half a decade!

Brandon,

We've been married for 5 years.  That's half a decade!  Feeling old yet?  I wish I had pictures to document our anniversary day spent together, but it's our last day at the beach with your family and I'm sick in bed.  Unbelievable.  Thanks for the dinner reservations and pedicure that we had to cancel, it was the perfect thought that counts!  We have been through fun times and hard times and are learning more and more about grace every single day.  We've been in 3 houses, gotten a dog, had a kid, and have traveled the world.  I wouldn't want to do it with anyone else.  I love you, and I'm thankful for you!

Here's to many many decades more!

OBX: hudson style.

The day after we got back from North Africa we repacked our suitcases and headed to the Outer Banks with the entire Hudson clan.  Brandon's mom and dad, Brandon, Lucas, me, John, Gina, Savannah, Lily, Carly, Steph, and Wes all stayed under one roof for a week.  It was so fun!  We went to the beach and played at the pool at the house and just loved watching the kids play together.  

We weren't sure how Lucas would react to the beach.  We were hoping he wouldn't be afraid.  Our wish was granted...and then some.  That kid is fearless..  He wanted to be out in the waves and run on the sand. It was SO fun to see him take in this amazing part of creation.

The house we stayed at was great. There was a pool in the backyard and it sat right on the sound.  We were about a 5 minute walk from the beach, but we loved sitting on the porch and watching the birds.

We went and played putt-putt one night!  Lucas stayed at home with MiMi because we were going to be out past his bedtime.  It was fun spending time with the 3 girls. It's unbelievable how quickly they have grown up.

We went into town for seafood and icecream one night.  This kid, I tell you...he's so handsome.

I think that Lucas's favorite part of the trip was the outdoor shower that was at our house.  After getting sandy at the beach, we would come back and strip Lucas naked and let him rinse the sand off in the shower.  He loved it!

One unfortunate incident that happened on our first day happened when I was washing dishes...I bumped a big ceramic bowl up against the granite countertops and the bowl shattered in my hand, slicing my pinky open.  Y'all...it needed stitched.  But I refused to go to any type of urgent care on our first day of vacation, so we ghetto rigged my finger.  It was a clean (deep) slice so we got some butterfly stitches and a finger splint and I was good to go.  Keeping my finger straight allowed the cut that was right in the bend of my finger to stick back together.  As annoying as that was, we avoided a trip for stitches!  And do not judge me based on the size of my mimosa.  This was right after it happened.  

We wanted to get a group picture the last night we were there, and mother nature decided it would be hilarious to immediately darken the skies and turn up the wind.  We went down to the beach first and set up the tripod which promptly tried to blow away.  The girls were freaking out because sand was blowing like a deleted scene from the Wizard of Oz and pelting our legs like little razor blades as our hair blew into our faces.  So the best picture we got was on the walkway to the beach between 2 houses.  It'll do!

We had a blast!  Thanks, MiMi and PawPaw!

15 months.

Lucas, you are 15 months old!  You are 100% b-o-y and like all things that make you go-go-go.  You are fascinated with the world around you and aren't afraid of anything.  [Which makes your mama afraid of everything!]  The bigger, the dirtier, and the louder the better, right?  

You had your pediatrician visit and it was the first time in the office that we had a bit of a hard time wrangling you.  You wanted to explore half naked in your diaper, running around the exam room and opening cabinets.  We answered the developmental questionnaire and again, you're right on track.  There was one question that we initially answered 'no' to, it asked something like "does your child climb on things to get to something he wants?"  And I said no because at this point, you hadn't.  Well.  By the time I was on the last page of the questionnaire, you had climbed on your diaper bag to try to get up on the seat with me.  So I went back, erased the "no" and put a "yes."  Always keeping me on my toes, aren't you little guy?

You're still a big boy. You weighed 25 pounds and you are 31.5 inches tall with a head circumference of 48 centimeters.  That puts you in the 60th percentile for pretty much everything.  Keep up the good work!  

