A Sheep Wedding

 ...Once again, I apologize for the picture Iphone 4 quality, I forgot our "real" camera.

This past weekend was so much fun. A weekend filled with a lot of details that needed to work out, but once they worked, it was smooth sailing. Well, sort of. There was one minor hiccup, but I'll get to it in just a minute.

It started on Thursday morning. Addie Grace had her 9 month doctors appointment, so we headed out of our house, both of us all packed up for the next few days. Eric was in Richmond for work, so he stayed put and waited on me to meet him there. Her check up went great, we got in the car, then oops. I bumped into another car. A car that was parked. And yes, it left a mark. So there I am, in the middle of the parking lot with a baby in the car, writing a note and my phone number on a torn piece of paper which I left in the dude's windshield. Great start to the morning. I decided to just go ahead and call Eric. I felt awful. Now we have to spend money we don't have, all because I hit a parked car. What a dummy. So I called Eric, and he pretty much surprised me by his response. He laughed at me. He thought it was hilarious that I hit a parked car. Okay. I guess I'll take laughter over annoyance?

Anyways, Addie stayed with my parents for the weekend. After her appointment, I dropped her off with good friends who watched her for a couple of hours, then so graciously drove her to Elon to meet my dad and sister, who were then, driving her back to their house for the rest of the weekend. (Elon was just a meeting point). I met Eric in Richmond, dropped my car off at R and J's, then headed to DC. We have friends that live in DC who moved from Raleigh over a year ago, so we thought it would be super fun to stay with them Thursday night and catch up. We arrived in DC, around 3:30ish and hung out with Allison and the kiddos until Nick got of work. Once he was finished, we headed out to a local restaurant that had AMAZING burgers and shakes.

After dinner, we went back to their house and hung out til bed. Friday morning we woke, packed our things, and headed to our final destination: Pittsburgh, for Todd's wedding, in which Eric was a groomsman. Eric and Todd have known each other since middle school, but really became close friends when they started following Jesus in high school. Since then, they have had such a sweet friendship that has consisted of praying for one another, supporting each other, and just having fun together. We love Todd and has been a consistent part of our family. He has stayed with Eric and I numerous times over the past years, and Eric's home in Greensboro served as Todd's home after his parents moved to Tennessee. We always wondered who Todd, our single brother, would marry...or if he would EVER marry. He is a stellar guy, who desires to be close to the heart of God. Last summer, Eric gets a voice mail from Todd, saying that he met his wife. And that he did, Becca. She is so sweet and so perfect for our Toddles. We are so excited for them and so pumped we were there to witness such a SWEET day.

The rehearsal dinner Friday evening was such a fun time of hanging out, eating, and sharing about Todd and Becca. We met tons of fun, new people. After the dinner, Lowland Hum (Daniel and Lauren Goans) played a concert for the wedding party and many of the out of town guests.

On Saturday, I woke up in a KING BED all by myself. GLORY.  Not the by myself part...the KING bed part. AMAZING. Eric spent the night with Todd and the other groomsmen, and I didn't see Eric until I got to the ceremony. The wedding on Saturday was beautiful. It was held on a sheep farm, where Todd worked during Seminary.

After the ceremony, we walked up a hill to a beautiful white tent overlooking the sheep. Seriously, it was so beautiful and the reception was filled with such fun details. There was corn hole and a bon fire with smores!

This was probably one of the cutest receptions I have ever attended. Todd and Becca love to read, so each table was a theme of their favorite books. For example, one table was The Giving Tree. That table had the book in the center, with dried flowers. Each name card matched the theme of that particular table.

This sweet friend and I did summer staff together SEVEN years ago! She is so fun and it was great to be able to catch up and dance our hard-core rap together ;)

The head table

My sweet friend, Becca. We have been friends for a long time, so it is always fun when we get to go to weddings together!

Charlie was Eric's Young Life leader in high school. He is a fun guy, and we are glad him and his awesome wife, Kelly, came up for the wedding!

Some of the wedding party

Todd and Becca Murden

Eric and Robert are like brothers. Their moms have been best friends since before they were born!

Cornhole

This is by far the coolest and most creative guest book I have ever signed. You pick a date, I picked July 11 for our anniversary. You write a note on the date you chose, and then decorate it with water colors. It was so fun!

We had SO MUCH fun and wouldn't have missed it for the world. Todd and Becca's relationship is truly a special one! Thanks for inviting us and letting us witness such a special, fun, creative, joyful, Gospel-centered day! We love you two!

Photo dump

Photo Shoot- 7.5 months

 

  

Daddy Daughter Time

Teething much?

Eric's birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my favorite husband in the world! 

This is Eric's last birthday before we move across the world, so I wanted him to wake up to something fun. Because if I'm honest, when we get to where we are going, I probably won't know how to find a balloon or even sugar because nothing is in English. Oh dear. But anyways, if you didn't know we were moving, we are. In August.

