My niece, Heather, her husband, Davis & daughter, Faith were in town for a visit this past week, so we had a little family get together at our house last night.

I'm not sure why, but the noise level always goes up dramatically when my family is together. Is it because everyone's trying to be heard or what? I kind of feel sorry for the visitors who aren't used to us. It can be overwhelming at times...just ask Terry and Andrew.

There's always laughing, talking, hugging, eating, kids running around, and sometimes even debating...although we try to steer clear of that as much as possible. My family comes from every range of opinion you can imagine; from relatively conservative (me) to extremely liberal (my sister Sharon). Note: Our birthdays are one year and one day apart. If this doesn't make you skeptical about astrology, I don't know what would.

Anyway, we try to love each other and get along no matter what. We've learned over the years to appreciate the things we have in common and tolerate the things we don't. It's been a great learning in communications to grow up in a family with 8 very different personalities and be married to a man in a family with 8+ very different personalities.

Last night we had dinner together, then celebrated Faith's 4th birthday since they were in Kansas on her big day. I think this was her 3rd or 4th party. That's what happens in big families, you just can't do it all at once so you spread it out over days and weeks. She was so cute...opening each present then rushing over to give a hug to the person who gave it to her. She's such a loving little girl...and so much fun!

The picture at the top is of three of the 2nd cousins. Faith is in the middle. They were so cute together!

Kassidy is becoming such a beautiful little girl. Notice the fake tattoo on Kassidy's arm. I realized once in the evening that she was comparing her "tattoo" to Andrew's real one. How funny!

The boys, Josh and Jacob always look like little cherubs, although I'm sure their parents would say they don't always act that way. I still can't tell who's who since I don't see them often enough.

It's so fun to watch all the kids interacting. Some day hopefully we'll have some grandkids of our own.

I know our kids will be great parents. How awesome will that be...when the time is right. No pressure!

Blogging and scrapbooking have really made me realize the importance of preserving memories and building a legacy for this next generation. I realize how much fun it is to look at old photos and read accounts from past generations. I hope they enjoy what we leave behind when they get here.