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My cousins, Sara and Linnea, called me on Monday (as we were driving back from Yosemite) to tell me that they wanted to come visit for a couple of days. An hour after we pull into our driveway, they show up.

Now, if this were your run-of-the-mill parents-force-you-to-hang-out cousins, we might have been annoyed. However, in this case, that is not the case.

Sara and Linnea both attend (well, Linnea just graduated) University of Puget Sound in Tacoma. Over the past few years, I have gotten to know them a lot more than I knew them growing up. Being with them is like being at home for me. They know me very well - because our dads are so similar, it is almost like looking in the mirror when I talk to them. For example, neither of them can control the volume of their voice during a conversation. Every now and then, one will look at the other and say, "Sara/Linnea, you're yelling right now." FYI, I get that a lot, too :) Oh, and they both share in my love of ridiculously easy berry picking.

Even though I had to work both days they were here, they were able to make themselves at home, enjoy our pool, watch our dog, and we were able to stay up at night and share stories...

We analyzed the phonetics of our names (hence the title of this blog). We discussed in amazement as to how someone was able to capture such terrible facial expressions on both of them at the same time in a picture at our wedding (as seen in the picture above). We talked about family, school, and life. We were able to have these kinds of conversations for hours and hours. We laughed and laughed and teared up and laughed more.

Thank you for giving such short notice, being so entertaining, and making us laugh, guys. We had an amazing time and we love that you are our cousins, lover bean.