"What generation did you graduate from college?"

The party was held at my cousins’ house, which is one of the most beautiful houses I have ever seen. They have a sprawling front yard with stone steps and this gorgeous front porch and deck with a backyard that overlooks the woods. I was left swooning.

Almost everyone from my dad’s side of the family was at the party. It was a great time! Even though we’re second and third cousins and great aunts and uncles we are all pretty close. We try to see each other at least once a year and be present for all the big occasions.

I was totally in my element with this crowd. Everyone is loud and tells stories and makes one another laugh.

There was tons of delicious food that I happily ate way too much of and had Mike begging for the recipes. And of course there were libations:

This is probably only the second or third time Mike has met this side of my family but he acts like he’s known them for years. I barely talked to him that night because he was so busy chatting everyone up! It was so nice to see how comfortable he was and how he thinks of them as his family too :)

We all doted on Drew, the new graduate. Isn’t he the cutest thing ever?

He’s going on a cross-country road trip before leaving for college. I can’t imagine being in a car for that long! As if that didn’t make me feel old enough, one of his friends asked Erinn what generation she graduated from college. Poor boy.

We stayed until the late hours of the night just catching up and making plans to visit one another. Mike and I want to visit Texas to see Patti and Kara, which may be happening sooner that we expected since Kara got engaged after the party! Her now fiancé Ben is the sweetest guy and you can tell how happy they are going to be. Congratulations!

After we said our goodbyes we headed back to the hotel and crashed early, yet again. We had another big day ahead of us--on to Tennessee!