I love Thanksgiving! I really do. It’s the holiday of family time, eating delicious food, and laziness, and all three activities are top-notch in my book. So I was very excited for our Thanksgiving this year, even more so because we didn’t get to spend it last year with any extended family.

Early last week, we packed up the car and drove. And drove. And drove, until we reached Stafford, Virginia, a town just south of the Quantico military base where my brother-in-law is stationed. We got to see his family (including meeting our 5-month-old niece!) and my husband’s uncle’s family, who happens to have girls the exact same ages as our nieces. (I think they are our cousins… bah family ties confuse me.) Clearly I couldn’t resist bringing my camera… so here are just a few of the photos I took on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Let me tell you what, it was odd to photograph subjects that didn’t have tails.

 First we went to the park! This is Joy, my niece, 3 years old.

Next to Joy is Laia (pronounced “lye-uh”), also 3 years old

Laia’s mom is from Barcelona, which is fabulous in my opinion!

I’m told by Laia’s dad that this is a fake smile. I still think it’s adorable.

The many faces of Joy Shamrell:

The girls loved running around with Bailey… and vice versa!

I wish everybody could have been in focus for this photo, but it was getting dark (fellow photogs will understand) and it turns out dogs run much faster than 3-year-olds. Who knew?

There was a lot of “No, it’s my turn to hold the leash!”

Aw. Precious.

She couldn’t be cuter.

Just one of my daughter. The girls called her name so much and at so many random times, that I halfway thought it would lose all meaning to her.

Thanks, Virginia Shamrells, for being such wonderful hosts! And everyone else: I hope your Thanksgiving was as full of love and togetherness as ours was – but hopefully less time in the car with a dog.

Bye bye!

~   Child Photography by Allison Shamrell in Stafford, Virginia   ~