Our Extended Family

Easter Weekend

April 2, 2018 by 10 Comments

A few readers have asked how we celebrated Easter. We had quite the weekend! Mr. Handsome is an avid fisherman, so we spent some time fishing and were able to provide a meal for 17 friends and family members. Mr. Handsome and I each caught a 20-inch large mouth bass.

Mr. Handsome also did a painting party for his youngest sister, Lena, and her three closest friends. Lena was celebrating her 15th birthday with a sleepover and had “reserved” Mr. Handsome several months prior. He was honored that his sister wanted him to be part of her birthday celebration.

(Mr. Handsome is the oldest of seven, and it’s neat to watch him interact with his younger siblings. He takes his role as firstborn very seriously and is a great leader. There is a big age gap between the oldest five and the youngest two, which makes for a neat dynamic.)

The girls were very sweet, and their paintings all turned out really well. One accidentally dropped her painting on the new hardwood floors that my father-in-law had recently installed. He heard it fall and had a minor freak-out moment but was thankfully able to wipe the paint off the wood. And Mr. Handsome was somehow able to help the girl fix her painting.

Since Mr. Handsome and I have been married, we have always gotten together with both of our extended families (his parents, siblings, grandparents, and cousins and my parents, brother, and sister-in-law) for Easter. Everyone enjoys that tradition because it allows both sides of the family to have more time with us, and it prevents Mr. Handsome and me from having to travel to multiple gatherings. We sang Easter hymns, ate BBQ, and played cards. The guys, who are huge basketball fans, watched the March Madness semifinals.

And, of course, we dressed up in our Easter best and attended church. How did you celebrate the holiday?

Desert Scenes with Sisters

September 5, 2017 by 23 Comments

We are settled into our new place, and I have finally finished decorating. Mr. Handsome’s paintings, as well as some framed pictures, are looking great on our walls! I put away most of my store-bought decorations because I much prefer his artwork.Speaking of painting, Mr. Handsome has now done several art lessons with his two youngest sisters. Earlier this year, I shared photos of the ships that he helped them paint, and last year I showed off their hand-drawn parrots. They have also done lighthouses and beach scenes.

Just before we moved, we visited my in-laws for a wedding, and Mr. Handsome gave Mae and Lena a step-by-step painting lesson. They created the desert landscapes shown below. Mr. Handsome was thrilled with the girls’ work. It’s a simple scene but quite unique.

Since then, my husband has painted landscapes from our Canadian Rocky Mountain adventure, as well as three ship scenes that he says represent his best work (coming to the blog soon!)

Mae and Mr. Handsome with their paintings…

My in-laws’ chickens kept Mr. Handsome and the girls company during their outdoor painting lesson.

Time with Family

June 20, 2017 by 29 Comments

Earlier this month, my brother and his wife came to visit us in Nashville. (Remember the photos I posted of their Oregon Cost wedding last fall?)Neither of them had ever been here, so we had fun showing them the area. On the first night, we walked around downtown and treated ourselves to malts at Mike’s Ice Cream. My brother-in-law was able to get us access to one of the skyscrapers, so we gave them a birds-eye view of the city from a balcony.

My brother and his wife are more outdoorsy folks, as are we, so the rest of the weekend was spent hiking and exploring various state parks. Our first stop was Burgess Falls State Park in Sparta, Tennessee, which we visited a couple years ago. We hiked about half a mile and then came to this lookout point.

A short while later, we found the main waterfall. If you look closely, you’ll see a few people standing on the rocks at the base. It’s a long way down!

We were able to hike down a short trail to the top of the falls. (I almost passed out when Mr. Handsome approached the edge and got down on his belly to look over, but it made for a good photo-op.)

There were a number of other people there, all trying to figure out how the few individuals had made it down to the base. There are stairs, but they have been closed since the last time we were here, due to damage by extreme flooding. We never did figure it out…

Our last stop was Cummins Falls State Park in Cookeville, one of my favorite places in Middle Tennessee. We have visited several times since we moved to the area. (Remember my Waterfalls and Exterminators post from last summer?)

