My cousin's wedding

I love this time of year because there is so much to do and so many fun things going on! May was no exception for us this year, it was jam packed full of family, fun, and travels! On May 13th, we attended the rehearsal dinner for my cousin, Logan and his fiance, Ginger in Destin at Loisianna Lagniappe. (It was an awesome restaurant overlooking a marina and we had the best grouper picata-the best grouper I've EVER eaten!!!) I loved how my aunt decorated the tables with the wedding colors and starfish and the same flowers that Ginger would have at the wedding (hydrangeas and calla lilies).


Daniel has sleepy eyes because we spent the morning of the wedding at the beach and then took a long nap before the wedding (which I was so grateful that he took a nap because the wedding started at 6pm!)


Logan and Ginger have a sweet story, they were next door neighbors for a lot of their growing up years. She went away to Samford and he went to FSU. She ended up marrying someone else and unfortunately that didn't go as planned, but she was blessed with her daughter, Ashlyn. Logan and Ginger reconnected and have begun a new chapter. Logan is amazing with Ashlyn and I love to see the sweet relationship they have.



I loved Ginger's bouquet, it's a little hard to see but she had a silverplated starfish hanging from her bouquet, Logan also has one on his boutiner. Logan LOVES to fish and has grown up on the water and boats all his life, I liked how they had personal touches reflecting each of them throughout the reception.



This is my dad holding Daniel, and his youngest brother, Scott (my uncle- who is 13 years older than me and 13 years younger than my dad). Uncle Scott married Ginger and Logan and he married my sister and Shannon the next week.




We LOVED Logan's groom's cake!!! Mike wanted something like this for his cake, what he wanted and what he got were not exactly the same thing :( Logan's cake looked AH-Mazing and tasted AH-Mazing too! It tasted like a mounds bar in cake form, YUM!!



While Logan was at FSU, he went to Stetson's on Friday nights, alot, and got very proficient at line dancing!! So for Logan and Ginger's first dance, they surprised everyone and did a line dance, it was great! They even changed into their boots, and hers matched the wedding colors of course! :) I regret that I didn't get any pictures of that! Logan also squatted down to be at eye level for his dance with Ashlyn on another song, she was shy and I think a bit overwhelmed by all the days' events, but it was sweet none the less!



It was a beautiful wedding, a beautiful setting, a beautiful couple and lots of good food and plenty to drink ;) !! We enjoyed being with our family and I think it made Laura and Shannon get very excited for their upcoming wedding the following weekend! Their wedding is up next on the blog but it will come in multiple posts because there are LOTS of pictures!!

Swimming Lessons with Coach Malcolm

The second week of May, we had the privelge of taking swimming lessons again for the second year in a row with Coach Malcolm in a beautiful setting. Usually he likes the kids to do 2 consecutive weeks in a row but because we were planning to be out of town the second week of our lessons, he allowed us to split them up. So the first week we were with the same group as last year, our friends, Mabry and her sister Briley, Liam, and Reed and his brother Cade. The first day was much like last year with practically all the kids being relunctant to swim and having Coach M instruct them on what to do. Daniel screamed and cried but Coach Malcolm was so good with him. At one point, Daniel walked away and told me it was time to go home. Poor little dude! But the next day was SOOOO much better!! No screaming. By the 3rd day, he willing went to Coach when it was his turn...WOW, I was one proud momma!!






The pool filter is always so fascinating for the littles! Last year we found a mole in there, and L.A. accidently touched it, she thought she was feeling around for a pool toy, ewwwwww! This year just some spiders, a frog, leaves, & some pool toys.




Cade was so brave catching that frog!! Daniel almost killed it with his tight grip but thankfully, I think it got away!



