a few parties

Over the weekend, my sister Abbye graduated from Georgia Southern! We are all so proud of her! Her degree is in Hotel and Restaurant Management, and she'll begin her internship at Sea Pines on Hilton Head in March. We can't wait to go visit her! 

Before the graduation festivities, David and I traveled to Charlotte, NC for his work, and made the road trip to Statesboro on Thursday. A big family/friend dinner was had at Isabella's in the 'Boro before a night out at Dingus Magee's. 

Here's Abs' cute girlfriends before our night on the town!

And a few of us at dinner...

Her ceremony took place on Friday morning...here's Abs approaching the podium to have her name read before crossing the stage!

We were all so excited for this big moment!

After the ceremony, we had time for a few family pics before lunch! 

We are all so proud of our Abbye!

Later, on Friday night, we hit the Lamar's Christmas Party in Hawkinsville. It was so nice!

And on Saturday we were able to attend our friends Sydney and Gray's engagement party in Atlanta. It was so nice too!

Here I am with the bride (right) and her sisters Ansley and Colby! Love them all!

Me with my handsome date!

We'll be heading home this weekend to enjoy more family Christmas events! 

Hope you all have a fantastic week!

Merry merry!

A Wedding and A Griffin Family Christmas

Last weekend, David and I attended the wedding of our hometown friend, Becca. My bff Amy was a bridesmaid (and the most beautiful one I might add!), so when we arrived at the reception we were so excited to catch up. The wedding was at the Perry First Methodist Church, all festively decorated for Christmas - and I loved all of the beautiful Christmas music playing before the ceremony. 

The reception was at the Bridle Barn near Fort Valley, and it was gorgeous too!

I had the best looking date there! And the sweetest one too!

We'd spent the day with James and had a ball! So sad this is blurry!

To round out a jam-packed fun week, Sunday was spent at our cousin Robert's house in Winder for the annual Griffin Family Christmas. We do an annual dirty Santa swap, have lunch, and visit. Robert's house is so great (house tour to come on B&B), and looked beautiful all decorated for the holidays - Robert, his brother, and parents had all worked so hard to make it a special afternoon, and that it was!

Here are a few of the Griffin women in the study...Pammy, me, Caron, and Amanda.

After a delish lunch of BBQ, the little boys, Ben and Aiden, helped us hand out the presents and orchestrate the dirty Santa swap.

The grand kids, affectionately called the "grands", had our picture time on the front step. 

L-R: Kathryn and Justin (expecting baby #1 two days before Baby Griffin arrives! So excited to have another generation of grands to grow up together!), Aiden, Sally and James, Fain, Robert, Amanda, David and me, and an evidently very sleepy little Ben. :) I suppose Doc, up front, counts as a "grand" too!

And the parents...Vicky and Grady, Caron and Steve, and Pammy and Pop!

The little boys got penguins from Aunt Caron - they climb and play on Robert and Da-Dah like jungle gyms! So cute!

David and I are heading for a little work getaway in Charlotte today before attending my baby sis's college graduation in Statesboro on Friday morning! So proud of her!!!!

Preggie.

I am in my 18th week already! 

It's really flying by, especially now that my energy has come back. 

Our little baby Griffin is about the size of an apple. I haven't felt any movement yet, but that's normal - it's still a little early. By Christmas, I'll be 20 weeks and should be able to feel little flutters! 

We've got friends that are all due in May too...my bff Hollie is due 10 days after me, and our cousin Kathryn is due 2 days before me, as well as several friends back home who are expecting bambinos too.

We'll be finding out the sex of the baby on Christmas morning. I've got my ultrasound in a week, but the results are going into a {sealed} envelope and straight into the mail to my bff Amy. She's got a fun surprise up her sleeve, and I am tickled to see what she comes up with for the big reveal. We've been friends forever, and she knows all of my secrets...and this will be no exception  She'll make it super fun to find out what our little Christmas present is!

With that approaching, planning a nursery has moved more to the front of our minds. As well as possible names. During the first trimester, we really didn't think about it seriously. Of course we've had the conversations, but now it's going to be more real! We've got great name contenders (all family names of course) and I've got some pretty cute nursery mood boards coming up on the other blog too.

I am feeling great...it's hard to believe we are almost halfway through the pregnancy. I can tell I get a little winded sometimes, and am visiting the ladies' room a little more often too. I think I've gained about 5 pounds, and am still sleeping well. Everyone has been so sweet about Baby Griffin's impending arrival, and with these graduations and a wedding coming up...there's lots to be grateful for! David and I are so excited for our little one to arrive in May, and we are enjoying every step of this miracle process. 

Happy Tuesday!

A Football Game and A Christmas Party

I've been a little behind on blogging...there's been a lot of work things to get done before the holidays and it's kept me from updating what we've been up to in our down time! 

