Turning 33

I turned 33 on Friday.

Luckily I was off work after a long two weeks of covering the Republican primary election. We went out to dinner downtown then walked around ArtWalk for a while. We were home by 8 p.m. and loved it.

When I was younger, I thought I would never want to spend a weekend night at home. I thought only losers didn't go out on the weekends. I don't know if it's getting older or if it's because I'm always out and about with my job, but I just don't want to stay out late anymore. Being at home with Scott is more than enough for me these days.

While we were out, there was a preview for the Art Fest, so we checked that out. For a few years now, we've been eyeing these really cool salt and pepper shakers. So this year we finally decided to buy one. This was one of my birthday presents.

My other present came from earlier this month. I was out at Goodland near Marco Island for a story. At the end of the day after photographing stone crab claws, mullet fisherman, the friendly postmistress and a few other local scenes, we heard that one of the original Highwaymen painters was selling his work down the street. If you don't know, the Highwaymen were a group of African-American artists from Florida in the 50s and 60s that sold their paintings often on the side of the road. They are part of what has been called "The Last Great American Art Movement of the 20th century."

I was pretty excited to be able to own a work of art by S.M. Wells or Sylvester Wells. He is now nearly blind and he's one of the twenty six original Highwaymen. I was just excited to have the chance to meet him and expand our small budget art collection. Here's me with him with the painting he sold me. It's a royal poinciana tree - one of my favorite Florida trees.

Here's a couple of other iPhone pics from Goodland - a fishing village with a famous mullet festival where they do a dance called the Buzzard Lope (apparently something like the chicken dance but uglier) and drink a lot of beer. And they have a Buzzard Lope queen. Man, I'd like to see that someday. We visited on a regular weekday, so it was just business as usual. But it was a good place for a few Hipstomatic iPhone shots.

sorting the mullet

Last week I also went to Everglades Wonder Gardens in Bonita Springs for an assignment and came up with this photo of their flamingos.....

And this was parked in front of the Ritz Carlton Golf Resort in Naples during the Winter Wine Fest last weekend. A Packard, if I remember correctly.

Duggars in Naples

I've been selected to be on the "election team" at work since all the Republican presidential candidates are visiting Florida this week. Yesterday I photographed Mitt Romney out in Lehigh Acres. And today I photographed Rick Santorum in Naples.

So imagine my surprise when Jim Bob Duggar (the dad in TLC's 19 Kids and Counting) pops out of the bus that has "Rick Santorum for President" written on it. Well the Duggars are big Rick Santorum fans, so they had their own bus decorated to show their support. Jim Bob and some of the family have been at stops in Iowa, South Carolina and now Florida. Here's Jim Bob assuring us that Santorum was not on the bus and that he'd be arriving soon....

I was weirdly a little star struck, so I didn't talk to them. But I was excited when I saw them at the event. Political events usually stress me out due to the big crowds and hoards of other media. I'm used to being places with maybe one or two other photographers, so when 35 other still and video photogs show up, it gets pretty tight when you're trying to get your shots. Plus, they're usually men, so I'm almost always the shortest photographer in the room. I always pray for something to stand on to get above the crowd so I don't get trampled.

Here's gallery one, gallery two and gallery three from the event.
I didn't want to paparazzi the Duggars so I only took a few pics of them.

I never know what my job will bring. It keeps me on my toes.

Grandma's 90th birthday

Sunday was my Grandma Taylor's 90th birthday. And on Saturday, family and friends from hours away gathered in Mountville, SC, for her party.

It was so great to see everybody, and I know my grandma loved it too. I've always known how special she is, but it was reaffirmed when I saw everyone at the party. There were all of her children, all her grandchildren but one (we missed you, Caitlin) and two of her three great grandchildren there. Her two living siblings and my grandfather's brother made the five-hour trip also along and many of her nieces and nephews. Not to mention all of her friends. Happy Birthday Grandma! May you have many more.

My cousin Gray and her son Hamilton

Grandma and Aunt Betty

Billy with Collier and Hamilton (Gray and Seth's sons)

A family tree made for Grandma

Grandma and Papa

Grandma with nephew Robert Beaman

Grandma with her brother Thomas and sister Flora

Gray and Collier

Travis with Collier

Grandma and nephew Dan Taylor

Berta and Uncle Travis Taylor

Gray with Ruth

And a very Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband, too. Scott turned 35 on Monday!


