One Year Later

Last year on our first anniversary we were 3 months pregnant with Carter.  This year on our second anniversary Carter was approaching 7 months old.  It's amazing how much our lives have changed in one year.  I was happy last year, but I had no idea how much happier I could be.  Carter has made our lives so much more fun and he definitely makes our anniversary picture much cuter!

The second year of our marriage was better than the first which leads me to wonder, what is to come next year?  Carter will be a year and a half old.  He will be walking, doing some talking, and definitely keeping us busy!  I love both my boys so much and I'm so excited for what year 3 will bring!

Our Boy Loves to Laugh

Carter is a good baby in so many ways.  Perhaps my favorite is that he is quick to laughter.  I thought his smile made my day, but it doesn't even compare to the sound of his laughter.  The world would be a happier place if instead of horrible elevator music they played a baby laughing. 

Last night Ty videoed Carter laughing at me after dinner.  I didn't know he was taping us, but I'm sure glad he did.  Every video of Carter laughing I watch over and over and they never cease to put a huge smile on my face!  Notice who got jealous and had to jump up for attention...

This evening Carter, Ty, and I were all laying on the bed.  Skippy jumped up on the bed and Carter looked at him and laughed.  It was the first time he's ever laughed at Skippy!  Then Harper jumped up on the bed and Carter started laughing at her.  I kept taking her paw, putting it on his tummy, and saying boo.  He was cracking up. 

Little Man's Big Day

I've been having Carter practice sitting up every day for quite a while now.  We do it on Ty and my bed so if he falls over and I don't catch him, he has a soft landing.  Normally he sits up for about 30 seconds before toppling over.

My big boy sitting up all on his own!

This morning I helped him pull up and get settled.  We reached the time he would normally fall over and he was still up.  I realized he was going for the long haul and grabbed my camera so excited my heart was fluttering.  I snapped quite a few pictures before Harper heard me praising Carter and jumped up on the bed to see what was going on.  As she jumped up she knocked Carter over. 

His "why are you taking so many pictures" face.

At first I was disappointed, but then Carter looked over at Harper and pulled with his arms twice in an army crawl style to get over to Harper and grab her fur.  I couldn't believe it, Carter had just semi-crawled for the first time!  All day long I tried to get him to do it again, coaxing him with toys, Harper, my face, anything, so I could get it on video, but it just wasn't happening.

I'm sure he'll do it again and I'll get it on video, but if it's anything like the first time he rolled over it could be a month or more.  I'm okay with that because I'm not quite ready for my baby to be mobile and no longer rely on his mommy to get around.  :)

I just couldn't help myself, I had to put together pictures of Ty, Carter, and myself all sitting up for a comparison.  Is it possible that Carter is starting to look like more of a mixture of the two of us rather than Ty's little clone?

Daddy Day: Ty's Wedding Day Memories

Today is the last post in our wedding memories series.  Here are Ty's wedding day memories!

The first memory I have of our wedding is the last day of work before I took two weeks off for the wedding (the week before to prep and then the week after for the honeymoon). I was sitting at my desk that morning, just anticipating the upcoming weeks, so excited I was jittery. Needless to say, I got very little work done that day and ended up leaving at about 2:30 that afternoon. Normally, I would call Liz and let her know I was coming home but that day, I decided not to do that.

When I walked through the door that afternoon at 2:40 (awesome commute when I am the only one on the highway!), I was greeted by Liz and a look of complete shock. She ran jumped into my arms, hugged me, and started crying, excited to get an early start to the week leading up to the moment we would start our lives together as a married couple.

Not much of the week before sticks out in my mind other than getting to spend some time with Ang playing golf. I actually really enjoy golf, got started in high school playing with a few friends who were serious golfers, then in college playing with a few friends who were serious golfers, then in my professional life with co-workers who were super serious golfers (a couple of them were scratch golfers). So one would think that playing all of this golf with talented people would rub off on me, but it hasn’t. I just enjoy getting out on the links and crushing a golf ball hard and straight several hundred yards and then taking 5 chip shots and 4 putts before giving up with a 10 stroke count for the hole.

Ang played in college which translates to she is really good. It didn’t take her long to realize that I was just out there to crush a few balls and relax. We had a really good time and it was great to get some bonding time with one of Liz’s best friends.

With Ty's Grandma and Grandpa at the rehearsal dinner.