I woke up before Eric on Friday morning (his actual bday), to surprise him with Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls. You can click here for the recipe. UH-MAZ-ING. Seriously...I had to give some pans of rolls away because I could not stop eating them. I think I only ate sugar for the entire morning/afternoon on Saturday. Anyways, I started on the dough Thursday evening, which worked out great because Eric had class and wasn't home. I also decided to "decorate" the kitchen with balloons and streamers the morning of his birthday. Something fun to remember about this birthday in the States.

So he woke up, we ate cinnamon rolls, drank plenty of coffee, and he opened my gift. This gift may seem a little thoughtless, but actually, a lot of thought went into it. For awhile I had no idea what to buy. I kept thinking how we are moving to a completely different country in a few months, so what does he need that won't be "extra baggage" for the move. He mentioned something about language learning material. But that was all he mentioned. So I thought it would be a great idea to get him an Amazon giftcard. You can buy anything and everything from there, but with a giftcard he had to spend the money. If I just gave him money, he probably would've stored it in his hidden cash stash saving up to buy something ridiculous like an airplane or something. 

Then off to work, Eric goes. That night we had our small group, which we love love love. Seriously, we have the best small group. We are friends and we love being with each other. On Saturday, the celebration continued with Eric's sister and her husband who came into town where we got to hang out with them for a few hours. Then I decided to continue the celebration into night, where we met up with two of Eric's bffs and their wives...and it just so happens all of us wives are great friends too! We all went downtown and enjoyed a dinner at Sitti. Thanks to Dara who watched our baby girl :)

After dinner we came back, sang "Happy Birthday", enjoyed Eric's birthday cake, and hung out for a couple more hours. We love these sweet friends and are so thankful we could celebrate with them before we leave in August. It was such a fun weekend, thanks to all those who celebrated with us :)

Sorry about the horrible picture quality

A Happy Number 3

Warning: PICTURE OVERLOAD!

This past week, Eric and I celebrated our three year anniversary! I can't believe how fast time has flown, and it's even harder to believe we are going to be parents. I admit that sometimes I freak out inside, just a bit. I mean, ME?! Be a parent?! I'm just a kid! And then I remember that 14 years old was the child-bearing age back in the day. 

In honor of our three years, we decided to mix business with pleasure. Actually, it wasn't much of a choice, we had to. Since Eric has a new job, he couldn't really take much time off and had to make a business trip to Virginia Beach, so I decided to go with him. He flew in from NY on Wednesday (for business), I picked him up from the airport and we headed to Virginia. Wednesday was our actual anniversary but since we (Eric especially) had been traveling all day, we decided to celebrate on Friday with a stay at a Bed and Breakfast. Since we didn't actually celebrate on Wednesday, we decided to grab dinner with Katie and Haskell. Katie is my friend from college who recently moved out to Virginia Beach area with her new hubby. It was so fun to catch up and have a chance to see them while we were in the area. Sadly, I forgot to take a pic!

Eric worked all day on Thursday, and I just hung out at the hotel. I had breakfast in bed- in that I walked down to the lobby to the continental breakfast, took food back to our room, and ate in bed. I went on a walk to the mall, read, and watched a couple of shows. Needless to say I was READY for Eric to get back from work. Thursday evening we went on a nice date to The Broken Egg.

Eric ordered the all-you-can-eat pasta bowls.

And Eric is palming my stomach like a basketball...

After our fun dinner at The Broken Egg, there just happened to be a Coldstone next door. So of course we split Cake Batter with a brownie and hot fudge mixed in...YUM!

Thursday Eric worked a later day so on Friday he could work half a day and we could head to Cape Charles and stay at the Bed and Breakfast. We both had never heard of Cape Charles, but it is a historical little fishing town on the Eastern Shore about 45 minutes from where we were staying for work.  The Bed and Breakfast was an old plantation home, restored into a  bed and breakfast about 10 years ago.

To get to Cape Charles we had to travel over a 19 mile tunnel-bridge (yes it is on top and under the water). 

The B & B had 4 floors...Eric and I stayed on the 4th.

Our room

                             

Our bathroom

Main Entrance

On the bottom floor the B & B had a restaurant/bar. It was so charming, people from all over the area come in the evening for dinner. Some even ride their boats- the house is on the water.

After we checked in, we drove a couple of miles into Cape Charles. There isn't much there. There are a few cute shops, the beach, but that's about it!

That afternoon we were told about a restaurant called Aqua by one of the locals. It was a nice restaurant on the water, at the Marina, so we decided to eat there that evening.

The view from the porch of Aqua was BEAUTIFUL. 

After dinner, I ordered a virgin :) Pina Colada, was entertained by a crazy wedding party,  and enjoyed the sunset with my husband of three years. Then, when the sun was down, we drove back to the B & B where we enjoyed a yummy piece of chocolate mousse pie and coffee 

We had such a sweet time and I am so thankful for a husband that is so kind, thoughtful, and loving. 

Happy Anniversary, I love you!