Here is the biography written about my grandma that was printed for the party:

Ava Gray Turnage Taylor
born January 15, 1922

Ava Gray Turnage started life on a 25-acre tobacco farm in Greene County, N.C., and for the last 30 years has resided on a tree farm in Mountville, S.C. Though Ava was the fourth daughter to Reetho and Viola Turnage, she and her sisters, Helen, Velma, and Ida, worked hard on the farm. Ava filled the woodbox, cared for the chickens, emptied the slop jars, and carried the milk bucket to her father—a favorite chore because she enjoyed precious alone time with him. The Turnages worked the land to grow tobacco, corn, and cotton using only a mule and a two-mule cultivator; Reetho didn’t purchase a tractor until after Ava had left home.

Named for her grandmother Mary Ava Gray, Ava and her three older sisters shared a room in their four-room farmhouse. Though eventually two rooms were added as three more children joined the family, Arlendo, Thomas, and Flora, her childhood home offered no electricity and no inside bathroom. Ava learned to cook on a wood stove, and by age 10 she was trying out the cooking skills her mother had carefully taught her, relieving her mother of many kitchen duties.

Viola also instilled in her children a love for God and His Word. She had regular devotions with the children as the spiritual leader in their family. They attended Hull Road Free Will Baptist Church where their family’s emphasis on living a Christian life would carry through to Ava’s adult years.

Growing up

Growing up in the community of Arba, Ava traveled unpaved roads on the school bus to Snow Hill High School where she began her education. One certain trip on those bumpy roads resulted in Ava’s needing stitches from having bounced along so fiercely that she hit her head on the top of the bus.  A special memory of hers was attending her oldest sister Helen’s high school graduation where the senior girls in their organdy dresses did a Maypole dance. “It was the prettiest thing I’d ever seen up to that point,” Ava said.

Being a teacher, educated at East Carolina Teachers’ College, Viola valued education and made sacrifices for her children’s learning. Viola borrowed $200 so Ava could attend her high school choir’s singing tour. Viola and Ava’s sister Ida handmade her choir robe—a true labor of love for Ava who remembers owning only two dresses throughout her preteen and teenage years. The choir sang in Richmond, Va., Baltimore, and Washington, D.C., at the White House where Eleanor Roosevelt hosted a tea for ambassadors and their wives. Ava was quite impressed with the First Lady. Their final stop was New York City during the World’s Fair. Though the choir tour was Ava’s first time out of North Carolina, her love for travel had just begun.

Following graduation, Ava completed a course in business offered at the local high school, and her first job resulted from a federal program begun during the Great Depression. Earning $20 for each two-week period, Ava worked for a tax collector for two weeks, alternating with another employee who worked the next two weeks.

On her own…but not for long

Ava left her home, traveling by bus to Newport News, Va., where she stayed with her sister Ida and her husband until she found employment as a key-punch operator with the Newport News Ship Building and Dry Dock Company. She rented a room from a couple who lived beside Milton and Jesse Smith—Dalton Taylor’s aunt and uncle. In December 1942 the Smiths happily introduced their young, attractive neighbor to their nephew stationed at Langley Field. Ava and Dalton wed on September 17, 1943 just three months prior to his leaving for North Africa during World War II.

Family life

While Dalton spent nearly two years serving during the war, Ava worked at the Port of Embarkation, and Uncle Milton taught her to drive. Dalton returned in September of 1945 resuming his job with the C&P Telephone Company in Newport News. They eventually settled in Colonial Heights, Va., where family life kept Ava busy with the births of Judy Dalton (1950), Dale Travis (1951), and Linda Elaine (1955).

Once the children started school, Ava worked some to help with expenses. When it was Linda’s turn for kindergarten, Ava drove the family station wagon that Dalton retrofitted with extra seating to accommodate neighborhood children also. Her carpool earnings paid for Linda’s tuition and gave Ava enough extra to buy herself a “white spring coat.” Other jobs tapped her cooking skills including an elementary-school-cafeteria cook and food-service coordinator for a large church daycare center.
The Taylors attended Colonial Heights Baptist Church where Ava helped begin the church’s library, and she served as librarian until they moved. Ava volunteered her time teaching English to Asian women married to U.S. servicemen at Fort Lee, Va. She developed lasting friendships during those five years.

