Pete & Rita's Wedding!

Pete & Rita Hawkins, married Saturday, July 10th 2010
in Timber Lake, NC

We had a wonderful three days of 'wedding weekend' celebrating Pete and Rita! One of the best things of course was the fact that all of our family was able to be there together. On Thursday morning the 5 Hawkins ladies went out for coffee together and some quality chat-time. (No, we did not intentionally try to match our outfits.) Asher also joined us (as did the babies growing inside Hannah and me...).

Friday night was a fun, casual Rehearsal Dinner at Little River Park, complete with family & friends and a pig-pickin' with all the sides. Gotta love those hush puppies and being able to pull your own pork off the pig.


The kids had fun on the playground - I think Phillip set the record for the sweatiest child.



Here are the newlyweds taking the all-important 1st bite of cake together! (And what a delicious cake it was!)

...on their way out to the getaway car, graciously loaned by Rita's brother in-law - careful with that Mustang!

Here are some of the extended family that were present. It was good to have Uncle David & Aunt Kippy, Ruth Zuba & kids, and Grandpa & Gram there. And wow, where did all these kids come from?!

Food Memories from South Africa: Home-bakes

We love food - making it, consuming it, sharing it - not only with friends in that moment but also with others via photos. Those of you who watched our blog periodically during our years in South Africa would have noticed that we posted pictures of food and food-related activities quite often. Food is simply too fun to keep to ourselves!

This post of food memories from South Africa presents "home bakes", which is South African for "homemade": yummy stuff we made at home. Enjoy!





Ma'amoul, a cookie of middle eastern origins, with a date/nut filling - lovely!

Naan, a type of flat bread from India.


Christmas morning cinnamon rolls, December 2007.

Memories from South Africa: Flora

We loved discovering the many beautiful plants and flowers that grow in the Western Cape. Did you know that there are seven floral kingdoms in the world, and that one of the seven exists only and entirely in the Western Cape of South Africa? Take a look...















The Silver Tree, above, is indigenous to only one place on earth: the slopes of Table Mountain. It's a beautiful tree, and amazing to think that this is the only spot to see it (in its natural home).

Memories from life in South Africa: Coffee

Yep, we certainly enjoyed the many wonderful coffeeshops we encountered during our South African sojourn!

Gieser Family Reunion, part 2

A 60% family shot (sadly, we were missing Steve, Tiffany, Avery & Bella this weekend). Hey, we look nice! But what was I thinking sitting in that tree? I forgot for a moment that I'm pregnant and had to get Jim's help to get back down.

Matt & Hailey explain this morning's games - soccer ball relays!

Some of us wisely chose to spectate during the hilarity, although I'm not sure what Auden was thinking while she sucked her thumb...

One last sweaty photo before we pack up to head our separate ways home.