Fall days and Holidays

I'm going to combine several pictures in this post. I'm so far behind on my blogging that I just need to get caught up.

We "set up" our mini Halloween scene at our house. We always try to at least get a pumpkin or 2 but we never really go all out with the Holiday decorations, with the exception of Christmas. This year Adam decided to pick up a bale of hay. It added a nice touch to the pumpkins and the pictures. We had a beautiful fall day last week, so I thought I would put Harper in her new coat, hat and boots and grab a couple of cute pictures with the pumpkins. She was also wearing her skinny jeans that day, yes that's right ladies, her skinny jeans. They are the only ones that will fit in side her boots. She was not in the best mood that day (as reflected in her blank semi annoyed stare). Oh well, that's our little girl, she's all or nothing when it comes to pictures.




Last night was Halloween, our first with the little miss. I'm not sure, actually I take that back, I am sure she was no where near as excited about her costume as we were, but she did let us have fun with it and that's all that matters. She will love seeing these pictures at her wedding in 25 years, won't she?
We borrowed the costume from Emilee's sister-in-law Beth. Her little girl Alyssa wore it when she was about the same age. It was so stink'n' cute!! Thanks again Beth, maybe in a few years she can be a snow queen.

You may recognize the hay bale and pumpkins. I was lacking creativity this weekend. They have definitely served their purpose for the season.







Ok, now on to the adult segment of this post. Adam and I finally got our big night out on the town. I'm not quite sure we were properly prepared, but it was a blast non the less. It's been a while since we have done the 9 to 2am time slot (in last nights case it was more like 3) so we were a little rusty. We went over to our friends Lee and Kim's for their annual party and had a great time seeing all of our creative friends going all out. We then headed over to another friend's house, Amie, to celebrate Whitley's 30th birthday. We stayed there for a little while before the Couch Trip bus picked us up and took us down town. We had rented the bus for the entire night so we never had to worry about driving, catching a cab or, God forbid, walking in my shoes. We partied until we ran out of steam and then crawled back home. Harper's wake up call at 6:30am (7:30 her time) was not the finishing touch we were looking for. Lucky for us Grandma was still there to take over and let mom and dad get a little more sleep.


I was the Orbit Gum Girl "fabulous", and Adam was my obiligatory "dirty mouth".


Kenny (Adam's brother) was Kenny Powers, and Beth (sister in law) was an umpire.






Lady Gaga in the flesh and on our bus!!

One With God

This past Sunday was a very special day for our family. It was Harper's Christening, where she became part of the Catholic family. Adam and I also decided that this would be a perfect time to have our marriage convalidated (blessed) by the father. Adam and I were married outside and unless married in a church by a Priest, it isn't recognized by the Catholic Church. Harper looked stunning in her custom Baptismal gown and bonnet hand made by her great-aunt Mimi. Neither Adam nor I had a Christening gown in our families so we thought it would be nice to start the tradition. The slip underneath hung down below the bottom of the gown with a pink ribbon woven through the lace. It also has her name and date of birth embroidered in it. It will be cute to change out the ribbon in the slip, the arms, and the bonnet to another color, having it embroidered in the same color with the next baby. It's crazy to think my grandchildren will be baptized in the same gown. Between renewing my vows with my amazing husband, and welcoming my child into the church in front of family and friends, it was a pretty incredible day.

Adam and I had chosen Emilee and Mike to be Harper's God-parents. Emilee was brought up very active in the the Catholic church and they are both invaluable to our lives. What more could you ask for for your child.

I know what you are all thinking..."If Emilee was part of the ceremony, then who took all the great pictures?" That torch was passed from daughter to father. Henry Andersen took all the pictures for us during the baptism. Thanks Henry, they captured everything to perfection.

Harper and Katie

GO PIRATES!!!

