Wedding Bells

We did it!

I mean we in the whole sense of the word. Spencer and I are the ones that got married, but the whole clan made the Wedding Week really the best week ever. I have to admit, for the two weeks prior to the wedding I was an anxious mess. It was probably a lot longer than just two weeks but I want to think that I was a fairly relaxed bride.


A short paragraph about the months leading up to the wedding:

I had the best summer, traveling back and forth to New York City, a full 10 days in Pensacola, a weekend trip to Washington DC to visit with friends, another weekend trip to Colorado to see Grace Potters and some friends from New Orleans, and finally a weekend at New Smyrna Beach with my closest buds celebrating my last days of being a bachelorette. When I wasn't traveling, I got to spend so many hours with my favorite little people of all time, adorable A, lovely L, and precious P. At this point, it should be clear that my mom is the most amazing person of all time since while I was celebrating and having an excellent summer, she was holding down the fort and planning what would turn out to be the best weekend ever.

 In between all the traveling, mom, LDL, and I did all the fun things that brides get to do. We picked out my wedding gown (my most favorite dress ever; and a major surprise), tried on bridesmaids dresses, celebrated with champagne, tasted incredible foods with the caterers and at the bakery, created a signature cocktail, and stamped T&S on many, many things. Wedding planning was a delight, mainly because my People are delightful.

But the two weeks prior to the wedding. . . yeah. Wow. I was a ball of stress thinking about getting married, moving, trying to find work in New York etc etc. Stress at the house was high too; AC broke about a week before the big event. NBD. The reception is at our house and the weather forecast called for torrential rain. So our "rain plan" was to house wedding guests in the house. You need air conditioning in Florida for that.

Anyway, I just wanted to give a picture of what was happening prior to the festivities and I haven't even touch 1/4 of things/events etc. In strokes of obvious Divine Intervention, every thing fell into perfect place. The rain stopped and the sun shined; temperatures were cooler so that it felt like Fall in Florida; vendors hired turned into advice givers and stress relievers; friends and family showed up in droves to support and celebrate Spencer and me.

We kicked off the weekend with a New York Big Apple party on Thursday for the neighborhood friends and families. I couldn't have asked for a better kick-off. I felt so comfortable and loved and relaxed. The host house was welcoming and beautiful. Lifelong friends are such an amazing blessing.

Friday started out with a banging brunch at Country Side Circle. My entire wedding party, my aunts, and dear friends showed up to shower me with love at a brunch with an "Always Be Adventuring" theme. Executed excellently -- even though some of the childhood photos of S and me were a little embarrassing (but hilarious and awesome). LTD wrote the most incredible poem in a way that only she can do -- love articulated through the alphabet. Brunch was filled with hilarious stories; we laughed until our sides hurt thanks to the storytelling skills of my bridesmaids. So quickly brunch was over and I found myself getting ready for Rehearsal at the church and a celebratory dinner thrown by S's parents. Initially I was apprehensive about people giving toasts or other speeches. But then things got started and I loved every bit of it. My siblings are thoughtful, funny, and skilled orators. My friends seem to remember everything told stories with such joy. The setting was beautiful in a back yard facing Lake Killarney. And before I knew it, the night was over.

Wedding Day Saturday was just perfect. I couldn't have asked for anything more. My parents house looked like a scene from a movie. The bridal party and I got ready at the house while watching SEC football (thank goodness the Gators managed a win against UT just before we boarded the bus). Things went swimmingly the whole day -- even if they didn't, I didn't notice! Pictures prior to the wedding were fun -- lovely L ran up to me in her fancy dress with her fancy hair and asked if I was getting married. Then she spent the rest of the day talking about her wedding. She definitely thought that this was her party. LDL and LTD helped me get dressed, RBD2 picked up where they left off and kept me company -- relaxed, laughing, and excited -- until we walked down the aisle together. From then on out the evening was magical. I may have botched a few of my lines and gone in for a kiss a bit too soon but it was those things that made it a fun event. The joy was contagious -- surely the presence of the Lord is in this place. 

The party following the ceremony was the most fun party I've ever attended. The first dance that S and I had practiced suited our style (and he showed off much better moves that I did). The food was delicious and the drinks were flowing. It was one of those nights that I never wanted to end -- except that I was also so tired! Looking at the pictures has been so much fun -- I love seeing that everyone else had as much fun as I did. Literally, the best day of my life. I'll never be able to thank people that participated enough - most especially my parents and siblings for being their true, rock-star selves.

