Earlier this month our Texas family came for a visit. Texas family includes Dominic’s brother, Anton, and his wife and daughter, Tasha and Karrington. They moved shortly after Karrington was born, but we’ve been blessed with at least annual visits either here or there.
We took our first trip to Texas when Jemma was just one (ohmygoodness, she looks so squishy/baby/tiny in the photos from that trip!). Dominic took a trip all by his lonesome in May for his birthday and then they came for an early Thanksgiving this November. Dominic already has his next solo trip planned for January for a brothers-only college basketball game. I’m a wee bit jealous, but I’m coping alright. I’m sure I’ll get a fancy date night or maybe a mama spa day/massage out of his absence … hear that Dominic? Just tossing out ideas :)
Anyways, back to this trip. Thanks to Max’s absolute hatred of the car I wasn’t able to participate in all the elements of this visit. Dominic and Jemma did though! They had a daddy/daughter date (with the rest of the fam) two weekends in a row. This allowed Jemma to maximize time with her sweet cousin. They are two peas in a pod!
The main photo there is a trip to the lake property. Tasha sent it to me via text and I brightened it up best I could. I almost cried when I first saw it – Jemma is so blessed to have a cousin so close in age. They did a fair share of shopping, visited a fire station and Cabela’s and of course, we ate tons of delicious food. We also celebrated my father-in-law’s 25th sobriety anniversary. We are so blessed to have him as a Godly leader for our family. His decision 25 years ago has changed our family for generations; I’m so thankful.
One of the big to-dos for this trip was to get updated family pictures with this side of the family. Our always amazing photographer made magic, like literally, she photoshopped a number of faces to give us some “everyone’s eyes are open” photos. I can’t wait to pop some of these beauties in frames.
Jemma was not at all interested in looking at the camera, let alone following a “please smile” command. So, we caught the essence of an independent two year old. My favorite, by far, is the one with her peeking through my legs – it is so her. Like to a “t”. One of the four of us at the bottom is our Christmas photo … I ordered a design from Danielle at Take Heart and love love love how it turned out!
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I so love spending time with the fam. Nothing is better than that. I'm counting down the days until my sister and her family arrives for Christmas. Can't get here fast enough!!
our texas family is visiting right now!! beautiful family shots!