Last week, my family threw a surprise party for my Dad.  It was a real surprise party because his birthday was four months ago… and because he was under the impression that he was planning a get-together for one side of his family.  Well, I was delightfully surprised to see that we managed to keep it a surprise up until mom yelled “SURPRISE!”  This was largely because he was making a lot of calls to family and running into people that were not doing the best job at keeping the surprise, but thankfully he did not notice all of the comments that were made.  But better than seeing his surprised face was the opportunity to see family that I had not seen in years.  For many of my family members, I had not seen them since the homegoings of other family members, so it was good to see them for a celebration of LIFE!  Needless to say, I ran my mouth more than I clicked away with my camera, but I was still able to capture the highlights of this event, which I have included below.

We not only had family, but we also had friends of the family, who seem more like members of the family than friends!  One of which was a very dear friend of mine, who is also my travel budding/road dog!  She has gone with me on all of my international trips and she has been present for so many noteworthy events in my life… Anyway, at the event, I took inspiration from a photo I took in Paris in 2008 of her, and I have included this throwback/inspired photograph in the collection below.

Another great moment for me was an exchange with one of my uncles.  For as far back as I can remember, I recall that my uncle Stan and my dad had the same Canon SLR camera.  Uncle Stan always took so much longer than Dad to capture any moment, but his pictures (as well as Dad’s) were always priceless!  So when I saw him at the event, he told me that halfway down from WI, he realized that he left his camera.  Well, thank God for preparation!  I was able to let him use my backup camera, which I was appreciative of afterwards when I realized that there were some people that I talked to, but did not photograph – Thanks Uncle Stan!  Among other shots, one of the things we did was capture each other capturing each other… and those were among my favorite shots!

Y’all, it was just sooo good to be around family, despite the heat and the loooooonnnnggg road trip!  I wouldn’t have traded these moments for anything!

Enjoy the photos below, and if you see something you like, don’t hesitate to leave a comment!!!

He was officially surprised!

Family & Friends

You don’t see cuteness like this everyday!!!