PICTURES:
http://blog.mikebuoy.com/2014/10/orlando-wedding-photographer-taylor-spencers-orlando-wedding-and-reception.html

Beautiful Bali

In June, SBE and I traveled all the way across the world to the Indonesian island of Bali. We took a poll and realized that while other people had traveled more hours due to plane delays and such, Orlando, Fl is just about as far as you can get. But there are no complaints here. S and I knew the trip was completely worth it when we were greeted exuberantly by his friend Masha, the bride were were celebrating. Then we woke up and had breakfast overlooking the ocean with palm trees swaying in the wind. Beautiful Bali is right.

View from Breakfast

Jet lag set in pretty quickly, so S and I spent the first day hanging out at the hotel, swimming in the worlds largest pool (I think literally). It had a main pool just outside of the lobby, but also had pedestrian bridges over the water, which winded into a few canal-like waterways. We had a great time just slowly swimming along the edges, imagining the type of guest that chose the pool front room. Later we discovered it was mostly families with kids. Makes sense, right? The kiddos could so swimming whatever hour they wanted and the grown-ups could sip the appropriate beverage while still keeping an eye out without leaving their porch!

View from our room

 Once it was type to go exploring, S and I hooked with the other members of the wedding party for some poolside hangouts and rides on the jet ski. S had big plans of trying to get me back from throwing him off the jet ski almost a year ago when we were in Pensacola. Sadly (for him) the water was just a bit too crowded to really lose the governor on the machine. Still, it was a great time and really helped us get to know the others in the wedding celebration. I had never met them before and S only knew a few from New York. After the jet ski experience and asking the locals about the "Fly Fishing" we headed out for wedding prep a la Rehearsal Dinner. (The Fly Fish, by the way, it not at all what you might think. Its not fishing at all. It is a giant inflatable that is pulled behind a speed boat. The driver of the fish guides the inflatable in a manner that allows it to catch wind and fly into the air. It looks terrifying.)

At the Rehearsal Dinner

 The Rehearsal Dinner was beautiful and very traditional to Bali. We had some incredible bar-b-Que (though obviously very different from what we were used to) and listened to Balinese music played by a live band. The band was later upstaged by the groom's parents, who sang and danced to the whole wedding party at the end of the night.


M&D were an excellent host couple. While any of us would have traveled to Bali as an exotic vacation, they went the extra mile to ensure their guests were well entertained throughout the week. Part of this meant treating the wedding party to a full day tour of the island. Some parts were a little frustrating because we were stuck in a van with some ridiculous traffic for so long. But again, you're in Bali. There is no complaining. After spending the morning watching a traditional Balinese dance (complete with gods, monkeys, and tigers) we traveled up the road, through some rice paddies and winded up at a beautiful lunch place over looking Mount Batur. S and I had previously though about riding our bikes up and down this road and were thankful to experience it in a bus prior to making that decision! It is very steep, windy, and very, very narrow. How beautiful is this place? And lunch was a buffet with some pretty delicious items and a round of Bitang for everyone.

Overlooking Mount Batur

The Monkey Jungle. Aka: Jumanji

Then. . . . then we went to the Monkey Jungle where monkeys roam free. Play the video above to see the scene as S and I are about to walk up the stairs. We got separated from the rest of the group because we went the wrong way initially so we were trying to meet back up. In order to meet our friends, we had to walk up this set of stairs while the monkeys cascaded down. I tried to pretend like I wasn't nervous but I stood as still as possible while muttering to myself "don't make eye contact. . .don't make eye contact. . . don't make eye contact"! Anyway, the point of this Bali tour was to show just how diverse this island is. We had been staying down in Denpasar and traveled through Ubud (monkeys) on the tour.

 The second half of the week, we headed to a different side of the island: Seminyak. We walked a long way on the beach after checking in to our new hotel and receiving our leis  and complimentary Bali Beverage. It is such a beautiful and calming place. So many different cultures and languages too. 

