happiness is....

the older i get, the more and more i appreciate and understand the need for family.
maybe it's the perspective that is gained when you lose those most precious to you.
all i know is that my family is the one thing i could never live without.

this weekend, chris and i had my brothers and family over to our new house.
my baby brother was missing :( but we still had a wonderful time.

i made lasagna - pioneer woman style.
my sis in law raegan brought sopapilla cheesecake.
oh my.
and my other sis in law jennifer brought the most delicious combination of cookie ever made. ritz crackers, peanut butter and then covered in chocolate.
oh, oh my.
we visited. we ate until we couldn't move. we watched goofy youtube videos and then a marathon of duck dynasty. it was fabulous.
laid back, chill, and wonderful. all of us just hanging out with no stress like family should be.

i was so wrapped up in visiting that i completely failed to bring out my camera.
very bad girl. but trust me, it was good. ;)

my older bro jamie and his lovely other half, jennifer, got me the most awesome necklace ever.
these are the names of my niece and nephews, and then the center charm says "aunt".
absolute perfection!

and a remote for my camera. i'm in love!!!

afterwards, my niece and nephew (jordi and jade) spent the night. it was our first ever auntie/uncle sleep over. and i have to say, it was a success!
they seriously are the sweetest kids ever and we had so much fun.
we chased the dog, the dog chased us. we played ipad/iphone games. watched some taylor swift and sang along really loud. gorged ourselves on cookies. cuddled on the couch. we had a lovely sunday morning breakfast and then headed out to toys r us and skipped through (literally) academy sports. these kids love salads, so that's what we had for lunch. i hope it's the beginning of many more slumber parties!

and this was our pathetic attempt at a group photo.

precisely why i needed a remote for my camera.

thank you jennifer!!!! ;)

my heart honestly is as full as it could possibly be. there is nothing like being an aunt/uncle. nothing.
and this my friends is exactly why my heart needed to move to texas.