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.

My Baby at 10,000 ft.

So we're back. We just spent the last 7 days in Colorado, and it was AMAZING! I want to warn everyone that this is going to be my longest blog entry to date, so bulk up for the long hall. We took over 300 pictures while we were there so I think the best thing to do (in addition to narrowing down the pictures) is break it up by each day we were there. Here we go...


WEDNESDAY
Actually, let me start with Tuesday night, in which, Adam and I never fell asleep. We finally called it a wash and got up at 3am to start getting ready. We woke up the princess at 3:45 leaving only time to get her dressed and in the car and we headed off to the airport. After two 2 1/2 hour flights we made it to Denver, 11:30am mountain time. We spent the rest of the day walking around the Cherry Creek area of Denver with Adam's dad and Step-mom, and ate dinner on the patio of a popular burger joint. Harper had a little trouble getting used to the time difference but otherwise was in good spirits. After dinner we pretty much went directly to bed. We were a little embarrassed to find it was only 8:30. Oh well, we had a long week ahead of us.

Notice it's still dark outside.

We had lunch at a cute little pub Don and Missy frequent. Everyone knows everyone in this little neighborhood.

Waiting outside the burger place for a table. It was definitely one of the area hot spots.

THURSDAY
We woke up a little earlier than usual this morning due to the time change, but came around pretty fast after a hearty Starbucks breakfast. We had a mostly lazy morning, getting ready and packing up our stuff again. We then packed everything into the truck and headed off to Crested Butte (a 4 hour drive turned 5 with a little sight seeing around Denver). After getting to the house we met up with Adams brother Kenny, his wife Beth, their step sister Ali. We all went down to dinner in the cutest little town you'll ever see. Again, Don and Missy seamed to know everyone, including the owners. Harper even got some special treatment, and was allowed to work the taps behind the bar. She was known as the "bar baby" by everyone the rest of the time we were there.

Don and Missy have the cutest little townhouse in Cherry Creek. It was very quaint with a whole lot of character.

Along with all the incredible views of mountains, and lakes, we also saw...

COWS, lots of them. Had I known exactly how many cows we would actually see over the course of the week I never would have bothered with this particular heard.

Harper making friends with the owner's son. That's my girl...aim high.

Harper owning the taps

Working the bar can really take it out of you.


Adam and Harper waiting outside the restaurant after dinner. Harper sporting her new Patagonia vest, powder pink.

FRIDAY

Today we took it easy. We went up to an old abandoned hotel that could have been the exact one from "The Shining". It was up a LONG dirt road that is closed in the winter and was on top of a mountain with no other buildings for miles. The hotel itself was cool but the views we saw were spectacular. We spent the rest of the day walking up and down the town streets popping in all the cute little shops. We had lunch outside at a pizza place, then later went to dinner at a local Mexican restaurant. For a small town they had abundance of places to eat.

This is NOT a postcard...yet.

Seriously, could she get any cuter?

It was such a walkable town. And for anyone who didn't want to walk, they rode their bikes.


Harper loved strolling around town in her new wheels. It was her first look at the world facing forward.

Harper LOVED "Buff" the stuffed buffalo head. She did not take her eyes off of it whenever we were in the room. We decided it would be nice to have a picture of the two of them for the blog.

SATURDAY
This was the big day for Kenny. This weekend was the homecoming rugby game for his Alma mater, Western Colorado State University. During this weekend along with a lot of drinking and reminiscing, the alumna team plays the current school team. Before heading down to the game, we stopped by to see the horses and give them a little snack. Once we got out to the game we discovered it was a balmy 70 degrees and VERY sunny. Quite different from the climate just 30 minutes and 2000 ft up on the mountain. Unfortunately, the alumna lost (not by much) but it was a little funny to see half of the alumna team walking around with ice packs or limping. Kenny did sustain an injury but it was just a bloody nose, he was fine. He did however feel the impact of his hit later that night.

After the game we all went back to the house to meet my cousin Forest who drove up from Colorado Springs. We then trucked down to the center of town to a great little sushi establishment. This particular night was the Vinotok celebration in Crested Butte. It celebrates the end of summer and the beginning of fall and winter. Several of the towns people dress up and parade down the streets, into the stores and restaurants, before crowding around a HUGE bonfire. It was definitely one of the coolest things I've ever seen. Harper was even recognized as the "bar baby" by one of the waitresses working that night.

Horse country USA.


Don't worry, uncle Kenny was ok. Rugby is a no nonsense game.

These were just 2 of the hundreds of people dressed up. Most of them were in the sushi place we were waiting to go into.

The whole bunch.

I told you it was big.

SUNDAY
Today was the day the rest of us had been waiting for. We all went up to Red Mountain where Don and Missy's lot is, lot being 35 acres. They are planning to build on it soon, but until then they just enjoy the view and the open land for the horses. We spent the day riding horses, making smore's and admiring the views. It was amazing to think that people live places where they can enjoy these things everyday. That night we had a dinner party and celebrated my birthday a little early. Everything was delicious but the 4 layered double chocolate confection with chocolate pudding shots that Missy made was (no pun intended) the icing on the cake. It also made a great breakfast.

This was at the bottom of the mountain Don and Missy's lot is on.

Harper bundled up in her high altitude gear. She looked like a little elf.

The whole clan.

Harper really took to the horses. This girl has no fear. She grabbed right on and was ready to go.

Quite the changing station.

Discovering new things.

What a GREAT day!!

MONDAY
On the road again. We decided to head over to Aspen for the day. It was about a 2 1/2 hour drive each way. Before leaving we were so excited to see some snow flurries making their way to the ground in CB, but didn't really keep our hopes up after seeing nothing but sun the whole way over to Aspen. Once getting to Aspen we realized the snow showers had followed us. It snowed for a while before tapering off and not leaving too much of an impact. We had a fun day walking around and seeing the area. It was an attractive city but didn't have any of the charm Crested Butte did. About half way through our drive back we discovered we got a lot more snow than we thought we did. Everything was covered and it was BEAUTIFUL. The town looked exactly like one of those Christmas village set ups people display around the holidays. As if the town could have gotten any more picture perfect. This did mark Harper's first snow, and I don't think she could have cared less. Oh well, we all thought it was great. Funny that all this happened on the last official day of summer.

Walking down the streets of Aspen. We were having a mix of snow and sleet (hence the umbrella).

We had lunch at the most expensive hamburger place in the country. You would think with all the cattle in the area a hamburger would be $.13 instead of $13.00.

The view from their deck.

TUESDAY
Leaving day. So sad, but what an incredible vacation. We woke up to the beautiful snow kissed village. We went down to the center of town and got a few more pictures. Then we drove the hour and a half to the airport. Poor Harper endured a lot of traveling this past week, but she did beautifully. She is definitely a well traveled baby. She has now been on 8, yes 8, flights, and come this time next week she will be on another with our trip up to Vermont. Stay tuned.

Don's cute little dental practice right in downtown. This place would almost make you want to go to the dentist...almost.

Bye bye Colorado...'til next time.