Pre-Wedding Fun

The beginning of many posts to come! We just returned from Florida after a relaxing 10 day vacation. I have so many great photos and memories to share that they'll be coming to you in bite-sized pieces. We'll start with the fun leading up to Maggie and Tim's wedding.

Grandad absolutely loved our beach location. He swears they shot the Corona beer adds there, they probably didn't, so we decided to shoot one of our own. Here are the men looking good enjoying some cervezas. Don't worry, Eloise had her milk, but she can't resist a photo shoot.

Here we are rehearsing (seriously of course) for the wedding ceremony. It was so much fun being a part of the wedding. Both Alex and Brent read some great selections, and Eloise was the speediest flower girl.

The sunset at the rehearsal dinner. It was a beautiful setting!

Trip to Lex

We headed to Lexington on Sunday after church to celebrate the end of Confirmation/Easter/Christmas/Everything. It was the perfect getaway even if it did rain the entire time. Lexington is always fun and beautiful, rain or shine.

Eloise and Alex posing in front of Lee Chapel. Eloise really liked learning about Traveller.

Eloise decided to streak the campus, like all good Generals that have come before her. :-)

We eagerly ran across the bridge to see the new Wilson Field. Eloise yelled at us, "Come on! Come on!" The bridge reminded her of her favorite Dora episodes and started seeing Dora songs. It was pretty funny, especially as the students walked by.

Eloise did not want to leave Wilson Field. So sad, Eloise!! (What a ham!) It was a fun trip but life continues at home.

Another Josie picture

Meet Josephine Bailey Averitt

Matt and Lauren had another beautiful and healthy baby girl on Friday! We are so thankful!!

Weekend Fun

Eloise is such a diva.

Eloise is quite a hiker! It's one of the most effective ways to tire her out. Long gone are the days of carrying her in a backpack. We went to the Audubon nature preserve, which is a couple miles from our house, and enjoyed the sun, trees, and space to RUN.

Of course we saw deer at the Audubon!

Camp Out

We had a most fantastic time last Saturday at a church camp out. Alex prepared a little service for the group and then we enjoyed dinner and s'mores. Eloise had the greatest time of us all. During the service, Alex asked if anyone wanted to read the gospel. A sweet girl volunteered and then Eloise copied her and said "I will." I whispered to Eloise, "you can do it later," thinking Eloise would forget. Well, about half way through the reading, Eloise gets up, takes the prayer book, and stands next to Lillian pretending to read. Fortunately Lillian stayed calm, finished the reading and sat back down. Eloise followed her. Everyone else was holding back the laughter. It was the cutest thing I'd every seen!

Other cute things--Eloise has been calling me Emily this week. And, she says "gracias" instead of "thank you" sometimes.

In other news, we had our 4th ultrasound yesterday. Yes, most people at this point have only had one, but this little baby likes to keep us on our toes. The doc couldn't hear the heart beat yesterday and was concerned so I stayed and waited 1.5 hours (yes it was a really long wait) for another ultrasound. Turns out the little guy/girl is hanging out in my rear tilted uterus so they couldn't detect him/her. Everything looks great, though. I even got to see him/her jump up. So adorable!

Big News

We've got good news to share! We're expanding our family to 4! The little one is due to arrive on November 8 and we are thrilled to say the least! :-)

Easter Weekend with Molly

Saturday

It rained Saturday. How unfortunate! So we dyed eggs and played with Wii fit together. It was nice and restful.

Sunday

We had a great Easter Sunday. The church service was beautiful, Eloise enjoyed the egg hunt outside, we ate Golden Rod Eggs for brunch (yum), and had a nice dinner at Peggy's in the evening. I also enjoyed a betting victory! I bet Angel Cabrera would win the Masters, and he did! (unfortunately I didn't bet anything)

Monday

Although it was a cool day, we ventured out to Great Falls (national?) Park. It's an impressive water fall on the Potomac river and home to part of the historic C&O Canal Company. We enjoyed the river and and the informative museum. The most exciting part of the park (and the most photogenic) was this hollow tree. We left the Great Falls hungry and found this amazing French bakery. I knew Molly brought her French good fortune with her when she came!

Snowing Flowers

The Cherry Blossoms have been at their peak this weekend. They most definitely live up to their reputation. Now the flowers are beginning to fall. They look like snow. It's beautiful!!

NYC and Butterflies

We had the most amazing time in NYC last weekend at the Mockingbird Conference. Our only complaint was that it too short. We heard some amazing speakers--Dr. Steven Paulson and Dr. Dorothy Martyn--and spent some time with dear friends. Being in NYC was an added bonus.

On Museum Monday, we headed over to the Museum of Natural History to visit the butterfly room. It's a neat habitat with over 40 species of butterflies. We were all mesmerized watching the beautiful butterflies all around us.

A Fun Packed Weekend

We are concluding a wonderful weekend of family and friends. We spent Saturday in Baltimore with Tim and Maggie for their pre-wedding celebrations, some old friends from W&L and Pittsburgh visited, and we got some quality time with Nana and Pops. Eloise and I are dressed and ready for Maggie's shower while the boys headed to Tim's hour to play Texas Hold 'Em.

Maggie had a beautiful shower. Meeting all of Tim's family was a pleasure, and Eloise loved all the candy and sweets!

Here is Mrs. Farrell and Mrs. Large.

Sunday Morning some dear old friends came over for brunch. They were in town for a wedding, and I was so happy they could come by and hang out. Between Matt's rhymes and Jen's story telling, we were in stitches laughing! The Tomos from Pittsburgh came over for lunch, and it was wonderful meeting their little girl. Unfortunately Eloise kept hoarding her toys and there were lots of tears so we didn't get any photos.

Eloise loved getting an "Eloise sandwich" from her Nana and Pops. She didn't want that to end. She kept yelling "again! again!"

To top the weekend of activity off, we've had beautiful weather. Trees are blooming, the sun is out, and we can finally relax outside. Here's to a long Spring!

Sleepy Time and Museum