#2,174 Pancakes + Parade + Party.

Ohhhhh goodness, y’all. I’m too tired to write sentences. It’s 12:30 am and I’ve been up since 6 am and there was a whole lot of livin’ done between those hours. I’ll keep my writing brief and let the pictures tell the story. For the fully formed story on Laurel’s magical tradition: Pancake Day, click here. For today’s abbreviated experience, know that we did ALL OF THIS with our friends who only come home to Laurel all together once a year, so it’s really been a super special one. The Pancake Day line:Screen shot 2015-12-06 at 12.33.22 AM

 

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Lucy JUST woke up:

 

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Every year we eat at the same time as Trent and every year I take this picture:

 

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We got to be parade float judges, then we hustled over to the church where our friends at the Chamber of Commerce set up the hospitality tent:

 

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And after a day spent at the studio (for me) and day doing yard work for Ben, we got showered and fancy for the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art gala and silent auction. Let me be real with y’all—this is really not my thing. I get so very anxious in big social situations, feeling super shy and uncomfortable, but Ben thrives on it. LOVES IT. We went for the first time this year since the crew was in town and they all wanted to go. Ben dusted off his old tuxedo and I, after a series of unfortunate events with Rent the Runway and a lost package, wore a dress I found at Dillard’s last night at closing time. We got dressed then walked the 30 yards from our house to the museum with our friends, but man we sure did miss Katie (Daniel’s wife who is at home in Hawaii), Josh, Emily, Ross and Laura.

 

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My parents, like me, aren’t into big social events either, so I found Mrs. Alene and Melinda, two of mama’s dearest friends, and snapped a picture with them in her stead:

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The whole bunch:

 

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“Ashley! STOP, I wanna take a picture of your pretty dress!”

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Ross Tucker took my most favorite photos of the night:

 

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It was so good to spend some quality time with these goobers this week. Now, I’m going to go sleep for about 10 hours.