Beach trip July 2011

We went to the beach with my parents about 2 weeks ago. While we were there, we celebrated my dad's birthday. We had a great time. It was Jensen's 3rd beach trip but first time where it was warm enough for him to enjoy the beach. Once we got to the ocean, Liesel and Caedmon did not waste any time getting in the water so I took advantage of the moment and took some pictures of Jensen's first time in the sand.
Jensen: "Ohh, what is that loud thing behind me?"

I got them all to sit for one picture....

I love making pictures black and white. It makes me stop and take in the moment.

I love this picture of Jensen with Craig and the kids in the background.

Jensen was very determined to not wear a hat. He kept taking it off.

I won getting the hat to stay on for a little bit at least. I sat Jensen in the water right where the waves were just getting his feet. I sat with him the whole time. Unfortunately I missed one coming in and it hit him right in the face pretty good. He got his first taste of sand and salt water. He did not like it and wanted to be held only.

Caedmon is so content in the ocean. He likes sitting where the waves break and chasing them. After two days, he said he did not want to go back to ocean and would rather stay at the pool. I was surprised so I asked him why and he said "because I do not like getting sand RIGHT THERE...it hurts!!" I will let you imagine where he pointed...HA!

Liesel loves to pose in the ocean.

One of my favorite things to do at the beach is to be out there when the sun is setting and enjoy that beautiful atmosphere. I also like to take pictures during that time....what a surprise :)
As soon as I put Jensen down in the sand he got really upset. I think he remembered how last time he got soaked. Liesel and Caedmon tried to comfort him. It was so sweet! See the look one his face :(

I was able to calm him down.....getting out of the sand worked......

Liesel and Caedmon are so fun and easy to take pictures of.

Jensen got the hang of it......sort of...LOL!

My nail polish was scented "beach" flavor. How perfect!

My sweet kids!

Here is a picture of my mom, me and Liesel. I love my mom!

After taking a few pictures, this is the best shot we have of the Berry Family on the beach........
I love Liesel's pose!

The kids decided to cover up Craig's legs :)

I love how Liesel sneaks into this picture....so cute!

One of the mornings we were on the beach, there was a professional photographer taking pictures of a young couple in love. I enjoyed watching the stuff the photographer had them do. It was so sweet. My dad and husband on the other hand were making jokes towards the end of their session. They said they are going to wonder when they get their pictures back who the people in their pictures are(US!!) I sure hope they are going to have the computer take the family with 3 kids out of their pictures. Anyways, one shot the photographer had the couple running down the beach and leaping. I thought we should try it to be funny. Liesel laughed so hard at how goofy I was being. One time we leaped into the air, I hit her in the head with my elbow. She was a good sport and got back up. Most of the pictures, I look very wierd so I will only post one of me. I told Craig I would never forgive him if he posted them on facebook. LOL! Just so you know, it is hard to look cool when you are leaping in the air. I hope the couple looked cuter than I did.

Liesel and Caedmon joined in the fun.

Craig and Liesel went to ride the SkyWheel in Myrtle Beach. It is a new ferris wheel. They were in air conditioned gondolas, I thought they said. Apparantely, there are only a handful of these ferris wheels in the world. For the record, I am terribly afraid of heights so I would not go but Liesel was so brave. She admitted to me she was a little scared. A little? I would have been freaking out!!!! I love roller coasters because I feel secure but not a ferris wheel or standing over a ledge.

We had a great beach trip. Looking forward to next year :)

Happy Anniversary!

At this time today 9 years ago, Craig and I were officially married. Our wedding was at 2:00 in the afternoon and it was probably an hour long. I had all these great ideas when planning the wedding that I wanted included that day. Craig, being the easy going man that he was, went along with it. I know, deep down that he thought it was too much. :) We had lots of singing, a dance by two beautiful young dancers, communion for everyone at the wedding, solos by some great singers and prayer time with friends. As one of our groomsmen said at the rehearsal...."You know it is a long wedding when the wedding party sits down twice during the ceremony." LOL!!!
It was a celebration of us joining our lives together before God and it is a day I will never forget. The reception was fun and after it was over and we had taken many pictures, we headed to St Lucia for our honeymoon.
I was looking through old pictures on the computer trying to find pictures of us. One thing I learned was that once we had children, pictures of Craig and I are hard to find. It seems to be just the kids. Ha! I found some good ones to reminisce about but I could not find one picture of us on our wedding day. I am not good with computers so maybe in a later post Craig can help me scan some. :)
Here is us when we were dating and we got our picture professionally made.

Here is a picture of us when we got engaged at the beach.

This was 4th of July days before we got married.

We had a slide show at our wedding. We had pictures of each of us as kids. We also included some pictures of us when we were just friends in the college and career ministry at our church. We were friends for six years before we started dating. When we knew the time was right to begin a relationship, it was meant to be and we were married soon afterward. Here we are playing a game to see who could put the most candies on their partners face. Craig and I won!!! At least I assume we did!!! I don't like to lose! A match made in heaven :) We are so competitive....lol!

