Jumping Through July (how did it go so fast?)

Thoughtful Friends!!! Some of my girlfriends got together and treated me to a FUN, FUN, FUN afternoon of getting a manicure, pedicure, and then going out for dessert to celebrate our little girl on the way! I had a DELIGHTFUL afternoon!

* Kelli, Brittany, Chanler, Me, Allison, Becky, Lana, and Sarah*
While everyone was at the "Nail, Talk, & Tan" in Dunwoody in the Target and Loehmann's shopping center...I was waiting at the "Nail, Talk, & Tan" just 1/2 of a mile away in the Babies R Us shopping center!!! It took me 30 min. to figure out that I might possibly be in the wrong location!!! I will read the directions next time!!! I am so glad they picked the one that they did...it was the best!!! When you are getting your manicure and pedicure they also include a shoulder massage!!!!! Incredible! Special! Relaxing!
Some of the girls with little ones met us at Cafe Intermezzo for a sampling of delicious desserts...we had key lime cheesecake, carrot cake, chocolate cake, and coconut cake!!! Nice to have a bite of each! Here is a picture of me with Anne and Philip who traveled all the way in from Birmingham!!!

Lauren ventured out with little Allie Marie...just 3 weeks old! Allie's first party!

Lisa, Becky, and Sarah

High School friends....
Brittany, Blakeley, me, Becky, and Allison

A random picture from work last week with my sweet co-workers.
Annette, me with Milla, Kara with Lauren, Heather with Lindsey, Christina, Denise, Amanda, Jesse, Dawn, and Bri. Some of the girls also joined in to celebrate our baby girl on the way...and took me out to eat Mexican after work!!!

Starting a Band!
My friend Jenny that I went to nursing school with and use to work with drove over from Canton with her 2 kiddos.... Hayden and big brother Charlie!

We got to spend a morning with Elise...a good friend of Milla's...here are the girls hiking up the driveway to take a stroll.

Just because it is 97 degrees doesn't mean it isn't fun to dress up in winter gear! Milla and Elise cracked themselves up in hats, gloves, and boots! Ready for some snow!

Wedding Weekends

You go through different stages and phases of life...at one point it seemed like we got to go to lots of weddings...there was a friend getting married or having a shower almost every weekend...but, we haven't really been to one lately until the past 2 weekends. We got to go to 2 really pretty weddings.

CONGRATS Cassie & Justin!
I work with Cassie and they just got married on July 16th in Gainesville. The wedding was at First Baptist Gainesville and the reception was conveniently right across the street at the Gainesville Civic Center. Cassie was such a good bride...the Tuesday before the wedding she got a phone call while we were at work- from the lady doing the alterations on her wedding dress---she asked "do you have anything else you can wear to the wedding?!!!!! And then told Cassie her dress had a hole in it...Cassie rushed to the shop at lunch but it turned out to be really small and no big deal--so all worked out ok--Cassie handled it with stride! (Thank Goodness since she didn't happen to buy a "back up" wedding dress! Ha!)
In this picture: Dawn, Bri, Cassie, Elizabeth, me, Amanda, and Jesse

One of my favorite things they did at the wedding was the guest sign in...our friend Elizabeth sketched this picture of a tree--then, the guests picked from a variety of colorful ink pads to make their thumb print (in the place of a leaf) on the tree branches and sign their name. It looked really neat!

Pretty Cake for Mr. & Mrs. Hamilton!

What a friend! Lana was in town doing some shopping and was so kind to volunteer to hang out with Milla for the evening while Brandon and I went to the wedding together!!! So Sweet!

Congrats Lindsey & Ryan!
Brandon's cousin got married on July 23rd. Their wedding was at Peachtree Presbyterian Church in Atlanta. She had a really pretty dress...I loved how it just had one over the shoulder strap.

They had a really cool reception spot! It was called "Summerour Studio" located off 17th street-close to Atlantic Station and Ikea. www.novareevents.com/summerour/index . It was awesome and would highly recommend it for a big event facility.

Pretty cake for Mr. & Mrs. Schoutlz!

Ryan (the Groom), Nick, Brandon, and Brian

Kelli, Lindsey, and me

Brandon's extended cousins: Catherine, Lauren, Jennifer&Christopher, Kristen&Seth, Sarah&Nick, Me&Brandon, Kelli&Brian

Gary & Vicki with Mrs. & Mr. Crim

24 hours in Chattanooga

We wanted to get together to visit with the Peppers family one last time while we were both families of 3....because we know things are going to be crazy for awhile when we both grow to families of 4 soon!

Samuel and Milla on Samuel's 4 wheeler. They are buddies!! Samuel is adorable...lovable, grinning, kind hearted, and strawberry blond!

There is a restored, over 100 year old antique carousel downtown Chattanooga that we got to check out. It was a dream of one of Lana's high school art teachers to refurbish a carousel...and that is just what he did. He was a master woodworker and held classes and instructed others in a studio in town as they created all the beautiful animals for the carousel. People came from all over to be part of the creation!
Ben, Lana and Samuel

Just outside of the carousel is an area full of water fountains--it kind of reminds you of the area at Centennial Park in Atlanta. With the temperatures in the high 90's it was the place to be!

After the fountains we cooled down with some Hawaiian shaved ice. Yum! I love that stuff! Milla helped me eat mine...half peach/half watermelon! We felt like Chattanooga had such reasonable prices... it was just $1 to ride the carousel, the fountains were free, and the shaved ice was $1.50... so, for less than $5 we had a wonderful afternoon!

got to spend the morning on Chickamauga Lake...rode on the boat, swam, and had a picnic. Milla and Samuel did great...made it back in the car just as it was nap time--they were both out before we made it out of the parking lot!

Joyful little ones!
It made us so happy just to watch them!
We had a wonderful visit!

Red, White, and Blue

We had a nice Fourth of July Weekend. There was a lot on our "to do" list around the house to get done in preparation for our second baby girl on the way!!!---luckily we did get a bunch done and made room for a little fun too! Milla eating a Popsicle in honor of the USA


WOW!! The new Cumming Aquatic Center just opened at the end of June only a few miles from our house--we checked it out over the 4th of July weekend! It is AWESOME!! It has a zero entry pool that this playground sits in, a lazy river, and a big water slide. Milla played like crazy. She had no fear. We can't wait to go back. Children under 2 years get in free and it was $5 for adults...it was a fair price and well worth it!

We got to go celebrate Brady Sweeting's 1st Birthday! It was a firetruck bday party. Lots of firetruck decor and a backyard filled with pools and a slip and slide!!! With this crazy summer heat it felt good to have the water nearby.

Brady was living it up! He had a blast in the water and then covered himself with his cake! It was great! Christina (Brady's Mom and my friend from work) was SO sweet to make "egg free" iced sugar cookies in the shapes of firetrucks and #1 for Milla and Anna (who is also allergic to eggs). Milla kept saying... "Love Cookies"!!! Christina shared the good recipe that she used...
http://debralegg.com/2009/02/12/egg-free-cutout-sugar-cookies/

Brandon was craving some BBQ and wanted to make his own at home. He got a "Boston Butt" and smoked it for several hours on the grill.

Brandon's BBQ turned out great! He even made his own BBQ sauce...the vinegar based Carolina way...YUM! I was impressed!

Our family by the lake!

Milla doing some work on the dock!

Becky and Milla
Christian and Milla swimming and dancing! Milla thinks Christian is hilarious! She laughed and laughed!

Kelli, Brian, and Hank kicking back on rafts enjoying Lake Lanier