Michael and Ashley's Viginia Receptions

After the wedding in California (which I still need to post) Michael and Ashley had two receptions in Virginia. Michael was raised in Northern VA so on Friday the 7th there was a beautiful reception up there to celebrate with old family friends that the Griffins have known for a long time. It was a beautiful location and it turned out to be perfect weather and hardly any bugs! Rare for an August in the area. Ufortunately, I only snagged one picture of the event. There were oysters at the buffet that was served and Lena was brave enough to try one. Really, she got one and wasn't anxious to try it, but when her 8 year old newphew, Alex, swallowed one without a second thought, she was determined.

The following day, Saturday, there was an open house at Ben's mom's house n Buena Vista, where Michael and Ashley went to school. It was really nice, and there were lot of friends from school there and from the ward they were in when they both lived here. Ashley used to work at a local cafe called Franks for the Memories, and they catered the lunch. It was delicious.

Poor Matthew was really exhausted after so much traveling during the past three weeks that he fell asleep at the open house and we set him up in Pat's room between two pillows.

Pat recently bought a red Smart Car and named it Clifford and the owner of Franks also has one. We thought it was funny to drive up and see Clifford gaurding Pat's driveway like this...

These were the center pieces used at the Northern Virginia reception and the open house. I thought they turne out beautifully. Pat and Mike's sister, Lena, put them together.

The yummy bbq buffet that we still are eating leftovers from. Yummy!

Pat has a gorgeous garden in the backyard and that's where tables were set up for lunch.

Mike is in the teal stripes. Ashley's parents are in the red and blue on the left.

Everyone had a good time and plenty to eat. Pat and Lena did a great job setting up their house and it was a lot of fun.