The rehearsal dinner and rehearsal itself was a great time with all of our family and friends. It was good to kind of have that informal setting. It was all really quite relaxing and went extremely well. I remember after the wedding rehearsal, two of my groomsmen coming up to me and thanking me for telling them people were dressing up. Apparently I told Paul and Brian to wear khakis and a nice shirt but didn’t relay that message to Chris and John who wore shorts. Sorry guys!

Poor Chris and John in shorts!

Before the wedding, Liz and I had chosen to have a quiet moment together, just her and I in the chapel. Her and I and the photographers that is. It didn’t take her long to come down the aisle (my back was to her) and touch my shoulder but it really seemed to take forever. Once I turned around I will never forget that look of happy on her face which is the first thing I noticed. Yes, I glanced at the dress, but I was more interested in her (we later had a discussion on how she was surprised that I didn’t even look at her dress). That was honestly one of my favorite parts of the wedding.

Waiting for people to be seated was agonizing. It just seemed to take forever and I wanted to get things done! Finally we were able to start. Everything went smooth and according to plan. For most of the ceremony, it seemed like just Liz and I up there. We were constantly flashing smiles at each other and mouthing a few words even. There was just an easy air about it.

Photography afterwards was a breeze and a lot of fun. I loving walking down the hall of our house and seeing the photo of us on the Pitt State campus just married.

The picture we have hanging in our hallway.

One of the only “hiccups” we had in the entire wedding became a non-issue almost immediately due to quick thinking by my brother and an always be ready for anything attitude by my dad. When my brother got married (8 months earlier), my dad told him and I that he would have cash on him at all times and if there was an issue, he was sure it was something cash could fix.

So when the limo driver dropped us off at the reception hall and refused the check Liz had written out days earlier because he needed to see some id and have a driver’s license number written on it (something no one at the limo company bothered to tell us), Paul was off in a flash to get cash to cover the bill and get the driver out of our hair.

At Paul’s wedding, one of my cousins noticed I was dancing a lot and made a comment to me about how she didn’t know I liked to dace so much. I told her, “No, I hate dancing. But Liz loves to dance so I dance for her”.

That being said, I think that the only time I really wanted to dance was our first dance. I remember holding her close and just gently moving around the dance floor while quietly singing the words of our song to her, something I had been doing since we started dating. That was a great moment, something I will cherish forever.

My Wedding Day Memories

Today marks our 2 year anniversary.  To celebrate today I have written down my favorite memories from the day.  Our wedding day was such a blur.  I still can't believe how quickly it went by.  There are so many moments I treasure and hope to never forget.  I will always remember the feeling as I laid in bed trying to fall asleep the night before we got married.  I hadn't been so excited since I was a child.  I felt like a little kid at Christmas.  I knew I needed to go to sleep to make the following day come faster, but I was so excited I just couldn't make it happen.

That morning we had a 5k race at the trails where Ty proposed.  As the day approached I received surprises to wear during the race.  First my mom got me a "bride" tank top to wear, then Ang made me a veil, then a friend of the family made me a tutu.  I sure was decked out for the race!  I ran with Ty and it was the most time we had alone together all day.  It was so nice to be able to talk.

We stopped to take a picture during the 5k and Ty put the tutu on.

Before my hair appointment I was tired and wished I had time to take a nap.  I was at the hotel room with my friend, Kelley.  She told me to lay on the bed with my hair hanging off and blow dried it for me so I'd be ready for my appointment.  It was so sweet of her and I will always remember that!

Getting ready went by so quickly and the next thing I knew it was time for the first look.  We had decided to take pictures before the wedding so Ty and I got to see each other and have that moment photographed.  I was so excited to see Ty I couldn't walk fast enough and I felt like running down the aisle toward him.  He said as he stood there he could hear me and could tell how quickly I was walking.

I was shocked as I walked up to Ty and he turned around because he instantly looked at my face and into my eyes.  For some reason in my head he would want to look at my dress.  When he looked into my eyes instead I felt so connected with him and so in love.  We hugged and I will never forget how I felt in that moment.  It was just us, just Ty and me.  I was in his arms and everything was perfect.  I never wanted to let go.

Then it was time to head to the waiting room for the ceremony to start.  Those minutes spent waiting seemed like an eternity.  I was so ready.  It was time.  I wanted to get out of that room and marry my love.  We had decided instead of getting each other presents, we would write letters to each other.  I sat and read Ty's letter and held in the tears.

