8 Paws on Deck!

This is Rocky....

Rocky came to visit last Friday to Tuesday. I have two words that describe our time together - utter chaos.  There was a lot of rough housing that occurred and a lot of Zach and I saying, "boys, knock it off." 

These two were always together and always where we were. Where Emmitt went, Rocky followed. Where Rocky went, Emmitt followed. And where one of us was, a pooch was sure to follow, which meant the other was following close behind. This made for quite a party anytime one of us re-located in the house!

All in all, Rocky is  a very sweet dog, loves to snuggle, and get's along with Emmitt well. BUT, I'm thankful just to have one dog :)

Birthday Celebrations

My birthday was just this past week and my husband blessed my heart by making it a special occasion to celebrate. On Thursday when he got home from work he told me to get ready, he was taking me to the restaurant of my choice! We went to Sesame Inn (our favorite) after dropping Bruce off at Jordan and Meredith's house, our sweet neighbor friends. After a lovely evening with my man, we went to pick up the babe only to find that Meredith had prepared a surprise birthday dessert (recipe compliments from my sweet mamma). Needless to say, it was a lovely evening :)

Bruce loved spending time with Meredith and Jordan. He was sad to miss out on the dark chocolate mocha trifle, though :)

Mt birthday gifts - Beautiful hydrangeas from Meredith (my favorite flowers), a new bible from my man, and a camera! I've been having so much fun learning how to use this new gadget.

On Saturday, the Jacquay's showed up at our doorstep with my favorite cake in hand (recipe compliments of my mamma, again!) for dinner. I was making our favorite fall dinner, beef bourguignon and fresh bread (make this!!!!), per Zach's request. Little did I know we would have special guests for the evening. The Jacquay's are dear friends, and we enjoyed having them over to celebrate. 

I'm so thankful that Bruce enjoys spending time with those whom we enjoy spending time with! Angela and Jarah are awaiting the arrival of their first baby, due 12/12/12! P.S. - notice the dog that is NOT Emmitt on Jarah's lap? That's Rocky. There will be a post soon to follow, explaining his presence at our house :)

This is a regular occurrence and I'm so happy to have captured the smiles! Bruce adores his daddy.

Wedding Weekend

Recently, we went home home for my cousin's wedding at the University of Charleston. The venue was absolutely beautiful and we saw it as a perfect family photo opportunity. See the Capitol in the background across the river? That's where we got married two years ago!

Then

Now

The night before the wedding, my dad lit up the fire pit for the first time! Zach and I invited some friends over to my parents' house where we roasted s'mores and enjoyed some refreshing fellowship.  We cherish times like these when we can have 'real talk' with other brothers and sisters in the Lord. 

Fall Photo Session

The boys (Emmitt and Bruce, that is) and I were out walking the neighborhood recently when we met another fellow new mommy who lives close by.  We have become friends with Otilia and Dominik and, over the past several weeks, we’ve enjoyed meeting for mid-day walks and photo sessions of our babes and the fall foliage. We used Otilia's camera to take pictures (ours is broken) and it has made me so excited to have a new one of our own soon!

Otilia and sweet Dominik

Daddy came home just in time to catch the end of the photo session :)

Chautauqua Lake with the Obakers

A couple months ago we had the opportunity to go on a weekend getaway at Chautauqua Lake with Meredith and Jordan.  Our friends' parents live on this lake up in New York and we enjoyed a relaxing and beautiful weekend on the water. I learned a lot from Meredith's mother regarding hospitality during our short stay. We were greeted by peanut M&M's and Dove chocolate in our bedroom when we arrived! We did not pack warm enough clothes for Bruce, so he had the pleasure of wearing an adult size hat and 2T sweatshirt when we went out on their boat (see photos below).