My Siblings, Samantha E and Me

Several weeks ago an amazing thing happened. All four of us "Vink kids" were in the same place at the same time.  This hasn't happened since my youngest sister's wedding four years ago.  When I got married and left for the Philippines, I though I might end up being the furthest away, but a year later I moved back and one by one my siblings started moving away.  My brother lives in Calgary - I don't have any idea how long of a drive that is because I would never, ever drive it!  But I have flown there before:)  My next sister lives in TN about 12 hours away and our youngest sister lives in KY about 8 hours.  I, on the other hand, ended up within 30 minutes of mom and dad:)  Funny how life goes.  Anyways, you can imagine that its pretty hard for us to get together in the same place, so I was sooooo excited when it was coming up!  Unfortunately my sisters' husbands couldn't make it, but we had a great time anyways:)

We have a strange sort of family.  We have our differences.  We have the whole Canada-US-its-too-expensive-to-call thing going.  My brother is the only guy so not really that awesome at communication and I'm even worse.  But the awesome thing is, when we are together, I feel like we're right where we left off.  Mom talk with Sarah, shopping with Leah, advice from my brother, tons of food and more was part of an amazing weekend  It may have been just two days, but I enjoyed every minute.  Add an adorable niece and nephew to the mix - who finally warmed up to me by the end! - and it was perfect.

My mom asked Samantha of Samantha E Photography to come take pictures that weekend.  Even though we were missing two in-laws, its the closest to a family shot we were going to get for a while!  Samantha grew up with us, one of Sarah's best friends.  May I just say here, she is one of the sweetest people I know.  I love every minute I get to spend with her.  Not only that, but she's a talented photographer and graphic designer.  You need to check out her work.  She's wonderful and patient and goes above and beyond - especially with kids.  You can find her on Facebook and her website is www.samanthaephotography.com  Amazing.

Here are some pictures from our wonderful weekend.  I love you guys!  Mom and Dad too!:)