Father's Day

My poor dad's birthday is always right around/on Father's Day, so the two events always manage to get merged into one. This year was no exception.

Last Christmas my dad gave us all shirts that say "Hey, wanna know something?" This was a question he used to always pose to us when we were little, and we would eagerly demand "what?" He would respond "I love you!" As we grew older, the question itself came to mean he loved us.

On Father's Day we wore our shirts to church, and our gifts all centered around them too. He got a mug with the picture below on it, and a collage picture frame filled with pictures of us jumping. Or, for the most part, us attempting to jump. Trying to get a picture of four people in the air using a camera on a self-timer is harder than it sounds!

While the four Marken girls showing up to church in t-shirts is not a typical occurrence, I do hope that our actions honored Dad, and showed him how much we love him. We have been blessed to have had such a Godly man raise us in his own gentle way.

Christmas with Family

I made it home for a week(ish) around my mom's birthday, and we took advantage of having the whole family home for a day to go get the Christmas tree. I repeated the tree picking process a week later to kick off the Kentucky Christmas festivities, but that's an entirely different post. We went to the same tree farm we've gone to for the past decade or more, and, while I tried to rescind my opinion on "pokey" trees (more commonly known as Scotch Pines), we picked out a White Pine like we've done for the past twenty-five Christmases (and maybe longer…those are the only ones I can attest to).

While everyone else took the tree choosing seriously, I spent more time with my camera. The lighting that particular day was outstanding. The color I was getting made me want to just keep taking photos. So I did.

We finally just had to choose one so we could get home and make a birthday dinner for Mom. Try as we did, we couldn't get her to leave the kitchen and let us cook. What's the good of having grown (and mostly grown) daughters if you still have to cook your own birthday dinner?

We made her stuffed shells (which were amazing) and garlic bread and a salad and a german chocolate cake. And successfully managed to kick her out of the kitchen.

My family, for the most part, cancelled their weekly activities to be home, and we got some quality Bananagrams playing time. We also fit in a basketball game and I let Kaitlyn drive away in my car. By herself. That was weird.

While the trip seemed to fly by, it was great to get some time there. Due to being in a wedding the week after Christmas and working in retail, I couldn't squeeze in getting home for Christmas itself. I did get to spend some time with my family on Christmas day via Skype, though, and got to celebrate the day with my roommate and church family. While different, I definitely enjoyed the Christmas season (and got some fun kitchen things too!) I'll try to get some KY Christmas (and wedding) pictures up soon.