Enjoying a long walk on the beach

Post-Wedding Surf Celebration

Post Snorkeling tour of Turtle Island

Even after the most beautiful wedding I have ever seen (I mean, M&D danced across steppping stones of an infinity pool just outside of the chapel that overlooks the cliff side ocean and fireworks shot off as they were announced as Mr. and Mrs. H) our friends hosted a post-wedding party that included surfing, food & drinks, and lawn games! My favorite things! Except that I am terrible at surfing. At first I thought that I was going to be a natural. I jumped on my board, paddled out to the first break, waited a few minutes, turned around and paddled so hard with the wave I thought  was flying. I went so fast and so far into shore that I temporarily forgot that I was going to have to paddle back through those waves if I had any hop of catching another. Turns out that I am a one wave wonder. Oh well. It was fun while it lasted. I felt like I earned the extra beers, hours of ping pong and darts, and an extra handful of french fries. Damn Right. 

Honu: Spirit Animal

Nope, still not that comfortable with lizards

S and I had a couple of days after the wedding celebrations and event to explore the island on our own. We decided on a snorkeling trip with a visit to a place called "Turtle Island". We were thinking iit was like a turtle sanctuary. Boardwalks through the marshes, turtles in a semi-natural habitat, an occasional information stand designed to increase knowledge of the turtle power. Nope. Not the case. We arrive and are immediately escorted to get our picture taken next to the token giant letherhead turtles (which would cost money to keep), then a tour of little boxes with turtles swimming around in groups based on size. Then there were caged birds, bats, and . . . . lizards. It was an interesting experience. We had a great time laughing through the awkward moments that required us to say "no, thank you" 100 times until we finally said "we are not interested in buying trinkets from your shop" which felt really rude but it was the only way to get the message across! It was such an awesome experience. 

S and I spent the last night in Bali with our new friends watching the sunset at a place called Potato Head  (with about half of the people staying in a 10 mile radius; it was packed). I know I have titled this post "beautiful Bali" so I should find a new word to describe it. . . . breath-taking? Delicious? Wait. Those aren't the same? They should be. We finished the night at Naughty Nerrie's for Ribs and Martini's. I know, bizarre pairing. Butt it was incredible! Ribs so tender the meat falls off the bone. Martinis so well poured the server asks you to take a sip so that they can refill the glass before they leave the table. AM-AZE-ING. This trip was such a wonderful pre-wedding honeymoon. And yes, I forgot to mention that everyone asked us if it was our honeymoon and/or called me by S's last night. Not yet, ladies and gentlemen, not yet. 

Sunset at Potato Head

Waiting for our airport shuttle

So long, Bali!

Try Not to Panic

You guys.  Are you still here?  I know my mom is, but anyone else??  I haven't posted an update since MARCH.  Do you have any idea the things that have happened around here since March?? I don't either - I have misplaced my calendar.  I'm not sure how to blog without it.  Seriously.  That really is a small picture of how things have gone for me being a family of 5...lots of forgetting things.  Time moving agonizingly slow and at warp speed all at the same time.  (It's such a cliche, I know, but so applicable).

I'll just jump right in...here is a recent picture of my newborn, Addy girl.

I know, she sure is big to be so young!  JK.  Homegirl is 8 months old.  Which I can remember easily since she was born in December she is as many months as we are months in the year.  Sweet baby is sitting up, threatening to crawl and currently drooling up a storm but with no success on the tooth department yet.  I wish I has documented that sitting up milestone, but she sort of did it without me noticing :) Sort of like how she started demanding some real food - she was sleeping ok for a while and then all of a sudden she was up and eating ALL THE TIME.  Oh, you are 5 months old , maybe you would like some real food?  Now she eats tons and sleeps through the night. hahahahaha.  A child of mine sleeping?? it can't be! and it's not.  She is still up at least once to say hello to me.  I try not to mind since it can be a precious time of just me and her as long as I make myself have a good attitude about it.  Which, isn't that hard as long as P doesn't get up 5 times a night to use the bathroom & need to be tucked in and L goes nicely to sleep without me having to lock her in there.  Hahahahaha again.  Who wants to come have a spend the night party??!

Onward.  I do try to organize my pictures once a month so I can try to keep up and my kids think i was a good mom 30 years from now when they look through their baby books that I will start working on maybe when they hit the 5th grade.  (Mom, HOW DID YOU DO IT???)  So lets go back about 5 months and I'll update you through pictures.

MARCH

Little Lucy loo loves her sister.  Loves.  You know, the kind that can be a little rough and hurt sometimes? It's like that.  Lucy thinks Addy is a real live baby doll (obviously, she is) and wants to be her mommy.  She imitates everything I do.  Everything.   It's not always safe, and is more often embarrassing.

