Anderson trip, 2011: Friday + Saturday

This past weekend HeyMatthew and I took a quick trip to Anderson and it was A-MA-ZING! We had the absolute best time and had already started planning our next trip on the car ride home. We left Sumter around 6pm on Friday afternoon and made it to Mott & Papa's (my dad's parents) house a little after 9:00. I had hoped to get into town a little earlier but a late night arrival didn't keep Mott from feeding us like it was Thanksgiving. As soon as we arrived we sat down in Mott's kitchen and had the most delicious casserole and green bean supper! Love it! Saturday morning started early and Mott and Papa took us down to the barns in their backyard. I played throughout all of Papa's buildings as a child and was so excited for Matthew to see everything I'd been telling him about for weeks. I was a tiny bit disappointed when I couldn't find my "rabbit catchin' hole" that I'd dug as a child but I guess all things can't stay the same. Walking into Papa's buildings is like taking a trip into the most magical antique shop there is. Not only are the buildings filled with treasures but most of those treasures belonged to my ancestors. After M&P realized that I was diggin' all of their cool stuff, they quickly started passing on the family heirlooms. I left with kerosene lamps that belonged to my great & great-great grandmother, my great grandmother's breadbox, a kettle that Mott used to heat her bath water as a child, my great grandmother's piano (!!!) and tons of other amazing pieces! I'm going to do a post to show everything here in the next few days. I'm so excited!

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My Papa


The lamps. Aren't they gorgeous?

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After our treasure hunt we ate a quick snack and headed over to Linda and Eddie Ray's house to meet up with the rest of the family! Linda is my dad's sister and I think I inherited my love for all things crafty and all things old from her. She has so many cool pieces in her house and she (like myself) isn't above digging through old barns to find great antique...just no spiders, please! I was so excited to see that my cousins Tyler (also a Charlestonian now living in Sumter + one of my BFF's), Marina (married to Tyler's brother, Alston) and new, tiny, wonderful baby Olivia (child of Marina and Alston) were already there. Olivia is only a few months old so this was the first time that I have ever been around her. I'd heard that she was beautiful but I had no idea just HOW beautiful! Olivia is the tiniest, sweetest little angel face ever!! She's easy going, laughs a lot and best of all- she let me hold her for SO long! It was the best. I'd told Marina and Alston (Olivia's parents, my cousins) that I wanted to do some photos for them so not long after we arrived we propped baby Olivia up and started shooting. I've got a separate post of Olivia photos that I'm posting later on so you'll get to see all the photos. It was so much fun!! Not only is Olivia beautiful but she's super patient and was easy to photograph. While the girls played with little Olivia, Alston, Eddie Ray, Matthew and Tyler went out to the backyard to play cowboys and indians shoot Alston's bow and arrow.

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Tyler


HeyMatthew


Alston

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I was scared that someone was going to get hit in the leg or something but everything went smoothly...other than a few missing arrows. Sorry, Alston. Later on in the afternoon, Nick (L&ER's oldest, my walking partner in wedding processionals), his amazing wife Sherrea (I love her to pieces) and their two kids Aslinn and Carey (also super cute, sweet and wonderful) came over and joined the fun. Aslinn and Carey are so precious and I was so lucky to be able to photograph them too! I've got such great children's photography posts coming up- can't wait for you to see! I know everyone thinks that the kids in their family are the cutest but mine REALLY are. No, REALLY!
Linda and Eddie Ray prepared the best dinner for us. They grilled out hamburgers and hotdogs with sides +toppings! Yum! Mot & Papa were also over by this time and we had a great night eating and talking together.

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Yum! by Linda + Eddie Ray

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12 hours flew by and before we knew it, it was time to head back to Mott & Papa's to get some rest. I had such a wonderful time with everyone and I hated to even leave. I could sit up and talk with my family all night. I didn't realize this post was going to be so long and even though I'd planned on writing about the whole weekend in one day, I'll save the rest for later.