Fishing poles welcome... Shoes always optional!

Some locals call it Wright's Lake, Bradenbaugh Bay, or even "The Pond," Whatever you call it we are blessed to get to call it home!

Wright's Lake as it is known to the locals is located here on the Wright Farm, the 130 acre farm where Nate & I live. Here is a little history lesson on the pond:

On November 7, 1957 a group of Highway Administration Engineers met to discuss plans to build "Site 2A" now known as Wright's Lake. The plan was to build a pond as a Federal Flood Control Pond to prevent Little Deer Creek from overflowing its banks and destroying crop ground throughout Harford County.

On October 12, 1961 they began building the flood wall. The little boy in the picture is likely my dad who remembers seeing the "men and the machines," that day.

In October 1962 after a series of rainstorms the pond began to fill...

 Fast forward 50 years and it will be the spot where Nate & I say our I do's... ( This is the view from our wedding site!)

This is where I caught my 1st fish, and spent endless Sunday afternoons cooking hot dogs on our family "vacation" days. With the commitment a dairy farm brings there were not a lot of opportunities to go away on vacation so we made vacation days to the pond.

There is no place on earth where you feel closer to heaven then watching the sunrise over that hillside curled up in a duck blind with your dad or your two best guy friends ( Nick & Brian).

 Grandpa Vaughan was famous for his schematic drawings for picnics and events... I guess a little rubbed off.... This is the current artist rendition of the ceremony cite.

Every time I walk this field I find a 4 leaf clover... A tradition passed down from Grandpa Waite Vaughan.. They say he could find them as he was walking without looking and it is a trait my sisters and I have inherited....

 

 Whenever I go to the pond I just can't help myself to play in the water.... Question is will they be able to keep me out of it in a WHITE DRESS! UH OH!

Here on the flat is where the tent for the reception will be set up... It's 150 steps from the water....

Here on the Road to Roland fishing poles are always welcome... and shoes are just optional!

Get excited it's going to be a great day!

Love,
Amy & Nate

sticky, round, green, lumpy, ugly ( hey now!), and stumpy...

Today I was told I had to be a good Aunt and head to nephew Greg’s baseball game… ON A SUNDAY!?! I thought… I had told Nate I had way to much to do and I wasn’t going to make it… With stern eyes that said “Please don’t make me ruin this!” I headed out to an amazing shower surrounded by our family and friends.  Nate gave the whole event a "thumbs up!" We had to borrow the farm truck and filled it with all the gifts! WOW! How blessed are we?!?!

Beneath the shade tree on the front porch where my sisters and I performed skits for after milking dinner theater for our mom and dad, my childhood dreams fast forward seated as the bride to be surrounded by so much love. It was truly surreal!

 

The outpouring of love and the variety of gifts from the smallest gift to the biggest showed the love and attention to detail of everyone to capture just one snapshot of something in our life! Grandma Vaughan was famous for giving gifts of “drawer junk”, so in Vaughan fashion my mom passed the torch by presenting me with 2 large bags of stuff from my old room…  I’ve been moved out for 6 years! So you know it was true treasure!

 Gifts were so unique and we were overwhelemed by the outpporing of love. This trunk was a wedding survival kit prepared by my beloved Aunt Em... In it was duct tape, bacon bandaids, a dime, a pink golf ball and a bottle of Champagne just in case... The coolest part is this chest was actually delivered to her childhood home in New York as a gift to her father congressman Conable as a gift gtom the people of Turkey.. What an amazing story!

 No shower is complete without those silly shower games... Apparently Mad Libs are back in style.. You are welcome folks for being reminded what an adverb, noun, and adjective are! According to our shower guests Nate and I are sticky, round, green, lumpy, ugly ( hey now!), and stumpy... We will live amazingly, blessed, slowly, briskly, ever after.

Mom, Kimberly, and Kelly gave us 6 new chairs to replace those lost in last years Hurricane... Look at that view.. if that does not say happily ever after I don't know what does!

Words can not express how truly thankful Nate and I are to have each and every one of you join in our journey... and I have to admint I had my first wedding break down when Jen Wilson presented the dessert table with black bottom cupcakes ( Miss Wrights recipe she and I would make in the kitchen together), and the hot bittersweet sauce my Grandma and I would make together on Sunday nights...  but I had passed those recipes with thier stories on to Jen on her wedding day a few years back...