The first week of June, we were able to finish the lessons with our friends, Ava, Ella, Ellie, and Aubrey. Daniel is a little fish! He is a wild man in the pool now, constantly jumping to me from the side of the pool, putting his face in the water, & kicking his feet. My mom brought him to swimming lessons this past Wednesday while I was at work and she said he swam the width of the pool (with Coach M right with him, but he did it!!!) On Thursday, he swam the length of the pool!! Woohoo!


These 3 were so cute looking throuh the gate out at the lake.



Even this little man got to dip in the pool throughout the week. Next year it will be your turn little Ethan, isn't he SO CUTE!!! :)



Thank you Coach Malcolm for the wonderful swimming lessons, I think Daniel is hooked on swimming now!!

He is Risen, He is Risen indeed!

After breakfast on the porch, we gave Daniel his Easter basket, I'm sure he was thinking, "What?! Mommy is letting me eat chocolate for breakfast?!"




I think he likes it!!



After breakfast, we got dressed, and snapped a few pictures before heading off to church.



Love these two handsome southern gentlemen that I am privileged to share life with!! Love their seersucker suits!



I have tried to talk Mike into wearing a bow tie for a long time, and after 8 years, he succumbed, on his own volition! He came home Saturday and said, "I have a surprise for you!" Out from his bag he pulls this bow tie, ahhhhh, I die!! LOVE IT!!


Daniel has a sweet, special relationship with each of my sisters. After we've been with my sisters, he will ask, "where's Ashy?" "Where's Yara?" I'll respond with "at work, in there hometown" and he will say, "but why?" :) We are to the why stage now, about everything! :)


The Easter family portrait. We took more pictures after church. Church was AWESOME, the music was AWESOME, and it was PACKED!!! We did all get to sit together but were up in the balcony. I loved seeing so many of our friends there! We kept Daniel with us in the sanctuary for the music and he was good.


My mom wanted a picture of all of us looking at Daniel, and we were giving her a hard time but now I'm glad we did it, it turned out cute, he can be such a ham! There's no shortage of attention for this boy when our families are in town!!


I wonder where Daniel gets his silliness from?!



While we were waiting for all the final food preparations, the kids did some crafts on the back porch with foam stickers.


Ahhh, melt my heart!! These two usually love each other very much, but apparently Harper was over Daniel's hugs at this point. Haha!




Lucy and Ellie working on their crafts.



We also played a few games in the yard with the dyed Easter eggs, (LOL, Julie and I were trying to think up as many variations of games you could play with an egg!) in this one, we had the kids line up by Julie, and they were supposed to roll their eggs down the lawn until they crossed the finish line. I'm lucky I didn't get pelted by a hard boiled egg! Ha!






Another game we played was we made the kids carry their egg on a spoon in their mouth across the finish line. Ellie's got the hang of it! These next few pictures crack me up, each one has a different style!


Lucy has her spoon a little to the left, concentrating hard.



And Ainsley...hers is almost falling out, to the right, head tilted back! Love it!! :)


Finally after all our games, it was time to eat! Here is picture of the grown ups table. Again this year I got to use mu and Mike's grandmother's china. I found these hollow chocolate bright colored eggs at Costco and thought they were pretty, so each place setting got one.


This white cake with strawberry frosting is the one I found last year on Edie's blog, it's made with 1/2 cup of homemade strawberry freezer jam, which is divine!! I think it turned out great!



After lunch, the dads hid the eggs for an egg hunt, we had the littles in the back yard and the bigger kids in the front.



Aubrey, Daniel, and Harper checking out their loot! Note the chocolate oozing out of Harper's mouth, awesome!! I think she enjoyed her candy!!



It was a wonderful day and we were so happy to have our family and some of our friends over! What a privelge it is to be a daughter of our Risen King!! Hope you all enjoyed your celebrations as much as we enjoyed ours!!

Easter Weekend

My family drove over to spend Easter weekend with us this year. The newest addition to our family, Shannon, my sister, Laura's fiance joined us this year. Laura, Shannon, and Ashley got busy in the kitchen making some treats for our Easter dinner on Sunday.



