New Year's Eve

In the spirit of trying to use my camera more this year, I dusted it off and packed it in the car with me as I drove over to my cousin Johanna's house for some (tame) New Year's Eve fun. 

Over at Hannah's house (we actually, rarely call her Johanna), it was an interesting mix of people. And what made it so, is how I was related to each and every person there - in more than one way. Try and keep up. There will be a quiz when your done reading this.  

This is Matt and Hannah. They are brother and sister and they are my cousins by marriage through my biological father who I haven't seen since I was 3ish. I had no idea who they were until 5th grade when Hannah marched up to me on the playground and told me we were related. It went something like this:

Hannah: "Hey! My name's Johanna and you and I are related!"

Me: What? We are? Wait... do you know Grandma Nancy?"

Hannah: No.

Me: Oh. Well we're not related then. But let's play anyway!"

Hannah: "Ok!"

And since she moved shortly after, that was that. 

 Years later when we ran into each other after high school, she explained the whole thing and it turned out she was right. Who knew!

This is Harley and Hannah. Harley is Hannah's brother-in-law and my pastor and also my best friend's husband. Everyone thinks my best friend is actually my sister so I actually usually call Harley my brother-in-law when really he would be my cousin-in-law because his wife is Mark's cousin.

 My children call him Uncle Harley. 

Confusing right? Hannah is also related to Mark in another way than by me. 

Wait for it...

This is Hannah and Wade. Wade is Mark's blood cousin which means they are legit when it comes to being related. So Hannah is also Mark's cousin-in-law through Wade. 

We often have to explain to people how my cousin married Mark's cousin.

They think we are weird but it works, I promise!

This is Dawn. My best friend who people often think is my sister but is actually Mark's cousin (and Wade's sister). She is normally very normal but I swear every time I pointed the camera in her direction, she did something weird. Also, this wasn't her beverage and she is going to kill me for putting this picture on here but I just had to, right? 

Dawn is my best friend in the world and if I ever had a sister, I would have wanted her to be just like Dawn. 

Even if she does weird things like this...

Sheesh! Looking a little scary there sis!

I love these 2 and every single time we are together we have a great time. New Year's Eve was no exception. 

So for the night we sat around, ate food, visited and played a lot of pinochle. 

It was perfect except for one thing. 

Mark wasn't there. 

Poor guy finally caught the flu that had been going around and he was home feeling miserable. He was supposed to work and I was going to ride with him but it started hitting him that morning and he is still laying on the couch thinking he is dying right now. 

I felt bad for him though on New Year's Eve and came home at 11:40 just to see if he was up. He was and we did watch the ball drop together. Not the most exciting way to welcome the year but we were together so it was still perfect for me!

Happy New Year!