Greg Baugues and Rachel Lazelle Got Married

My parents threw Rachel and I a wedding shower this weekend. The party was super low key, which was good because Rachel and I could barely walk after running the half.

The guests were mostly made up of four groups of people:

People from my dad’s current church, Good Shepherd UMC.

I was in college when my dad started pastoring Good Shepherd and I have never attended regularly. I was appreciative of everyone coming out as they don’t know me that well, and I don’t know them, but they still came to celebrate with us anyway. I have always been impressed by the thoughtfulness of the Good Shepherd congregation, as they have always gone out of there way to make me feel welcome, even though I can never remember anyone’s name.

People from my dad’s old church, Union Chapel UMC

We moved to Union Chapel the summer before I started fourth grade and stayed there for eleven years.  The people of this church were “the village” that helped raise me – the ones who were always supporting me and rooting me on.  It was a great pleasure to see so many again and to show off Rachel to people who knew me before I had all of my permanent teeth.

My Dad’s Family

From my Dad’s side of the family we had:

• Grandpa
• Dad’s brother Howard (who took most of the pictures below) and his wife Ginny
• Howard’s daughter Amy, her husband Aaron, and their daughter Aubrey
• Dad’s brother Keith and his wife Debbie
• Dad’s Aunt Nila, her husband Ken and their daughter Tonya

As a fun side note, Aunt Nila had gastric bypass surgery a year ago and has since lost 140 pounds.  Nila is 69 years old and prior to the surgery was confined to a wheel chair. On Saturday she walked the Mini’s 5k event and was the last person to cross the finish line, earning her an interview and some air time on the local news.  To me, her participation in that race was far more impressive than ours… I am very, very proud of her.

Old Friends from Highschool

I don’t keep in touch with many high school friends back in Indy, but the ones I do showed up.  Many thanks to Andy, Casey, Kelly, Ryan and Kevin for making the trek to the East side.

Pete Gall

Pete earns special mention in his own category.  I keep apologizing because I didn’t get a chance to talk to Pete, though pretty much everyone else there did. Pete has been an incredible mentor over the last 6 years. I can say without question that I would not have moved to Chicago five years ago, nor would I have the relationship with Rachel that I have today had it not been for his friendship and guidance over the last seven years. Pete’s a ridiculously talented author and you should buy one of his books.

Greg and Rachel: Love in Action

Me showing Grandpa how to use an iPhone

Howard telling us about Olympic National Park, where we will be visiting during our honeymoon.

Rachel and I talking to my cousin Amy, her husband Aaron and her daughter Aubrey

My uncle Howard and his granddaughter Audrey

Grandpa, his granddaughter and great-granddaughter