my family is Semple, but defintely not simple.

me, Annie, Mark, Crystal, Sarah, and Chandler in front. 

Families are messy, and mine is certainly no exception.  I grew up with my mom, "step" dad, "step"
sister Joel (prounced Jo-elle), and my "full" sister, Crystal.  I rarely saw my dad, more often I saw my (1st) stepmom and my little "half" sisters, Sarah and Annie.  Much later my dad got remarried and I gained a new stepmom, Pixie, and a "step" brother, Mark.  Mark has a sister, Kelsey, but I've only met her once and I wouldn't know her if I saw her on the street.  Not to say she doesn't count, but it's hard to call someone your sister when you don't know her.

It's my big sister Joel's birthday in just a few days, so I'll give her the sister treatment in her own blog post. <3

Anyway, as you can see from the " "s, I really don't like labeling my siblings as half or step, as if they aren't as good or real as the one sibling with which I share the same two parents.  From here on out they'll just be my sisters (and one lonely brother) because that's how I think of them.

My dad's family name is Semple, we're mostly Scottish, where we belong to the Sempill Clan.  Here is our family tartan, crest, and the home of the Sempill Clan, Castle Craigievar.  I had to do a bunch of research for a class once, and I might as well use all that info, right?

Keep Trust - It makes us sound like the Family Stark ;)

And here, dragged out of retirement, is the "yam man" I had to make for a non-western art studies class, dressed in full Highland regalia, wearing my interpretation of the Sempill Tartan.

I'm particularly proud of his sporran.

The ghillie brogues were the most difficult part, but I got an A on the project.  I like my yam man, he was a lot of work, and I like to bring him back whenever possible. 

But this has little to do with my modern family...

Apparently, one of the genetic traits of the Semple family is to rarely get together.  My stepmom, Pixie does her very best to gather us together, and last night was one such occasion.  My baby sister Annie was down for the weekend, and I haven't been able to see her for AGES, literally years. We used to be very close, but then.... life choices.... distance... enough said.

We made sure to document the fact that we were all together... here are all 4 of us Semple girls together...

The Semple girls... doesn't my dad have a nice view from his backyard?

 Here we are with our dad... doesn't he look thrilled?  He's wearing his "cacto-flauge" bbq apron, so it might be hard to see him.

Lastly, here's just Annie and I.  I love her so much and am uber-proud of how hard she's working right now.  She'll be moving back down to socal in September, and I am definitely looking forward to getting back to the close relationship we used to have.

Like I said, all families are messy, but it sure was wonderful to see this smiling face last night.  I wouldn't have missed it for anything.