Into The Sunset

When we arrived in Florida, even the sun seemed happy. The grandparents greeted us at the airport, scooping up their darling granddaughter and showering her with affection. It seemed that the happy little girl even inspired the sun to put on a spectacular show!

For our first evening here in my hometown, we were blessed to have my entire family under the same roof. This happens fairly rarely, especially now that two of us aren't able to fly freely throughout the US. So, to mark the occasion, we took a quick trip to Pensacola Beach to take a few family photos. The only issue was that the photographer couldn't be in them. But he did such a good job! (thank you, sweet husband!)

Her auntie and uncle seemed so happy to see our little Abigail, each wanting their turn holding and playing with her. It was fun to watch them play with her and try and get her smiles and giggles out. She is so fun when she is happy, and when she is the center of attention, she is positively radiant! And look at Ariel! She just glows! (I am accepting applications for her future boyfriends. Please follow this link to download the application)

Abby loves to play with her Auntie Ariel and to play the 'weee!' game with her Uncle Sean. And she loves to bounce on her grandfather's shoulders. I think these are the moments that matter.

Tonight, while looking through our photo albums, I feel just so grateful. I am grateful to be raised by wonderful parents. And I am grateful for digital photography. And blogs. I know it sounds weird, but I love to be able to 'journal' and 'scrapbook' at the same time. I like being able to mark down my memories while they are fresh so that when I go back and look, I can remember. I like my memories and the wonderful people who participate in them. And I like this memory. My whole family is happy in these pictures and it wasn't just for show. A sweet little baby joined the six of us and has lit up my whole world with her smile. These are the times worth remembering.

I can see why the sun saw fit to plan a party just for us.