Dalton shared Ava’s desire to travel, and the family visited all but three states while the kids were living at home—though their shoestring budget usually meant camping along the way. The couple also enjoyed traveling in style once the kids left, visiting the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, Vermont’s Von Trapp Family Lodge, Mackinac Island, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island to list a few.

Back to farm life

 Dalton retired in 1981 and the empty-nesters moved to Mountville, S.C., in 1983 to help Dale with his newly created Christmas tree farm. Ava was able to dote on her grandchildren, Gray and Travis who now lived close, as well as Judy’s children Caitlin, Tristan, and Karsten, and Linda’s daughter Amanda. Ava and Dalton quickly immersed themselves in church life at First Baptist of Clinton, S.C.  Ava continues to be active in her church singing in the choir and enjoying the senior group’s activities. She’s also active with the senior groups at both Mountville Baptist and Cross Hill Baptist, and she’s part of the Mountville Grange and the Red Hat Society.

Ava continues to give special time and attention to her family and friends. After 70 years she still corresponds with her old roommate Alice from Newport News and her dear friend Myrtle in Colonial Heights. Ava regularly visits friends and church members in nursing-care facilities and retirement homes who are unable to attend services. She gives feet to her faith as an encourager, not wanting anyone to feel forgotten—and no one does:  Embracing new technology and “free minutes,” Ava spends many nights on her cell phone checking in with friends and family scattered around the nation.

First major green bean harvest!

Today we had our first major green bean harvest. We got about two quart-sized bags full of them. I was worried that the freeze last week would affect them, but so far, everything looks good. We have lost a few leaves that got a little bit of damage. But the beans continue to grow. On new year's day we ate the first of the beans, but we only got about 10 beans or so.  This is the most vegetables we've ever grown if you don't count our crazy lettuce harvest last year. I had no idea the plants would be so big.

pea blossoms

corn

We're growing yellow, purple, red and regular orange carrots, too.


As for our New Year's holiday, we didn't do much. I had a cold so we stayed home, watched TV and drank the champagne we bought on our honeymoon in California.

Christmas 2011

Christmas was pretty good this year considering the emotional roller coaster that was our December. We first had a visit from Dad and Judy before Christmas. Then on Christmas Eve, we went to McGregor Baptist Church for their candlelight service.

After we got home we hopped on our bikes to ride through the neighborhood. On several streets the homeowners set up luminaries along the curbs each Christmas Eve. We discovered it by chance last year, and it will now be one of our Christmas Eve traditions. It's so beautiful. Here's my best iPhone photo of it.

our neighbor's house.

On Christmas day we woke up early to open presents from each other.

 

Then we went to mom and Billy's house for her traditional breakfast casserole. After that we went to Scott's parents' house for lunch. Mom and Billy joined us so we could all hang out together on Christmas. 

The boys all got lounge pants, and Byron couldn't wait to try his on. We should have gotten the three of them together.

Eric and Emily made it home from Puerto Rico, too, so all of the Whittamores were together.

I also wanted to throw in a couple of photos from Naples beach this week. Before an assignment, I hopped out onto the beach to take in the view. Then I had an assignment to photograph a house in Port Royal in Naples that was right on the beach. It was beautiful. And their wine cellar was bigger than my living room. And one bottle of their wine is more expensive than my couch. oh well.

This was the view from the driveway of the house in Naples.

This was their driveway.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everybody!

A visit from Dad and Judy

This week we were blessed to have Dad and Judy come visit. We enjoyed having them here to take care of us. And I'm sure they enjoyed our nice warm weather during their days on the beach. These are a couple of pics from our sunset spot on the river a few blocks from the house. I'm really glad they were here this week.

Our garden is also growing like crazy. The beans look like they are trying out for Jack and the Beanstalk. And these pics are a few days old. The beans and carrots are much fuller now. It just happens to be dark right now so I can't shoot fresh pictures.

pole beans

carrots

corn

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everybody! Here's little update from the past couple of weeks. I finally got an iPhone, so these are some of the photos from the last week.

We've got the garden growing. The green beans and corn are really growing fast.

I've been off work all week. I think it's the first time I've been off for a week at home. Usually we go somewhere every time we get the chance, but it was nice to be home for the week. We've been doing a lot of door painting. We got new interior doors a few weeks ago, and we've been slowly painting them white. They came in a nice primer-grey color. Some pics to come soon...

