Family Time

I'm here!  I won't say I'm back, yet, but I'm here.  The past two months I haven't done much of anything unless it involved the couch, the bed, or the fridge.  But I'm beginning to rebound as we move into the 2nd trimester.  Yea!  We're pregnant!  11 weeks and 1 day to be exact.  Isn't it amazing they can tell you that much information!  We had our second visit to the doctor today and heard a healthy heartbeat and actually got to see the little butterbean jumping around in an ultrasound.  Maybe he/she will take after his/her big sister who is non-stop these days.

A recent and spontaneous trip to Callaway Gardens last weekend left us speechless.  We had a fabulous time.  We are already planning a yearly trip for our family, if not more often.  It is so family friendly.  I wish we had pictures from everything we did, but we only took our camera into the Horticulture Center.  Here are a few of the pics that Grant took.

Laura making us a snack to eat

On the bridge on the Kids Trail

Checking out the Gardens

I like to call them MumBalls

Mark, Set, Go

The Kids Maze

Look at the water Daddy!

More MumBalls

Cool dragon, lizard, snake thing in the water

Can you tell we really liked the MumBalls?

The Most Elegant Wedding

Last weekend Grant and I were privileged to be a part of the most elegant wedding either of us have ever attended, and perhaps will ever attend in our lives.  Yes, it was that special.

We felt like we were back in time as all the ladies were in beautiful, long formal gowns and the men were dashing in their tuxedos, walking around a plantation in Thomasville, GA.  The grand oaks and dripping moss set the mood as the sun set, vows were spoken and toasts were raised.

The evening began in the trophy room with champagne.  The plantation owner  was known for her horses and winning races back in her day.  Silver cups and trophies adorned this spectacular room at the end of the house.  Floor to ceiling windows on every wall revealed the majestic setting we were in.

Escorted into the room for the ceremony, we only had to wait a few minutes before the processional and the beautiful bride walked in the room.  I have known my friend Jackie for over 15 years now.  We met on the tennis court when we were just 13.  Opponents at first, we quickly became close friends traveling to tournaments together and playing doubles every chance we got.  So when Jackie asked if I would read the scripture at her small, intimate wedding I was honored down to my core that she would want me to do something so special.

As elegant as the bride was, the ceremony reflected her completely.  Her touch was evident with every detail.  Following the ceremony we all gathered on the front porch for cocktails, hors d'oeuvres and music.  The best part was still yet to come.  A 7-course meal prepared by a chef and his army of waiters and waitresses all the way from Athens, GA.  This chef has even competed on the Bravo TV show Top Chef.  Every morsel was delicious.  I don't think I can do it all justice, just imagine mouth watering delicacies and that's what we ate.

After dinner and many more toasts, we all retired to the porch for more music and dancing.  It was the perfect ceremony, wedding, dinner and reception.  As it should be for every bride and groom on their special day.  But this one I will remember always.

Congratulations Jackie and Matt.  May your marriage be just as special as your wedding weekend was.

The Flowers in Vegas

I know its been a while since I've blogged, but I have an excellent excuse.  We were in Vegas!  To answer your first question - we won a little and lost a little.  It didn't come out even, but we weren't expecting to come home any richer either.  We just do a little for the fun of it.

Most of these pictures are from the Bellagio's Atrium area.  Absolutely beautiful.  We were fortunate enough that the convention was in the Bellagio so we walked by the thousands of flowers daily.  And it should be no surprise that all of my pictures involve some sort of flower, right??

Early in the morning they change out the flowers.

We discovered their plant yard right next to the hotel.

Beautiful butterfly in the Atrium

Everything can't be perfect

And this is just a fun picture of our little munchkin from yesterday.  Laura received her own watering can for Easter so that she can help me water our own flowers.  She hasn't quite grasped the concept of holding the can up until you get to the pots so that you don't spill all the water.  She mainly likes to watch it pour out and if the water manages to hit a pot or two, well that's just an added bonus.  Yesterday she slowly started pouring the water on herself until she was about half wet.  Well, I couldn't help myself and in the fun of watering things I sprayed her pretty good with the water hose.  Next came out the flower water sprinkler toy from last summer.  And the end result is a completely happy, completely drenched little girl.  This summer at Water World should be fun!