Hanging out a church event. I think it was a pajama party :)

At our rehearsal dinner:

This is where I would put a wedding picture.......oh well!
We had a great time on our honeymoon in St. Lucia. The weather was so beautiful. It was at the most in the 80's. It was not too hot, crazy since it was mid July.
Here we are hanging out at the pool.

We rode horses and even got to take them in the ocean. Craig can tell a funny story about his experience on his horse he will never forget. :)

We were at a Sandals resort that was all-inclusive. It was so nice to be able to eat anywhere on the resort and just walk out after we were done without paying a bill. It was hard getting used to paying for meals when we got back. LOL!

9 years later, 3 kids later, we enjoy the beach again just this week. This time though it was at Surfside Beach not St. Lucia! Life changes when you have kids...HaHa!

Thanks for 9 wonderful years Craig! It has been nice strolling down memory lane. I love you!

Summer has been fun so far......

We have had a fun, yet busy summer so far. I cannot believe that Liesel will be going back to school in a month. Time flies when you are having fun :)

Liesel and Caedmon spent a few days visiting Craig's mom and step dad and while they were gone, I convinced my wonderful husband to paint Caedmon's room. We moved into our new house over a year ago and since I was pregnant at the time, painting rooms only happened based on high priority. Caedmon's room was low on the list and he had been telling us that he wanted a yellow room so badly. Yellow is his favorite color. He asked me often why he was the only one in the house whose room was not painted. It made me sad :( Despite the fact that it was Father's Day weekend, Craig agreed to paint his room with me!!! After it was all painted, we finally got him a new set of bunk beds. Up until that point, he was still in his toddler bed. He loved it for a long time but he was outgrowing it. My mom and dad came over on Father's Day and my dad kindly helped Craig and I put the bunk beds together. I did actually help with some of it....LOL! Here are the final results:

 Caedmon was so surprised when he got home and loves playing in his new room!

One weekend at the end of June, two of our friends were getting married in the mountains. We dropped Liesel and Caedmon off at Craig's dad and step mom's house, took Jensen with us and headed out for a nice relaxing weekend. We shared a cabin with another couple. It was so relaxing. Here is a picture of us in the hot tub at our cabin and the view from the cabin and YES, we have a view like that at our house in Fuquay...LOL!

The wedding was beautiful in a great outdoor location overlooking the mountains. I had to get a picture of me and my wonderful husband :)

Fourth of July weekend was upon us. I took the kids to an event at AC Moore to make American Flag t-shirts with spray paint. The kids really enjoyed it. Liesel kept telling everyone that she made it. She was proud of her work. Here are the kids at a cook-out on the 4th.

Jensen and I decided to match with our Old Navy t-shirts.

I got the camera out yesterday to take some pictures of the kids. We all laughed so much because Jensen was the hit of the party being silly. I love watching him observe his surroundings. I have made a point with this baby to relax and enjoy the little things about babies. When Caedmon and Liesel were babies, I worried a lot and was so exhausted that they grew up too quickly. I still worry sometimes and I am more exhausted now that I have three kids...LOL!! I just make a point now to sit down and watch Jensen explore his world. Here are the highlights of our Oh, Not, So, Professional, Picture Session.
My three beautiful children:

Jensen gave them a look like "What are you all doing?"

Caedmon loves being with Jensen.

Jensen was so silly and happy. "This family is crazy!"

Liesel wanted her turn to get a picture with Jensen.

Liesel has been playing dolls a lot more lately. She carries them all around the house. All of a sudden, she ran to get her dolls and asked me if she could get the whole family in the picture. I called Caedmon over and she told me that she just wanted Jensen only with her and all her dolls. Well then!!!! She loves Caedmon, but these dolls are like the sisters she does not have :) Good thing Caedmon did not really know he was left out of this family picture. HaHa!!! It was so funny watching Jensen's reaction to all the dolls. "Oh, when did you get here????"

"Yeah, it's a party now!"

"This one is my girlfriend."

"Hi Ariel!!! Nice hair."

After we stopped laughing, Caedmon said he wanted to kiss Jensen. I did not prompt him to do that. This is true love Caedmon shows to Jensen every day. Sometimes, it is TOO much that is rough for Jensen but this time he was so gentle. He does listen to me when I say GENTLE 50 times a day! :)

A few sweet and funny things Caedmon said the other day:
1. Jensen was playing with me and I got up to go to the other room. Since Jensen's attachment to me is still evident, he started to cry. Caedmon turned to him and said "It's okay Jensen, I am here with you."
2. I asked Caedmon to go fix me some breakfast one morning to be funny. He responded back with his funny comment except his was serious......."I can't bake breakfast because I can't flip anything." I guess since I make a lot of pancakes and muffins a lot, he thinks I flip things...LOL!!!
3. Caedmon was doing a maze in a coloring book and after he was done he said "That was easy, because I got skills!!!" Who knows where he heard that. :) All we needed was the Staples red EASY button!!!

We are headed to the beach tomorrow for a few days. So excited!