The first time we came, there were very few people at the falls, but word has gotten out, and now it’s always crowded. (It’s a very unique attraction, so I’m not surprised why it has become so popular.) The best way to describe it is a free, natural water park, and although the hike down to the falls is steep, folks of all ages make the trek because it’s such a neat place. Someday soon, I would love for Mr. Handsome to make a painting of the falls!

Mr. Handsome’s Great-Grandmother

April 17, 2017 by 20 Comments

Mr. Handsome and I spent Easter weekend with family. We saw both our immediate families, as well as both sides of Mr. Handsome’s extended family. All the ladies attended a bridal shower for my almost-21-year-old sister-in-law, who is getting married in early summer. (Remember when I posted pictures of her engagement party?)

Last week, my mother-in-law called and informed us that her grandmother (Mr. Handsome’s great-grandmother) would be at the shower and suggested we bring one of Mr. Handsome’s paintings for her.

Almost 102 years old, Great-Grandma lives alone, and she is a spitfire. She and Mr. Handsome have a special bond because they both have a dry sense of humor and enjoy poking fun at each other. When I handed Great-Grandma the wrapped painting, one of the great-aunts, who has a similar sense of humor, exclaimed, “I think it’s a baseball!” As she was leaving, Great-Grandma reminded me to be sure to thank my husband for the baseball.

Amidst all the joking, Great-Grandma truly was touched to receive such a heartfelt gift. She has a dozen grandchildren and a few dozen
great-grandchildren, and she gives all of them (plus their spouses) presents at Christmas, but very few of them acknowledge her. We’re not sure how much longer she will be with us, but we want to make her feel special while she’s here.

*Have you been down the Oregon Coast? The scene pictured in the painting is Heceta Head Lighthouse, located in Florence, Oregon. It is based on the photos we took of the lighthouse when we visited last October.

Painting with Mae and Lena

February 20, 2017 by 37 Comments

Mr. Handsome is the oldest of seven children. He and three of his siblings are finished with school and well into their careers, but the three younger girls are still working through their education. The two youngest, Mae and Lena, are in high school.As many of you know, Mr. Handsome is a hobbyist painter. (We are hoping to start selling his masterpieces soon, so stay tuned for more information on that.) For Christmas, my mother-in-law decided she wanted to buy Bob Ross oil painting kits for Mae and Lena, and she enlisted Mr. Handsome and me to help her pick out the supplies.

The girls were thrilled about their gifts and begged Mr. Handsome to give them a painting lesson. My husband patiently gave his sisters step-by-step instructions for about three hours, and their finished products turned out great.

Thanksgiving Table Set for 25

November 25, 2016 by 38 Comments

Did y’all have a nice Thanksgiving? We celebrated with a big lunchtime feast with both our immediate families, as well as Mr. Handsome’s grandparents and cousins.Our table set for 25 looks very similar to last year’s table, but I promise it’s a new picture. If you look close enough, you’ll see my two-year-old niece’s head in the left corner.

We had most of the traditional Thanksgiving dishes, including turkey (smoked overnight in my in-laws’ smoker), sweet potatoes, stuffing (not cooked in the turkey, so I suppose it’s just dressing), kale salad (okay, so that’s not super traditional), homemade rolls, mashed potatoes, and pie.

We realized halfway into the meal that we forgot to make green beans. Oops. Do you think we forgot any other Thanksgiving staples?

Before we ate, my father-in-law read a Bible passage on thankfulness. After lunch, we spent the afternoon chatting and playing Bananagrams and various card games (euchre, up and down the river, and presidents).

My mom made a festive vegetable plate. Isn’t it adorable?

Another Engagement!