True Friends

Mom and Marie

There are two people from college that I text, email and talk with on a regular basis - Brittany and Marie.  Brittany was my roommate freshman year.  Marie and Brittany were pledge sisters.  And somewhere along our college journey the three of us became inseparable.  True friends that my parents always said I would make in college; friends that will last a lifetime.

Parents weekend is huge at W&L.  I'm not sure who looked forward to it more - the parents or the students.  Parents attend classes, meals and even the parties!  Brittany, Marie and I started coordinating our parents weekend dinner parties together.  They were always so much fun.  

At some point the three of us started sending Christmas cards to our parents.

Both Brittany and Marie's parents made the long trip down to the South when Grant and I were married.

They are all so very dear to me.  And so when my mom and some girlfriends decided to go to San Francisco for their Spring Break I immediately told Marie who has lived out there since she graduated from Law School.  Mom and Marie emailed back and forth while plans were being made.  And last night Marie and her boyfriend Todd met up with my mom and her friends for dinner.  So jealous!  But so glad they were able to see each other.  It's just so neat that my friends and my parents are good friends.  It makes me want to have a Parents Weekend Reunion!  Brittany, Marie - let's do it!

Marie and Todd

Seaside Race Weekend Recap

They made it!  Each of our guys survived and even thrived in last weekend's Seaside Half Marathon.  With little to almost no training for a few who shall remain nameless this was a huge win.

We spent the weekend in a condo with the Sharps and all the Faulks.  It was loads of fun.  And a tradition that I'm sure will continue

Jason took home the gold from our condo - coming in under 2 hours!!

We braided hair

I found a gown for my friend Jackie's wedding

It's Great to be an Auburn Tiger

Wow, what a trip.  It almost seemed surreal.

It all started with a text from my dad over New Years that said, have 2 extra tickets...interested?

Excuse me, um, YES!!!

And from there all the stars seemed to align for us to make it to Arizona and watch our beloved Auburn Tigers play for the National Championship.

Scottsdale is fabulous, truly a beautiful city.  Great restaurants, shops and things to do.

We stayed at the Phoenician (on the pull-out couch in my parents room, but we didn't care!)  It was a wonderful resort.  We rubbed elbows with ESPN while waiting for cabs, walking into our hotel and getting off the elevator.  ESPN had about 6 jet-black escalades lined up waiting to take them to the game on Monday morning.  It was fun running into them everywhere we walked.  We tried to get Corso to tell us who he would pick to win, but he wouldn't spill the beans.

Our seats were on the 45 yd line, 17 rows up.  In the Oregon section.  But we had friendly Auburn fans all around us.  And we have to say that all the Oregon fans were pretty nice.

We stood up the entire time, except for timeouts and TV timeouts.  Our feet were sore the next day.  But it was so worth it all.  We were nervous and excited all at once as it was another nail-biter to the finish.  Toilet paper trailed from the upper deck after Wes kicked the winning field goal as the final 2 seconds ticked off the clock.

I received this pic in an email this week.  Pretty awesome!

We hung around the stadium for a while after the game ended.  We watched as coaches' kids made confetti snow angels on the field, players ran around the stadium giving fans high-fives and waving flags, and slowly as the players made their way into the tunnel.  

Not sure that anything will top this trip for a long time.  Its great.... to be.... an Auburn Tiger....

Our Cabie from Philly

Growing up I remember thinking that my grandparents knew everyone everywhere we went.  And in Bay Point, where they lived, that was pretty close to being true.  But as I grew older I realized that they just loved people.  And they always made it a point to talk to people - to anyone about anything.

