Wow, my last blog entry was Lyla’s 6 month pictures. Lyla turned 9 months a week ago so I am 3 months behind on my blog updates. We have been very busy this fall so I will do my best to try and recap our happenings up to now.
The second week of September we spent a much needed week at Panama City Beach, Florida with our dear friends, The Fuqua’s. James and Ryan first met as college roommates at Lipscomb. They ended up hitting it off and were roommates all four years of college. Ryan and Dana were married June 2004 and James was a groomsmen. James and I were married July 2004 and Ryan was a groomsmen in our wedding. We are so lucky to have the friendship that we do with Ryan, Dana, and their sweet little girl, Lucy Drew. Our girls had so much fun with each other and we enjoyed some adult company as well. We will go on vacation with them anytime they ask us!!
We celebrated James’ parents 30th wedding anniversary the end of September. We had a surprise dinner for them at our home with James’ sisters and brother in-law. I prepared an Italian dinner and Becky & Katie provided the delicious cupcakes for dessert. We gave them this framed picture as their gift. What better way to show 30 years of marriage then a picture of their children and granddaughters?
The first weekend in October we took our annual trip to the pumpkin patch. Marlie and Lyla both loved it. We had so much fun going through the hay bale maze in the barn, playing in the grain bins, looking at all the animals, going on the hayride to see the baby calves, going through the cornfield maze, and of course picking our pumpkins from the pumpkin patch.
The second weekend in October we went to PA for a long weekend. My mom’s brother lives in Norway. He and his wife, two of his three boys, two of his nephews, and his daughter, her husband, and their adorable daughter came to the states for a visit. It was wonderful to get to spend time with all of them. We were even so lucky to help Nora celebrate her 1st birthday. We enjoyed a nice drive to the “farm” where my dad hunts every year. The leaves were still very colorful, Marlie got to climb into the tree house, and Annie used her scouting skills to chase some deer out for us to see. The highlight of the trip for Marlie was to ride a horse. Our neighbor, was boarding a horse the first night we were in town. She knew that Marlie loved them so she asked the owners if she could take a ride on it. They were so nice to let her take a ride on her. Marlie still talks about the white horse she rode!! Marlie also got a surprise visit from her best buddy, Austin. We ended the weekend with a nice dinner amongst 75 of our close family and friends. We truly have a wonderful family!!
Four days after we came back from PA we packed our bags and hit the road again. We went to Atlanta for James’ cousin Jesse’s wedding and to visit with his grandparents and other family. We had a great time. James worked two days while we were there so the girls and I had to find things to do all day. We had lunch with a friend, Amanda Walton, from college. She has two girls that are the same age as Marlie and Lyla. We had a great time visiting with them. We made a quick trip to the Mall of Georgia and had dinner with one of James’ high school friends and her boyfriend. We spent an entire afternoon with Granddad and Grandmom. They took us to Cracker Barrel for lunch and spoiled the girls with their love and attention. We spent two nights with Uncle Don, Aunt Kelly, and their two kids. The girls loved all of them and also loved their teacup poodles, Gorgie and Lola. Marlie is still talking about going to see them at Christmas. We had a delicious breakfast with my friend, Chrissy, and her now fiancé’. We also lucked out and go to meet the newest addition to the Garner family. Millie Kate is adorable and we enjoyed spending a few hours with her wonderful family. We wish they lived closer!! We ended the very busy, fun filled weekend with a gorgeous outdoor wedding.
My best friend, Elisabeth and her husband and three month old son came to visit us from Oregon. I will be posting a separate blog entry on their visit because I have too much to say. So, on to Halloween. The girls dressed up as the Princess and the Pea. We took them to Ghouls at Grassmere (halloween at the zoo) this year and they both loved it. Marlie had so much fun trick-or-treating this year and really got into all the decorations. The people on our street really get into Halloween so it was a lot of fun for all of us.
The first weekend in November we went on our 7th annual Gatlinburg trip with James’ family. We had snow one day while we were there. We enjoyed sitting by the fire, eating pumpkin muffins, watching it snow, and watching Beauty and the Beast. We went to the aquarium and all had so much fun. Marlie loved all the fish and Lyla loved them equally as much. We ate pizza, did go karts, visiting the Christmas Village, and took a lot of photos. It was a much needed relaxing weekend with the family that we all love so much!!
That was a lot of catching up so I will try very hard to keep this blog up to date!! Remember that there are more pictures from all of our happenings on the Picasa site.
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