Chicago With Cousins

I love living so close to a city this rich in architecture and art.  I mean look at this fountain!  Need I say more?  It's gorgeous.

We met Christian in Chicago on our long drive back from Atlanta and boy was it great to see him.  We had a really fabulous day with Adam and Laura's family, eating Chicago dogs, museum hopping, and then spending Easter at our house before they had to head back home to Indiana.  Always wonderful to see cousins.

Spring Break

We decided to stay a couple days longer in Atlanta than planned and take advantage of time with grandparents and some fabulous warm weather.  Charles and Georgia were happy as can be with a bucket of water.  Oh, and Cheetos weren't bad either.

So much personality!

Everyone says these two could be twins and in this picture I have to agree.  

After all of the wedding action I think we all felt like these two.

The Tuxes And The Wedding

Our beautiful girl in her fabulous silk dress.  Of course, Gammy helped to get out the spots of fish crackers and water that your's truly was not careful enough to notice.

I can only guess what Charles is playing with - dirt? candy? mulch? bird droppings?  At least I got one picture with his shirt clean.  By the time the photographer realized it might be a good idea to take their pictures, it was hours later and many messes later.  He was filthy!  So, I enjoy looking at this crisp, clean Charles.  (You will rarely hear those three words in the same sentence.)

Father of the groom looking dapper.

Our little family.  The wind was unbelievable as you can see from our hair.  

Winfield quite liked his rose.

Tux?  What's a tux?  

Christian walked Genevieve down the aisle and they looked very nice together.

Love that crooked smile.  Funny I never noticed it until we had married a couple years.  It was just part of Christian to me.  

Having a little down time with Gammy before the wedding began.

Grandma Mitchell flew in from Utah with Mark's brother, Bob (below) for the wedding.  It was a sweet addition to the family and so wonderful to see her after nearly two years.  

This is sadly the only picture I have of the groom.  I couldn't really sneak in any more since the photographer followed him around like paparazzi, poor guy.

No no.  No more pictures of Aunt Genny. 

Southern Georgia

Georgia and Grandma Mitchell

Paddy and his non-PC head wraps.

Gammy and Jack

Winfield with his ring bearer's gift: bow and arrows.  Thank you, Chapman.

All tuckered out.  

Making soap at a craft fair.  We found an ad for this festival in the woods and decided to check it out.  They had all kinds of old-timey arts like making soap, pottery, leather goods, furniture, wood toys, you name it, they had it.  

This crazy-looking man was braiding ropes (think Indiana Jones) out of deer hide.  I asked him where he got the hide and he stopped braiding, looked at me, and in a thick southern accent said, "from a deer."  

The petting zoo was hilarious.  They had the typical goats, but they also had an enormous turkey that was fluffing his feathers out with great importance.  It was a little scary.

Look how frightened they are!  When they walked out of the pen they all handed back their still half-full cups of goat food to the attendant.  Pretty funny. 

The Rehearsal Dinner AKA The Most Amazing Pig Roast EVER!

Chapman (Christian's brother) chose to have a pig roast after the wedding rehearsal for the rehearsal dinner and it was so fantastic.  The idea to begin with was just brilliant, but add that to the setting (see how lovely the barn and white fence are in this picture?) in rural Georgia and it can't be beat.  The kids pulled Georgia down the aisle in a wagon - they were very cute - and behaved beautifully, all except "little Chuck" as Mark calls him.  He sat down, buried his head in his knees, and wouldn't budge.  We got a few chuckles from watching the bridesmaids get in trouble with the wedding planner for chewing gum and standing in fire ant hills.  I'm so glad I could just watch from the side. 

I had to include this picture of Georgia because she looks SO much like Genevieve in this picture.  Janet made this adorable gingham dress for the BBQ and she honestly was the best dressed female there.

The bride and groom.  Jessica is great with kids and looked very pretty the whole weekend.

My groom with a picture in front of his face.  Mark drew the picture with pigs on a boat called "Marital Bliss" and used it on the invitations to the pig roast as well as down the center of the tables.  It was clever, added an element of fun and whimsy, plus it's just so cool that the father of the groom drew it.

Gammy and baby girl.

Love the red shoes, too.

Mr. Africa Turns Three

While in Atlanta we celebrated Charles' birthday and I have not seen him that excited in a long time.  He was absolutely ecstatic about the birthday table that Gammy set up, and for good reason.  I wish I had a picture of the grandness of this table - huge balloons, pop-up cards, gifts wrapped and unwrapped, treats, confetti, and above all ANIMALS.  This was a wild animal party per Charles' request and he was pleased as punch.

"That's me!"  How cool is that?  A cake with your picture on it, and edible?!  Oh, the cake on his face is because he took a frosting bite of the cake while we were all distracted.  Is he having flashbacks to his first birthday or something?  Apparently he thought it was part of being birthday boy, and why not?

Every animal Charles sees is christened, "That's Africa" by the zoo master himself (I think it just means "cool animal that must surely come from Africa").  Although he knows the names of every kind of odd animal, he still believes they all live in Africa.  So, I found these foam animal hats for the party - pretty hilarious - so we could really play the part of animals.  Just look at that face - he loved it!

Fat Matt's Rib Shack

 Every time we visit Atlanta we try to make it to Fat Matt's.  If you pass through the sprawling city of ATL this place is an absolute must.  I like ribs okay, but at Fat Matt's I LOVE ribs (the pulled pork sandwich is pretty heavenly, too).  Mark got a kick out of Georgia tasting a little BBQ in her antique sweater.  He was hoping Janet wouldn't happen to throw a glance his direction and see the possible destruction of her sweater.  No worries - she stayed clean.

The two gents having a go at ribs.  This place is seriously a hole in the wall shack where the waitresses call you "honey" and serve the most perfect lemonade you've ever had.  I could go on, but it'll make me hungry.

    

 

Here we are: the whole Mitchell family at the Atlanta Temple.  

The temple underwent a year and a half remodel and before they re-dedicate it they held open houses for the public to tour inside.  We took the boys to see what the sealing room looks like (where you get married) and all the other beautiful rooms, and they really were beautiful.  For me, however the best part was the video before we went inside.  One of the leaders of our church, Elder Holland spoke about being married for eternity.  He got teary (and so did I) as he said he couldn't talk about heaven without talking about his wife and children because it would not be a celestial existence without them.  He explained that in the temple we are sealed to our family for eternity, not just until "death do us part."  Who wants to be parted from the ones they love more than anyone else on earth?  I looked at our kids and at Christian and knew what he said was true.

 We all think Genevieve and Georgia look alike - it's the eyes.  I love this picture of them in their off-white vintage clothes.  So beautiful.