Pre-Wedding Festivities

Whitney and Rod got engaged just a few days before James was born.  I remember thinking it was neat to officially add two more boys into the family in the same week.  I also remember thinking that I couldn't believe our child would be 13 months when the wedding happened...and boy have those 13 months flown by!  Rod is such a great addition to our family and a wonderful match for Whitney.  Ryan and I (and James) were honored to get to be a part of all the excitement! 

On Friday Whitney's aunts and Granny treated all the bridesmaids to a luncheon at Finellis.  It was nice to get to visit with one another and honor Whitney as well. 

The beautiful bride-to-be

The hostesses

After the luncheon I went home to check on James and Ryan and get ready for the rehearsal/dinner that evening.  It sure was nice to have my parents watch JT so we didn't have to worry about him! Whitney and Rod chose to get married outside and the weather was gorgeous for the whole weekend. 

Getting ready to leave for the rehearsal

After the rehearsal Rod's family hosted a seafood boil at the Washington waterfront.  There was lots of good food and company!

Rod's mom made these cute cake pops to represent Stella (their dog) and of course the ECU Pirates!

 

Fun Times

Here are just a few of the fun things we did during our week vacation before the wedding festivities began.  We tried to squeeze in as much as we could!

Dinner at Ming Dynasty with the Cox family

Celebrating Ryan's upcoming birthday

Playing with Aunt Whitney

The coolest ball ever

Aunt Margy and Aunt Nell came to visit

Trying chicken pastry for the first time.  He worked HARD to pick those noodles up. Yummy!!!

Where are the sunglasses when you need them?

New Trick

I forgot to mention that while we were at my dad's birthday party James decided to show off a new trick.  Click on the link below if you are interested to see it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEAj6b_I7JA

Happy Birthday Dad!

Let me start off by saying that I have the most amazing dad ever.  He sets the standard that I measure all other men by, and he is one of the most encouraging and supportive people I know.   I am so thankful for him and the rest of my family and it was extra special to get to celebrate the big 60 with all of us together.   Instead of having a big party Dad decided he would rather just our family grill out.  My family can make some awesome steaks!  It ended up being a wonderful afternoon of hanging out in the backyard, playing with James, and spending some quality time together.  Happy Birthday Dad!  We all love you!

James thought it was fun to push Greer around!

A little race... I think Uncle David won

Happy Birthday Granddaddy!

Go Pirates!

Ryan and I were so excited when it worked out for us to go to an ECU game on the first day we were back in NC.  It was a LONG day of traveling and the game ended up being a HUGE disappointment in terms of team performance.  However we had a great time tailgating and visiting with friends.  Hopefully the next game we go to the Pirates will do a little better. As my dad always says, "It's not always easy being a pirate!"

JT thought he was big stuff in his football jersey

So glad to see my friends AND to get to wear a sweatshirt.  Love that cool weather!

Granny Deb had to go buy a ball to play with

The Creech Clan

The Holland Household

We love them even though they are UNC fans. :)

Nana was so sweet to take James home for the night so we could stay at the game

David let me borrow this toboggan- it got cold!

The greatest dad and pirate club president ever! :)

 

 

 

 

As a side note it was almost exactly a year ago that James was old enough to go on the airplane, and we made our first trip home.  He was 6 weeks old and yes, we took him to a football game!