thanksgiving

we had a great thanksgiving. we got to announce to our families the name we decided for baby G:

Norah Christy

chris & i also felt her kick for the first time, which was exciting! we spent some time in south georgia with chris' family. a few years ago, i started doing a craft/kitchen project with his cousin's children, and it has sort of become a tradition. this year we did gingerbread people. the girls said the large gingerbread cookie cutter was christopher, the medium one was me, and the tiny one was baby norah. then they made half their cookies with a cutout of norah within a larger gingerbread person's belly- "since that's where she is." so precious! here's a picture of the golden family with mema. we are very excited for kevin & andra (pictured far left) as they finalize their wedding plans for next april. i've always wanted a sister! we left the farm early to go to the georgia game on saturday. despite the outcome, we had a great time with friends in our final tailgate of the season. they surprised us with a shower! the cake says if i had a daughter...i'd dress her in white & gold, which is from the GT fight song. i've always heard the best way to get new tech fans is to breed them! here are some of the sweet things we received for norah. she will be ready for next football season!

sweet home alabama

june was the month of weddings for my extended family in alabama. i had two cousins get married in or near birmingham within three weeks. the first was my mom's sister's daughter- victoria. i don't have as many pictures of this event, but here i am with the bride. the wedding was at a beautiful farm in the country. the night was completed with fireworks over the lake. victoria was recently accepted to school for music technology in birmingham, where she and her husband michael will live. she is a talented guitarist and recorded her own wedding march playing classical guitar!

last weekend we had the second wedding, in which i was a bridesmaid (bridesmatron?). it was my dad's brother's daughter- ashley. she was in my wedding nearly four years ago. here's a flashback of that.back then she was dating patrick off and on. they are high school sweethearts, which is neat because so are her parents- my aunt jenny and uncle larry. here they all are. uncle larry looks like he's tired of taking pictures! ashley & patrick will live in birmingham where she recently got a new job as an editor at southern living. but her passion is clothing design, and she is very talented! you can see some of her original designs at her website, addie & elon.

the weekend was so relaxing & fun because we stayed at a hotel downtown very close to all the events. i always find staying at hotels really luxurious, i guess because i don't have to make my bed, clean up after myself, or cook! birmingham has some great shopping, so after the bridesmaids' luncheon on friday we went to the summit where christopher got some new shoes and i got to visit anthropologie. the rehearsal dinner was delicious, at a restaurant called brick & tin. the wedding was at historic rucker place. here we are in the bride's room...and at the reception. chris & me with my dad's parents. mom & dad with grandmother & daddy buck. my mom played piano for the ceremony and my dad helped turn the pages. we are almost done with weddings for a little while. we have one more this summer, on my birthday in new hampshire. christopher is a trooper, because i know weddings are not as fun for boys. but i do love weddings!

easter weekend

we had a busy easter weekend. on saturday, we met brooke & patrick in gaffney for lunch & outlet shopping. they live in rock hill, so it's a perfect midpoint for us. as soon as patrick finishes graduate school at winthrop, they're moving to iowa where he is starting a position as a band director. we're trying to see them as much as possible before they leave in june. we'll miss them and we hope they start blogging so we can keep in touch easily!
chris and i had a nice service at our church easter morning before leaving for alabama. we had learned on saturday that my grandmother (mom's mom) passed away early that morning. she's had some recent health problems and had been in the hospital, so this was not unexpected. we left greenville sunday afternoon to be with my family and attend the funeral on monday. it was held in the town where my mom grew up - brundidge, al. i hadn't been there since i was a small child, so we visited some places that were important to my mom. it reminds me of the town in to kill a mockingbird, which is my mom's favorite book.
house where my mom grew up (though it's been renovated...they never had a tin roof). salem baptist church - where my parents got married. the funeral was also held here.napa auto parts store that my grandfather owned - i never knew him since he passed away the year before i was born.

the juxtaposition of my grandmother's death and easter sunday reminded me that God is bigger than life or death and that He's in control of all things. "for i am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." ~romans 8:38-39