who will be protecting our country.

So needless to say, my family and I enjoyed a full evening of fun chatter, wonderful food, beautiful clothes, and celebrating one of the most important people in my life.  Couldn't ask for more, really.  So while you weren't there, I wanted to share a few pictures of our beautiful night and dish about my younger brother.  He'll be so embarrassed ☺  .