In Honor of Nathan William Herzog

On Friday night we celebrated Nathan Herzog and his beautiful life that we were blessed and enriched to be able to share with him. On Tuesday, February 26th, it will be one year since he went home to be with our Lord. One year since he has been able to be face to face with our creator and crack jokes with Him.

JT was gracious enough to open up is home and let me move in half my kitchen to cook for 18 of our closest friends. Everyone brought lots of yummy food, drinks, memories, laughter and love.

I would not be Courtney if I did not share the spread, so here it goes. Jen made yummy dips for appetizers, both rich queso (sorry Callie) and a delicious pizza dip. She is quickly becoming the queen of the appetizer. We had baked veggie pasta, garlic bread and french bread with plenty of balsamic vinegar available, green beans and salad. Then for dessert, Megan out did us all with her chocloltae chip cookie bars lined with a solid chunk of chocolate in the middle. She also made cherry cheescake. The kiddos ate tons of chik-fil-a nuggets and so did my brother. We had lots of wine and beer, and Aimee brought one of my favorite wines that I rarely buy for myself, Gewurztraminer.

Since we had 18 adults and 6 kiddos we needed a big place to eat. We did not want to all be divided up. So, we made a huge picnic on the living rooms floor and listened to a CD with some of Nate's favorite songs and his pictures donned the living room walls. It all turned out pretty cool.

There will be plenty of pictures to come, so just sit back and wait patiently. I do just have to say, I have such an incredible group of friends and each person brings so much to each of our lives. I think we all became utterly aware of that last year around this time. Nate would have loved Friday. And I am pretty sure that he would have jumped in with us girls and our ridiculous attempt to take sexy pictures.

Here are some of my favorite pics of our sweet friend:













I like to keep track of who attends our infamous little dinner parties. Friday we were graced with the presence of:

Geof, Rachel, Caleb and Cora Nichols
Paul and Sydney Shabay (plus the Chris Shabay crew)
Aimee Gregor
Brent Burke
Brad Brown
Matt Coker
Jen Long
Mark Gregor
Megan Barber
Kelsie Fuller
Matt Shabay
Larry Causey
Paul Robinson
Liz Gale
JT Gale
Me
Kari Maddox
Bay Kirkham

And lastly, Nathan, we miss your face.