I recently had the pleasure of going to the other side of the country to visit my brother and his family and celebrate one of my niece's fourth birthday. It was a great visit. I spent time with my family, played with my two little nieces and took a bunch of photographs. I've only included the birthday girl in the photos below because watching her celebrate reminded me of how fun life can be. She has such a great imagination and general enthusiasm that it doesn't matter if she's by herself or the leader of the pack with her friends and her little sister, she's going to enjoy life. It's easy to get caught up in life and think that innocent bliss is just for little kids like my niece, but we can all let ourselves go every now and then and feel free doing different things we love, spending time away from social media and television, laughing with our friends, and actually experiencing life.

The photos I've posted below show my niece in her true form, putting everything she has into blowing out the candles on her Minnie Mouse cake. It's a bit of a family tradition for us to be weirdos, so she's right there with her face painted. My two brothers were painting the kids' faces a little bit before the cake was around. My niece wanted to be a bunny. It came out great and she looked incredibly adorable, but I won't deny that she looked like the tiniest member of the Insane Clown Posse for the afternoon. My favorite photo of the day was the last photo I've posted, which is of her hands just covered in face paint, markers, crayons, and cake ... all the signs of an honest day of work. Happy Birthday! Enjoy! -Josh

song of the moment: "In My Tree" by Pearl Jam