Gavin's first Haircut

We did it. We bit the bullet and cut Gavin's hair. :( Honestly I didn't want to do it but it was starting to drive me crazy. With the dry weather it wasn't curling as much and had gotten very unruly!

He did great!! He got to sit in a car and watch a movie so he was a happy camper. 

It still curls and I'm sure this summer it will be all over the place!! I said I would cut it before Katie's wedding I just didn't say how soon before the wedding I would cut it! ;) We got a lock of his sweet curls and a picture of his new "big boy" haircut. Why does he have to look and be so big?!

Happy Birthday to Me

 

As evident by the pancakes above, I turned 33 this year. My very creative and clever husband made me breakfast and made sure to showcase my age! I love him!

We decided to continue our exploring of NC and Chase found the closet waterfall hiking trail and we headed out to explore. We drove an hour to Fayetteville,  NC praying the rain would stop when we got there. It was a nice little hike but nothing like the trails we had done in TN. These eastern North Carolinians need a proper definition of a hill. This place is FLAT! What they call a hill, we would call a gentle slope! We had a great time and have really missed the time outside with the family, so it was nice to get back at it for a few hours!

Awww...

Back to the familiar grind...

Chase and Gavin were trying to study the trail map...

I've missed this view of this sweet face!

There was in fact a waterfall!

Family selfie!

 

 

 



As we were leaving we met a woman walking her dogs on the trail. She was very nice and asked us which trails we had done. When I told her she said "Oh you did the hard ones!" I thought "really?! Which trail was the easy one?!" I love my family and I love our weekend exploring!

Some things never change

2007...

2014...

7 years and 590 miles and the friendship continues.

Happy New Year

The last leg of our Christmas vacation ended in the north Georgia mountains. We spent 2 nights with our first friends we made in Nashville. Over the 7 years we lived there, our party grew from 6 to 12 and we're still growing...not from us! We had a great 2014 with lots of changes. While some have taken some getting use to we are incredibly blessed and are really enjoying our time here in North Carolina!

Riley and Tara

Saylor!!

Emory and Cheryl

Brooklyn and her mama!

Kolton and Emory needed a project so we bought a gingerbread house for them to decorate. They loved! Not sure how much candy actually made it onto the gingerbread though!

We left the older kids, Emory and Kolton stay up and ring in the New Year with us! They thought they were super special using real glasses to drink their sparkling grape juice!!

This is real life!



This will probably turn into a tradition and I'm ok with that!! Bring on 2015!





Christmas Part 4

And now onto Jacksonville! Sunday, we packed up again and headed to Chase's parents. We didn't have a set celebration with them, just spending time together!

 

All the girls in their matching monogrammed shirts!

 

We drew names/families for kid gifts and this year we brought gifts for Gabriel, Finley, and Elyn.

I think it's safe to say Finley liked her super hero mask and cape!

Elyn and Riley

Oh look a picture of mommy and Riley...usually I'm behind the camera!

We gave Elyn puzzles but my kids insisted on putting them together.

He was very happy to put the last piece in!

Something tells me this picture will end up in a yearbook or a wedding slideshow one day...haha!

Not sure what they are watching but it was apparently very interesting!

We had an incredibly busy Christmas but it was so nice to spend so much time with family!!

Christmas Part 3 and HBD to Riley part 2

What a day! The Saturday after Christmas was a FULL day. The morning was spent with my mother's side of the family. It's always nice to spend time with family no matter how crazy it can get and with 12 kids 8 and under it was quite loud! :)

Curls for days!

Madison refused to get in the picture and both Graeme and Riley were down for naps.

Hutch and Katie with their baby Kip.

"Riley, are you a princess?"

The second half of the day was spent celebrating Riley's birthday. I'm not sure my parent's house has ever had so many people in it at once!

The birthday girl had to woken up from her nap to join us. Apparently the louder we got in the living room, the harder she slept. Her uncle Cole decided it was time for her to join us and went to get her!

Madison wanted to help Riley open her presents.

After having 2 smash cakes before this one, she was a pro at it and went straight to the sink...she was covered in buttercream icing!

Finley and Elyn came to celebrate with their cousin!

The birthday girl with her Papa!

I think it's safe to say this was a busy day but we had a great time spending time with family and celebrating our sweet girl!

Now onto Christmas part 4!