Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Good company, good food and most importantly, no pressure to buy presents! This year we are having a smaller crowd, but that won’t stop our plans for lots of cooking and eating!

This was one of my favorite photos from last year, when it was crazy warm, and it was also the first time we attempted a deep fried turkey. Brian and his dad were in charge of monitoring the cooking process:

This year we will hopefully not overcook the turkey (our fried turkey pretty much fell apart when we took it out!) and theoretically we should be better prepared!

And of course it wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without thinking of all the fabulous blessings in our lives. I am grateful for my family, new and old friends, travels and professional and personal opportunities.

I hope you and yours are having a fantastic Thanksgiving!

When we were in Ohio earlier this month, we visited the Columbus Zoo with Brian’s parents. I am glad that we had the opportunity for a little bit of family time and it was a really special experience with the in-laws since it was their first visit to the zoo as well. (It’s funny that when you live somewhere you never really visit the touristy spots until someone comes to visit and you have to play tour guide!) I am extremely thankful that Brian and I have really good relationships with all of our in-laws!

I love these fish! They had a huge tank of them:

One of the rare photos of both of us together:

This has me cracking up! I never really thought about sting rays having mouths…but where else would they eat? This guy was swimming in the manatee tank:

The zoo had a really neat section where you can feed lorikeets and I loved it! Well, except when Brian put one on my head in secret and when another lorikeet bit me when I tried petting it! They are such colorful birds:

And I have to say that I have a new found respect for bats:

And of course the obligatory goofy family photo:

And now I’m off to spend some time with the other in-laws!

Part 2 of my senior session. I would like to mention that the weather in Ohio was perfect; great light, good temperature and fantastic location:

Last week we flew up to Ohio to spend some time with family. On Thursday, we headed out to the fantastic Jeffrey Mansion for Julie’s senior session. Julie is actually Brian’s cousin, so it was kind of special to be taking part in capturing a special time in her life. I have these memories of her as a little kid and now she is a young woman. I am amazed at how much time flies! Here are a few of my favorites:

Stay tuned! On Wednesday I’ll share my second senior photos!