The Haley and Bailey Duo :)

I love Haley Claire Brooks. There's no better way to say it. Most people don't know this little secret about Haley and I, but our friendship started with a piece of zucchini bread. Lucky for us our Grandparents own cabins at Echo Lake right next to each other. Also lucky for us Haley's mom made Zucchini bread when we were six and our friendship grew from there. Somehow every year after that we always ended up at Echo during the same weeks, and every year I would look forward to being able to play with my friend Haley. This year at Echo Haley's dad took Haley, my sister Maddie and I for a tube ride. I think this is the most air we ever got.

 It pales in comparison to the terrifying ride my uncle gave us the next day. We considered bailing but were to mortified by the oncoming waves. Every time one of us fell off the others just jumped off so the person in the water had some company. Were kindred spirits.

My family moved to Cardston when I was in grade five and the next year in choir Haley and I were reunited! Mrs. Burwell even let us stand beside each other in the back row although Haley was obviously a lot taller then me. During festival we were clad in our blue "robes" that may or may not have been a little bit to long for me. We sang a song called "Heida" that had a little choreographed part to it. Basically just a couple hand claps and a turn around. Just by knowing me most of you can already guess the outcome. A couple claps, stomps and turns later I fell right off the back of the risers. Bewildered I looked to Haley for help. Of course she was laughing but she helped me up and we finished the song before we burst out in uncontrollable laughter.

Last summer I had the privilege to spend almost every day with Haley. We lived and worked together at Subway in Waterton and I loved every minute of it! We would even switch shifts with the other girls just so we could work together. When we were lucky enough to work together our eight hour shifts flew by. The Berta Bay hike was our favourite and after hiking it in the morning one beautiful day we started an eight hour shift. All the sudden the words "Hey Haley, wanna be my best friend?" came flying out of my mouth. She smiled and said " Of course!" and we continued doing jobs that one person could easily handle together.

I wish i had a picture of us in our Subway uniforms but this is a picture of us on our hike up Bertha.

 Haley, Sydnee, and I somehow managed to get three days off together so we ventured into the big city known as Calgary. We had a G.P.S and were pretty certain that we could find Haley's sister Abby's house. I put the address in and we found it quite easily. I always made Haley sit in the front so she could help me navigate and weave through Calgary crazy traffic. After finding her sisters house we decided that we needed to go out to dinner. We stumbled upon a unique little place called Jack Astor's. (For some reason I can never get the name of that place right?) Haley ordered Peppercorn Pasta that was divine. I ordered something gross so she shared hers with me. That was the birth place of our idea to make peppercorn pasta. Little did we know that they use special peppercorns. NOT the ones you find in a pepper shaker. After eating we tried finding our way back to Abby's, which should have been easy but Haley typed the address in wrong and we ended up downtown on one way streets, and in china town on a street that I don't think was meant to be driven on. During all this confusion James called. From what I pieced out of the only side of the conversation I could hear was James got something that was black, and his parents were going to kill him. Immediately my mind thought tattoo and I started freaking out. We had a really good laugh when he told us it was just an Xbox. Suddenly an Xbox didn't seem so bad. Eventually because I pulled over and typed the address in myself we found Abby's house, which presented us with another challenge. Parallel parking. I haven't even thought about parallel parking since my drivers test which was a year and a half ago then. Keep in mind that I had just been lost for an hour, and the emotional damage from driving in Calgary for the first time had me preoccupied. The curb wasn't even one with a side walk that you can drive up on if you need to. It was a cold, heartless curb. There was an middle aged Asian man across the street sitting in his perfectly parallel parked car laughing at me as I tried about fifteen more times to park. Finally Haley got out and directed me. What a Saint. The next few days were spent making memories that I hope I never forget like when we did a photo shoot in a random back alley. Haley is super talented photographer. Just another reason to love her.

Haley and I decided that we were going to start the Sadies madness that comes along every year around October. Girls go crazy over this kind of stuff. Friendships are broken, and words are said that aren't really meant just because someone says their asking so and so to Sadies. The High School is a mad house for a month before the dance. During a home football game secretly we decided that that night was the night to ask our boys. We had even planned on asking them way back in the summer. After the football game we raced to Haley's house where we scrounged for an idea. All the sudden Haley comes out of her garage with two matching frozen chicken breast boxes and says, "Don't be a chicken, come with Bailey and Haley to Sadies!" It was PERFECT! Shikari helped us put the secret words in the box and we set off into the night to deliver our "packages". The boy Haley asked lived in a remote area so we thought it would be easy to do his first. Unfortunately that night every person in his house decided to wait by the front door and it took Haley three tries to get to the door, drop the box and ring the doorbell. The theme for the dance was "Time Warp". Haley decided that this is exactly what I'll look like in fifty years. 

Whenever we have the chance Haley and I always have a sleepover. We both had single beds in Waterton so we had to wait till the older girls left to college to sleep in a big bed. One night we were laying in bed reading her first blog post and for some reason we both found it HILARIOUS! Not the ha ha that was funny kind of hilarious, the rolling around, gut retching, not being able to breathe hilarious that brings you to tears hilarious. As soon as  we calmed down one of us would start giggling again and the process of trying to breathe started over. This lasted till the wee hours of the morning. It might have been the fumes drifting up from Subway that made it so funny, but maybe it was just because we were both with someone we genuinely love.

If you don't know Haley, get to know her. I am so grateful to have her as my best friend. She's the kind of person that makes you want to sing when she walks in the room. She's so talented in so many ways. She's an awesome volleyball player, baller, and athlete in general. But don't be fooled. This girl has a lot more to offer then just athletics. She has a killer voice, she's freakin gorgeous, she's smart, funny, and can keep a secret. She genuinely cares about people, plays the piano and I think our mutual dislike of bananas is worth mentioning. She has the cutest style ever. She knows how to clean, and can always tell when something isn't quite right. She has a rockin testimony and isn't afraid to share it. She's an amazing photographer, and can always make me laugh and make me feel better about anything. Haley is one of those friends you dream about having when your a little girl. She's one of those people you can tell anything to and you know you wont be judged, and that it's only between the two of you. Haley is one of the people I will miss the most when I move. Lucky for us Skype was invented and lucky for us we already devised a plan to be room mates again. Lucky for me my mouth blurted out seven little words one day at work...