Finally it was time for  the wedding to start.  I was standing with my dad in my heels which I had unwisely been wearing all day.  My right leg started shaking.  It was like my calf muscle had decided it had enough of those heels and was revolting.  We started walking down the aisle and all I could think about was my leg shaking and I hoped I wouldn't fall down.  

During the wedding we had chosen to do a sand ceremony.  The night before we had practiced pouring the sand into the container, but the sand must have gotten packed into the jars more because we had a heck of a time pouring it out into the container.  I kept looking at Ty and trying not to giggle.  It took us so long to pour the sand that I began to worry the song would end before we had a chance to take our moms roses like we had planned.

Instead of using the ushers after the ceremony, we ushered everyone out.  I was so happy I wanted to hug everyone, so I went ahead and did just that!  It was such a great way to get to see everyone, but also kept things moving much faster than a receiving line.  I saw this woman in the back of the church who kept snapping pictures as we were ushering people out.  I remember wondering who she was.  When we got closer I realized she was my first grade teacher!  It was so exciting to see her!

One of my favorite moments of the entire day was our first dance.  We chose "Whatever It Is" by Zac Brown Band.  It was the first song we ever danced to together and anytime it was on the radio or playing somewhere Ty would sing it to me.  The best was one night when he sang the line "she's gonna be my wife" and he told me, you know I mean it when I sing that part right?  Still gives me butterflies to think about!  Anyway, during our first dance he sang parts of the song to me.  I can't think of many moments where I felt as happy as I did in his arms dancing to that song for the first time as his wife.

Ty's brother, Paul, and my best friend, Ang, made the toasts.  They were both very sweet and after all the emotions of the day I finally lost control of my tears and cried during Ang's toast.  Afterward when I stood up to hug her I knocked over my champagne flute and she shrieked.  We are quite the pair!  The groomsmen were quick to pick up my glass and refill it for me.

Notice the spilled drink on the table.

When it was time to cut the cake, Ty and I looked at each other and realized neither of us knew what exactly to do.  We then looked at our photographer and he asked us if we knew what to do.  We didn't, so he really quickly explained all we needed to do was cut a little chunk out of the side together.  He was awesome!  Ty and I both laughed about it.

The bouquet toss was the funniest moment of the night.  Steph views the bouquet toss as a competition and is in it to win it.  I've seen her pull some pretty impressive stunts to catch the bouquet at other weddings.  It ended up going more toward Ang and she got it.  Steph almost had it, running from farther away.  Ang was joking around and got in Steph's face about it because she knows how competitive Steph is.  I cracked up when I saw their reactions.

This shows Steph's impressive attempt.

Ang getting in Steph's face about the catch.

The reception was so much fun.  Everyone was dancing and having a great time.  I went up to get a glass of our signature drink after Ty and I were done with all of our duties and it was already gone!  Ty and I danced and enjoyed visiting with everyone, but finally I was so tired it was time to leave.  We tried to take some pictures before we left, but I was so tired that I couldn't keep my eyes open each time the flash went off.

There are so many great memories from the day.  It will be fun to see what Ty's favorite moments were!

Firecracker 5k

After the race: Ty, dad and Carter, me, and Jeremy

We started our 4th of July morning off by running the Firecracker 5k.  The race is on a golf course so we figured it wouldn't be a good one to do with the stroller.  My mom is still recovering from her knee surgery and isn't up to 3 miles without walking yet, so she took Carter in the stroller and cheered for us.

Our cheer section

My training has been going pretty well, but I've only been running about 12 miles a week.  I knew the race wouldn't be fast, but I hoped to run around 23 minutes.  The last few races I've run my first mile too fast and then got progressively slower with my last mile being the slowest.  That's just not a good way to race and leaves me feeling out of shape and disappointed.  I wanted to avoid that at this race.

I planned to run the first mile in around 7:30 and then try to pick it up.  My first mile was 7:26, mile 2 was 7:16, and mile 3 was also 7:16.  It felt really good to finish strong.  I didn't get passed in the 2nd half of the race and was able to pass quite a few runners.  I finished in 22:50 which I was happy with.  Hopefully if I can build my weekly mileage up to 20-30 miles a week I can get my time back down to where I'd like it to be.

Running toward the finish line.

The course is a loop you run twice.  My mom was standing at the part of the loop where you either turn to finish or keep going to start your second loop.  On the second loop she had Carter out of the stroller and was cheering for us.  I guess Carter thought she was cheering too loudly because as I ran by he began to cry.  My mom joked he was upset that I wasn't winning.