On Wednesday we went out fishing with Scott's parents. We had fun, but didn't catch many fish. I did catch the same needle fish twice. Those things are weird.

Here's a little sunset action on Wednesday night....

And here's Faith and Carter, my niece and nephew, learning to play chess with my father-in-law. So sweet....

Full Moon Paddle

Tonight I was reminded of why I love my job. I got to go on a full-moon kayak tour and get paid for it. It was a gorgeous night with flat water and a beautiful full moon. It was in the Four-Mile Cove area off the Caloosahatchee River in Cape Coral.

Chapel Thrill

Scott and I were finally able to make the trip back to Chapel Hill this weekend for a football game - UNC-Wake Forest. He has coached girls basketball for the past few years, and we haven't been able to get away in the fall before. It was a whirlwind weekend, but we had a great time seeing Dad and Judy and Amanda and Robert Stinnett. I was also happy to leave my "big" camera and laptop at home to take a break. So these pics are with my trusty simple Nikon point-and-shoot camera.

We left after work Friday and arrived in Raleigh about midnight. Luckily the game on Saturday was at 3:30 pm, so we had a little time to sleep in. It turned out to be a great game, and we also had fun hanging out on Franklin Street after. The funny thing was that it didn't get crowded until we were heading to the hotel around midnight. I should remember that college kids go out late. The street was full of college students in costume and a plethora of college girls wearing skinny jeans and tall riding boots. As we took our old selves home we laughed about the good ole carefree days spent in Chapel Hill. I miss it, but I'm glad to be a "grown-up" too.

 I had to take a picture of Carroll Hall - home of the journalism school - as we walked through campus.

 .........and a couple of the Bell Tower..................

Notice the season ticket holder taking a nap behind us. Too much fun too early for him.

We also got to see some fall colors, but I only managed to get a picture of it from the air leaving Raleigh.

Zombicon 2011

Last night I was fortunate enough to cover Zombicon for The News-Press. It's an annual event in downtown Fort Myers where zombies invade the streets. Each year it has gotten bigger, and the costumes have gotten more elaborate. There was even a real, legal zombie wedding.

The bride and groom cutting the cake, complete with a Jello brain topper, with a chainsaw.

Our online producer told me today that we haven't had 500,000 page views on a Sunday in a while and the Zombicon photo gallery went a long way to making that happen. So check out the photo gallery here to give it more hits -- please!

Here's a couple more gems from last night.....

Stinnett Visit

I took a much-needed day off this week and spent a few days celebrating the nice weather with the Stinnett family on vacation on Fort Myers Beach. It was my first time on the beach when I wasn't working in more than a year. Sad, I know, but true.
I promised Amanda I would try for a family portrait before dinner Wednesday night. I believe we succeeded, but after the first "pose," Mattie decided she was done and threw up all over herself, Amanda and Robert while Evan was wading into the water and getting his shorts all wet. It's an exercise in patience doing a photo shoot with a one-year-old and three-year-old. Actually they are great kids, and I miss them already. Can't wait to see Amanda and Robert in a few weeks for the UNC-Wake Forest football game!

Bye-Bye Crazy Palm Tree

We have had a crazy ponytail palm tree by the front door that has outgrown it's space and got taller that the roof. It was making the front porch look junky. I finally saw that when I took the photos for the last post. The splotchy paint and moldy buildup on the steps weren't really doing it for us either.

So we borrowed a pressure washer, and Scott had a fun day last Saturday stripping the paint off the porch. Yesterday we also did the back porch and patio. I need to get me a pressure washer. They are awesome. Look at the amazing difference on the steps.

Then last Sunday between football games we removed that crazy palm tree. I don't take too kindly to removing perfectly good trees, but this one needed to go.

 Voila! No palm and much less digging than I thought. We just had to roll that sucker out to the street.

And now the porch looks so much cleaner and open. Next we'll paint the concrete....

Painting the front door

About a month ago, I bought a Living Social deal for 2 hours of handyman service for $49. He helped us deal with some exposed wiring from where we removed some light fixtures and replaced a window sill and the trim on the front door. We put in a new front door about 4 years ago, but never finished the trim. Ghetto, i know. I didn't even bother to take any before pics because these things should have been done long ago....
So after we got our fancy new door trim - well, not really fancy at all - we decided to paint the door. We settled on blue and found a nice color at the hardware store a week ago, but had to find the next best thing at Lowe's. Since it was Labor Day our trusty neighborhood hardware store was closed.

