{pretty, happy, funny, real}

It was an all-around pretty, happy, funny and real week here. We had house guests and it was a delight! My mother-in-law and her husband were here for a full week, then this past weekend my sister-in-law and her family also joined us. What a joy it was to have them in our home ~ especially considering they live more than 2500 miles away. (This is the same sister-in-law who introduced me to this link up a couple months ago.)

{pretty}

I live in such a beautiful part of the country....I really do. We took some of our guests to the Maryhill Museum over the weekend. The house, the grounds and the gardens are just beautiful. There used to be peacocks that roamed the grounds, but they are no longer there.

We also took our guests to the coast, to see the Pacific Ocean.

 {happy}

I cannot begin to tell you how happy I was to see my precious nephews again - what a blessing to see them twice in the same year! My girls and their boys had SO MUCH FUN playing Narnia and legos and just rolling on the ground!

We were blessed to see a whale at the coast ~ it was relatively close and there was no mistaking it was a whale! It blew it's spout, showed it's back and even it's tail.

{funny} 

When I went to write this post I didn't think I'd have any funny photos to share. That's one of the reasons I love this link up so much ~ it's such a great opportunity to take a moment and reflect on the past week. 

Anyway, I found a couple photos that I think qualify as funny. 

Like this one of my husband.... the groundskeeper at Maryhill Museum gave my girls these peacock feathers and he covered his eyes with them.

And then as we were driving home from Maryhill, we passed a field and noticed buffalo. What?!?! Who keeps buffalo these days?

And these two....it's a bit uncanny how much alike these two are. Two peas in a pod. We went for a neighborhood walk one evening and were afraid the neighbors might think we were out trick-or-treating because of the costumes. 

{real}

Real is that we have an empty house again. 

Real is that we have no idea when we will see our cousins or grandparents again. 

This is the reality of living so far away from family ~ we get lonely.

But right now our hearts are full and we will cherish the memories we made!

I'm linking up with Like Mother, Like Daughter