Giving Thanks for Family and Friends

For the last several years, we have been in State College for Thanksgiving because we were too far from our families to make the trip.  This year, however, we are just an 8 hour drive from my family in Oklahoma City (that's close in the Midwest - also, for my East Coast readers, Midwest does not refer to Ohio - but back to my point).  The Wednesday before Thanksgiving, we piled into a van with Mike, Veronica, and Veronica's aunt to head up I-35.  Five drivers, two hours each, and a stop for Cain's chicken later, we arrived at my aunt's house while everyone else continued on to Wichita.

On Thursday, my parents and brother drove down from Kansas for Thanksgiving dinner for a total of 24 people at dinner.  24 VERY LOUD people.  Seriously, I'm the quiet one in this family (frightening, right?), and sometimes I forget just how loud we can get.  I love it, though, and miss being around all the madness when we leave.  The picture at the top is almost all of my cousins on my dad's side looking nice and composed, but I think this photo (and the 15 others like it) captures us better.  

On Friday afternoon, my parents, Kevin, Geoff, and I drove up to Wichita so that Geoff and I could attend my 10 year high school reunion.  We met up at a wine bar downtown.  Above are the centerpieces I made for the occasion.  2001 does not seem that long ago! 

Before the reunion, we had dinner with my close group of friends.  We hadn't seen all of the girls since Veronica's wedding so it was great to catch up.  When you have known people for so long, getting back together always feels incredibly natural and we talked and talked like we had seen each other yesterday.

We did have color photography in 2001, I swear.

The reunion was so much fun!  About half the class came (there were only 23 of us ), and it seems like everyone is doing really well.  It's always difficult to tell where peoples' lives will take them after high school, but everyone seemed happy, mostly employed, and in good health - what more could you ask?  There were lots of marriages and masters degrees and a few kids.  A lot of the class has moved away from Wichita, but were able to get back for the reunion.  I can't wait to see what everyone is up to in another five years.