Not having them here with me in person has caused an ache in my heart... But little things that remind me of the love I have shared with them and the memories I have keep them alive and with me everyday... It seemed silly to break down and cry over something so obscure,and they are something that evoke such happy memories of times with both of them!
(I'm not even able to make it through just putting the words down without tears coming! ) It was a finishing touch on a perfect day!

People ask what I am most looking forward to on our wedding day... I say I can't wait to have all the people in my life that I care most about in one place at one time!

We truly are blessed to have each and every one of you on our journey as we travel our Road to Roland!

Love,
Stumpy, Lumpy, and Sticky....

AMY & NATE

Some Say Good Love It's Like A Fine Wine....

In 2006 I moved into our house on Richardson Lane. My neighbors the Hebranks have been like a 3rd set of Grandparents to the Vaughan Girls since we were small. With our grandparents gone now, they hold an even more precious role in our life!

It was in 2006 that Mr. Dick passed on his 80 year old family recipe for homeade wine. The promise made is that when I am 80 I have to pass it on... The wine is made from grapes at my house that are 100+ years old planted by the Wright Family and grapes from Grandpa Vaughan's.

The wine is made the week before school starts and you can't drink it until Christmas Morning... These are the rules people.. you don't mess around... The other stipulation to this wine, is that it is not for "everyday use." It only comes out for special celebrations. I have fond memories of Grandma Vaughan having underestimated its power and napping away in her bedroom slippers, and Grandpa Vaughan proclaiming loudly " WHAT A BEAUTIFUL DAY!" after just one swig.

As the old country song says "There might be a little dust on the bottleBut don't let it fool ya about what's inside." This wine is no joke! Each year I make about 15 gallons and enjoy every last drop among my favorite people. This year's batch will be used as the toast wine for our wedding. Each table will be graced with a bottle of this year's bounty to salute the day. This weekend I started bottling it off into the recycled bottles I picked up at a local winery. Yep folks trying to be green about the big day and spend wisely.

This is my most sacred bottle. This is the first jug I ever made 6 years ago. It has tempted Danny Vaughan for years... He would say " Hey why don't we drink that jug?" I'd say it's for a special occasion Dad. When he would ask what I was saving it for... I would tell him I wasn't sure it had not happened yet... Some of this bottle will be the wine Nate and I will toast with at the wedding along with Mr. Dick. Dad and I have only ever had one sip out of this bottle... It was a toast to my Grandpa when he went to rest on high...

I can't wait for a special dance with my Pop Mr. Dick on my wedding day. After a few sips he forgets about all the years, his aches and pains, and with a smile and a kiss he'll spin me around the dance floor and I can't wait!

Our wedding will be rooted in traditions that fill our life and we are glad to share those traditions with fellow passgangers of our Road to Roland.

Until next time, you can find me in the basement in my "Wine Cave" prepping every bottle for you are special guests. It's a hard job testing all that wine.. but a bride must be committed to her guests... ;)

Cheers!

AMY

Let's Get Growing! 80 Days!

Well... if you are just joining us because you got your invitation and want to stalk accordingly... WELCOME! This weekend it was time to get some seeds started for the big day! Yeah.. anyone can just go to a florist and order flowers but how Un-Vaughan would that be? Those green Zinnias stunning! Kimberly selected all of the flowers from her mountain of seed catalogues and keep surprising me with the beautiful selections she has made.

Kinda cool to think that these little tiny seeds will be growing into something beautiful that I'll get to hold in my hand again on one of the biggest days of my life! Seeds are one of those things that always amaze me... maybe lame, but it's that farm girl in me... Plant something no bigger than the head of a pin and it becomes food, something beautiful, or a field crop that supports your family. Now that is amazing!

Lucky for me, Aunt Emily just moved to the neighborhood. With her came her greenhouse... Which my cousin Will and adopted cousin Andy got up just this week. Lucky us & her :).

Alex shared this method where you plant directly into the bag of potting soil and then transplant the whole pile of dirt to the field. Adapted from an Amish version since we are not marrying our cousins and we shave from time to time...

This gives us a head start since here in Maryland seeds really are not safe until May 15... So we are trying to show Momma Nature she can't push us around.

