beach trip [part 2]

What's a trip to the beach without family pictures?  

This is how many of our family picture sessions started.  First, Lucas would lure me in close to him with his cute squishy face.  Then he would grab my face or hair.  Once he decided to let go, he would crack up laughing. What a booger.

Practicing his beach modeling poses

Baby toes in the sand

 One evening, the sky was so beautiful so we headed down to the beach to take some pictures. Thankfully, Lucas was hamming it up for the camera.

clearly, he loves this....(not.)

eyeing the sand....

and eating the sand. 

hunk-a-hunk-a-lifeguard

THANK YOU MiMi and PaPa for a fun fun time at the beach!!!

beach trip [part 1]

Thanks to MiMi and PaPa (Brandon's parents), we survived our first trip to the beach with a little one!  We stayed with them at their timeshare at North Myrtle Beach for 3 nights.  Although Lucas was awake most of the night all 3 nights, he was SO good during the daytime.  And for that, we are thankful.  He loved splashing in the pool and unfortunately eating sand. We carted him to various delicious seafood restaurants and he just went with the flow. He was wide eyed as he looked at the waves crashing on the beach. Seeing him discover another part of this world for the first time was pretty great.  Surprisingly, he napped pretty well but the wee hours of the night were rough.  We all know he's not the best sleeper in his own environment, so I wasn't too surprised that things were a little more difficult in this strange place. 

Our typical day was spent first drinking coffee and lounging in the room with the sliding glass door open, listening to the waves and looking at the beach.  We then would go down to the pool for a few hours and Lucas would swim and splash and then fall asleep for a while.  

We'd come up for lunch and Lucas would nap again in the room, then we would head back down to the pool for some more splash time.  

Then comes showers and dinner, then Lucas would go down to bed and we would watch fireworks on the beach from the balcony. Not a bad day :)

Here are some more pictures of our adventures:

staring intently at that BIG ocean

yoga on the beach

how do kids manage to put a fistful of
sand in their mouth before you can
stop them?!

here you see Lucas eating sand...then crying because it's gross.

 

MOHAWK

at the golf store playing on the putting green 

daddy is convinced Lucas will be a golfer.

We had such a great time.  Going to the beach with a baby is definitely different than it has ever been, but it was so fun.  We were reminded of how fast time goes by, remembering that this time last year when we were at the beach, I had a tiny little pregnant belly and was thanking God that I had gone like 3 consecutive mornings without puking with morning sickness...finally.  And thinking ahead to next year, we will have a crazy young toddler who will probably be running us ragged all around the pool and the beach.  So this year, we savored every minute of our little snuggly boy, knowing that this time is passing far too quickly.  Stay tuned for more pictures :)

photo dump.

I love my iPhone.  I am always quick to snap a picture of our little guy with my phone, and for the most part, it takes pretty good pictures!  With that said, I have made a recent resolution to use our 'real' camera more often.  I was uploading some recent pictures from our DSLR and they were too cute not to share with y'all.  

First round, I like to call "Lexi, move!"

Lexi keeping a close watch

Why the camera focused on the dog and not the baby, I'll never know.
(Was NOT on purpose!)

Lexi licking toes.

Lexi licking the top of his head...wow.

Ok, enough of Lexi's invasion.

peek-a-boo!

Aunt Pom came to visit!!!

Toes in the mouth

Playing with his favorite owl and favorite puppy

Ok, that's all for now.  You're welcome :)

THE wedding!

Finally, here are some of the wedding pictures!  To recap, Jon and Kelsey got married on August 10 in Charlotte.  The wedding was at Amity Presbyterian Church and the reception was at Alexander Homestead.  It was perfect!  And like I said earlier, I didn't take any pictures...so these are a hodge podge of pictures that I have stolen from other people :)

To begin...here is Kelsey's finished hair!  SO beautiful.

After the girls got ready, we headed over to Alexander  Homestead to take some pictures before the wedding ceremony.  

Finishing touches, something old. Kelsey wore a
 garter that was made by my great grandmother
for my mom when she got married.
I also wore it at my wedding! 

sweet picture of Ellie and Hanley, Kelsey's sisters

Jon and Kelsey decided to do a "first look."  This allowed them to see each other before the ceremony and gave them a special time together to privately see each other for the first time.  Thankfully, we got to peek at them from inside the carriage house (with their permission!) and witness this beautiful moment.  Jon was standing on the little bridge with his back to Kelsey as she walked down the path up to him. When she got to the bridge, he turned around and saw her. We were all trying so hard not to cry! It was so sweet.  Even though we were watching from far away, you could see their emotions during that special moment.  I can't wait to see the photographer's pictures of this.  For now, here was our view through the blinds:

                                

Then we headed over to the church for the wedding! I am so proud to say that I didn't cry.  Well, let me take that back.  I didn't let tears run down my cheek.  I definitely came close though.  I was overwhelmed with joy that my brother has found the love of his life.  I couldn't stop watching him look at her.  Their love for each other is only rivaled by their love for Christ, and that is a beautiful thing, people.  The ceremony was beautiful and perfect. They took communion together during their ceremony as their first act as husband and wife.  

They did it!

Introducing, Jon and Kelsey Hymel!

It was pretty great to get to walk down
an aisle again with this handsome guy.

We went back over to Alexander Homestead to take pictures and get our party on at the reception. 

Kelsey's attention to detail was unbelievable.

Lounge area during the cocktail hour

Inside the reception hall

Programs in a basket

Seating place cards displayed on old shutters

Pictures displayed on the lawn

HANDSOME.  His little gingham shirt
matched the groomsmen's ties! Too much.

Our family of 3!

Farrin, Kyre, Jon, Kelsey, Me, Lucas, Brandon

The original fab 4

Who knew Jon could dance?!  Kelsey, you work miracles!
A perfectly choreographed first dance! 

Also impressive, mother/son dance!

Love this. Jon and sweet, sweet Linda

Cutting the cake

Off comes the garter!

Last dance, so so so sweet

And they're off!  First stop, Pittsburgh.
Next stop, honeymoon in Turks and Caicos!

Whew.  It was so fun.  I can't wait to see the professional pictures and video.  (However, I'm afraid of the video evidence of the bridal party...mainly me...doing the wobble.) 

Jon and Kelsey, welcome to the club!  WE LOVE YOU!