Friday Favorites 7.21.23

Happy Friday!!  I don't know if this is more "Friday Favorites" or "Friday Check-In" but regardless, glad to have some time to catch up here :).  Feel free to join in by grabbing the graphic and linking up with Andrea and Erika.  If you don't have a blog, go ahead and comment with your Friday Favorites and/or what is going on in your life and then head over to our host blogs to see what others are talking about this third Friday in July.  The summer is going fast!!!

The intro picture was last weekend - we were so blessed to be able to attend the wedding of one of my best friend's sons.

"MY PEOPLE"

The mother of the groom is in the middle, and my other life-long friend is on the right.  I have known these ladies since I had three children, Amy had three children, and Missy had two.  We now have 4, 4, and 5 (or, in Amy's case, 6 since two are now married).  These ladies have been the ones "through it all" for the last 20 years, although we only lived in the same town together for 3-ish years.  First Amy's family - they were military - headed to an assignment in FL, then we moved to TN, several years later Missy and her family moved to another part of FL.  Amy's husband continued his career, going back to OH, then HI, and eventually retiring in FL's panhandle.  It is rare that the three of us get together (because, well, LIFE) but when we do, we have a lifetime to share :). OK, not this time since Amy was busy with the wedding and her large family that was there for the event, and Missy and I had opposite travel dates (she came early, a few days before the wedding, we stayed later, a couple days after) but for this brief few hours, we were in the same room together!!

A FAVORITE this month, something I have been looking forward to all year :)

WEDDINGS - sharing in special life events with those I love

This was the hallway outside the ballroom.  This is the first time I've attended a wedding where everything was in one room.  The ceremony was scheduled for 4:30 on one side of the ballroom and then the reception (dinner & dancing) was on the other side.  It was really, really nice!

Father of the Bride, blessing the couple during toasts and speeches. 

The vows. . .that is the groom's brother, as his best man and their uncle was the one doing the ceremony. So special!!

The bride has been in Costa Rica for the last year on missions and her family lives out of state, so Cody's mom and sisters did most of the planning, with the bride's permission and blessing :). Look how gorgeous the tables, flowers, etc. were!

Cody's brother's wife made the cake!  Speaking of Cody's brother -- we met him when he was 7 (???) and look at him all grown up!!!

This was such a special wedding. . .as I said, the groom's uncle married them, then another uncle of the groom, along with the groom's best friend, wrote and performed the mother-son dance for Amy & Cody

The night was truly perfection - I hope the bride and groom think so too :)

TIME WITH TOM

A sunset cruise

A walk on the beach every day. . .

And hanging out playing cards together - like us, the groom's family are a game-playing family and their wedding favor were these cards!!

RAIN??

I don't know if the rain is a FAVORITE - that picture was taken at 8 o'clock in the morning yesterday - but the bounty it is producing in the garden is!

I don't know if anyone on this street wants to see another zucchini or squash this year (ha!) but there are an abundance of swiss chard, green beans, peppers, and cucumbers out there too!!  We sure are enjoying the fruits of the labor from my in-laws and the Maxwells down the street.

And I just took a picture of these flowers on my back deck -- it's fun watching my things grow too :). I think this is the third summer I have had these -- I winter them over in the basement.

NEW DINNER IDEA

I read a new-to-me blog this week, Carolina Charm (originally found in a link by Amy), and made this salad from it.  We are not a pickle family, so those were not included, but everything else was.  Although simple, it was a FAVORITE this week.  

LMB

And, although all my kids are my FAVORITES, this picture cracks me up.  A friend sent it to me this week -- it was taken in Greece earlier this summer.  It just sums up this one soooooooo perfectly.  This is who she is.  University of Tennessee graduate.  Full of life.  Comfortable in her own skin.  Confident.  Best Friend.  Smart.  LOVES her Jesus and her family - especially her grandparents.  She is just a joy.  Last week she moved back in with us, unsure "what is next".  Her degree is biomedical engineerings. Impressive, right?  She likes to "fix things" and put things together.  Right now she is working PT at a machine shop as an intern and getting as much friend time and camping time in as possible.  I found this post I wrote for her on her 10th birthday - if you are family, you should click on the orange letters above and go back and read it :). I love having these memories recorded and am blessed beyond measure to be her mama!

That's it for this week!!  I'm going to try for a What's Up Wednesday this week. . .stay tuned. . .

Love,

Jenni