There is nothing in this world that feels as good as being dirty with my sisters!

Mission accomplished!

Glad you stopped by, and stay tune for more adventures on our Road to Roland.

I try to update once a week so "Y'all come back now ya hear!"

Love & Mud,

AMY

Bed Bath & Honesty is the Best Policy...

The Mayberry Mystery Part 2!

So I called Bed Bath and Beyond last night and they attempted to contact the Mayberrys of Leander Texas.... No luck... Called Bed Bath & Beyond back today... they tried to contact "your friends the Mayberrys" and they remained unavailable for comment....

I admit the customer service got a big kick out of my story. I explained to the lady how excited I am for my wedding and I did not want take that excitment away from any other bride and I wanted to be honest that I did not think the gift is really for me.

Customer Service will attempt to contact "your friends the Mayberrys" of Leander Texas a few more times just to be sure that they are not some long lost pals of ours..

But... Bed Bath & said that they admired my honesty and said that I could still keep the gift! :) SO we can now officially say we got our first wedding gift! YAHOOO!

So as we traveled down our Road to Roland we are reminded that honesty will always be the best policy, and that we will always remember our friends the Mayberrys and their wishes for a lifetime of happiness...

Much Love from Richardson Lane,

Amy & Nate

Your Friends the Mayberrys.... Wait who the hell is that?

Imagine my excitment when I arrived home today to see a box from Bed Bath and Beyond on the front porch. We are registered there! Oh it's a wedding gift! OH! OH! I threw my school bag to the side and began cutting the box open wildly. Similar to the scence from A Christmas Story as Ralphie opens his official Red Ryder, carbine action, two-hundred shot range model air rifle!

WOW! It's a dish set! Our First wedding gift! Moments of giddy girlhood dreams surface as I realize that I am really a bride! This is really all happening! My thoughts flash... who could this most beautifule and sacred first gift have come from... Aunt Helen in Calefornia, The Vaughan congregation from Illinois? Who..,. WHO... WHO! I then rip through the box a second time looking for a card!

What... wait... who the F are the Mayberrys... searching for the packing slip... Melissa Mayberry Leander Texas... What who? Ok so there is likely an explination to this... SO I call my parents, Nate, Nate's Grandmother, Nate's Mother, and my sisters... no one knows who "your friends the Mayberrys," are...

Soo... as much as it pains me to realize this may not be for me but rather for some other giddy bride, I did the right thing. The customer service represenative at Bed Bath and Beyond will be contacting the Mayberrys tomorrow to see if they really do know my, or only wish they did....

This Road to Roland is always full of adventure... oh and did I mention the packing slip indicated that there were other items to the order being shipped seperatly... Oh the suspense... Stay tunned to see if we ever solve the Mayberry Mystert?!?!

Until Then All our Love,

Amy & Nate

Odio a Max! That's Spanish for I hate Max!

So you probably thought you would stalk me today to find out about this week's cupcake idea... Well this weeks idea came to Kelly in a dream. It was a Chocolate Cupcake with my Grandma Vaughan's famous Bittersweet Chocolate Sauce in the Middle. The icing was inspired by the fact that Grandpa Vaughan always put the Chocolate Sauce on Butter Pecan Ice Cream. So the icing was a Butter Pecan. So I bet your thinking " I'm so sad... I wish I could have tried those!" Well.. get over it! No one got to try them.. Why you ask... Because Nate's dog ( he's clearly not mine when he does bad things) Max got up on the table and ate them all...
In other news...

Nate and I both agree that there is nothing more in this world that we love more than our kooky families! In all there are 13 Birthdays in the month of March. Including my mom and dad, his mom and dad, and my sister Kimberly. Shown here in her Sombrero party hat... Years ago rather than try to have all the March Birthdays the Vaughan's started The Great March Birthday.

It's a Depression Style Birthday... There is only one LARGE Cake ( 5+ boxes of cake mix to make), and food and festivities! This year we had tacos and a Fiesta theme. The youngest of our March babies is 2, the oldest 87!

So even if the dog eats half the things you made for a party, what really matters is who you travel down this road with! There will be bumps in our road, but in the end you look back and smile! It's always an adventure sometimes with a detour or two on our Road to Roland...

Until Next Time!

<3

AMY

PS- Max is going to Puppy Prison for the Wedding ;-)