I also found a shot of the house on google maps before we even painted the exterior. When I bought the house it was dingy white with Christmas-tree green trim. Check it out.....

Pretty sweet, huh?


We think the new color looks much better, but the curb appeal still needs work. This is with our white door.....

 This is after one coat of blue. A little streaky, but after three coats, it looked pretty good. But when we removed the painter's tape as seen above, some of the door paint peeled off with it around the lock. boo! So the next morning I put a few coats over the bare spots and called it done.

Next we desperately need the pressure wash the gooey mildew/mold on the stairs and paint them. And of course, weed-eat around the castle wall around the flower beds and pressure wash them. And rip up our stupid piece of a sidewalk and install a new walkway. And I think the ponytail palm might need to be cut down. I hate to kill a tree, but now it's taller than the roof. One day at a time, right?

Fantasy football draft party

Today we had our fantasy football draft party at our house. It's the only party we've thrown since last year's draft party. But it was a good excuse to use some of the serving dishes we got for the wedding. I even got to break out our beautiful tree trunk cake stand.

It was an even better excuse to cook some barbecue and other goodies. I had a lot of veggies from our order from The Good of the Land. It's kindof like a co-op, but the woman orders organic produce from a distributor as well as from local farmers. This week we got radishes, green onions, an avocado, a mango, grapes, two starfruit, a cantaloupe, bananas, collard greens, mushrooms and lettuce for $22. I made some radish salsa, guacamole and stuffed mushrooms for the party and also some oatmeal cookies from scratch. YUM!

Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos because I was running around the kitchen all day. But I got the mushroom recipe from The Pioneer Woman. And here is one of her photos......

Photo from The Pioneer Woman

Ya'll, they were soooo good. The oatmeal cookies were also a hit.


Now, onto my team.

 -- Michael Vick
 -- Arian Foster
 -- Darren McFadden
 -- Hakeem Nicks -- go heels!
 -- Dez Bryant
 -- Owen Daniels
 -- DeAngelo Williams
 -- Jeremy Maclin
 -- Tony Romo
 -- Kenny Brit
 -- BenJarvus Green-Ellis
 -- James Starks
 -- Ravens Def.
 -- Pierre Garcon
 -- and Neil Rackers is my kicker

Not bad, but it's only an 8-team league this year, so everyone's team is good.

Our Honeymoon: Day 1 - San Francisco to Point Reyes National Seashore

Lately I'm feeling uninspired about the blog. I've been a little sad because my external hard drive stopped working and it has several years worth of pictures locked on it. I've tried everything I know to do, but I'm still holding out hope. In that spirit, I decided to begin working on the honeymoon photos so I could feel better about the photos I do have left. Luckily I was able to make a book from Blurb out of the photos from our engagement trip, but now they seem to be gone. Here's a link to the book. It's similar to our Maine book. Maybe I'll get a wedding and honeymoon book made eventually. In the meantime, here's some photos from the first day of our honeymoon. There are more than 3000 pictures, so it's taken a while to edit them down.

Point Reyes National Seashore

These first photos are from the first real day we had in California. We woke up in San Francisco, crossed to Golden Gate Bridge into Sausalito, and hopped on California Hwy 1 to follow it up the coast. I can't say enough how beautiful and thrilling this drive is. We stopped at Muir Beach first. There was a hill to hike for a great view of the beach and a few homes.

Muir Beach

an overlook near Muir Beach

Hwy 1 coming in to Stinson Beach

Then continued on to Stinson Beach where we stopped at the best little beach snack bar. We were stunned at how good and fresh the food was. Unfortunately it was really windy, so we couldn't hang out on the beach at all.

Stinson Beach

  Up the road a bit, we stopped to see a harbor seal pupping site along the side of Hwy 1.

Harbor Seals beside the road

Then we continued to Point Reyes National Seashore to spend the night. Before checking in, we made the long slow drive to the tip of the peninsula to see the Point Reyes Lighthouse. The scenery was amazing. Everything was wild and beautiful. And the only residents in the park are dairy farmers living on historic ranches. There were lots of cows just roaming free and looking happy, but we also saw deer, elk and elephant seals.

Point Reyes National Seashore

View of the beach from up high near the Point Reyes Lighthouse

Point Reyes Lighthouse. 308 stairs feels fine going down, but terrible coming back up.

