Jennifer's Wedding

"I will be here to watch you grow in beauty, and tell you all the things you are to me, I will be here...I will be true to the promise I have made - to you and to the One who gave you to me..." -Steven Curtis Chapman

Yesterday we went to Burlington for one of my favorite things - a wedding! By my best determination, Jennifer (the bride) is my "Step-Second Cousin." Her great-grandmother was my step grandmother (the sweet lady my grandfather married after my grandmother passed away). She and her groom, Justin, had been dating for 5 years - since their senior prom - and it was great to see such a sweet and Godly couple start their life together.

The wedding was a People's Memorial Christian Church in Burlington ( http://www.gopeoples.org/ ), and the decor and ceremony were beautiful...







After the ceremony, we headed to downtown Gibsonville for a reception at The Diamond Room (http://www.diamondroomonmain.com/ ). David lived in Gibsonville when we were dating and engaged, and we used to hang out downtown all the time. So it was really fun for us to be back there and for such a great occasion. I managed to get a few pictures, although the ones of Jennifer and Justin's first dance turned out terribly dark because my camera was on the wrong setting...









Congratulations Jennifer and Justin - may God bless you with many years together full of love and commitment!

A Backyard Midsummer Celebration

"This is very midsummer madness..." - William Shakespeare

Before I get into the meat of this blog post, let me update our blog readers on a couple of things. First I know that 3 weeks ago I promised a coupon-organizing blog post. Why am I SO behind on that? Well, my coupon box broke. Yes, the lid came off and it isn't fixable. I just have not gotten around to purchasing a new one (hope to do that this week maybe?) and I can't bring myself to blog about coupon organizing until my box is in tip-top shape. So I apologize for the delay and will hopefully fix that soon!

ALSO, I know I put a lot of posts (such as this one) about things that David and I do to celebrate our heritage and ancestry (even from hundreds of years back). This may seem a bit strange to some of you, and so I plan to do a post soon on why it is so important to me to instill a strong sense of heritage in our family. So, before you judge us as being totally weird, wait on that post as well, lol.

That being said, let me get on to the awesome Midsummer celebration that we had in our backyard this past Thursday. Midsummer is primarily a European celebration, especially big in Sweden (where one branch of my family is from). You can read all about it on the Wikipedia article ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midsummer ). As I have stated in the past, David and I clearly aren't wild about the association of so many modern holidays and celebrations with their pagan roots. SO, we make sure we find a way to have lots of celebrations but in a Christ-honoring fashion. For Midsummer, we decided to make the theme thanking the Lord for the season of summer and what it brings (the growth of crops, warm rays of sunshine, time to spend outdoors with friends and family).

As you may have read in the article, the main part of Midsummer celebrations are bonfires (yes, despite the 90+ degree heat). So OF COURSE we had to have that. Also, it is common in European countries for people to pick greenery from their property and make crowns out of it to wear for the celebration. So we didn't want to miss out on that part, either. An unconventional celebration for the US? YES. Are we probably the only people in urban Greensboro that did this Thursday evening? Um, probably! Were we thankful that our neighbors did not come out and see this? Oh, you have no idea. (Although my sweet husband, who is not embarrassed as easily as me, said he hoped they would come out and see it). But alas, here I am blogging about it. So, we made our crowns of greenery - me, David, and we even talked my parents into coming over and doing the same. We sooo wish David's parents could have been here for it, although they are probably happy they weren't as nutty as we must have looked.

Here is David, building our bonfire (note that he is wearing his greenery crown)...









Then my parents showed up. We agreed that my Mother's crown was among the best. The rest of us had to use tape or velcro to hold ours together. Hers was all natural and included gardenias! lol (I still CANNOT believe that my parents went along with this celebration - I was SHOCKED)





Mom's crown looked so good on her that I decided to try it on once, just for a picture, before putting my silly crown back on...



