North Carolina Wedding Weekend

After a whole day of delays, delays, delays, we finally made it to NC with Lila and Jackson!  Huzzah!!

 

We went for John and Hope's wedding, but we also went because it was the perfect time to take our two oldest back to dad's old stompin' grounds.  The wedding was in Winston-Salem, home of the Demon Deacons--this was our chance!

 

We stayed at Graylyn--a beautiful former estate that has now been turned into a hotel and conference center.  It's gorgeous!  We checked in at The Manor and a man escorted us to The Mews with his golf cart. 

 

  The Mews used to be the stables when it was still a private home.  So neat they it has been renovated into part of the hotel.  It's got lots of character.
 

 These days, it's where most of the suites are located.  Ours was two stories, with the master bedroom being upstairs. We dropped off our bags and then headed over to Tim and Alison's house for a cookout.

 

These three guys shared an apartment their senior year at Wake Forest.  It's crazy how much has changed since then, but so cool to see what all they've done!  Brian started a company called Facility Dude with Garyen's dad that has been super-successful, Jared became a very good commercial real-estate attorney, and Tim built the house we were in!

Lila enjoyed playing baby dolls with Lillabeth, who is 2 1/2.  She was such a sweet little girl and shared her dolls and toys all night. 

We had so much fun catching up with Tim, Alison, Jennifer and Brian.  It's been WAY too long since we've seen them. We have vowed not to make it that long again!  We chatted the night away, despite our long day of travel, and finally headed back to our hotel. 

After a good night's sleep in the Mews, we woke up hungry for breakfast.  We walked out into the picturesque courtyard, refreshed by the 72 degree temperature.  Heavenly!

 

Our buffet breakfast was fantastic, too.  It was really like a grandma had made breakfast from scratch, just for our family.  J man was content once he found his pile of bacon:)

Seriously, are we inside a Norman Rockwell painting?

Lila even found her castle for next time!

After we ate, we met some of Jared's college buddies and walked around the campus.  We found their old dorm--the one where 8 of them lived their junior year--a 4 bedroom suite, with one bathroom.  Lots of good times were had there, and Jared, Ramy and Zach got to reminisce a little.

We wondered over to the brand new Business School and got to go inside.  It had plenty of comfy chairs, that this little lady decided to just camp out.  A future Demon Deacon, perhaps?

By that time, we had picked up Justin and Matt.  All of us walked through Wait Chapel, the site of Brian and Jennifer's wedding, and also where Jared once saw a Dave Mathews Band concert! 
Lots of good memories.

I bet it was hard to imagine 17 years ago, when Jared first walked on The Quad, that he would one day bring back his wife and kids.  Such a cool day!

 

After our walk down memory lane, we went back to get ready for the wedding.  I walked into the bathroom and was staring straight at this Kodak Moment.  J's first "real" tie.  Too grown up for this mama.

 

 

We watched John and Hope's wedding, then headed over to the reception inside the fellowship hall of First Baptist.

 

We had a few appetizers...

then got to mingle a little bit more.  I visited with Patricia, Karen and Gina..

while Jared got to introduce Jackson to Pete's son, also named Jackson. 
They are 7 years and a few feet apart, but maybe little J will catch him one day!

 

Tickle Time:)

Most of the MAN group made the trip.  Very cool.

After the reception, Jared insisted that we make a pit-stop at Bojangle's for some cinnamon biscuits.  He has talked about this for many years.  Imagine his surprise when he walks into Bojangle's and sees that this golden item is no longer on the menu.  Never fear, though, the employee-of-the-month offered to make it special for him.  So clutch!  Think of a biscuit and a cinnamon roll having a baby.  The result is amazing!

 

The cinnamon biscuit is so good, in fact, that when offered to this sleeping beauty after being awoken from her deep sleep, she was all smiles:)

Good thing, too, because we had more friends to go meet!  Lila loved holding Baby Connor...

and enjoyed playing inside his big sister's playhouse.

 

Daddy had a smile all night, too, and he loved catching up with Tim, Matt, Brian, Tim K., Justin, Andy and Ramy out on the back porch.

Ramy was so cool and even played soccer with the kids for a little while.  What a neat backyard!

We all enjoyed the relaxing evening--the big kids...

and little kids, too.  Jen's kids came that night, so Jackson and Lila got to meet Ben and Lilly finally.  They were instant friends!

Reunion night #2 was a big success, too, so we stayed up late, yet again. 
We figured we could sleep back in Texas.