The happy cows here are free roaming. The only residences around are diary farms.

A mule deer

A beach filled with elephant seals. Point Reyes National Seashore.

Elephant seals

Elk from afar

Drakes Beach, Point Reyes National Seashore

Our cottage for the night. so cute and right on the water.

The view out back. The water eventually went under the cottage at high tide.

And our fabulous hot tub with a view.

After getting back to the cottage, we went to dinner in town, which is home to less than 500 people. And the restaurant was A-MAZING! So fresh and yummy. It was crazy how good the food was in all these small towns. And it was so refreshing to be in the middle of nowhere to close to San Francisco.
After dinner we came back to enjoy our hot tub with a view. I wish I was back there right now......

Maternity and newborn portrait session

Two weeks ago, I had the pleasure of photographing Megan, my chiropractor's wife, in the last week of her pregnancy. She's so beautiful.

One week and a day later, their son, Ayrton, was born. So I went to their home to photograph him, and here are a few of the best pics.....

What a cutie. He was perfect after we got him to sleep. I think he was a little weirded out at first by all of us staring at him, but after a couple of extra feedings, he relaxed and fell asleep. Thanks, Megan and Chad!

Updates: A new car, the garden and a new door

We've been busy around here since vacation. After we got home we learned that my car was sick and would soon need a new transmission, computer and catalytic converter. So we decided to get me a new ride. We settled on a Honda Civic Hybrid after being tempted by a sweet Mercedes for cheaper. In the end, I went for the more practical car. Surprise, surprise. But I love it. It has power windows and locks and cruise control - all firsts for me. And it should save me some money on gas.

We also harvested our pineapple. These things take two years to grow, so it really makes you appreciate them when they're finally ripe. Here's what it looked like when it first appeared in March....

And here's what it looked like yesterday before we devoured it. There is nothing like pineapple ripened on the plant and eaten fresh......

We've also been growing purple okra. This is a first for us. Hopefully we'll like eating it, because it's not one of the veggies we eat regularly.

Our bathroom renovation is finally complete. It was mostly done back in February, but needed a few finishing touches. Right after vacation, the contractor from Lowe's showed up to replace our rotting door and window that wouldn't stay closed. We got a cool door with blinds between the glass. It feels weird to get excited about doors, but I guess that's what happens when you're a grown-up.

Here's the before photo......Notice the sweet orange towel used to stop the rain from coming under the door. It was also a nice shade of dingy white.

Our Wedding: The Reception

Finally.
I have finished toning all the wedding photos.

Our reception was just as we had envisioned. Fun and relaxed with beautiful weather and an exceptional view. The hydrangeas on the tables were the perfect contrast to the emerging green of the mountains behind us. The tables were finished with candles in mason jars and old family photos in vintage-looking frames. And I made dozens of mason-jar lanterns filled with candles to hang around the patio.

 

 

 Instead of a traditional guest book, we had Jack Hardman sketch us a tree for people to leave their thumbprints and sign their name.

Our cake stand was made by Scott's uncle Jeff. It's beautiful!

Us with our fabulous photographer, Jon.

Cut the cake!

 

I'm sure Robert said something hilarious and inappropriate to Scott here...

 

 Thanks again to everyone for helping us celebrate! We love you!

Vacation 2011

Well, I'm a loser. I wanted to finish the wedding posts before starting anything else, but I've been too lazy. So we interrupt this wedding blogging to bring you our summer vacation before it gets too late.
I'll revisit the last of the wedding photos and the honeymoon as I get them finished. I feel like I've left out a lot over the last two months.

We've had tons of mangoes on the tree this year. So many fell while we were on vacation that our yard smells like a giant fermented mango. But I have given several bags full of fresh mangos away to the neighbors, and I have a couple of bags frozen for smoothies.

We also planted purple okra before we left, and we came home to several large plants! Okra is one of the few veggies you can grow here in the hot wet summers. Thankfully we got lots of rain while we were gone. After a really dry June, our grass has come back to life.

Now for a vacation recap:

We left Fort Myers on a Sunday afternoon and made it to Atlanta that night. We stayed in a Best Western that seemed nice at first glance, but once we got in the bed, we realized it was damp. The carpet was too, but we were too tired to switch rooms. I don't know if it was the air conditioning or what. But I woke up with SUPER-frizzy hair. We were glad to get out of there and get back on the road to Kentucky.