I wish I had more of this trait.  But maybe I just need to hone in on it some more, becoming intentional to engage people as God brings them in and out of my daily life.

While in Nashville Grant and I met a great guy.  We never exchanged names, but I believe Grant and I will remember him for a while.

On Sunday Grant and I went to see the Rockettes perform at the Grand Ole Opry House.  From downtown this was about a 20 minute cab ride.  It had already begun to snow at this point, but wasn't too bad.  After the show we hung around the Opryland Hotel just walking around checking out this beautiful site.  And by the time we were ready to head back downtown there was lots of snow on the ground.  There were two taxis left outside and we managed to snag a great one.

Our cabie was from Philly (whew, I was excited to hear this cause it meant he knew how to drive in the snow!)  He was extremely careful on the highways as we passed several wrecks from cars skidding and sliding.  The three of us didn't talk much in the beginning but as our speed slowed down on the road we seemed to talk more in the cab.  We learned that he came to Nashville for college.  He had finished his masters at Vanderbilt the previous year in Bio Statistics.  Wow.  After a year of being out he realized he wanted to get his PhD and was going back to school in the same field.  Again, wow.  Even though he went to Vandy, he cheers for Tennessee.  He has a three year old son at home.  And his wife is from Philly also. They are waiting to have more kids until he finishes his PhD.  He stays home with his son during the day and talked about teaching him to read and write.  One a few occasions he talked about how proud his parents are of all that he has accomplished with going to college and completing his masters and going for his PhD.  And by the end of the cab ride Grant and I were too.

He had a very gentle spirit that made him easy to talk to and very enjoyable to get to know.

I wish our cabie from Philly all the best!

Wet and Snowy Weekend in Nashville

Ahhh

Home. Sweet. Home.

Grant and I just returned from a weekend in Nashville.  We took advantage of some cheap flights with Southwest Airlines and got away for the weekend.  I just thought it was cold here.  Saturday it rained.  And was cold.  Luckily, the Hall of Fame was selling these sporty ponchos.

Then the temperature really dropped.  And Sunday we got about 2-3" of snow.  Its a little hard to see, but it was coming down pretty good and you can see it in the background of these pictures.  And don't let Grant fool you.  It was really cold.

But we were determined to have a good time.  And we succeeded tremendously!

• Sleeping in - Check
• Laying around and watching movies - Check
• Good food - Check
• Rockettes - Check
• Country Music Hall of Fame - Check
• Opryland Hotel - Check

It so hard to do the trip justice because there were so many aspects that were awesome.  I plan on writing about a few highlights individually, so look for more to come.

Alas, we don't have anymore pictures though.  This is every picture we took and all three were with our phones.  So glad we took our camera.

Back from Atlanta

Back from Atlanta. Yay! It was a great Millionaires Club trip. We had seven managers, three district managers, and five from the office. In three days and two nights we did as much as we could. Braves game in the Coca-Cola box suite, GA Aquarium, World of Coke and awards dinner at the Atlanta Fish Market. All of it a hit.

I haven't been to visit Atlanta in a while. In fact, I can't even remember the last time we were there. It was so good to be back. I think I pointed out my old exit to at least four different people each time we passed it on 85.

It was a great little carriage house in Ansley Park in Midtown. Just a one bedroom apartment behind the home of one of my mom's best friend's from college. I only lived there a year. But I learned so much about Atlanta during that year. I could tell you all the back roads to take - now I'm thankful for directions and a GPS.

4th of July at Compass Lake

Dr. Ashe vacuuming the lake.



It was pretty windy!

A few pictures from Rose Hill

The small pictures I took with my phone while we were out exploring the land around Rose Hill in Lexington. Hopefully you'll still be able to see how wonderful this place is. We probably won't stay anywhere else now - this place spoiled us!

