Travels

In early June, we traveled to VA for the annual Bourne reunion. The great company and strong family ties are so worth the long trip with 2 small kids! A rain storm came up when we first got there and the road-weary Gs enjoyed playing in it!

After Breakfast with the Old & Rare...a sweet pic of B and the kids. (It can substitute for a Father's Day pic since we forgot to take one!)

Making the annual trek to the gift shop after breakfast.

It is so beautiful there!

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Gehrig loved the dinosaur attractions!

On to Cave Mountain Lake!

Some of the crew on Sunday. We were missing lots of the southern Bournes in this picture!

Then last weekend, Jenn & I made a quick trip to the Greenville area to visit her fam. It was fun to see everything there. Greenville is beautiful! We love her family...they all made us feel right at home! We also got to see our sweet friends, the Baileys. We miss them!
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Swimming in MaeMae's pool.

Jenn's favorite breakfast spot...yummy!!!!

The cuties after breakfast.

Gorgeous falls in the middle of Greenville!

Walking near the falls.

On our way back into town, we stopped to celebrate our friend, Finley's 1/2 birthday! Hot, tired and fun!

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Greer & Madi with the 1/2 birthday girl!

Lots of fun with everyone and happy to see B on Father's day after it all! Thanks for being such an amazing husband and father, honey! We love you so much.

The Surprise

Great friends make life great fun. We are so thankful for the ones that God has clearly placed in our lives over the years! They bless us in so many ways.

In May, my everyday-live-life-with, constant texting, baby-swapping, truth-speaking, fun-having, playdate cohort, God-loving BFF turned 30. Jenn is the one that knows enough about all the brands/products we use to pick them up for us when she sees them on sale. She is the one who filled out and addressed Gehrig's birthday invitations when my life was crazy-out-of-control hectic last month. She is the one who my kids would accept as my substitute without so much as noticing. I love being known and loved so well by her!

Her hubby and I talked earlier this spring about making this birthday big for her. Our goal was to show her how much she means to so many and to have a great fun night...all about her! Amanda joined us to put together the surprise of the century!

It nearly killed us. Not the work involved or the time spent...it was the lies and secrets and exhausting-watching of every word that the 3 of us said to this person that we are in constant communication with every day! Whew! There were many close calls and stressful moments. We just hoped that she would forgive us for all the dishonesty, knowing that it was out of the utmost love for her! :)

Thankfully, it all came together perfectly... we still can't believe she didn't find out! Her family worked so hard to get things together too and they all were able to travel here, along with so many of our amazing friends who made trips and arrangements to come. It was so nice to have so many of our "old" crowd together in one place since we are all so scattered now. What a blessing.

The scene...a gorgeous woodsy room that worked perfectly. Folks arrived early to be there when Matt, Jenn and I got there. (B had to come later because of baseball...boo.)

We decorated each table around things in Jenn's life. She loves the Food Network and is a great cook, so this is the cooking table. We also had one on motherhood, her childhood things, college life and music.

The moment we all had been waiting for! These are the looks that made everything worth it! She was clearly completely surprised and then overwhelmed with having so many of her favorite people in one place.

We secretly got a portrait printed from a family photo session they had the week before and matted it with everyone's messages to her.

Happy... goal accomplished!

The co-conspirators. That is the look of relief, my friends!

With Jenn.

Amanda is one of the most creative and witty people I know...who loves her friends in a real way. I am so thankful for her and her friendship!

AP's wittiness at work! Oh yes, there was a skit. Lyle played Tom Bergeron on Hollywood Squares and Toni & Steph played the contestants. They were great! The questions all revolved around interesting facts and stories about Jenn's life.

The "celebrities" were folks that Jenn enjoys...Paula Deen, Mickey Mouse, Rachel Ray, Michael Scott (from the Office), the Bachelor and the Hillsong Singer. They were absolutely hilarious and made the skit so fun!

Just proof that B made it...yay!

So fun to have these guys in the same room...great visiting!

Cake time!

Some of those great friends I mentioned at the beginning of the blog... sure do wish we all still lived in the same place!

Links & Masseys

A celebration of Jenn and a great adult date night!

So yay! Happy 30 years, my dear friend. You are loved!!

Wedding Days!

We haven't been to a wedding in quite a while (the product of getting older, I guess!) but ended up having two on consecutive weekends in May! My brother, Britt got married Memorial Day weekend! He and his sweet bride, Margaret planned a great weekend of festivities on Fripp Island. It was such a special family weekend. We loved it and are so happy for them!

Our siblings...

Gehrig had so much fun with his cousins. He and Nathan found a tree to climb while we got ready for the rehearsal.

Sweet cousins...Megan, Greer, Gehrig & Nathan.

Our great family!

The kids loved playing on the beach during the rehearsal. It was beautiful!

Lindsey, Slade & I put together a fun skit for Britt & Margaret's rehearsal dinner showing what the wedding could have been like if the Sellers family had planned it. It was based on some funny much-watched home videos. It was so funny!

The Bride & Groom!

I wish I had more time with Lin!

The boys.

One of my favorite times was Friday night's Meet & Greet with the friends and families. Music and dancing on the beach was so relaxing and fun. B's mom was so awesome to come with us and keep the kids so that we could be out later and enjoy visiting. Thanks, Mammaw!

The beach setting for the wedding was absolutely beautiful. I loved watching the kids play in their cute clothes...so sweet.

The happy couple with our immediate fam.

So much of my mom's family made the trip. It was so much fun to spend time with them over the weekend.

My sister, mom and me at the reception. We look happy because we were!

Mom and all the kids. :) I so wish that we all lived in the same town.

After all the wedding festivites, we finished out the weekend with relaxing and visiting, here at the pool with Papa and Rosie.

THEN, the next weekend, we traveled to Americus for our friends, Eric and Jessica's wedding. Although we don't have a picture of them, I can assure you that they looked beautiful and so happy! B and I enjoyed reminiscing about our wedding and visiting with some of their friends there.

While we were down that way, we stayed with our sweet friends, the Grubbs. Everyone thought Traci and I were sisters and we both loved it! We feel like we are, so that works out just fine. :) Their hearts for God continue to teach and grow us and we can't wait to be together again!

The full gallery from Britt & Margaret's wedding weekend is on the right! Now, I can start on June blogging!