this weekend since i have been home my phone battery has run out twice as fast as any other time. i just want to capture every single moment. maybe this is how parents feel when their kids are growing up. they want to get everything on camera. they just think everything their kids do and say is the cutest thing. well now that i have grown up and my parents are getting older literally everything they say and do cracks me up. i have a whole album in my iphoto library of just my dad. i have been blowin my social media up with my family home videos and pictures. one of the christmas presents my mom gave us all this morning was a story book of our family. it had pictures and stories of not only my immediate family but of my grandparents. as i was looking over the pictures and reading the stories my heart was full. it is amazing to see the transition of people over time. i saw pictures of when we were babies and growing up through elementary and highschool and also of my grandparents at the same ages. pictures say so much and they bring back so many memories. this is why i always have my camera on me it's like a visual journal. there was one thing and one thing only that i wanted for christmas this year (referring to presents) and that was a video camera. i am always taking videos on my iphone but i wanted an upgrade. i want to start making real family home videos that i can upload and have to look back on forever. my mom was the absolute best when it came to catching moments on camera when we were growing up. i love nothing more than to go up to her computer when i am home from school and rewatch these videos. i just laugh so hard and it is a way my brother and sister and i bond.
this morning was just like the years before. my mom STILL has us sit on the stairs before we open gifts. yes i am 22 (almost 23) and we are all above the ages of 18. 4 adults sitting on the stairs while our mommy and daddy film us open gifts, that's how we do things at the thatcher house. yes i am older but when i am with my family there is so much of me that still feels like a little kid. it is that feeling of going away and growing up but when you come back it is like nothing has changed. my family truly makes me happy and i love spending time with them. i feel now more than ever in my life i have a real apperciation for them. maybe it is because we fight less and enjoy each others company so much because we are harldy ever all together. this morning my mom made her christmas belgium waffles and we watched last years choir broadcast. we read a couple verses of the bible and my parents told us how much they love us and each other. what a blessing it is to be a part of a loving family. the rest of the day i plan on watching holiday movies and eating. my two favorite things. food and movies, oh i guess three because i love the fam.
when it comes to buying gifts for my dad, i have no idea!!!!! he loves expensive things like apple electronics and hello i am just a poor college student that makes $8 an hour. so no.... i can not buy him the latest ipad but there is one thing i do know about my dad, he loves sentimental things. i know how much we both enjoyed our trip to scotland and ireland this summer so i thought i would give him pictures to remind him of the time when we really got close. even putting the gift together got me a little teary eyed. we really did have such a good time together. a time in my life i will truly cherish forever. as he opened the gift and read the card he started to cry. he told me the gift meant so much to him. sooo.... booooya my gift rocked (yeah it costed me a penny) but i got my dad to cry and that is more than any apple product can do.
jen & stace
this is was my mom's gift to my dad. she is so cute and fuuny.
of few weeks ago i was in h&m with my sister stacey and i saw this adorable bag. i wanted it but it was $50 and i was like that is way too much for a purse. i said to her "tell mom and dad i want this for christmas" stacey being her thoughtful self didn't let this request fly over her head but remembered and got it for me for christmas. what a sweatheart. i love it so much. can't wait to sport it around.