Home Sweet Home

Lexington was fabulous. Oh, so fabulous. Sometimes it feels almost surreal that I lived there for four years. We hit up a few of the old stomping grounds, mainly surrounding food. It's amazing how a pizza isn't just a pizza when it sustained your eating habits for so long.

We did the campus tour with a freshman who had the glazed look in her eyes that I once had when I was so in love with W&L, Lexington, and life in college. My parents used to take bets when I would come home to visit. How long would I last before making the comment that I missed Lex?? I forget who won, but it was usually less than 24 hours!

We walked down Main Street and visited some of my favorite shops. There were a few new ones that had replaced the ones I never went into.

Merchandise was purchased at the book store only this time I couldn't swipe it home.

Lexington is such a unique town. Picturesque. Quaint. Beautiful. There are so many adjectives that could describe it perfectly. Lexington may not be home anymore, but it certainly holds a warm, cozy spot in my heart that feels like home when we return.

Beautiful Rose Hill

We are in VA!! We drove to Charlotte on Wednesday and made the rest of the trip yesterday morning. We are staying at Rose Hill just outside of Lexington. We found this gem of a home on homeaway.com, which we learned about in a Super Bowl commercial, so I guess it is worth watching just for the commercial breaks :)

Rose Hill home is 190 years old. The pecan tree that sits out back is over 200 years old. The home has 370 acres of rolling hills and cattle surrounding it. There is a cemetery on one hill that dates back to 1850. The log smokehouse that sits in the backyard remains in tact and has all the original logs. Kyle went for a walk yesterday and came up on 4 deer grazing. When pulling into the mile long driveway yesterday we immediately came up on a turkey. This is the first time I've seen one in person. And she had about 20 babies running around her. The babies are called Poults - we learned thanks to google. The sunroom, where I sit now, stretches across the entire length of the house. Everything is beautiful.

The dream home that Grant and I are building in our minds has just taken on some new designs inspired by Rose Hill.

Headed back to VA

We are headed back to the beautiful Lex Vegas this week and I am super excited!! The last time we were there was just after we got married, so three years ago!

The main highlight of the trip is in Charlottesville (just down the road from Lexington). Mitch is graduating from UVA law. Go Mitch! He and Amanda are then moving to NYC this fall. Another great place to go visit.

Grant and I decided that we couldn't go to UVA, just an hour away, and not visit Lex.

This will be LB's first visit. And what a perfect time to go! The spring was one of my favorite times in school. Usually just one class for six weeks with perfect weather - some of my favorite memories are from those spring terms.

Spring term my senior year Brittany (my freshman year roommate and best friend) and I made a list of all the things we had never done but wanted to do before our 4 years were up. It was a great list. We visited Natural Bridge, taking a picnic lunch with us, only to get to the bottom of it and say - that's it?? We went on a safari - pretty amazing to have a safari only a few minutes from campus! It was maybe the highlight from the list. You drive through this farm basically and you can buy a bucket of food to feed the animals from your car. I drove and Brittany had the food. Well, along comes a zebra. And these animals are very people friendly and know what you have in the bucket. First, Brittany feeds a little out of her hand, but the zebra was hungry. So, she gives it some more. Still not enough. Before we know it the zebra's entire head is in the car going after the bucket of food. I was laughing so hard I couldn't do anything to help out poor Brittany. After that we rolled up our windows!

But quite possibly the best time Spring term that year was every Friday night we had dinner at my apartment. There were six regulars - Anne, Brittany, Marie, Leila, Kristine and myself - and off and on we had some guests, but always the six of us. We always cooked a new recipe. We may have gone out afterwards or ended up at the Palms across the street. But it didn't matter what the plans were later on that night, everyone started out together for dinner and a great time. Each of these girls were in my wedding. Their hometowns span from just up the road from Lex in Staunton to DC, Philadelphia and Indianapolis and Buenos Aires. These girls are amazing and such a blessing in my life.

I know being back in Lexington this week will bring back so many of these great memories. I look forward to each and every one of them.