Adam and I headed down to Greenville this weekend to show our support for the ECU Pirates. It was their homecoming game and I think EVERY current and former student was there. We went down with some other friends of ours and met up with a ton more. I have to say, I am by no means a college football tailgating connoisseur, however, these guys definitely do it right. I have never seen so much school spirit in my life, and I was a cheerleader for 6 years. They had the traditional tents and flags, shirts and coozies, but we also saw ECU custom beer cans, dinnerware, table clothes, motor homes, and even port-a-potties...yes port-a-potties. It was a sea of purple and yellow. People from 1 to 100 were dressed head to toe in school attire. It was pretty impressive.

We all had a great time together. We went into the game for approximately 20 mins. ECU was up by about 20 points so we headed out to finish tailgating and then to dinner. Adam and I, unfortunately, had to get back to Raleigh for Harper's Baptism eary the next morning (post to come soon). We would have liked to have stayed that night for the partying, but duty called.

Until next year...

The Girls...Me, Lauren, and Anne

The boys... Andy (w/ Anne), Adam, Bryan (w/ Lauren)

A little striped delight

Here it is in all it's glory. What better than your own private bathroom at an event like this. I don't know if you can tell but it had the ECU mascot carved into the door.

Peteyyyyy!!!!!

Arrrrrrrrrrrrgh

Just Can't Stay Away...I LOVE YOU VERMONT!

Since moving to North Carolina, I vowed to myself to always visit back "home" at least once a year. Well, considering I was only 16 when I moved, having just been torn away from the only place I had ever lived, my life long friends...etc, etc, I was probably not thinking as rationally as one with a little more life experience. Never the less, I kept up my promise for several years. It wasn't until my traveling funds started to come from my own bank account that my trips started to dwindle. I took Adam up with me about 3 years ago. He is a devoted fan of the N.C., however, I'm pretty sure he was able to see what I loved so much about the North East. It had been since then that I was up there, when I went up in May for my best friend Valerie's dad's funeral. It was definitely not the way I wanted to revisit or introduce Harper to my home town. Luckily, we were able to make a second trip up this year, with the entire family, and see Vermont in it's true glory... FALL FOLIAGE. I still have some family up there, my Aunt and Uncle live in South Hero, and my friends Valerie and Kealey and their families. It's so nice to know that as long as I have an affinity for the area, there will be people up there to welcome me back.

Our first full day we headed up to Shelburn to the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory. It was really cute. I can't wait to take Harper when she's old enough to pick out her own bear with it's own little outfit.




The next day, we went up to Stowe and Smuggler's Notch. The town of Stowe is really quaint, with a lot of general stores and Vermont made apparel and treats. We drove up over the Notch and found a couple photo opps., we discovered one of Vermont's famous covered bridges, and we saw the new Stowe lodge with a gondola that starts right outside the lobby and takes you all the way to the top of the mountain. The foliage was much farther along in the mountains than in Burlington. It was a beautiful drive there and back.




We were lucky enough to be up there during one of Vermont's MANY harvest festivals. We had a good time seeing giant pumpkins, driving wooden tractors, and navigating corn mazes.

In my 30's

Ok, so I was going to skip this post altogether, however, I'm better than that.

I have recently turned...oh God...31. My 30th birthday was so much easier to deal with than this one. This birthday, is in fact, the catapult launching me smack into my 30's. There is a huge difference between being on the cusp (where I have spent the past year) and being in the middle of (me now). Last year, I had my pregnancy to occupy my brain from the realism of what was happening to me. This year, considering I'm jobless, bored, and still not quite back to my pre-pregnancy weight, it's much harder to swallow.

Anyway, back to the point of the post. Between the celebrating we did in Colorado, and Vermont, Adam and I met some friends at the Zach Brown concert, on the night of my actual birthday, and had a GREAT time. I love the Regency Park venue. It's so laid back and nice compared to others. Despite all the drama in my head, it was a really good birthday.

6 Month Pictures

Harper had her 1/2 year pictures the other day. Emilee and I found this REALLY cool old truck for sale on the side of the road that just screamed "photograph me". Emilee called and got permission to use the truck, and we all headed out there for the morning. Harper was wearing her red maryjane "sweet shoes" that day, which only added to the fun color of the truck.

Having your picture taken is not all fun and games.

The bulging fat in this picture is nothing short of spectacular.