Ellen & Adam's Wedding

Ray C. and I traveled to Charleston, South Carolina this weekend for his cousin's wedding. It was fun getting to see the extended family.

Ellen & Adam were married on Folly Beach and had their reception in the big house behind everyone in the picture below. It was so much fun!!Everyone walking out to the beach from our house to the ceremony.

Dad & Jaunice

One of my favorite parts was the "Very Manly Flower Man" actually throwing flower petals and carrying Ellen & Adam's dog, B.B., on a leash!
I even saw porpoises behind them during the vows! Could it get more perfect?
Adam's parents, Uncle Art & Aunt Gail
They planned everything so perfectly. The paper products all matched - from invitation to program. Ellen documented every special detail in a "fact sheet" for the guests at the rehearsal dinner. For example: the dress she wore at the rehearsal dinner was made from material Adam's dad brought back from Thailand while in the service; she wore an anklet made from something special belonging to her brother was died 3 years ago; and the arch was made by her father for her brother's wedding. There were many more, but the idea is that each detail was unique to her and Adam.
The cheese, cracker, and chutney spread on the table was amazing. Each item was labeled (in the coordinating paper).
Glen and Ray C. are enjoying the honeycomb at the end of the table. We actually scraped the honey out of the comb! It was an interesting conversation piece!
I love taking pictures of Grandma & Grandpa. I think Grandpa was tired of smiling! This was a silly smile just because I told him to smile! :)

I didn't take pictures of the steamed oysters that everyone picked on their own downstairs or the amazing dinner of Barbeque Pig (the whole thing) and many other amazing foods!

Ellen is a pastry chef and told me she did not want to talk about cake at her wedding! She made a delicious layer cake of brownie, chocolate chip cookie, and cheesecake! It was great, and to top it off they served it with milk in chilled old-style milk bottles!

They also made and served truffles, lemon curd, and Vanilla Bean Panacotta. It was AMAZING! I ate WAY too much, but it was delicious!!

It was a beautiful wedding, and I think they enjoyed it!

Black and White

I was talking to my dad this week about a video one of my classes watched on the Rodney King beating. Mary Frances and Thomas were sitting with us and asked what riot meant. So, we began to explain to them a little of what happened..."Rodney King is a black man that was beaten by some white police officers, and when the police officers didn't go to jail for what they did, some of the black people in the city got very upset and started destroying things and hurting people."

After a good explanation of what happened, Mary Frances said, "Mommy, I've never heard anyone say "black people and white people", but I think I know what you are talking about. I think you are calling the bad people "black" and the good people "white"."

I thought she made an interesting inference, but I was shocked that she had NEVER heard the terms before. I told her that I loved that she didn't know what I was talking about. We really have tried hard to not point out the differences. We are surrounded by people from many different cultures. We have talked a lot about friends who are "brown", but we don't want the kids to grow up with the prejudices that so many people have.

Anyway, I explained to her that we are considered "white" people, to which she was a little confused since we are not actually white in color. So, I said, "can you guess who the black people are?"

She was stumped. I then gave her a few examples of friends who would be considered "black" which still baffled her since they are not, in fact, black! I even had to explain how some of her friends have one "black" parent and one "white" parent.

Anyway...it was a fun conversation! I really do love that she is six and half and just now hearing that for the first time!!