Birthday weekend, backyard overhall, and sewing night

My middle sis, Ashley invited us to the beach for her birthday weekend on Sept. 18th. We rented the same beach house Mike and I and his parents stayed in back in April. Cute little house off of 30A! Friday night was just family and we had delicious hamburgers with Brie cheese inside and caramelized apples on top, yum! Sat. we all rented bikes, we were able to find one to rent with a baby seat on the back and had the best time riding around Watercolor and Seaside! We ended our bike trip back at Seaside to listen to live caribean style music in the outdoor ampitheatre, it was just the best day!! Daniel did really well in his little seat with his helmet. He fell asleep in the seat, poor baby! Sat. night, my parents kept Daniel while we went out with some of Ashley and lil' sis Laura's friends, we ended up a Baytowne Warf and had a really fun night! This picture cracks me up! The fam, boy band/ghetto style! LOL!!

Daniel's first tasting of a red sauce dish, baked ziti, I think he liked it folks!!

So we have several projects going on at our house right now. Back on the first weekend in Sept, while I was away, Mike rented a tiller and tilled up our backyard. The grass was gone in some places, thanks to Campbell and shade plus we had originally gotten grass not meant to be grown in shade. Mike has been sick of our backyard for basically the past 2 yrs and so with Daniel's birthday party quickly approaching at our house, we made a deal. The party could be here if we could get new sod. So I agreed. We have the most wonderful friends by the way! The next weekend, Sept. 12, I (luckily) had to work, and Mike recruited a bunch of our friends to come help lay sod. (No pictures b/c I was not here to take them and by the time I texted Mike to ask him to take some of the process, they were finished!) He said they layed it all (4 palates) in under 2 hours! So when I got home from work that night, we had a new backyard full of green grass! It looked great! Well, that project turned into building a deck (he had originally wanted to lay a stone patio, but that turned out to be too expensive). Our friend Buckley volunteered to help build it. For the last two weeks, we have had multiple friends coming over on the weekend and evenings after work to help us build our deck. My picture doesn't do justice to all these wonderful guys (and their awesome wives for sharing their husbands with us!!) Thank you, thank you Buckley, Brian, Jimmy, Jonathan, Greg, Boyd, Jarrod!!!

Lastly, I have really enjoyed working on some sewing projects and many of my friends are interested in sewing and are quite good seamstresses! I'm glad it's not a dying art, at least in my circle of friends, it seems to be gaining interest! I'm so thankful for my mother teaching me how to sew!! (She if very skilled, studied it in college, made her wedding dress and lots of our clothes growing up) Some people had already left by the time I pulled out my camera, but we had the BEST time! We used to all play Bunco together but I think this is better, we still get to talk, eat, and now we are getting projects done, how fun!! Pictured above is Meredith, Kristin, Stephanie, Alicia, and Suzanne. (Crystal, L.A., and Krista had already left). If you are reading this and want to come, let me know, even if you don't sew! Krista came to just hang out and she brought a bottle of wine, thanks girl!

Free Chick-Fil-A and a dress

This is the "pillow case" dress I made this week without a pillow case, just fabric. My friend, Ashley asked me to make one for her daughter's first birthday. It is the first one I have sold. So if you know of anyone who would like to buy a dress from me, let me know and we can work something out! They make great birthday and Christmas gifts! She is going to have a green "C" embroidered on the upper center of this dress for sweet Caroline. Daddy and Daniel had a FUN day on Monday, Labor Day. I worked, so daddy was in charge! He managed to make delicious bar-b-que ribs and provide mac and cheese and baked beans for the tailgate prior to the first FSU home game. He also took Daniel to Chick-fil-A for a free chicken sandwich for lunch. He said Daniel did great at the tailgate, he wore the backpack (we used it on our trip on hikes) and Daniel was content to hangout on Mike's back with his sippy cup. Our good friend Brooke took Daniel and her son, Wyatt home when the guys walked over to the stadium right before the game and I picked Daniel up on my way home from work. It worked out well.

This picture was taken at Chick-Fil-A and you can see it on their website here.

Tour De South Vol. 3 (Aug25-Aug29)

Tuesday we drove from Nashville to Banner Elk, NC, the longest leg of our trip. We did take a break for lunch at the Bass Pro Shop on our way. :) Nani and Pa were eagerly awaiting our arrival and were bursting at the seams to lay their eyes on their youngest grandson and shower him with hugs and kisses! The weather was wonderful in the mountains of N.C., and after a yummy dinner Nani had waiting for us, we took a walk to a park behind their house. It was Daniel's first time to go down a slide (he went down in daddy's lap), not sure how he felt about that. Nani gave Daniel this cloth version of the book, Are You My Mother?, I love cloth books for him!

