Family July 15, 2008

“Families are like fudge — mostly sweet, with a few nuts.” – Author Unknown

This past weekend was one of the most family-filled weekends I’ve had in a long time. It was absolutely a wonderful weekend. We all got together for my younger brother’s birthday party and a family gathering before my older brother deploys to Iraq. There were so many activities, portrait shoots, family members, food, dogs, fireworks and memories that this might be a long post with sub-category posts to cover everything. :)

First up, the party theme was the all-American, red, white and blue theme, of course! My mom did such a cute job of tying together the birthday decorations with patriotic decorations.

Also, this weekend was the 6-month birthday of our puppy Petey, and his three siblings — who, as a matter of fact, all stayed in my extended family (they were too cute…everyone who saw them wanted one!). So, naturally, we had a reunion with all four of the puppies and their mom. It was hilarious. It’s so funny how dogs, like children, have different personalities and appearances, even though they came from the same place! In the photo, the puppies from left to right: Bruce, Penny, Petey and Izzie.

We had some fun family time with cousins. The photo below is my cousin Jillian, my brother Justin, and my cousins Jonathan and Joe (crazy with all the J’s, right? I got called “Jerica” a lot as a child). Below that is a photo of Jeff and I, thanks to my Mom (great shots, Mom!). The third shot is my cousin Rebecca and her cute recently turned one-year-old, Mason.

And a great part about living in the country (or having family in the country) is that 4th of July can be extended. :) Since we didn’t have a big celebration on the 4th, my cousins and I decided to have our own delayed celebration after the party…here are my family members humoring me and trying to spell “America” with sparklers. It ALMOST worked, until the “A” sparkler went out, and the “M” didn’t make it all the way through while they shutter was open. Please notice, however, that you can still get “erica” out of the word. That was not intentional, despite the jokes… :)

I am so thankful that my wedding photography schedule worked out to allow me this precious time with my family! Stay tuned for blogs with portraits I took of my brother and his wife, part of my list of things to do.