Beautiful girls!

There are way too many gorgeous kids in my life. As if Emma isn't precious enough, check out Madison and Noelle! They belong to Phil's brother Nathan, and his wife Kim. I don't know what they are looking at in this picture, but I love their faces!! Kim is expecting baby #3 around the end of November, and it's a boy. Can't wait to meet the little guy, and see what a heartbreaker he is going to be, considering how beautiful his sisters are :)

Getting Big!

Well, Aunt Stacey is obviously able to travel more than Aunt Erin and Uncle Phil, because she went up to Baltimore this past weekend to visit Jason, Becky, Emma and Rilo. I can't believe how big Emma is getting!! If she wasn't still the cutest thing I've ever seen (tied with my other nieces and nephew, of course), I might think she was a different baby!! :) We get to see them in early October- I miss them so much, I can't wait!!

Here are some pictures from Stacey's trip- note how early they are getting her started with horseback riding!! Such good parents. Oh, and the ADORABLE polka-dot dress is from the aunt who can't travel, so she sends things ;) And I couldn't leave out big brother Rilo, or he'd get jealous!

Blue Ridge Parkway

Last weekend, Phil and I got another chance to have a short get-away weekend up to the mountains. While the majority of the weekend was spent lounging around watching the Olympics, Phil and I did take the first part of the day on Saturday to drive the Parkway. It was BEAUTIFUL- low 70's, sunny, fluffy clouds- God definitely spent some extra time creating the mountains :) Below are some of the pictures we took. We stopped at the Cascades overlook, with a trail down to the falls. Take a look at those steps- half of them were wobbly, too!! It was fun, though, and we really enjoyed spending some time outside. Hope y'all enjoy the pictures!!

Girls Trip!!!

Back in college, a group of my girlfriends and I had a summer tradition. We were obsessive Atlanta Braves fans at the time, so we would always take a weekend trip to see a game or two. We always had a blast, and came back with tons of stories :)

Since this year marked the big 3-0 for all of us (except Erin, who got there back in December), Erin Mac suggested that we do our weekend trip again- what a great idea!! It took forever to find a date that worked for all of us (including the Braves home schedule), but we ended up going the first weekend of August. Even though most of us don't have time to keep up with "our boys" like we used to, we were still excited to get back down there.

We spent the first part of our day lounging at the pool, and enjoying being on our mini-vacation. Somehow I don't have any pics of me in a bathing suit, though... gosh, sorry ;)





We headed out for the game, and thanks to Atlanta traffic, and construction on I-85, we got there in the 4th inning!! We made the best of it, though ;) We sat on the third base line, like always, and even had the same Beer Man that we always used to have! The stadium had added a Chick-Fil-A cow (see below) who did the tomahawk chop whenever the chant was played- impressive!! :) We each wore our glittery "30" headbands, and got quite a bit of attention. Some people seemed amazed that we were all turning 30 on that very day! ;)

After the game, we hit up Rock Bottom, right beside our hotel, for a late-but-yummy dinner. We toasted to thirty, and agreed we'd do things like this more often :) I'm lucky to have such amazing friends! And aren't they gorgeous, too?! :)

My Favorite Place to Be

A few weekends ago, Phil and I went up to West Jefferson, NC, the tiny town in the mountains, where my dad grew up. This is, without a doubt, my favorite place EVER! Lots of happy memories, a slower pace, ridiculous amounts of food, cooler weather, beautiful land, quiet... if Phil and I could transplant our jobs and our church and friends, we'd move there in a heartbeat!

Unfortunately, my grandparents are no longer with us (though I'm sure they were watching this project and laughing!), but we still have their home as a landing place any time anyone in our family needs to get away for some peace and quiet. We actually didn't get a lot of rest this particular weekend, as we had taken on the project of repainting Papa and Granny's storage shed behind the house. As if we don't get enough home improvement projects at our own house!! ;) Below are some pictures of the project from start to finish. Dad, Brenda, Uncle David, Phil and I painted our heads off, racing to beat the rain that threatened all weekend. God watched out for us, and we have a freshly painted shed to show for it! Even Dad and Brenda's dog, Charlie, hung out with us and supervised the painting ;)

And, finally.... FINISHED!! What a happy little shed... :)

And, because it is my favorite place, I couldn't leave out some pretty pics of the area around Granny and Papa's house. I took all of these from their yard. See why I love it?!