We are big fans of the strawberry festival around here!  I really can't believe all the things we have done since I last blogged...It's a really fun fair and you get to mingle with all central floridians - an eye opening experience.  I wish I had a video of the pig races, the kids think those are hysterical, probably because they are.  But they also really love any carousal ride & anything having to do with trains.  So here they are, in hog heaven. :) :)

Adorable Addy. 3 months old.

APRIL

Believe it or not, this little photo shoot was pretty impromptu.  I wanted to try this bubble on Addy so that she wouldn't outgrow it before she had a chance to wear it ( I have a history of letting those things happen.) Little Lucy recognized that she had a similiar dress and wanted to match.  So I started taking their picture and P decided he wanted in.  We were headed to church (miracle!) and so I told him he had to get dressed before I would take his picture.  So off he went!  Then I made Aunt T take a family photo.  I'd attach more of them here because they are so entertaining to me, but they probably won't be for you.  Its pretty typical family photo shoot stuff.  

And now it's dentist check up time!  Which reminds me, I need to schedule our next cleaning!  That's really terrible blogging when you can get to the dentist twice before blogging twice.  Priorities!  This is Jamie.  We love her.  We love our new dentist even more.  Y'all go see Dr. C. Gordy - she's the worlds best!!!

So, she's 4 months old and she has probably had about that many baths.  

Baby girls love their daddies!  And I think these two look alike in this picture.  I wanted to make sure the great BML made an appearance in the pictures, that's a work in progress, to get more pictures of the two of us with the kids - but have y'all ever turned your phone camera around on yourself?? sheesh.  it is not pretty.  Who lets me out of the house??!!

Lastly, my favorite even of April (besides celebrating my own wedding anniversary, duh.  Actually, I take that back, this was more fun.)  Family friends weddings!! These are the absolute best.  Sunsets, boat rides, life long friends, wedding celebrations -- always a good time with the BCD crew.  AEB got married to an awesome dude & we loved celebrating with her!  I'm telling you, its weird but nice when your friends grow up to be dentists & nurses...so far I always have someone to call when I have a health emergency.  (and by that I mean a rogue wisdom tooth I needed to have extracted by my former next door neighbor, soccer star, sorority sister, eek!) and whenever my kids do something ridiculous, like swallow a button cell battery for instance, Nurse Aunt Honey to the rescue!

MAY

I hope this video works.  She loves giving me chalk pedicures.

I debated putting this one up on the world wide web.  But to be honest, I really don't think all that many people read it, and I wanted to document what a brave little girl we have on our hands!  Sweet Lucy had a little corrective eye surgery in May and was a total champ.  It was the Friday before Mothers Day and so we spent the morning at the eye surgery center just hanging out waiting for it to be Lucys turn.  I snapped this gem after she was given a delicious little drink that was probably the equivalent of her drinking a bourbon.  :)  She was in and out in no time flat and we all recovered nicely.  Except for me, I had a breakdown when I got home to discover my homemade Mothers Day presents by my preschooler...he made sure to comment on the fact that I did not pick him up from school so I couldn't get my presents then!  Oh these kids, love them.

These two are starting to play together more often, which means they also fight more often.  But they are used to the other being around and sometimes they entertain themselves...

Happy Memorial Day!  Was Memorial Day in May?? Did I organize correctly??

My first food...avocado.  Because that is what was in the house.  #thirdkid

JUNE

Look at how together we are!  Addy was baptized!  It only took us 6 months to do it - but she was baptized at a special 5pm service on Pentecost, the same as Lucy 2 years earlier.  We really shouldn't even have this photo since there are no pictures allowed during the service...but we forgot to tell one of our awesome family friends and she snapped this one for us.  I'm not surprised, and I'm even a little bit thankful :)  This feast day generally occurs around BML's birthday so we celebrated with sno cones, cake, and a pool party.  It's pretty much what we do. 

Summer!!!  I just love this picture with some old good friends.  Pool days and ice cream.  I think Lucy has always wanted to have a big sister, and she has two! :)

Adorable Addy in her baptism dress (though not on her baptism day because I forgot to take a picture...so she wore this dress every Sunday until we finally got a good one.)

This is my sweet, precious Lucy girl.  Who on this occasion told me she was going to go to her yay yay's house, back her babies in her elmo bag and made her way down the driveway.  Obviously I asked if she knew the way "yep!" "bye mommy!"  I watched in surprise as she tore down the driveway and toward the busy street (known to us as the "fast way" but definitely not the "safe way".  I yelled at her to stop...she rode faster, STOP! faster...I sprint down the road with P and A still in the house to pick up a screaming lucy and her bike and carried her all the way back home.  I love this little one - really, I do!

