four years

four years ago today...
chris and i met

four years ago today...
some of the ideals and ambitions that i held began to be tested
(at least consciously i suppose)

four years ago today...
i unknowingly embarked on a great adventure

out celebrating!

grace and peace,
whit

engagement escapade#_: toyota corolla

i figured it only fair to fast forward in light of the fact that today marks 2 years with our toyota corolla (also known quite infrequently as alfalfa)! in light of this wonderful anniversary, i thought i would share some pictures that we took the day we installed the virginia plates.

yes, this might seem a bit extreme, but picture this: just before my dad and chris laid down the hammer for me to get a new car, the mazda protege was turning off at every slow down (yes, sometimes right in the middle of an intersection!) and gulping a few quarts of oil a week (i think it was less by the end but chris thinks it might have been more... we will leave that detail to the reader's imagination)... all of that to say we are quite grateful to have a car that works well and is reliable! since we have owned the corolla, we estimate that we have driven it to pennsylvania and back at least 10 times, to new hampshire and back at least 2 times, to maine and back 1 time, to atlanta and back 1 time, and everywhere in between adding up to 35,000 miles to date!

thank you God for providing us with a car to safely take us to see our families and friends (oh yes and work too)!

thanksgiving 2009

we spent thanksgiving 2009 this year with the baxter family in abington. we were especially excited this year to have scott & elizabeth stiffler with us! our traditional thanksgiving day was all hustle and bustle with our family plus the kimbro family - so many wonderful people in every room of the house it seemed! friday through sunday, we were joined by seth's fiancee emily and ansley's boyfriend ryan. we had a great time all together and even convinced mom and dad to share some of what they have been learning in their ballroom dancing lessons with us on friday night! thank you tim and christian for taking photos! so so fun!!

which was followed by photo shoots of every sort - good times!




and of course we managed to take the annual christmas card photo at the last (literally) possible minute!


more to come soon... happy holidays!

whitney

at last...

...they are in the mail...


finally, we can have our life back... haha!

please forgive us for the extreme (understatement) delay... we hope that our thank you notes will truly communicate gratitude, instead of a check on our wedding etiquette list, because we are so grateful to everyone who has loved and supported us through the years.


in light of this expression of gratitude, have a wonderful thanksgiving

chris & whitney

a collection of autumn moments

just wanted to share some fun random photographs from this season...

in the midst of an exhausting time at work, chris made sure we got out to take pictures... i have been taking pictures of this tree through the seasons for two years now... i have been waiting to take this picture since i started - and this year i finally achieved the picture i set out to take... and yet somehow i still want to keep going on this series! you can see some more of this session on my photography blog - keep watching it for the whole series in the near future.



chris got some custom made chucks from cousin jamie and chef michael for his birthday - he was pretty excited so we took a picture the first time he wore them (this is take 3 - sorry for the poor quality we were on our way out!)


we got to have a family session with some wonderful friends at the end of october. jessica and i lived on the same hall together in college and she and her husband were the first people to allow me to do an official photography session with them. it has been such a treasure to watch their relationship and family grow. this is jessica and i (by the way i gave in and got a haircut for our anniversary) and you can see more from their family session on the photography blog later this month.



we are so thankful for all that we have in each other and in our family and friends. we are truly enjoying our together moments.

grace and peace friends.

evelin alyssa marvel

we are excited to announce the birth of our third marvel niece!


evelin alyssa marvel was born on november 11th, 2009 (she shares a birthday with my best friend rachel king!) at 6:09pm.


we are so excited to meet miss evelin when we spend christmas with the marvels this year! congratulations shawn, jen, ana, and jadyn! we love y'all!


and i cannot resist posting pictures of ana and jadyn - jen sent me pictures of them in their costumes - so precious!




.:grace and peace:.

seth and emily

for those of you who do not already know...
we are extremely excited to announce the engagement of seth baxter and emily rice!


seth and emily met in 2006 (what a great year!) at young life's saranac lake where they were both on summer staff and they began dating the summer of 2008.

chris and i got to meet emily for the first time the weekend of our wedding... let me tell you - just that visit alone showed us so much about who emily is! she is brave first of all, for coming to meet the family during a time when emotions were high. she is extremely personable and kind - i can remember sitting in the car with her on the way to my bridal tea and thinking how comfortable i felt with her already. she is a hard worker and very giving - she labored (not an exaggeration) for our wedding, running errands for me before the ceremony and helping seth tear down the tables and chairs the next day.


we have enjoyed getting to know her over the last year and it feels like she has been part of our family for years. seriously, i had to consciously tell myself during one of our first farm visits with them that it was only our second or third time visiting with her. crazy!

we just think emily is wonderful. i know i speak on behalf of chris and i when i say that we love her and we are excited that seth chose to let go and get the marriage ball moving! i know that my parents and sister are ecstatic to welcome emily into our family.

as you can see in these pictures... seth can certainly make emily laugh - and her laugh is wonderfully contagious! i just love how in most of their pictures emily is laughing because all i have to do is see a picture and i can hear her laugh!

i have never seen seth so content and happy. it has been interesting to see their relationship from seth's perspective and even in the past year, to see his perspective change (2 year engagement my toe!). it is awesome to see the man that he has become/is becoming... still miss that hair though haha. if anyone out there is reading this and thinking that they have not seen him in a while, get on the stick people! you are missing out! my brother and sister are incredible and i am so lucky to not only be their sister but to be able to watch their transformation into adulthood. okay enough of my soapbox... i love my family - our family! - and we are two blessed people to be able to spend time with such multifaceted and wonderful people!


happy engagement seth and em! we love you both so much!!

chris & whit

ps. i snagged the pictures from the inspired designs' blog - aren't they precious?? you can see more here. take a look at more of the photographer's work - she is a great photographer and also happens to be one of em's great friends!