we are family | personal

i had been looking forward to this beach trip for months. this is no exaggeration. it was going to be amazing! reuniting with family, from across the country, that we haven’t seen in years was something i longed for the most! of course, that work week went particularly slow haha, but friday eventually came and it was the weekend. amanda and my friend, ashley, left early (for us anyway) saturday morning. we were planning on catching some sun at the public beach until our family arrived at the beach house. great idea, right? well, about 20 minutes after we got to the beach, it started STORMING!!! we had literally just put our towels down and gotten comfy when the sky darkened and the lightning started cracking. we booked it to the car where we killed time until our family arrived haha. we probably sat there for an hour and a half. yes, we could have driven around and maybe found a store to go to, but at that point i was done. i was so bummed that our perfect beach weekend was off to a disaster. we just decided to wait. i took pictures, ashley read a magazine, and amanda made faces at the cute toddler parked next to us.

after what seemed like forever, we got a text that turned the day around. my cousins had arrived and we could head over to the beach house! it was magnificent. i am so grateful for their generosity. they are wonderful people and i’m so glad to call them family. it was the perfect weekend and i wish i was still there. i got to meet my new baby cousin, nolan! he was so adorable and i wish his family lived closer. i loved meeting my cousin ben’s wife, natalie. she was beautiful and so fun. it was a blast getting to hang out with meg and eva, seeing how our cousins like to tease their parents as much as my sisters and i do. i seriously can’t remember the last time i was trying to soak up so much family time. my aunt nance brought old family photos for us to reminisce over. GAH! amazing! it’s crazy to see how far photography has come and just life in general. the fashions are so different and the hair! oh the hair! haha.

oh, and my cousin ben is a spectacular chef! we had THE BEST meal ever with crabs and shrimp. yum! it was all such a fun experiencing. reconnecting and making new memories. enjoying time with friends and family. i couldn’t have asked for a better mini-vacation.

i am so thankful for this past weekend. i wish it could have lasted longer, but it was perfect nonetheless. i love my family so much (no matter how crazy we are ;) hehe. take a look at how are awesome weekend went!