Southern Hospitality

We had an amazing weekend in Atlanta! Sorry this update is so late, I've been processing the trip, reflecting on life, and enjoying my kiddos. We don't have a working camera right now so our pictures our limited.

Taking a picture of my new haircut on the way to the airport (with my cell) so 2 of my friends wouldn't kill me for leaving town without updating them!

Airport food is outrageously priced. :) I guess we'd forgotten, we fly so rarely.

The weather was beautiful. The people were SO friendly. Everything about our trip felt like it was covered with pixie dust, we were more relaxed than we have been in years, our eyes sparkled, the sun sparkled, the ground sparkled. No seriously, I didn't get a pic, but the ground was covered in sparkles! Almost every sidewalk we were on had sparkle dust on it, some places had piles of it.

We felt safe there. Safer in Midtown Atlanta (a big city so we were skeptical and nervous) than we do in our own neighborhood. We walked A LOT, and loved it.... Didn't love how sore our legs were, after one day they were screaming at us every time we stood up, but loved taking life slowly, enjoying the scenery as we explored a new city.

I couldn't believe how different the food was, the people were, or the city was. I really hope to take away from the experience. I was surprised at how nice everyone was. Then I was surprised to be surprised. We should be that nice, saying please and thank you, smiling when we give and take orders at restaurants, holding doors for people, politely answering questions.

Here is a video my husband put together, it's only of the first two days because he'd forgotten to take the church service from the week before off before we left, but I love how the video shows the sparkle in our eyes and how relaxed we were.

We didn't have any video time left to get footage of the wedding we went to or us ready for the wedding, even though it was the main reason, or at least the push, for our trip. The wedding was outdoors and it was absolutely beautiful. Hot, which I thought was perfect, and beautiful. She looked amazing and her husband seems like a really nice guy. I'm glad I was able to be there on their special day and I pray their marriage will last a lifetime.  Someone posted this picture to the brides facebook page, so I stole it.

She did an amazing job planning her wedding, she had fans for programs (which we used incessantly), the bridesmaids dresses were a beautiful light green and made out of a light breathable material (according to the Maid of Honor this was very important to how much she loved the dress), the location was a beautiful historical estate, she had a photo booth guest book, personalized matchbooks on the table, a color coordinated candy bar for favors (um yea, you had me at candy), delicious cake (I only had 2 pieces but I'm not going to lie, I wanted 2 more),  oh dinner was delicious too the beef melted in your mouth.

 Our pictures from the photo booth, they were all blurry! 

If you look closely you can see the cute flower in my hair. 

My favorite thing, something I've seen or I guess heard done before but never been present for, was the sparkler send off. At 11:30 they had all remaining guests (at least 50) line up on each side of the long driveway and light sparklers then the bride and groom walked through us! It was so cute, at one point he picked her up and spun her around. So fun! 

Then on Sunday we didn't fly out till late at night so we left our luggage at the hotel and walked around the city some more. We went to a late breakfast at a bagel shop and then saw Pirate of the Caribbean (are they done making those yet? Their all starting to blend into each other) at the I-max which was neat but expensive ;). Then we headed back to the hotel and stopped at perhaps my favorite part of the whole place, a fountain that was set in the ground and surrounded by grassy stair steps that circled around it. There we sat reading Ephesians and talking about our family, our parenting styles, our kids and how to be better at discipline in love and exercising selflessness towards them (even between the hours of 8:15 PM or 6:15 AM!) It was a beautiful talk and prayer, the perfect way to end our get a way. After a bite at DaVinci's Pizzeria we rode the subway one last time and went back to the airport. 

I couldn't believe how much the kids changed over the weekend, Owen was SO tan it made him look like a big boy, and his new "I want to look like shaggy" do grew a little longer and got a little blonder. Micah gained a few pounds, his hair got lighter and I swear he grew into his brother! He's a mini Owen now, more than he was before (as I didn't really see it before). As great as it is to get away and sleep in a fluffy white hotel bed, it's wonderful to be home, with the kids down the hall, in my own bed.

Remind me of that in a few weeks when the heat threatens to sweat me out of our upstairs apartment will ya?