Wednesday, Pa made delicious blueberry (that they picked) pancakes for us and then we started out on our fun day of adventures. For lunch, we stopped at Hamptons Grist Mill, every time Mike and I go to visit his parents, we have to get a bar-b-que sandwich from this place, it's half general store and half restaurant. (See those cute camo crocs on Daniel? Later in the week, he had them on, we had the windows rolled down, and when we stopped, he only had one on, he must have kicked one off and it flew out the window! Ha Ha!)

Our next stop was to drive to the top of Grandfather Mountain, a privately owned mountain (it seems like a state park). The weather was perfect, we could see for miles!

On Grandfather mountain, there is a small zoo, they have bears, cougars, otters, an eagle, and deer. Daniel liked looking at the bears, I think he was even trying to say the word, it came out "ba".

Then we took a drive on the Blue Ridge parkway and took a hike down to the Cascade Waterfall. It was an easy hike and the end was well worth it!

There were two falls, this was at the lower part of the Cascade Water fall.

Leaving the waterfalls, we came across this beautiful grassy null with some old buildings on it and a BEAUTIFUL tree, its leaves were already starting to change. We let Daniel get down and crawl around, the grass was so soft, he loved the freedom after being in the backpack or car seat for so long. It was just an extremely picturesque spot!!

Wednesday night we did a little shopping at an outlet mall and then had a delicious meal at the Blowing Rock Cafe in Blowing Rock, NC. We celebrated mom and dad Dasher's 48th wedding anniversary, wow, 48 years, congratulations!! We packed a lot into one day, Daniel was a little trooper, and we were pooped by the time our heads hit the pillow that night!

Thursday, we were sad to leave Nani and Pa but drove south to a cabin in the mountains of Georgia, that my mom's cousin graciously let us stay in. The cabin is in the Chattahoochee National Forest, in the Lake Winfield Scott State Park. I grew up going on vacations with my family to this cabin and have many fond memories from our time there. I used to dream of bringing my future husband there and that dream came true on our trip. Thank you Susan and Rick for letting us use your cabin! On Friday, we packed a picnic lunch and ventured down to Lake Winfield Scott. We ate our lunch under a huge covered pavilion with a stone fireplace at one end, Mike got to go fishing and caught a small fish on his first cast! After lunch, we drove down the mountain (this is when Daniel's shoe flew out the window, ha!) visited an overlook on the Appalachian trail, and then continued on to a cute town, Dahlonaga.

Friday morning on the porch, a great place to enjoy a cup of coffee and read a book!

We ate dinner outside on the back porch of this restaurant in Dahlonaga, delicious food, great service, and not overpriced. We stayed in the cabin again Friday night and Mike got to fish again in the morning while Daniel napped and I got packed up. Saturday, we drove an hour and a half to our favorite outlet mall in Dawsonville, GA. We got to go to the Pottery Barn Outlet and some other stores before we drove to my cousin's house. We were so excited to get to stay with Jaime and Kevin. They have a 15month old daughter, Kaitlin (so I guess she and Daniel are 2nd cousins). I wish my picture had turned out, but when we first got to their house, Kaitlin gave Daniel a kiss, then he returned he affection with a headbut which sent her into tears. :( They were having a wedding shower for my cousin, Keith (Kevin's brother) and fiance, Kamron. So there were a ton of people there and lots of good food. We got to visit with my Aunt Karen and cousin Kyle as well. It was a great party and we were so happy we got to be there, and SO happy for Keith and Kamron! We are looking forward to their wedding in November on their family farm north of Atlanta. I even volunteered to help Jaime with the flowers for the wedding, it sounds like fun! We can't wait to go back, I love that Daniel has a little cousin his age to play with!

Daniel had a BLAST playing with Kaitlin!! Thank you Jaime and Kevin for letting us stay with you! We had a wonderful vacation and were sad to see it come to an end, I guess that is a sign of a good time!

11 Months Old

Daniel is 11 months old today! My, how the time has flown!! I'm having a blast preparing for his birthday party, but boy does it make me a little sad, sniff, sniff! So here are 11 things I love about this little guy!
1. I love that he is pointing to lots of things (and people)
2. I love that when he waves bye bye, he waves as if he is waving at himself, his hand is turned facing him. He'll sometimes even say "bye bye" while waving.
3. I love that he says, "ooooooooooooooooooooh" with his lips puckered, usually at something that has caught his attention, like a deer on the wall.
4. I love when he says, "ut oh" (he likes to say it alot)
5. I love his blonde hair, blue eyes, and fair skin
6. I love when he gives out his rare kisses, with an open mouth of course! :)
7. I love getting him up in the morning!!!
8. I love that he LOVES to watch daddy mow the grass!
9. I love that he loves Campbell
10. I love that he loves story time at the Library and laughes through alot of the songs with hand/body motions and puppet shows
11. I love to hear him babble, it is music to my ears and SO ADORABLE!! Some of it sounds like he is saying, "Bliggle Bliggle" :)

Oh how I love this boy!! Thank you God for Daniel, he makes my heart happy!!! You have blessed us beyond measure!!

