Family Time

Getting family together all at the same time is just not that easy.

We are at the stage where even sitting down for dinner with all of us at the same time rarely happens. What usually happens is I cook dinner for whomever is home and then I leave it sitting out for those that come home after so they can still eat but have to be okay with heating it up. Yet some of my favorite moments is when everyone is together.

When Greg and I married we agreed to try to make family time with ALL our kids a priority. We recognize that this time in our kids lives is going by quickly. As it stands we hate missing any moments. We also knew this would be an extra challenge with his kids living in Arizona and my kids crazy schedules.

With that said, we have been super happy because we have been seeing Natalie, Andy and Steve almost every month. It has been awesome. But even when they are here it still has been a challenge to coordinate my kids schedule. It seems like someone is always missing from a dinner or a movie or whatever excursion has been decided on to take due to a game, work, school function or a previous committed too social event.

It does happen though...we have moments. And I LOVE those moments. And usually I try to capture those moments by taking pictures. The kids love it so much when I pull my camera out. Okay not really...maybe just Kendall...but kudos to them for being good sports. (I did give them all a break in the month of March. See I'm thoughtful like that.)

This past weekend we had a moment when everyone was around at the same time. Natalie, her boyfriend Nick, Andy and Steve came for a quick visit. Greg went to Arizona Friday to watch Steve in his final play of his junior year and then drove back with them. Sandon became an official Teacher on Sunday. That Sunday afternoon after work for one and church for the rest we were all together. And of course the camera came out. Thanks guys for letting me capture the moment. Love to all of you.

*****For the record, there is another side to having everyone together, especially for a Sunday dinner. There is a huge amount of food that is consumed. This past Sunday, just for dinner for example...10 pounds of mashed potatoes and 4 marinated flank steaks cut into strips was not quite enough for those who like seconds and thirds...