Family picture!  Lucy thinks Addy is her baby doll, Peter is trying to protect her...kind of.

6 months!

JULY

I'm still here, typing away...as an aside, I have been working on this post all day.  It should be a lesson to me.  10 minutes every couple of weeks...or hours and hours and hours if I wait this long again!  July was a busy busy month for us!  The main event, Bethany Beach, DE!!!  We went up to DE for a family beach trip and it was incredible!  BML and I were pretty proud of ourselves for getting 3 carseats, 3 suitcases & 3 babies on to the plane, collect bags, grab car, and head off to Annapolis for the night!  The babies were all wonderfully behaved except as we were collecting bags Addy went to the bathroom & apparently her diaper just had had enough - so I walked through the airport looking like I wet my pants.  NBD in the grand scheme of things.  We head to Annapolis to stay with some old friends for the night, we were so excited to get to visit with them and show Peter & Lucy where they were born!  We went around city dock, randomly ran into a great friend of mine while living there so we had ice cream and played in the park...the kids were exhausted by the end of the day so BML and I took turns bathing them and getting them ready for bed.  I head to the car to get their pjs and extra diapers for addy....imagine my surprise when I opened the kids bag to discover it half full of dirty clothes and a soccer ball.  Definitely not our bag.  Not our bag at all.  :/  Just a minor hiccup.  Not to worry though, it all straightened out and after a 10pm trip back to BWI we made it.  And we still weren't yelling at each other.  

BWI!  Peter packed his own bag...and insisted on bringing his sleeping bag, so he would have a place to sleep.  Thanks to Aunt T for securing the bag to the suitcase!

This tiny little house on shiley street is where we brought sweet Peter home.  And that tiny tree in front was planted when he was born....and apparently it has not grown since!  we keep saying if our landlady was nicer and there was a porch on the back we would have stayed with Lucy too - but then we would have never met the Manifolds and so considering I still text Heather about the babies to this day, we would have surely missed out on some awesome friends!

We made it to the beach!  Everyone is excited :)

And now some pics from mom of the year (thats me) I took P and L to the science center to see Curious George.  They have been begging to go, since we have passes I generally take them at 4pm, it closes at 5pm and the intercom usually tells them when they have to leave!  No tantrums!  Its awesome.

And lastly...Addy and Aunt T are wedding planning....

As soon as we get home from Bethany Beach, Peter starts a golf, tennis & swimming camp.  This kid has had a busy summer!  He was a ninja turtle for the talent show on the last day.  He was excellent.  :)

AUGUST!

I'm almost finished!!!!

Not much going on here...just a quick trip to the ER after Peter tells me a very detailed story about how he swallowed a tiny battery during rest time.  yikes!  my favorite part was that he was watching The Magic School Bus with Mrs Frizzle on Netfliz and so told the doctors he knew all about how the battery would get out of his system.  This was just a few days before we are about to be out of town for 10 days to Pensacola Beach.  I also love that he wasn't scared a bit because The Little Mermaid was on TV and his friend Henley's Daddy worked there so everything would be fine!  It was and is.  But not before some days of checking toilets...lots of that.

Loving on Addy in her crib.  They love to give her all of the stuffed animals so we have to have lessons on making space for her face!  The rule is you have to be able to see her whole face at all times!!

Pensacola Beach.  Paradise.  After a looooooooong 9 hour drive.  But this is how Peter fell in love with the ninja turtles.

Peg Leg Pete's with the extended family to celebrate Grandmothers birthday.  Bushwhackers.

And finally....SCHOOL!!!  Worlds worst mom forgot to get pictures of Lucy on meet the teacher day, and begged this one of Peter from another mom and friend in the class.  Lucy is SO excited she gets to go to school with Peter & I am so excited too!!!  They have incredible teachers, and we are excited to be back!

And Peter started soccer...with his daddy as the coach and lots of school friends on the team.  He is excited to wear his Bosnian soccer jersey - but it is HOT out there!  I'm thankful Brendan is the coach so that Addy and I can stay cool in the house while P, L, and B kick the ball around until they near pass out from heat exhaustion.

He loves her.

She loves him.

She is excited for they are in school. :)

Happy Labor Day friends!  Happy September!!  Happy Football season!  We had a great summer!  Hopefully I'll be back in a few short weeks to document my middle baby's 3rd birthday!!!