Lovely Family Dinner

Posted by Lauren

After a full day at work, Nicole, our Mom, and David enjoyed dinner at my Aunt Cori and Uncle Peter’s house. We attempted to meet up when Collin turned 21 on June 21st (golden birthday!) and I hit 25 on June 23rd, but our schedules just didn’t work out until tonight… in the middle of August!!

It was just in time, too, because Morgan leaves for her sophomore year of college on the east coast in 3 days. I can’t believe school is starting up again! That means Nicole is going to leave soon and that is NOT OKAY. :( :(

Sister, why don’t you just abandon the Trojans and stay up here?

Woah, it’s like she is glaring at me for the USC comment I just made but she had no idea I was going to write it on the blog. Soothsayer. I haven’t seen this girl since July 26th, which is way too long if you ask me. We need a night of sister bonding before she leaves!

We enjoyed some appetizers while we all caught up…

…and soon enough it was time for dinner!

Cori is such a great cook and hostess! We filled our plates and headed outside to enjoy our meal and the cool summer night.

Salmon = SO GOOD.

Ok, I really liked this rice dish – crunchy veggies, creamy avocado; perfect for summer! After dinner I opened my birthday presents. They generously gave me a water bottle (great news since I left mine in Brugge) and a Cuisinart Smart Stick Hand Blender (with whisk and chopper attachments). I love it! Thank you!

Here’s a shot of the girls…

And we can’t forget Collin… (he’s the volleyball player at UCI)

Don’t let that picture fool you. Collin is crouching down and we are on our tip-toes. This photo below is 150% more accurate in portraying exactly how tall he is:

We also had dessert! Chocolate [birthday] cake, with a choice of ice cream and fresh berries.

Nicole left after dessert, but I stayed to watch movie trailers with Collin and Morgan. From what I remember we watched these:

• Cloud Atlas < < intense!
• Wreck-It Ralph < < fun!
• LOL < < looked SO dumb
• OZ The Great and Powerful
• Breaking Dawn pt. II < < real life Bella is mean
• Monsters University
• Nesting

I had such a fun night! Family gatherings are great :) It will be nice to see Cori and Collin this weekend at Steve’s wedding! (p.s. OH MY GOSH, I cannot believe Steve and Amy’s wedding is so soon. Must get an outfit!)

Question: Seen any good movie trailers lately? Have you read Cloud Atlas? 

-Lauren