Two weekends ago we were in Atlanta of for the SEC Championship. Sadly, the game didn't end the way we'd hoped or prayed, but we had a nice time visiting with friends and family for the weekend. 

On Saturday, we joined the McLeod's for their fantastic tailgate before heading to a friend's house to watch the game. 

Hollie snapped this picture during happier times while watching the game. We were at Amy and Jeff's house.

And here are a few other snaps from the day. We began the morning with the trip to the dome, and the McLeod's tailgate quickly amped up with more than 50 people there! So fun!

After watching the game at the Dils' house, we stopped by Griffin and Allison's house for some post-game commiseration.  We were so sad. Even Murphy, the Hamsley's dog wanted to just forget all the heartache and huddled under David's arm. 

This past week brought some happier times for these Dawg fans though...our first Christmas party in our new house! We invited our friends, family, and co-workers for a drop-in party, but most people just stayed the whole time - which I loved! 

Before our guests arrived, we had a little photo sesh with the fam...

So happy Amanda and Pammy could join!

My handsome co-planner! He's such a help and I couldn't pull it off without him!

I was beyond tickled that Laura Lyn came to play too!

And my sweet parents (who also brought James with them, but we don't have a pic!) drove up to hang for the night as well!

Here are two pics from the evening, but stay tuned to Bellissimo and Bella for detail photos of the whole house. 

Hope your holidays have been happy so far too! Can't believe its 2 weeks to Christmas! 

Thankful.

David and I are so blessed to spend the time with our family and friends that we do. We make great efforts to see them all as much as possible, and feel so lucky to be able to see them often - especially our family. Thanksgiving was no exception - we got to see most of our family and many friends!

Our Thanksgiving holidays began with scooping up Christen from the airport on our way to Hawkinsville. Amy met us at the Watson's, and we snapped a pic - there are literally hundreds of us three over our 20 years....we definitely needed just one more! :)

We got to see Christen's whole family too, which was wonderful!

After a delicious and fun family time at my Aunt D's for Thanksgiving lunch, David and I headed to Lake Blackshear for time with the Griffins. We spent Thursday night with Pammy and Pop before enjoying another delicious Thanksgiving lunch on Friday once Amanda and Ben arrived. David, Ben, and Pop got in some good fishing time while we were there too!

On Friday night, I travelled with my parents and sibs to (what would be Asa's last game) Newnan to see Asa play in the State Playoffs. It was cold and windy! The game was such a sad loss, and none of us wanted to think that it was "over." Asa played a great game though, and I was so proud to be there for it!

On Saturday night of the break, my party-planning sister Abbye hosted the annual Coody Cabin Classic. It was so fun! There was great live music, good food, and even better company to visit with. We took the opportunity to snap a few Coody-Childers cousin pics while there! 

And some couples shots in front of the tree too!

These are my first cousins Taylor, Claire, Ben, and Adam

And of course you know these faces ;)

New sister addition!

Later, on Sunday evening, we surprised my Dad with an early 60th birthday party at the cabin! Mom totally pulled it off and he was completely caught off guard! 

It was a great night, and Dad's best buds were there along with the fam!

I made this fun birthday collage to commemorate the night:

Mom grabbed some de-lish cookies from my friend Linsey's booth at the Mistletoe Market - Two Crazy Cookies. Mom and Abs worked so hard to decorate the cabin early for Christmas too...really had us all in the spirit! We are all so thankful for family, and especially my Mom - she makes everything special! We all loved celebrating my awesome Dad - 60 is a big year for him! He's going to become a grandfather, his 3rd child will be graduating from college, his second child will be getting married, and his baby will be graduating from highschool! We are blessed, indeed!

Hope you all had a safe and happy Thanksgiving with lots of family time!

Lots to celebrate!

November is full of birthdays! 

A few weeks ago, my best friends and I all got together for my 29th birthday dinner at Yebo in Atlanta! 

I loved the chevron background at our table - made for cute pics!

And later in the week, got together again to celebrate our friend Brian's Big 3-0! Meghan planned the sweetest surprise party for him at Shula's in Buckhead. We loved being there to ring in Brian's 30's with him! 

Last week, it was Renee's turn! A fun group of girls met at Georgia Grille to celebrate her 28th year! 

I spent a few days in Hawkinsville last week, and while there I got to celebrate my birthday and my best friend Amy's 29th together - and we were so happy that James joined us too!

Last Friday night, my brother Brince proposed to his awesome girlfriend Laura Lyn while we were all together in Athens for the GSU/UGA game! 

Truly, we could not be happier to welcome Laura Lyn into our family! 

After our celebratory dinner, we hit Boar's Head for a band party!

Here's a fun collage of our weekend...

the happy couple with champagne

the delish cookie cake that Hollie brought to the tailgate

the posters I made of the happy couple

And family shots - my parents game up for the day on Saturday to celebrate too!