We all had a good time relaxing, while David alternated between sitting with us and keeping up the fire (he is SO good)...









One more funny midsummer thing - there are a number of funny "folk beliefs" associated with the celebration (sort of like our Old Wives Tales here). One is that, if a person jumps over the bonfire, then the corn in the upcoming growing season will grow as high as their jump, haha. Looks like my Dad cleared the fire pretty well...




Like I said, don't judge until you read my soon-coming blog post on why heritage is so important for us. For now, just laugh quietly and enjoy, lol. :-) Happy Midsummer!

Father's Day 2011

The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother. ~Rev. Theodore Hesburgh

We had a wonderful Father's Day celebration this past weekend. Sunday evening, my parents and grandparents came to our house for a cookout (David, as usually, did the grilling - he is so good!).







While David was grilling and Dad was hanging out outside, the rest of the family waited patiently in our kitchen...



Time to eat (we're not really sure what David was doing here, lol)...



After dinner, the men retired into the den to watch the US Open golf tournament for a little while...





This is random, but during the festivities I noticed how absolutely beautiful our neighbors hydrangeas are in bloom. Aren't they stunning? I LOVE these flowers because this is what my bridesmaids carried in our wedding. I had to take a picture. They bloom on our side of the neighbors house and can easily be seen from our kitchen or dining room windows.



I am forunate to have so many wonderful men to celebrate. My Daddy is the best dad I've ever known and ALWAYS made me know how much I was loved (and still does). Growing up, he was never, ever, ever too busy or too tired to play with me, even after a long day of work. As if this weren't blessing enough, the Lord gave me wonderful grandfathers and an amazing father-in-law. What more could one girl ask for? AND a husband that will be a SUPER father when we have children. I am so, so blessed. In a world where the insitutions of marriage and family are under constant attack, I am one of the fortunate ones that can say that my husband and I both had amazing models of marriage and parenting put before us.

Sydney's Graduation

You are educated. Your certification is in your degree. You may think of it as the ticket to the good life. Let me ask you to think of an alternative. Think of it as your ticket to change the world. ~Tom Brokaw

Saturday before last, we went to Chapel Hill to see my youngest cousin, Sydney, graduate from East Chapel Hill High School. So much fun!!! Syd, like her siblings, is super smart and is headed off to Georgetown University in DC next year (her sister Casey graduated from Vanderbilt several years ago and now works in DC, and her brother is at Appalachian State on a full teaching fellows scholarship).



East Chapel Hill High School always holds their graduation in the Dean Dome, which I especially love. :-)







You can't tell because the picture is blurry, but here Sydney is actually at the podium speaking as one of the Senior Class Co-Presidents. Go Syd! She did a great job!



Afterwards a ton of people went back to their house to celebrate with a luncheon/cookout. A great time was had by all!!!











Family photo...with Syd front and center...



Since I've now turned 30, I'm finally old enough to say all the sentimental and mushy stuff that all people under 30 hate, lol. So I have to say that I can't believe that the sweet little girl that used to sit on my lap and call me "Eee-aaa" (because she was just too little to pronounce Lisa all the way out) is headed off to college next year. She has been a cousin to me, a bridesmaid, and a friend. Syd, David and I love you and are so proud of all you've accomplished! Can't wait to see what your future holds! :-) And most importantly, remember to text your old cousin from time to time (just not too much, because I'm not cool enough to have unlimited like you).

Burlington Trip

"The highest happiness on earth is marriage." ~William Lyon Phelps

Since David's new job started (and thus, our CRAZY new schedule of getting up at 4:45 every day), we haven't had as much quality time together as we would have liked. We are together in the evenings, of course, but there is so much to get done around the house on nights and weekends that sometimes we end up being physically together but not having "quality" time. We know how important quality time is for keeping our marriage strong, so we both took today off work to have a little time to spend together and relax.

