Giving Thanks with the Young South Amyses

I hope you're ready for the most photos I've ever shared in a blog post before. There's just too much to share from the first time all the Youngs have been together since Dirk and I got married. These photos are all really raw, straight out of camera. Who has time for photo editing these days, anyway?

Mama, Daddy, Dirk, the dogs, and I rented a cabin not too far from the Amyses. It had an amazing view:


Daddy came up with four rules for the Golden Girls: no nudging, no barking, no whining, no begging. Basically, no being a dog.


We watched Peter Pan at least twice a day during our visit:


It's a big joke in our family that Mama always asks whoever is traveling from Birmingham to bring her Savages cookies. And so we carry that durn box across the country and she'll eat one bite out of one cookie and then they'll sit there and get stale until someone throws them away. This year I said a big "NO!" to bringing her Savages, but then Will begged me, so I caved. At least someone enjoyed their cookie that traveled across the Southeast:


Luke likes to nurse shoulders:




The guys tossed footballs in the cul de sac while Brooke worked her magic in the kitchen:








Taylor LOVES her Uncle Dirkee:




There was a game on every single day, so there was a lot of football watching going on:




Taylor and I opted to play princesses:


The spread:


On Friday, Mama and I decided to get out in the woods for a little bit, it was therapeutic:


The dogs loved lounging on the cabin deck:


I enjoyed wandering around, taking photos:


On Saturday we hit downtown Asheville, to spend some time stimulating the economy:






Then the guys took the kids and Mama, Brooke, and I got to go to a fancy lunch, just the girls. You should have seen the look on poor Taylor's face when we told her she was going with the boys. "But I'M a girl!"




We did some shopping. Believe it or not, we couldn't convince her to buy these pants (?)


No trip to Asheville would be complete without a visit to Woolworth Walk. The only place other than Ida Grove's Albrechts Pharmacy that I've ever been able to find Phosphates on the drink menu:


I wish I could afford to have a display of these amazing tiles in my home:




I love Asheville for reasons like this:

Will and Devon's flight left from Birmingham, so after a very cramped car ride to Alabama, we were able to freshen up before heading to Granddaddy's and introducing her to the Blackwell side of the family.

Blair & Sarah were in charge of the brownies. This is a hot mess right here:


The first thing Granddaddy said to Devon was, "What's a lovely young lady like yourself doing with my grandson?!"


Granddaddy with his grandsons:

A memorable holiday, for sure :)