02.01.10

So right after Jessie's Graduation, we headed home to photograph Sarah & Aaron's wedding, and then back down to South FL to celebrate Christmas with the in-laws. It was a really crazy, stressful time, but it was great to spend so much time with family.

We're so incredibly blessed to have a dog that loves car rides. :)
Things kicked off with Jessie's graduation party!
I love the family I got when I married Nate, and a lot of that has to do with this little munchkin, another beautiful sister-in-law. :)

Don't we have the cutest siblings?! Seriously. The only thing cuter than ridiculously adorable triplets-in-law is throwing Huck Finn into the mix. :)
Speaking of... He had quite the adventure while we were away- One of his birthday gifts was a life vest! We take him to the beach on occasion, and I'm so afraid a tiny wave will come and sweep him away. We threw it on for a test drive in Nate's Dad's pool...
... Huck was not at all excited about this decision.
But he eventually figured things out and swam like a champ!
I like to think it gave him a little more confidence than he had before. :)
This year, we decided to get Nate's family one big gift, instead of shopping separately for the 5 kids + Mom and Dad. We got them Rock Band, and like I suspected, the box was the biggest hit at first!

Eventually everyone got into it, and we've heard it's still a hit! :)
Whew! Still reading? :) Then we headed over to Nate's Mom's house for Christmas with that side of the family.
This is Tara the cat, whom I've lovingly re-named Pinwheel. She's a bobtail cat, which means she has a really short tail, and it just kinda flops around in a circle like a pinwheel. :) She gave us all quite a scare when she snuck out the front door while we were visiting, causing us to go on a great rescue to find her. After a few hours of searching, she ended up being under the air conditioning vent right outside the whole time. It was a Christmas miracle! ;)

Nate had fun putting bows on unsuspecting family members...

Gotta love gift reactions. :)

We gave his aunt & grandma little copies of our wedding album, which was a huge hit. Here's Aunt Ann realizing what her gift was-
And Grandma. :)
After that, we were pooped and headed home to enjoy a quiet anniversary & Christmas. :)