we spent thanksgiving with my sisters family and her inlaws. they live in olympia too. it took dahlia a little while to warm up to everyone she didnt know, but she had fun. the kids all played while we waited for dinner to be ready and it was fun to watch them together. when dinner came.... neither valen or dahlia were adventurous and wanted to try anything. dahlia ate a fair share of the turkey though and one roll. she wouldnt touch anything else! and valen was chowing on rolls and milk.... maybe next year they will appreciate mashed potatoes and gravy like a true american! (=

i didnt get any pictures of us all at the table. i wished i would have. jasons parents are so friendly and made us feel right at home. and their daughter rebekah too! 

this is my sister and i, do you think we look alike? i just dont see it!

 

 

later that night justin and i were talking about how thankful we are with our life. just looking back since we first got married and were making 600 bucks a month and then got pregnant and i couldnt work. then moving into a house we really couldnt afford, but believing that justin would be getting a better job soon.... and he did! and i could go on... but just how we have always had just what we needed. never more than that. and that is how we like it. we dont scrape by, but we dont make loads of cash to waste on "things". we are also so very thankful for our amazing children who bring us so much joy and laughter. some days in the past we have thought, "oh if we didnt have kids we could do this or that" but truth is we wouldnt trade them for a million days without them! it is truly remarkable how they change our life! we are also thankful for our marriage and how it has gotten stronger over the years. things just keep getting better and we are more in love than ever. which brings me to another wonderful thought... we just found this beautiful bed and breakfast not too far from here on the water, that we are hoping to stay in next weekend for our anniversary! 4 years! seems like we have been together so much longer that that. but i think it is because we have done so much in those few years.... lived in four different houses so far and had a couple kids....

anyways, life is beautiful and we are thankful for so much!

 

we decided to go and get some pictures of our family taken. we both didnt like the idea of going to a studio and pay big bucks and the children not want to cooperate. dahlia can be really shy or even cry with new people, so the chances of her smiling and being cute is slim to none. valen wouldnt be a problem, except for not wanting to sit still. which is exactly what happened.

we got a coupon in the mail for sears. a whole package was 4.99 no sitting fee or anything. so we made an appointment. we were hoping that many of the shots would look good and we would order a couple or so for extra money, but when we got in there, dahlia started crying right away. so we let valen run around and got a few shots of him in between the "running around". dahlia warmed up a bit, but we still didnt get that many good shots. we came for a family photo, so that is all that we ended up ordering. we have two days to decide if we want to order anything else, but i think we will just do some at home of the kids. 

here is the link if you want to see them all.

 

 

 

 

 

today was our first day we dressed up just for fun. this dress was made by my mother in law back in the 60's or 70's. i felt so groovy in it (=

 

justin has a plethera of retro clothing that he has collected over the years. i think they are awesome and glad he is wearing them more!

 

this is my father in law. him and my mother in law came over for dinner tonight to bring us pizza since our oven is broken... he wore his best suit and tie!(=

i think it is fun to dress up. whether it be a costume or just fancy smancy(= why does it only have to be one day a year? i know there are people who detest dressing up, but there has to be others out there like me!! well my husband is one too... but other than that! we are starting "fancy fridays" . instead of being "casual fridays" like at some "real" jobs, we are going to the opposite. especially since we are home 5 days a week and wear casual clothing everyday and it gets old! i also love costume parties, but no one ever seems to have them anymore, but as i recall the guests dont actually dress up! so if you are someone who wants to be funky or fancy on fridays with us, email me or comment! we will be posting pictures every friday of our ideas. and if you have a costume party, be sure to invite us!! (=