Fur babies

I conducted a little photo session a few weeks ago....Maddux and Atticus were being so cute! I grabbed my camera and took some shots.

Verplanks' Wedding Reception

This weekend Ben and I flew up to MI for what was undoubtedly the party of the year. Longtime friends of the Slagels, the Verplanks, were celebrating the recent weddings of two of their children with a massive two day blowout in Spring Lake, MI. Friday night was a casual affair at the Spring Lake Yacht Club complete with pizza, beer and a private performance by The Samples! Saturday evening was a "tropical chic" reception at the Verplanks' lakeside estate. The parties were incredible but the best part of the weekend was that Jerry and Korey came all the way up from El Paso, TX, and brought Austin with them! Austin is such a happy little guy.....and so busy! He's crawling and eating solid foods and is such fun to have around.

The Verplanks' lakeside estate
The dessert tent

Ben, Ted, Jerry and Chris at the Friday night party (Spring Lake Yacht Club)

Uncle Ben with Austin
Jerry, Korey, me and Ben
Dancing Ben

Korey and me on our way to the yacht club

Paige is 30!!!

Paige checks out her weiner........

Alison, Emily, me and Paige

One of my oldest (by "oldest" I mean "known the longest") and best friends, Paige Hester, turned the big 3-0 on Saturday, June 14th. The girls got together and treated her to dinner at our favorite Thai place in Atlanta (makes me so homesick!!!) and followed it up with a concert at the Smyrna Market Village. She was surprised with a cake in the shape of a hotdog and several bottles of champagne. The hotdog shape was chosen because tiny little Paige really LOVES her hotdogs and I've seen her inhale quite a few of them at Braves games. Paige is a super picky eater so her affection for Oscar Mayer's finest is odd. It's an inside joke amongst our group of girlfriends. The night did not end after the concert......super late night at Atkins Park. It's a good thing Paige only turns 30 once! She is one "hot chick!"

Mother's Day

Ben horsing around with Caleb. Boys being boys!

Debbie, Me, Alison, Meri and Lindsay after the race. Lindsay did a fabulous job organizing everything!

Me with Debbie and Alison.....before the race.

Ben and I headed down to Atlanta for Mother's Day weekend. In addition to Mother's Day, Nanny celebrated her 81st birthday and Alison and I ran the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure with a great team of friends (Jogging for Jugs!) in honor of some incredible women who were taken from us much too soon. The race was Saturday. Sunday was spent at Uncle Greg's and Aunt Donna's house with all the cousins, nephews, siblings and dogs. It was a great weekend.

Katie's Baby Shower

This past weekend Alison and I flew up to Rochester, NY, for our dear friend's baby shower. Katie was our college roommate at Notre Dame and we try to get together as often as we can. This past year and a half has been great! Alison, Katie, Liz (our other roommate in the frozen tundra of South Bend) and I all got married within a year of each other and now Katie is big and pregnant. Thanks to all the events and showers, plus a college reunion, we've had excuses to get together about seven times times in the past 22 months. That's a great average! Hopefully we can keep it up. Above are a few pictures from the weekend......Alison and I hosted the shower at Katie's parents' house (gorgeous) along with her sister, Stacey, and good friend, Adena. Katie does not know the sex of the baby (how fun!) so we ran with a green and yellow theme which included a bunch of frogs. Very cute, if I do say so myself. To add to the fun, Katie's ten month old niece, Sadie, joined the party as we were winding down. Sadie belongs to Stacey.

Spring is kicking into high gear!

With the arrival of warm weather (consistently), Ben and I have begun our spring travels. Two weeks ago Ben headed down to Hilton Head and Daufuskie Islands for a long weekend of golfing with Bret and Dan, courtesy of the Hightowers. Bret's parents have a beautiful house on serene Haig Point.

As soon as Ben returned home, I scooted down to Perdido Key, FL, with Paige for four days of fun in the sun. The Hesters were kind enough to let us stay in their magazine worthy condo. For those of you who don't know, Paige's mom is an incredible decorator and the condo is a work of art. Paige and I had a blast.....who knew Orange Beach, AL, had such great shopping?!?! In addition to laying out and shopping, Paige and I also paid a visit to the legendary Flora-Bama for the annual mullett toss. Check that box! Great people-watching.....and the bushwackers were yummy.

Now we are heading to Charlotte, NC, to become parrot-heads for the night with Lindsey and Christian Clickner. Buffett shows are always a good time. I'll post pictures of that soon.

Napa Valley Anniversary Trip

We just returned from a wonderful trip out to Napa Valley, CA, to celebrate our first anniversary (two weeks early, but who's counting!). Napa is spectacular.....we went up in a hot air balloon, rode bikes through several wineries and toured still more via town car and driver (much more relaxing that way!). In addition to all the great wine we consumed, we also enjoyed some of the best food in the country.