November 9, 2016 by 16 Comments

Guess what, y’all? Another one of Mr. Handsome’s six siblings is engaged! As of now, he and Anne are the only two who are married. Their brother, Joseph, proposed to his girlfriend in May, and we are looking forward to their East Coast wedding next month.

In fall 2014, Mr. Handsome’s second oldest sister, Catherine, met a guy, and the two started dating exactly one year later. Exactly one year after that, they got engaged. Pretty cute, isn’t it? It looks like their wedding will be in late spring or early summer 2017 (after her college graduation). We are still waiting for them to choose a final date.

Catherine’s fiancé proposed at a local park, and then the two came back to my in-laws’ house for a party with both sides of the family.

Mr. Handsome and I managed to pull off a three-month engagement, but his siblings think we’re crazy for planning a wedding in such a short time. LOL. We both agree that three months was plenty long enough.

Hope you enjoy these photos from Catherine’s engagement party. I apologize for the low lighting.

These are the chalkboard signs that lined the driveway as the newly engaged couple drove up for the party. They say “Forever and Always,” “To Have and to Hold,” “Love,” “Laughter,” and “Happy Engagement.”

Quality Time with Sisters

January 11, 2016 by 19 Comments

As I mentioned last week, we spent a three-day weekend with my in-laws over New Year’s. Mr. Handsome spent a few hours on Saturday afternoon giving art lessons to his two youngest sisters, Mae and Lena.He pulled up a Google image of a parrot and showed them how to copy it. They wanted to draw a sunset, but my husband convinced them that the parrot would be more fun. (He actually chose the parrot because he knows how much I like birds.)

Once again, I was blown away by Mr. Handsome’s artistic talent! I stopped by Goodwill and found a frame for $1.99 and then hung his masterpiece in our kitchen.

Mr. Handsome’s latest piece of artwork

The girls, ages 12 and 14, did a fabulous job on their parrots. Mr. Handsome used to spend a lot of time with them before we moved to Tennessee, so I was glad to see the three of them have a chance to do something fun together.

As I wrote in my “How I Met My Husband” post last summer, one of the things that stuck out to me during my first encounter with Mr. Handsome three-and-a-half years ago was his relationship with these two girls. Seeing how much he genuinely enjoyed spending time with them told me a lot about his character.

Mae and Lena enjoy their art lesson with Mr. Handsome…

Ice Skating

January 8, 2016 by 18 Comments

How did you celebrate New Year’s? Mr. Handsome had a three-day weekend, so we left home at 4pm on December 31st and drove six hours to his family’s house, arriving just in time to watch the ball drop and ring in the New Year with sparkling grape juice.The rest of our visit was primarily spent playing board games, watching movies, and pigging out on leftover Christmas cookies. On January 2nd, we decided that we needed to do something active, so several of us went skating at a local ice rink. (Mr. Handsome’s parents stayed home with my 17-month-old niece, and his two brothers were out with friends.)

There were at least 150 people on the rink, which made for some pretty bumpy ice. (Mr. Handsome jokes that we might as well have been skating on gravel.) At one point, my two youngest sisters-in-law and I were all holding hands, with my husband in the middle for stability.

Ice skating with Mr. Handsome’s four sisters and brother-in-law

My Niece

December 1, 2015 by 9 Comments

While browsing my recent iPhone pictures to come up with a blog post for today, I came across a picture that I just have to share with you all.Remember the dinner we attended with my husband’s family in downtown Chicago last month? That afternoon, we had a chance to walk around the city, although it was only 30 degrees, so we didn’t go far.

During our stroll, I snapped this photo of my one-year-old niece, Ana. (Most family members call her by her nickname, Girlsy.) It was by far the coldest day she had experienced since last winter, and she hadn’t quite gotten used to the concept of sitting up in a stroller while wearing a puffy coat, a hat, and gloves.

She stayed in this position for 15 minutes, which gave us all a laugh. Ana is usually an expressive, bubbly little girl, but she didn’t know what to think about the unexpected cold weather.