35th Wedding Anniversary

The business of pleasing one's in-laws is knowledge gained through much trial and much more error. This is a universal truth, no? You don't grow up with these people like you did with your own parent(s), but you come to know their preferences and peccadilloes through the narrow windows of opportunity that your grown-up relationship affords you. I mean, it's not as if my mother could have prepped me for this dynamic with my own in-laws:

"Okay, one day, Kendra, the nice people who raised your remarkable husband are going to want to celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary by hauling you and your kids in the snow to a Mid-Western mall where you will pose in your Korean hanboks for a photographer who doesn't know quite to make of this in the middle of the Sears portrait studio. Just smile and do what they tell you to do, even though you feel really self-conscious about your weight right now, and your kids would much rather wheel the Dora umbrella stroller around the barbecue grill displays."

And yet, in so many words, my mom was imparting this message to me for years. I think the cross-stitched message of my entire girlhood was: Suck it up, kid. This is making someone happy, even if it's not you. (Cheerful adage, isn't it?)

Needless to say, today we got our pictures made in honor of my in-laws' anniversary. My brother-in-law and sister-in-law couldn't be there, living across the country and all, so hopefully we will be able to Photoshop them in their wedding hanboks. Next best thing, right?

We are an incredibly photogenic family.

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No, really. We are a cute bunch.

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We researched what the official gifts of the 35th anniversary were, and we learned it was jade and coral. My father-in-law found some gorgeous coral-colored roses.

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Isn't my mother-in-law gorge?

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35 years + 2 sons + 2 daughter-in-laws + 2 grandbabies = blessed life

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