Family Dinner and AMAZING Friends!

I’m not totally sure how it all started. And I’m also not totally sure I can really capture with words the immense merriment that occurs while gathered around our dinner table. What I do know is that “Family Dinner” has become not only a tradition in our house, but something we all look forward to and feel weird about if not scheduled regularly.

About once a week, or once every two weeks if we’re really pushing it, some of our group of WOU friends (family) come over and hang out. I usually make some sort of big family style meal, and we all flock to the table to literally eat, drink, and be merry. I of course love the hostess part of it, because well, as we all know, I love to host. Even more so I love to cook and cooking for 6+ rather than 2 is way more fun.

The evening usually starts with an update on what and how everyone is doing, and ends with empty plates, full stomachs, and endless banter back and forth. The amount of inside jokes that come up are endless, no laundry is too dirty to air, and we often end up laughing until our sides ache. They say laughter is the shortest distance between friends, and this couldn’t be any more true.

When we moved to Oregon we weren’t sure what the future held for us. We were back in a familiar place, but with only a few familiar faces Thank gosh for Andrew and Emily who were here when we were so new in town and helped us get settled. But being here this time meant we had to be adults, an experience much different than being here as a college student. I’m happy to say that in the last 2 years, we have discovered that not only do we love it here, but we love the people around us. Seattle will always be home for us, but Independence, Monmouth, and WOU definitely fall a close second.

Last weekend, while at family dinner, I looked around the table and felt this incredible amount of gratefulness. We really do have great friends who support us, make us laugh, and let us be real. Then the next evening we got a phone call that we had been waiting for from Emily telling us that her baby was on the way. We of course rushed over to help with their other little boy and in every way that we could, and were SO SO SO excited to be a part of such an amazing time for them. On Sunday we met sweet baby Asher Jay Wynings, and like his parents, immediately loved him.

Sappy as it sounds, the whole weekend was full of joy. And thanks to family dinner, there were also some harmless insults, belly laughs, and complete goofing off too. We spend lots of time soaking up the sun, and having a blast with amazing people. If the sunshine and how last weekend ended up is any indication of how the upcoming summer will be, I’m totally in.