The next morning was our 12th wedding anniversary!  We woke up, went to breakfast with the kids at the Manor, and then checked out this sweet koi pond.

I enlisted my favorite 8 year old photographer to document the big day (isn't he a doll?!)

12 Years together!

We met in the 4th grade, started dating our sophomore year of college, and got married when we were 23.  We literally grew up together.  I love you, babe!

We met our friends at the Reynolda Gardens...which wasn't exactly like the Dallas Arboretum...

but it did have these beautiful flowers.

Then we swung by the mall for some Wake Forest souvenirs and were in the airport a short time later.

 

Cheers to 12 years, our precious family, and good friends!

 

 

July Jamboree

Pool time is fun with our neighbors and just perfect for all of us!

They have two girls (Lila loves Bella and Abby), one boy (a 9 year old who is perfect for Jackson) and the babysitter even has a 21 month-old who is great for Cameron. 

The next day, we hosted a mega-sized playdate.  Mandy brought her two girls...

and Jackson invited Cole, Cooper and Gavin.  They all had a blast leaping into the deep end, and I enjoyed hanging out with my friends, too. 

While the girls were a little more tame, Brooklynn did bust out a few front flips for us!
The boys were so impressed that they kept asking her to do more.

Love these baseball buddies.  Good kids.  Cooper is even super-sweet to my girls, too.

Although the pool is greatness, this little sister is going to really miss breakfast with Bubba. 
She LOVES him and thinks he is so stinkin' hilarious.  I've got some big shoes to fill once school starts again.

One and a Half

Cameron Nicole, how in the world are you going to be 2 in only six more months, my sweet baby? 

You are the BABY!  You simply can't be growing up this fast.

 

But alas, you are.  And oh my, you are starting to look more and more like a toddler than a baby.  You wore your new pineapple dress from Aunt Lyndsie and Uncle Scott to your check-up yesterday.  Right away you felt much more grown up, from the minute you stood on the big girl scale, to when Dr. Betty came in to chat with you.  You didn't shed a tear until it was time for your two shots.  A big improvement!

You are a very busy little creature these days, but on occasion, you do sit still. Here's proof!

Everyone has been saying how much you remind them of your big sister.  And I see it more and more, too.  I hope your heart is as sweet as hers and that y'all grow up being best friends.

Right now you rule the roost in our house!  And you're just so hungry all the time.  You must be in the middle of a growth spurt. You cleaned your plate last night, then helped Daddy clean his after he got home, yelling, "bite! bite!" until he shared some mashed potatoes, green beans or meatloaf with you.  So funny!  When he got out his ice cream, you promptly instructed him to "it" on the floor next to you, so that you could share the cookies and cream, too.  And he did it. Girl, your daddy sure must love you.

18 Month Stats:
Weight - 25.2 lbs (65th%)
Height - 32 3/4 in. (75th%)
Head - 19 cm (pretty big--around the 90th?)
100% wrapped around your daddy's finger.  And mine too, for that matter. We adore you.

Let's party down

Yesterday afternoon we hosted our first mega-friend swim party.  And guess what?  It was awesome!  So much fun.  SO MUCH!

Everyone arrived about 4:00 and the party was in full swing in no time.  Lila and Chloe were two peas in a pod all night long.

Baby Dylan was such a good sport and hung out with his sweet mama most of the time.

Cameron did the same and was all smiles after her big nap.

We had five families join us for some fun in the hot summer sun. 
I love this whole scene--a pool full of some of my very favorite peeps.

Hot mamas!

It didn't take long before all the dads were in the pool, too.

When the little kids had enough of the water, they started making water balloons.

Works for us!  Anything to let the parents actually complete a sentence is a really nice thing.

It's not Vegas, but actually, it's just as fun!  Well, maybe if we had some babysitters come relieve us around 8:00...but we still had a great time hanging out;)

As the sun was going behind the trees, the big boys decided it was time to really play. 
Corey started it off with a heckuva back flip!

Not to be outdone, Justin did his best flip with a twist!

Dusty was not to be discounted either and nailed a back flip of his own right after Justin got some serious air!

This little minion still won't have any of sitting in her own float, but she did ride on the sting ray for a little while. Yay!

Even better when big brother rode in on his sea turtle to join the good times.

This afternoon we hopped right back in the pool after an early soccer game and church. 
This is my kind of Sunday, for sure!

We broke out some stunts, too! 

Happy Sunday, folks!  Take it easy...we sure are!