Thanksgiving 2011 in Charleston

Thanksgiving was amazing this year. To start the weekend off, Josh and I drove all the way to Summerville Wednesday after work to stay with my dad. We got up Thursday morning and headed to Jeddie and Jessica's for a fun filled day of family, food and cheer.

We got to Charleston just before lunch and Josh said that he wanted to go ahead and give me an early birthday present. I was very excited because if you know me, you know I love presents. Thank goodness Josh gave me my present early because as you will start to see, my pictures are going to be much better and more abundant. Thank you Josh for my new camera!! I am so excited to show you all the pics below that I took.

Isn't Cokey adorable? This is Jeddie and Jessica's second child and she is precious. She is the perfect helper in the kitchen and even became quite the little photographer as I showed her how to use my new camera.

Adelaide is their third child and she has lots of spunk. She pulled me into the bathroom, turned the lights off, and started singing Christmas carols with her illuminated Santa making cool streaks in the darkness. Her favorite is "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer."

Ripley is the fourth child and she can hold her own. She loves to bop up and down to music and shake her little booty! I had not seen her in quite awhile and she has changed so much. I can't wait until Christmas to see her grow up even more.

Mom brought Granddad down to Charleston as well. He spent the night in little Jeddie's room, which Jeddie thought was pretty cool. All the kids call him "Little Grandpa" which I think is just about the cutest thing ever. He sits back and watches the chaos of all of us running around and playing with the kids. I am not sure he can hear all that is going on, but mom gives him the low down later. He is just happy to be there and we are happy to have him as well.

I had to get a quick pic with granddad myself. His is the sweetest and most patient person that I have ever known and I can't imagine a world without him. We are lucky to have him in our lives.

Of course we can't forget about Scout. Had to throw one in of him because he is Hunny's best friend and she would have gotten upset if I didn't!

Here is little Jeddie, Adelaide and big Jeddie chilling and watching some football.

Last year Little Jeddie received all of 'my brother' Jeddie's old Star Wars toys. Here he is playing with one of them as Jessica grabs him for a quick picture.

Cokey and myself enjoying the beautiful weather while the boys do something in the yard.

Pretty sure my dad hasn't had to drag kids on the floor around his ankles in a long time. The girls had the best time as did Dad. It was hilarious.

This is my favorite picture of Dad the whole weekend. I caught him in the best smile while relaxing on the porch.

Here goes Ripley again bouncing up and down to music. That girl has more rhythm than me, but I am certain that isn't very hard.

I jumped out from behind the garage and tested out my new paparazzi style camera. Got a pretty good snapshot if you ask me. I love my new camera to death and can't wait to show off more pictures like this one while catching people quickly and not having them to hold their pose for 3 seconds while the flash prepares and the camera focuses!

And then here is sweet Hunny. I can't believe she is 12 and still pretty active. She has select hearing, but this weekend she had a blast visiting at Dad's house and going on road trips galore.

La Boda de Male y Manuel en Mexico

This past weekend we went to Merida, Mexico for the wedding of our dear friends Male and Manuel. Male lived with the Mauldin's down the street from me one summer while I was working at Handpicked and Melanie introduced us. We quickly became great friends as did all of my other buddies! When we heard that she was having her wedding in Mexico there was absolutely no hesitation on our part to be there. We have been so excited and 11-11-11 will always be a date to remember.

The picture above was taken the first night we were there at a place called Rosas y Xocolates. It's an amazing boutique hotel in Merida. From let to right is Caroline, Kay, Susannah, me, Manuel, Male, and Josh. We were celebrating the wedding which was the next day and just happy to all be together again.
The ceremony was at a beautiful church in Merida. The doors were open and the breeze was flowing. It was the perfect night for a wedding. My most favorite part of the weddig was when they draped the bride and groom with flowers. Male's dress was gorgeous as well!

As you can see above, the night got pretty crazy. With the reception starting about 10pm, dinner lasting until after midnight, the partying really got started about 12:30am. We kept the time a secret from Susannah and Kay's mom, Carey, and she ended up hanging until 3am. There were props gallore and everyone dressed up and had a blast. Carey, Susannah, and Kay look great in the party attire!

I had to throw in a serious shot of Josh and myself. Josh was such a trouper on this trip. Traveling with 4 women is an ordeal I am sure and he was very patient. Many thanks to him for keeping us in line and on time!

Josh got the sombrero during the reception and I quickly snapped a pic both with the groom and then the bride. You can tell at this point that Manuel is having a blast.

And here is the pretty bride with Josh!

The night ended at about 5am for everyone and the next day was rough to say the least. It was well worth it though. Even getting pulled over by the cops in Cancun the next day and getting duped out of $75 to get my license back was worth it to have witnessed this matrimony. Note to self, only turn around on Mexican streets at the Retorno. Ugh.

Thank you Male and Manuel for including us. We had such a great time and want to do it all over again!

Garnet Trumps Big Orange

This past weekend Josh and I went to Knoxville, TN to follow the Gamecocks, visit my old college friend Mark, and hopefully bring home a win for the Gamecocks. We were successful on all parts and left Sunday with a smile on our faces and the USC car flags still flying!
Knoxville's tailgating scene is pretty fun. The tailgating is all over the campus, unlike ours where you find yourself knee deep in dust or mud depending on the weather. We traveled around and visited several different tailgates, one of which was on the top level of a parking garage right by the stadium. That was sort of weird, but it was fun as well.

In the picture above, from left to right, is our friend Doolan, me, Josh and Mark. We stayed with Mark and he was gracious enough to provide us with 2 tickets. Thank you buddy!

So the Gamecocks are 7-1 and here's hoping we can bring home a few more W's the rest of the season. I sure would like to go to the SEC Championship again!