Our first stop in Kentucky was outside Richmond in Waco at Scott's mamaw's house. We had a good time catching up with her and eating dinner at Cracker Barrel with the aunts and uncles. I also photographed some of the old family photos she had.

Mamaw Whittamore

Scott's dad, left, uncle, center, and Papaw, right

On Tuesday we drove an hour to Danville to see the other side of the family. We visited Melton's Great American Deli owned by Scott's aunt Gina and uncle Ronnie and stayed at their cool old house downtown. It was good to see most of the family at dinner! It was my first trip to Kentucky, and I really liked it. Unfortunately, I didn't take that many pictures. I really regret not taking any of Nathaniel, Scott's cousin Shana's son. He's so cute! I love his perfect Kentucky accent. After accidentally killing a firefly after dinner, he said, "Poor wittle thang!" He also asked me if we'd seen any dead animals on our trip. He's really into animals and catching snakes and lizards. He's definitely a country boy.

On Wednesday we headed for the NC mountains. This time we picked the city of Hot Springs. We knew it was a small town, so we could see a good bit of it during our two days there. We stayed in the Cedar cabin at Broadwing Farm just outside of town. It had a private hot tub filled with the hot spring water. The Appalachian Trail also goes straight through town, so we got to hike a little more of that. When we arrived at the cabin, it started raining, so we relaxed a little, and then went to dinner. That night, we had a great time just sitting in the hot tub and talking. It was the perfect escape.

I wish this was my yard.

There were even some ripe wild blackberries to eat. so good.

We did a few trails in the area. Our first was the Lover's Leap Trail which included about a mile of the Appalachian Trail right out of "downtown" Hot Springs.

view of Hot Springs and French Broad River from the Lover's Leap Trail/Appalachian Trail

 Then we drove up the road a bit to the Hickey Fork waterfall in the Shelton Laurel Backcountry area. It was a winding road, but well worth the drive. It was a beautiful trail with charming rustic bridges and of course, the waterfall. The trail guide says it's strenuous, but we thought it was average in difficulty and it's only about 1.1 miles one way.

Some good web pages for hiking in the Hot Springs area are here and here and here. After the trail we had lunch then relaxed at our cabin. The after a dinner at the Smoky Mountain Diner we drove up to Max Patch, an open bald with 360-degree views. It is one of the most beautiful places we've been to in North Carolina. It was AMAZING. The drive to it was a little daunting. I think the last 5 miles were on a gravel road, but it was in good shape. The Appalachian Trail also crosses the bald and continues on toward Hot Springs.

We drove back to our cabin and enjoyed another evening in the hot tub watching the fireflies light up the woods. I wish I was back there now. The next morning we woke up and drove toward Raleigh for our wedding par-tay thrown by my dad and Judy. It was a good old-fashioned pig pickin'. good stuff!

The Taylor family. We did manage to get one group shot of one side of the family.

 I'm so glad all my family could come to the party. It was so good to see everybody for a happy occasion.

Hamilton, my cousin Gray's son

Austin and uncle John

Olin, my cousin Amber's son

the pig waiting to be picked

David, my cousin Lynn and aunt Cheryl

These are the only photos I managed to get on my camera from the party. But thanks to everybody who came. We love you! Thanks to Mom and Billy for braving the drive and to Dad and Judy for throwing a fabulous party.

Our Wedding: The Ceremony

Our niece Faith and nephew Carter - our flower girl and ring bearer.

My beautiful bouquet, done by Park Place Florist in Blowing Rock. Thanks, Carol.

 

Our wedding ceremony was short and sweet. We picked a ceremony from one sent to us by our minister, Sandra Possman. We modified the ceremony to include elements of another ceremony I found in a book and included a reading from Corinthians. I know it was a good ceremony because I cried when I read it before the wedding, however, I barely remember a thing about it. It was all so overwhelming. I was just trying to keep it together, breathe and focus on Scott. 

Does it get any cuter than this seersucker suit?

 I really don't think we could have picked a more perfect location. Beautiful view and perfect weather.

 

 

You can tell we're both really relieved that the ceremony was over. We were happy to hang out with our family and best friends for the rest of the evening and happy that we'd pulled it off after a year of planning.

The group shot of all our guests. Thanks everyone for taking time out of your lives to celebrate with us!

Up next: The reception!