My People

Family |fam - i - ly|

A person or group of people that love and support you unconditionally.    

Family can be biological or a group of people that you choose.

I have been blessed with an amazing family, framily {chosen family}, and in-laws! 

LaFree Family (Dad's side)

Ganser Family (Mom's side)

My mom and mam (aren't I lucky to have both?)

Framily (aren't we adorable in our ugly Christmas sweaters?)

Having these (and many more) people as our support system means everything to us.  These are the people Andrew and I leaned on the most when we had an ocean between us.  These are the people that makes us smile and laugh when all we want to do is cry.  These are the people that we would drop everything and anything so we could be there when they called.   

So...when mom sent a group text saying the family was getting together for an early birthday party, we packed our bags and hit the road. Did someone say, ROAD TRIP?

I love that we celebrate everything from birthdays, to promotions, to a simple "hey family is in from out of town, party at my house." We show up with a dish to pass and stories to tell and leave with full hearts, bellies and most importantly lasting memories. 

Pictures.  Pictures help capture those memories, and when we share them a month or years later we will smile and laugh all over again.

  Here are some pictures from our little sibling photo-shoot from last weekend.

The LaFree Three

LaFree meets Williams 

Young love

Sometimes family members even have fur and four-legs, but the love is the same.

No matter where you call home I hope you always have those special people you can call family.  There are a thousand-and-one ways to be a family, but there is no wrong way, because if it works for you then it is perfect.  How awesome is that?

Eat, Drink, and Be Ugly

Friday Night Framily Dinner turned Ugly!

A new tradition is born!

Friends, appetizers, and ugly sweaters.

I can't wait to see how this evolves over the years.

All calories were removed before serving, so enjoy seconds and thirds if you please.

Who has the ugliest sweater?

Such a cute ugly couple

...and the winner is...

The ugliest sweater is homemade by me and all goodies were found at Goodwill!

Merry Christmas!

xoxo

Lights, Tigers, and Bears...Oh my!

The Christmas Season is one of my most favorite seasons.

This time is so magical and a beautiful way to wrap up the year.

Christmas lights are probably my favorite part of the season.

Three years and counting it is now tradition to visit Christmas at the Zoo 

for the best display of lights, hands down.

{Tip: visit with your besties to make the trip even more memorable}

A few of the many attempts to get the perfect selfie

My most favorite part...

Being able to begin the tradition with my husband!
After 3 years of spending the Holidays in two different countries
we are finally together for our very first Christmas together.

Most animals were cuddled up and sleeping but we sure enjoyed the thousands of lights that lit up our way from one end of the zoo to the other.

Well, hello there Big Ben, am I in London again?

I promise that is Andrew and I and not just a random couple

Every year there is this tree and it is always one of my favorites.
Isn't it just beautiful?

We couldn't leave without going to see Santa {from afar} and
decorating cookies in Mrs. Claus' kitchen

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Hope everyone found the magic in the season and their hearts were warmed with family, friends and so much love.

xoxo

One to Ten

As I was driving into work this morning, listening to my audiobook, random facts about myself came to mind {this is how my brain works, don't question it just go with it} so I thought why not share?! Who doesn't love random facts?  

1. I have never been given a speeding ticket.

2. Shoes, scarves and earrings are my favorite accessories. 

3. I love going to the dentist. Like really LOVE it. May be because I don't have cavities and never had braces but still 

4. My favorite app at this current moment is Studio. Check it out!

5. My bestie is also my boss and we {probably} have the best SPED team in Indiana, just saying. 

6. I love a good theme, from a themed gift to a party, themes make things more fun and help go well with the little bit OCD I may have ;)

7. I want to love running and working out but my love for all foods gets in the way.  I still manage to weight train with an amazing trainer twice a week. It is challenging, out of my comfort zone, and still fun so I keep going back for more!

8. I love and share my Catholic faith with the youth of my church as I help them to prepare to enter the church as adults through confirmation. 

9. Fridays are my favorite day of the week because of Framily dinners!

10. I do not have wifi or cable in my apartment so my husband and I come to the public library for a bit to get our social media fix, then disconnect and enjoy family time without distractions. I love it!

Comment with one random or fun fact about yourself. Just one, you can do it and it will be fun!