happy 2015!

we rang in 2015 with something a little different this year-- a progressive dinner with 2 of our favorite families! we kicked off our night with appetizers at james & kim's house! i was too busy scarfing down meatballs, so i only snapped a quick group picture. but gosh, i love this picture. and gosh, i love these people!!!


we progressed on to our house for the main course-- chili-- and a little karaoke! maybe next year, we'll document the actual eating part! haha!


kath and hallie got the party started!!! somebody's excited to ring in the new year!


ben and james pulled out the oh-so-popular karaoke song from the hobbit...


and here we are serenading our "sweet caroline"!


drew looks like he was beatboxing-- maybe he was?? i guess kim didn't like that song too much! ha!


our last stop was ben & kath's house for dessert and a bonfire! major props to the guys for not giving up on some very stubborn wood. after some major problem solving involving a blower at some point, we had a fire! this video is for the 2 males that might possible be reading. brian is convinced that you will think this is great.


brian captured this shot of a man and his dog. so contemplative. (i think he's contemplating a refill after all that fire-starting frustration.)


matt organized a frisbee tournament, including brackets and everything. :) when a sweet 12 yr old boy stands there smiling with clipboard in hand, you play... even when you are awful at throwing a frisbee! i was sure kim and i would quickly lose and be out of the tournament (which meant relaxing by the fire!), but i underestimated her ability to win the game with one perfect toss into the minuscule target. i was as awful as i said i would be!!! but thanks to kim, we ended up in the championship round against ethan and brian, the frisbee expert. and thanks to the frisbee expert, we lost. i hate losing! but s'mores were ready, so that softened the blow. :)

after s'mores, we broke out the sparklers. it's not new years without sparklers!!





amelia is our "sparkler girl"! when the thrill of running around with fire on a stick had grown old for everyone else, she was still happily twirling to and fro with her momentary stick of fire. this girl's joy just makes my heart full!


as we worked out the details of creating the "2015" in the first picture, it was agreed upon that the "5" would be the most challenging to get right. it was at that moment that i volunteered to be the "1"!! i think i did a pretty awesome 1 if i do say so myself. ;)

the concept of sparkler art was new to our friends, so while amelia was using up all the sparklers, ben pulled out his flashlight and started on a new project... not sure what to call it... sparkler profiling!? it was a race to get the whole outline before the camera clicked!




i didn't really think they were listening when i said, "do the dog!"


oh, ben-- i want to take you seriously, i really do. but it's virtually impossible!


it was a lovely night with these lovely ladies and their families!


aaaand the outtake...


here's to many more laughs in 2015!