What's the big deal, 2 birds in the nest?! I guess they're love birds. :)



As soon as Daniel woke up from his nap, we got busy working on dying Easter eggs on the back porch. Nani sent Daniel some Easter books a few weeks before Easter and one of them talked about dying Easter eggs so I think Daniel was excited to get to do it this year.






Ashley, Daniel, and Mimi display their finished work.






Mike made a DE-LICIOUS Greek dinner for us Saturday night. He made Greek style lamb roast, potatoes, asparagus, a greek salad, spanikopida, and homemade Tzaziki sauce.
Mike grew up with close family friends who were Greek. He has very fond memories of Easters spent with the family and eating this very meal. He even has a story about eating "delicacies" like goat testicle soup. Uhhhhh, I think I'll pass, thanks! Mike also brought home some Baklava for dessert from a local bakery. The dinner was a hit, everyone loved it!! Including Daniel!



I'm a little hesitant to post this next picture, it's funny... The weather was very nice Saturday night, so we ate on the porch. After dinner, we found a lizard inside the porch (there are a lot of them this time of year on our porch) and Papa put it on his ear like an earring. Daniel thought it was funny. :)


Daniel didn't really want to touch or hold the lizard though. Just so you know, we let the lizard go after we were done looking at it, I don't believe he was harmed at all.




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A busy Saturday!

I love this time of year because not only is the weather GORGEOUS, but there are so many fun things to do! Back on Saturday, April 16th, we had an action packed day! Our day began with the annual community Easter egg hunt & BBQ our church puts on at our church property, complete with egg hunts for all ages, bounce houses, pony rides and petting zoo, face painting, hay ride, pie contest and delicious bbq.



We arrived late, as is our usual family custom, and literally walked very fast, and practically threw him into the roped off area for his age groups egg hunt, and he was off! He wanted to open each egg he found to see what was inside. He didn't get the idea that you're supposed to fill your basket as fast as you can and then check out your loot. Oh well, I'd rather him not eat all that candy anyway!



Our family photo!



Next we were off to pet the chicks! These boys LOVED this!!! Tyler was so excited to see that chick his momma was holding!



Wyatt was very brave and wanted to hold one, he was very gentle with it.



This picture cracks me up! I love Daniel's expression and Logan in the back ground looking on, not sure what to think of it! haha!! I can just hear Daniel saying, "Hello little chick! I LOVE chicks!"



Our friend, Katie, taking a ride on the pony... she looks concerned because I think the horse did it's business and Katie's momma, Amy was trying not to step in it!



After a fun morning at the property, and a yummy lunch, we headed home for naps before taking Daniel to his FIRST experience inside the FSU stadium at the spring game. Daniel was just taking it all in when we first got there.



We sat with a bunch of our friends and their kids, which made the whole experience so much more fun! Baby Ethan, 6 months old, snug as a bug up against his mommy with his thumb, was so good!



I love these kids!! They were so cute and pretty good for the whole game. Of course Aunty Rachel being armed with lots of snacks helped too!



I think Daniel was getting a lesson on cheering. He loves to clap and got a kick out of everyone doing the war chant!




Ava and Ellie are sweet friends! I wish I had taken a picture of Ava's outfit, her momma, Meredith made it & it was adorable!! She had on a garnet and gold twirl skirt with an appilqued spear shirt. The spear was half garnet and half gold sewn onto a black background, I LOVED IT!!! I'm definitely going to half to attempt making one one of these days, hopefully before this fall!


Brian and Aubrey, Aubs was hamming it up here! Love that girl! She and Daniel were born 2 days apart and we have pictures of them together in their bassinets in the hospital. :)



I think Daniel had a fun time, and it was nice because we could spread out a little more than at a regular season game where you're packed into the stadium like sardines! We ended our fun day with a yummy mexican dinner with our friends! So thankful for days like these!! Good times and GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO NOLES ------------------------->