Jeremy finishing strong.

We stayed for the awards ceremony figuring dad, Jeremy, and I all had a shot at a medal.  They did the women's results first.  I finished second in my age group.  Next they did males.  None of our men finished in the top 3 in their age groups.  We had signed up late and the only shirts they had left were mediums, so dad and I were the only ones to get shirts.  My mom thought it was funny 4 people ran the race and we only came back with 2 shirts and 1 medal.  Normally we would get 4 shirts and 3 medals. 

Dad finishing the race.

Jeremy and Ty were both sore from their soccer game a couple days earlier, but still ran well.  Jeremy finished in 20:36.  Dad finished in 22:41 and Ty crossed the finish line in 29:15.

Ty nearing the finish line.

Carter enjoyed cheering for everyone, but had gotten up earlier than usual for the race, so he fell asleep soon after we all finished.  Ty is now talking about training for a fall half-marathon.  I'm excited for him.  Half-marathons are so much fun!  I'm excited to run another half-marathon too. 

I'm linking up with Ashley at "The Domestic Wannabe" for Move it Monday.

Wedding Week Memories

Ty and my 2^nd wedding anniversary is coming up on Tuesday.  So much has happened in those 2 years that it seems like we’ve been married for much longer than that!  But at the same time my memories are so fresh, it seems like it was just last summer.  Thinking back to our wedding day, I wanted to record some of my favorite and most vivid memories from our wedding and the week leading up to it.

I didn’t start blogging until after Carter was born so I never wrote down all the things from our wedding that I never want to forget.  As our anniversary approached I thought it would be a perfect time to do that!  I will start with the week leading up to our wedding and all the preparations, then I’ll write about my favorite memories from our wedding, and (this is the best part) Ty has agreed to write a guest post with his favorite moments from our wedding!  Wedding memories here we go!

Ty and I spent the entire week leading up to our wedding in my hometown staying at my parents’ house, preparing for the big day.  My maid of honor, Ang, also came to stay at my parents’ house to help out.  Ang and I stayed in my older brother’s old bedroom and shared a bed together.  It was so nice to spend those nights giggling in bed and enjoying alone time together.  At night right before we drifted off she would tell me a “Dear Diary” story, pretending she was writing in her diary and talking all about our day. It never failed to make me laugh hysterically.

Ang and I went to Starbucks a couple times during the week and the woman working the drive-thru was pretty hopped up on caffeine.  When we pulled up to order she said, "Happy stress-free day".  We cracked up laughing and asked her if she could guarantee it would be a stress-free day.  She said yes and Ang asked her if she had magic coffee beans.  All week long we would giggle about Starbucks' magic coffee beans!

Attempting to tan my strip of skin while Ang washed the dog.

When I went for my last dress fitting I looked down and to my distress saw a white triangle of skin exposed in the "v" of my dress.  I had a sports bra tan-line and didn't think it would matter, but obviously it did!  Ang got some self-tanning lotion and rubbed me down in the triangle of skin with it.  The next morning my skin turned orange.  I tried to tan it a little bit in the short amount of free time I had, but it didn't work.  I noticed the tan line in pictures, but no one else did.

Taking a break from decorating to eat some lunch.

We decided to decorate the reception hall rather than pay to have it done.  So many people came to help out and we had quite a bit of fun.  My parents, brothers, Ang, Ty, and his friend, Brian, all helped out.  Thomas kept being a goofball, playing around as we worked.

Thomas messing around behind some curtains at the reception site.

My mom, Ang, and my mom's friend, Vicky, went with me to take a sneak peak at the flowers.  I was amazed that they were even more beautiful than I had pictured!  We had a blast looking at them all and snapping pictures.  Everything was starting to seem more real.  After months of planning it was almost time for the wedding!

Ang and me posing with the bouquets.

The week culminated with our rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.  Our pastor joked that we had so people at the rehearsal, we could've had our wedding that night.  It was so much fun to see everyone.  One of my bridesmaids, Steph, had just gotten off of a 24 hour shift at the hospital that morning and had a 5 hour drive, so I wasn't sure if she was going to make it.  We were part-way through the rehearsal when I turned around and was surprised to see her!

Going over everything at the rehearsal.

The week leading up to our wedding was so busy and so much fun.  Next up will be my wedding memories.