This Should Be Two Posts.

But it's not... so deal with it.

The first half is about stuff.

The second half is about other stuff.

The two stuffs don't really go together.

Actually, the only thing they have in common is that I wanted to write about both things at the same time.

That's it.

I should also warn you that the pictures may have nothing to do with what you are reading. I was raiding the iPhoto library late at night, so that's what you get.

Enjoy.

That's what I've been doing for the past couple weeks... see above.

Sewing, sewing, and sewing pretty little red, white and blue dresses.

And then I was shipping, shipping, shipping pretty little dresses all over the globe.

For real.

I'm not kidding.

I went to the post office and had packages to ship to London, South Africa, Thailand, New York City, Fargo, North Dakota (I just love saying that one- not sure why), and Queensland, Australia.

Talk about feeling superimportant.

I felt like a real live business woman, a global manufacturer, if you will.

Not all of them were red, white and blue (obviously), but a good majority of my orders were.

I find that to be especially interesting since I associate those 3 colors with Independence Day- a holiday for USA, not the rest of the world.

Apparently, our founding fathers (or their wives, I'm assuming) picked a pretty good looking color combo.

I also made some for my family (just the little girls) for our upcoming family reunion (Hubby's side) in Virginia this weekend.

Some of you might be thinking, 'oh, how nice of her'.

Notsofast.

I made them for purely selfish reasons.

I love how little girls look all dressed up for 4th of July, and I only have one daughter and I know that there will be more little girls in Virginia.

You get the picture.

I can't wait.

Seriously... can you imagine these cuties and then some all dressed and ready for fireworks?!?

Cousins: Peyton and Willow

I know some people dread family reunions. I, for one, cannot wait for this one.

I love my Hubby's whole-huge-extended-family.

And there's a lot of them.

Sometimes I think if they only knew how much I loved them, they would love me even more.

But that's impossible, because I've never felt so much love, real love, in one place in my whole life.

My brother-and-sister-in law, Graham and Michelle... they're having a BABY!!!!!!

It oozes from the walls.

I honestly think I can feel it warming me up as we pull into whatever subdivision or driveway that leads up to all of them mushed up together- usually in the kitchen.

My hubby's cousins, Christopher and Dahna... best cousins-in-law a girl could want :)

For example: A few months after we got married we went to his aunt and uncle's house in Virginia for Thanksgiving.

My Hubby and his brothers playing a serious game of 500.

It was amazing.

There were beds spread out all over the floor.

Kids running around all over the place.

It smelled like coffee.

My sister-in-law Emily and her hubby John.

People were in their PJs, glasses, and bedhead hair with mugs in their hands all day just sitting and talking and laughing and loving.

One of my favorite pics of us... taken right after I had Willow.

There were movies.

There was lots of food- good food.

The musically gifted were playing their guitars, quietly, confidently.

Grandma told me about how her husband went around selling eggs door-to-door after my mother-in-law and her twin sister were born to make enough money to pay the hospital bill so they could take them home.

My mother-in-law Karen (right), and her twin sister, Kris (left)

I got to look through wedding albums of all my new aunts.

Nothing was tidy.

Everything was perfect.

So perfect that I didn't want to go back home.

I was thisclose to quitting my brand new job so that I could stay longer.

Stupid, I know.

But it was that fun, that special.

But you want to know the craziest part?

Grandma told me I was pregnant.

We didn't know we were.

And I totally was.

That's why I think she's magic...

This was obviously taken several months after Thanksgiving... we knew by this point :)

Grandma hasn't ever met Willow.

I'm really excited for them to meet.

First family photo.