Ode to my big brother

Frankie is my big brother.
I can't speak for all big brothers, but mine is awesome!

He's handsome, (all my friends had a crush on him in high school), he's chivalrous and studly, patient but will tell you when you're being a dork, and completely dependable. He used to babysit me when I was really little and take me with him and his high school friends driving around on a friday night. He offered to beat people up for me when I was in elementary school and he's always looked out for me.

He has a wonderful wife and 4 boys. His youngest, Aiden, and Ethan are only 2 months a part. After his mission to Guatemala he moved back to Kodiak, married Shelly and became a cop.

There are so many fun stories I have of him. As a cop, I remember he was on duty one night and came to say hi to me up at the high school on his break. There was a basketball game going on that night so I was surprised to see him. He came up to me and gave me a big hug and we laughed and had a great time till he had to go back to work. After he left a few people asked me if he was my boyfriend, which was kinda weird, but I remember thinking that I definitely wanted my boyfriend to be as cool as my big brother.

I used to have to get up for early morning seminary. My parents had a hard time getting me up, so when Frankie had to work the night shift as a cop he'd take his break around the time that I was supposed to get up, so most mornings I'd jump out of bed to a uniformed, bullet-proof-vested, gun-holstering cop nearly breaking down my door, shouting at me to get up and turning over my bed. There was no way I could sleep through that!

My Junior year in college he got deployed to Iraq for a year. It was so hard for him to be away from the family, but it was hard for him to come home too. He got back just as our brother Troy died and my parents had split up. Things were chaotic for our family, but through it all he's been a constant source of love and support in my life.

He sent me a note this summer that he was going to be in Albuquerque for a training conference and that I should fly up to see him. I got so excited and was able to buy the tickets right away. I hadn't seen him for 3 and a half years and when I saw him jumping up down to see me as I walked down the terminal I started to cry. He's my big brother and I hadn't realized how much I'd missed having him around to watch out for me. He started to cry too and we hugged and hugged.

We had such a great time!! He's so much fun. Of course he rented a big truck and drove fast, blared good music, wouldn't let me pay for anything and took me out on the town. He pulled out all the stops and just spoiled me. What a great big brother. Here are some pictures:

We went to a Brazillian grill, his first time, and we loved it!

Couldn't stop taking pictures, we were so excited to see each other.

He found his dream car. ;)

We did find a costume shop and he just went to town.

He must have tried on a dozen of them and was totally in character

The All-American

Johnny Depp

Bob Marley

I was only there for two days so we took one of them to go up Sandia Peak, one of the longest trams in the country.

It was soo high!
And all of us were hanging there by that cable, going over mountains, higher and higher.

It felt like a Sound of Music moment.

Here we are again.

Frankie climbed down from the trail to get this shot, got me a little nervous.

Look at all the little people down there!

We had lunch at the top, it was awesome.

Waiting for our turn to go back down!

Chill-axin' at the hotel.

We stayed up almost all night the last night and he got to take me to my gate at the airport cuz we were flying out around the same time.
He's awesome.
I love him.
Can't wait to see him again.