All in the family …

You don’t choose your family. They are God’s gift to you, as you are to them. — Desmond Tutu

I love that quote. So, so much. And I’ve said it before here but it bears saying again that I feel REALLY blessed to have the family I have been given. Last month we got together at my parents’ house in the country for food and fun and games. Just a regular weekend with the fam, doing what we do best. Getting to take part in these get-togethers only every few months now (hopefully more with my busy season of shooting winding down), I was struck this time around by how much my family has grown in just the past six months. Nieces and nephews who seemed like kids at the start of the year are now, well … teenagers. With braces and video games and years of that awkward phase of life we call junior high and high school ahead of them. My nephew who was crawling last I saw him is now walking and my 4-year-old niece had to tell me all about her preschool. I felt overwhelmed with love for them all that day and these photos have been a nice refresher of that these past few weeks. Hope you enjoy the sneak peek of my fam!

My sister, Karin, her husband, Gary, and their kiddos.

My niece, Erin, is a Starbucks barista these days so in between asking her her thoughts about the Twilight series, I’m all, “So tell me again how you make a frappucino?”   I love this trio a lot (and again, for the record, my nephews, Cameron and Chris, are FRATERNAL! I know, right – they look so much alike! Only in recent years have I been able to tell them apart at first glance.) My sister loves to tease me about the fact she married a twin and had twins. And since I married a twin …. well, you can guess what conclusions she’s jumping to there!

Well who’s THIS?! It’s the BIRTHDAY BOY!!!! This is my nephew Sam, who turned 1 back in September. Seems like forever and a day ago I shot these newborn photos of him. Now he’s a lovebug who I want to swallow whole when he flashes this little grin at me. We have a series of photos of my brother in our stairway at my parents’ where my brother Jeff looks EXACTLY the same as his son here! SO CUTE

This is Sam’s big sis, Emily. She’s made an appearance a time or two on the ‘ol blog. What can I say, she’s QUITE the ham

For real do I not have the cutest kids for nieces and nephews? FAVORITES!!

Some family time — I love everything about these next two images of Jeff, his wife, Amy, and that tangle of limbs that is their two kids!

And this is my oldest brother, Mark, his wife, Lynne, and their four children. I feel like these guys have grown up SOO fast! One day I’m holding their oldest, Grace, at my high school graduation and the next I know she’s turning 12 on me! Oh my! (doesn’t my brother have strong genes? )

From left to right: Jake, Chloe, Grace and Ethan

Now for my parents— if I had a way to bottle them as they are right now, I would give all the money in the world to do so.

And one final parting shot — a gratuitous self-portrait of me and my sister. I’m horrible at trying to take self-portraits while using the back button focus on my camera, so the fact I got one to turn out is a major accomplishment!

See more of Gail’s work at www.gailwernerphoto.com. Friend Gail on Facebook. Follow Gail on Twitter.