Tour De South Vol. 2 (Sun Aug 23-Mon Aug 24)

Sunday we drove from Atlanta to Nashville. Since we had to drive through Chattanooga anyway, we decided to take a little detour up Lookout Mountain. We briefly visited Covenant College, where I attended from fall of '95-fall '97. I loved Covenant and made many wonderful friends there. I was able to show Mike my old dorm rooms. This is Carter Hall, it used to be an old beautiful hotel, there are amazing views from both sides of this building.

This is the view from my old room, amazing! Who would have thought I would be standing here 12 years later with my husband and son?! Wow, I can't believe it has been 12 years?!?! Wow, I am SOOOO THANKFUL to have a HUSBAND AND SON!!!! Thank you God!! Where has the time gone, it doesn't seem like that long ago that I lived here! We also got to briefly see Mike's original RUF campus minister at FSU, Ron Brown, who lives on the mountain, he is currently the RUF campus minister at Covenant. We continued our drive to Nashville and arrived in time for dinner at our friends Amy and Tyson Jominy's house. Mike grew up with Amy (since he was 4yrs old through 12th grade) Amy and Tyson have a beautiful home and two adorable kids, Luke (4) and Katherine (2). Daniel was in heaven getting to crawl around their playroom and play with all their toys! After lunch on Monday at Jack's Bar-b-que, a Nashville original in downtown, with Matt Bradley (one of Mike's BVI buddies), our gracious hosts played tour guides. We visited the Parthenon (a life size replica of the original-weird), Vanderbilt University (where Amy attended undergrad), and then on to the Opry Land Hotel (whoooooaaaa!!!).

In the Ryman Auditorium gift shop being silly. This was the original location of the Grand Ole Opry, in downtown.

I LOVED the Opry Land Hotel and we didn't even stay there. It was like you were outside, but it was all enclosed and air conditioned! We took a boat ride through one of the atriums and passed by this waterfall you see in the background. All the hotel rooms open onto the atrium, which has a New Orleans feel to it. There were beautifully manicured plants EVERYWHERE, I think they said they have 8 full time gardeners (which I didn't think was near enough to keep up with all those plants).

We finished off our night in Nashville with dinner at the Aquarium restaurant across from the Grand Ole Opry. Not sure who was more fascinated with all the fish and huge tanks, Mike or Daniel. (I think Mike) After a long afternoon sight seeing, we had three little kids melting down :(

It was a fun day, we really liked Nashville and would love to go back! Sadly, the next morning, as we were packing up to leave, Luke fell on his bike and the handle bar cut his face. Amy and her mom rushed him off to the hospital for some stitches (so we thought), and we found out later that he ended up having plastic surgery that afternoon. :( Amy said Luke has been a trooper though and is recovering well.

Tour de South Vol.1 (Sat.Aug22)

We just returned from our week long vacation, there are too many pictures to show you in one post so I am going to attempt to do several posts about our travels. We left last Saturday and had planned to stay in Chattanooga with my long time friend/mother of triplets whom I haven't seen in a over a year but she got sick on Friday. Her husband called to tell me she had gotten progressively worse throughout the day and I knew if Joel was calling, Jenny must REALLY be sick! So we opted not to go to their house of sickness and stayed the night in Atlanta.:( This suited Mike just fine, not that he didn't want to stay with my friends, but he was ELATED to be able to go to the Marlins/Braves game. Daniel and I decided we would attempt the late night outing with daddy, Daniel was in a good mood (as usual). I think he was a little overwhelmed at first, we were up high, the lights were bright, the sound was loud, and there were SO many people to see, but by the end of the night he warmed up and was thoroughly enjoying himself!

Daniel is doing the chop (not in honor of the Braves , *the Marlins are Daddy's team,* but because we want him to learn it as he is growing up a SEMINOLE!)

Matching Shower!

This lovely lady is due to have her second little girl on Sept. 9th. Several of my friends have had or are having their second girl and throwing a matching shower is just the thing that sisters need to outfit them in matching clothes! It is so fun to see all the matching clothes, pjs, bathing suits, etc. that people come up with! Ashley is wise beyond her years and has incredible faith! I enjoy being in a Bible study with her and listening to her thought provoking questions. She has an incredible website and her love of being frugal is contagious! You can see her website here.

Kristin, Stephanie, Jana, Ashley, Julie, and me, we all brought yummy desserts for the shower.

I made petit fours, thanks to Darby and her tutorial, they were light and melted in your mouth just like she described.

These are the pillow case dresses I made for Luciana and Isabella. Lucianna got hers for her first birthday a few months ago so I made a matching one for baby Isabella, it's hard to tell the size difference from these pictures but one is intended for a 1-2 year old and the second for about a 6-9 month old.