So we headed to Alamance County for some random fun. We started at the (relatively) new Tanger Outlets in Mebane. We got there mid-morning before it got crowded, and so for a while we had just about the whole place to ourselves (although it was starting to get packed when we were leaving)! We had some gift cards to use, so David got a bunch of clothes and I got two dresses and some shoes. Great stores and great deals!



From there, we had lunch in downtown Burlington at Zack's Hot Dogs. For those of you who know Burlington, Zack's in an institution! It has been there for many years and I remember going there frequently growing up (my Dad is from Burlington, so we went there often when I was little to see my grandparents). David had never had Zack's and was anxious to go, and it was so worth the trip! It is very simple - limited lunch menu, cash-only, and they have the old-fashioned Southern hospitality. They also continue to have Coke and Cheerwine in the old-fashioned glass bottles. David enjoyed his Coke!





After lunch we hit more shopping areas. First, we went to Burlington Outlet Village and picked up a few more good deals. I got a cornucopia for $4.99 at a decorating outlet. Everyone knows how I love celebrating different holidays and seasons, and I've been wanting one forever to fill with gourds and vegetables during the fall...



We finished our shopping at Holly Hill Mall, where there was an indoor car show going on! And added bonus!





We finished up our trip by stopping by Alamance Memorial Park to put new flowers on my brother and my grandparents graves. I used red, white, and blue flowers for my grandparents, since 4th of July is coming up and my grandfather was a WWII veteran. It's great to be able to honor them in this way!





I had a wonderful day with my hubby and am so thankful for these times together!

Two Weekends

"These are my people, this is where I come from...We're givin' this life everything we got and then some..." -Rodney Atkins

I am, as usual behind on blogging. Two AWESOME weekends have passed without me taking the time to post about them. So here we go...

On May 20th, I turned, yes, 30!!! WOW!!! I can't believe it! I am SOOO beyond blessed with the awesome things God has done in my life for the first 30 years and can't wait to see what's in store in the next few decades!

David planned an amazing cookout for me at our house with my parents and my closest friends. SO much fun and I felt so loved!!! He also gave me the sweetest card that explained all the reasons he loved me (yes, I definitely cried lol), as well as some wonderful gifts. I can say hands down that it was my best birthday yet! Thank you, David, Mom & Dad, Heather & Andrew, Steph and Matt, Jennifer and Jason (and their kids Russell and Meredith), Shane and Jaclyn (and their little boy Bentley) and Chris and Kristen for making it so wonderful!

Here is the birthday crowd in our backyard for dinner...





David had a BEAUTIFUL cake made for me (I LOVE the Carolina Blue!)...





I had a GREAT day...



Thanks to my loving and handsome husband!



The next day, we went to the Tour of Historic Homes here in Greensboro. Everyone knows how much I LOVE old houses! There were 11 houses on the tour, all from the Fisher Park (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisher_Park,_Greensboro,_North_Carolina) and Aycock (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aycock,_Greensboro,_North_Carolina) Historic Neighborhoods. Such beautiful turn-of-the century houses! I was in love!







And that evening we finished up with a "family" birthday celebration - David, my parents, and my grandparents. Felt so loved!







Memorial Day last weekend was a blast! David's parents came to visit us and stay with us, and the whole family had a great time. On Saturday evening, we did a cookout in our backyard with David's parents, my parents, and my grandparents, where David acted as the "Grillmaster"...





The next day, we had a picnic and fishing session in our neighborhood. Our neighborhood has a few lakes and a pond in it for the residents, which is REALLY great. We had a family picnic at Lake Euphemia park, where I enjoyed playing on the swings like a little kid...











This is my view from the swing, lol...



Then the men moved on to fishing, while the women sat to the side and talked. The only person to catch any was David, and he caught two small, but nice looking bass. :-)











Most everyone was ready for a little rest in the afternoon...



And then we finished off the weekend with dinner at Lucky 32!



Praise God for the blessing of quality time spent with family and friends!!!