Tuesday, May 18, 2010

A Sparkly Sneak Peek & A Word About Cousins...

My cousin, Laney, is getting married this June up in the mountains and we are excited for another family wedding. (Read: I'm pumped, and even moreso that I am not quite as involved as in my sister's, because that thing nearly killed me....) Elizabeth and I are both bridesmaids and we are all looking forward to all of the fun that's in store!

A few weekends ago I was terribly honored to get to take her bridal portrait pictures up in Linville at Grandfather Mountain, which is where the wedding will be. I, of course, cannot show off anything that shows the dress. However, everyone has seen/can see her gorgeous ring, and I LOVE this picture. And would like to thank my parents, AGAIN, for the lens that allows me to get such neat shots. How beautiful is her ring???
Let me tell you, she looked phenomenal. After June I will show off more. :) The afternoon was perfect for pictures. The day started off with a crystal blue sky, not a cloud in sight, and sunshine everywhere. A great day, but no good for a photographer. But then the clouds rolled in and it was go time. We got her dressed, ran around the golf course and bridges and to find the prettiest flowers on the grounds, and I was in hog heaven, just snapping away. And I'm telling you what, not 10 minutes (literally) after we finished and got her inside and out of her dress, THE. HEAVENS. OPENED. I'm not talking it started to sprinkle and then picked up. I mean the bottom totally fell out and we had just missed an absolutely torrential downpour. I don't even want to THINK what mess we could have been in had we gotten caught out in that... But anyway. :)

Laney is 2.5 years older than me, 5.5 years older than Elizabeth. She has one older brother, Grayson, and then we all have 3 older cousins - William, Brian and Tom. We came in order from 3 sisters - none of them overlapped in having kids. And all the boys came first and then the girls. Hello, textbook. We were raised more like siblings, if you ask me. Family trips and sleepovers and everything in between, we could often be found in all sorts of combinations in Lenoir and elsewhere, all through the years.
(Circa, oh, I don't know - 1987? I'm probably in trouble for putting this out there, but it's at one of Nanny & GanGan's famous Christmas parties, so I might be off the hook. Man, those were the days...)

We still love getting together when we can, even though we have managed to end up in different cities/states all over the place. Our biggest similarity was, obviously, our grandparents, who doted on us all. the. time. And we miss them both dearly. I think - I know - that they'd be awfully proud of us that we all love to be together as much as we do. They, along with all of our parents, really fostered our relationships with each other growing up, and for that, I think all 7 of us will be forever grateful. To them and to our moms and dads.

(2008 at Wrightsville for the "Beach Beach Trip". We totally all make fun of Flamingo Laney in this picture!)

Here's to cousins! Here's to family!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Beautiful pictures! I remember when all of you were so small! Adorable and a blessed family!

The Bruces (but most likely the Mrs.) said...

Love the old picture! More love the new picture in your header - where were you??

Bec said...

In California, my dear. Big Wayne took this at the Reagan Library. I had forgotten about it!