You are a talker...all the time.  But we only understand about 15% of what you are saying.  So real words would be helpful, okay?  Anything remotely round is "BALL!"  This includes most produce in the grocery store.  You do elicit laughs from anyone shopping near us when you point to the cantaloupes and yell joyfully, BALL!!!! so that's okay. I know that you understand most of what we are saying.  You will give us sideways glances when we give you warnings that are nothing short of mischievous, and you will follow commands especially when it involves giving us kisses. Those are my favorite.  Especially when you chase Lexi around smacking your lips trying to kiss her.  I'm not sure why she won't let you.

You are very observant.  Whether it's watching a bug crawl across the sidewalk or people-watching until you get a smile, you are taking every second in.  You laugh a lot.  And it's like music to my soul.

And did I mention how handsome you are?  We hear it all the time...."he's just so cute!"  Yeah, we know.

You're a good eater (when you decide not to throw food.)  You love fruit, I'm not sure what I'm going to do when summer's over and the pickings become slim.  At the farmer's market, we went around and tasted peaches.  You would take a bite, lift up those little eyebrows, and say "mmmmmmm!!"  And the little old men trying to sell us their peaches wanted to keep you for advertisement.  I don't blame them.

You have an insane amount of energy.  You don't ever walk...you RUN.  

And you are learning to jump, which right now consists of you squealing and bouncing up and down without your feet ever leaving the floor and your arms waving in the air.  It's hilarious.

And one of your favorite things is to just be outside.  It's one of your favorite words to say..."ousiiiide!  ousiiiiide!" And you point at the door.  We won't talk about the little tantrums you have started throwing when it's time to come inside...

Lucas, I say it all the time.  We are so proud of you.  You are changing by the day and growing up into such a kid and leaving your little baby self behind.  But that's what's supposed to happen, so it's okay.  I know you love us, and I'm so thankful for each second with you.  We love you big boy!

we went to africa.

We had the amazing opportunity to take a trip to the northern part of Africa for a week and see our best friends, Chris and Emily.  The trip was a whirlwind of wonderfulness and I'd love to tell you about it in person.  It's difficult to do on the blog, so I'll just leave you with some pictures!

We started the trip off with an 8 hour layover in NYC.  So we ditched the airport and went exploring!

Overseas flights are exhausting but beautiful, not knowing if you are witnessing a sunset or a sunrise.  All you can do is sit back and take in the beauty.

And then we landed!  In the desert...for real.

Below is the view from an apartment we stayed in that overlooked the Mediterranean Sea.  It was amazing.

Boats anchored outside a castle on the sea:

Beautiful view from a delicious seafood restaurant:

A glimpse at local life...the night market!

A man handed me a baby duck while walking through the night market.  It was all cute and cuddly until I realized it would be raised to be someone's dinner.  

Juice stands.  AMAZING.

The reason for our trip!  Reunited with my sweetest friend EMILY! (And my future daughter-in-law, Ella!)

Man, we've missed them.  We got to enjoy a day on the Mediterranean beach.

Our first view of the pyramids!  See them?  

The Nile River:

The national museum of Egypt:

Where we illegally took a picture of King Tut's mask!!!  craaaaaazy.

And then I rode a camel:

I was chosen to get on the camel first because I appeared to be the most nervous...thanks.  And yes, that was me who screamed. 

This is my "oh my gosh I'm on a camel" face:

And yes, that is a head scarf hat thing on Brandon's head.  He bought it for like $2 so his head would be protected from the sun.  Now thankfully it graces most of our pictures.

A pretty insane view from atop my camel:

We got to go inside this pyramid:

It was cramped and a little bit smelly, and I was basically hyperventilating the entire time because they kindly told us that they only let a certain number of people inside per day because "there isn't enough oxygen."  Awesome.  

Brandon respectfully doing pushups inside one of the tombs inside the pyramid:

And then I collapsed into a piece of heaven, aka a real bed. This king sized slice of goodness was in an amazing hotel we stayed in before flying home and was a much welcomed site after sleeping in not-so-American beds all week :)

There was a pretty unbelievable pool:

That overlooked the pyramids.  No kidding.  Ah-mazing. 

And that is just a portion of the insanity.