BIRTHDAY :)

Yesterday was my birthday and it was such a great one! 

I went into it without plans, and not asking for anything... It was the last thing on my mind. 

Since Charlie needed to sleep during the day and work all night, I ended up going to stay with my mom the night before. She told me her and Hal (my step-dad) wanted to take me out for lunch, so we ended up going to Tim's on the lake! 

We are such a seafood family, so we love love love Tim's! 

I went with the crab cake sandwich! 

Holy yum. 

Happy birthday to me!! It was awesome :) 

I totally recommend it. 

Hahahaha! After we ate, Emmet was hungry too. 

He was looking in the wrong places though!! 

We all had to laugh.

Ahhhh, much better ;) 

My card from my parents :) she spun too. 

E loved it!!

He was a happy boy after he ate. 

The lighting stunk in there, but I still wanted to get some pictures!

Thanks for lunch mom & Hal! Love y'all. 

By the time it was time to leave, he was done with pictures...

After lunch I got a surprise call from my hubby telling me he took off work to be with me :) 

He told me not to come home in until 5 though... 

When I got there, he surprised me with the watch I've wanted for so long! 

Thanks, love :) 

Oh, and not to mention he cleaned the whole condo AND got a new bed frame 

(he knew ours was driving me NUTS with a peg missing). 

My day was perfect and it had the perfect ending :) cuddling with my family. 

I'm so thankful for all of my family and friends. 

Thank you for all of the love and birthday wishes. 

MAX & DIXIE

After living at our house for almost 15 years (that's a rough guesstimation), I had always seen "the lady with the two big dogs". It's so, so sad that it took roughly 15 years and a baby to wreck my body to finally meet this amazing lady! One day my mom passed her and the dogs on her bike and they got to talking because my mom knew she was into fitness stuff and personal training (didn't know the extent yet), and wanted to talk to her about some options. So, my mom asked about her doing personal training still and her answer was, "Yeah, but it's pretty far from you... Like two houses down." Well, I can't even come up with a good excuse to get out of that now!! This all happened four weeks before the wedding. I went once a week to train and she worked with me on my diet - I can proudly say I am almost back to the old me! In the process of working out (at her home, in her separate gym), I realized how stupid we were not to have talked years ago! 

This woman is seriously awesome! 

While coming to her house, it was inevitable for me to meet her "two big dogs" Max and Dixie :) they are the sweetest pups! They may appear ferocious, but don't be too fooled...

Long story short, I knew Lynn (the awesome woman I've been raving about) also had an equally incredible husband - later found out that he does a lot of leadership lectures ect. So, with all of these speeches comes lots of traveling (to Italy, Germany {etc.} ...jealous yet? I am.) Lynn however, doesn't get to do nearly as much of the traveling as she would like because of the pups. Well, this couldn't have worked out better. Need a dog sitter?? Pick me, pick me!

Well, I could go on about how much I admire this couple... But I figure I'll get into some pictures of our first "dog sit"! 

Big babies :) I think they were missing their mom and dad... 

I may have forgotten to mention that they have the MOST beautiful home and view. 

They are on the point and surrounded by water - the view is unbeatable. Sorry mom. 

They took a liking to each other :) 

While we played outside... Could you imagine our son sleeping?? 

Who would have guessed. ;) 

Of course Charlie had to go buy a fishing pole for the occasion... 

I don't know what's gotten into him! He can't get enough of fishing! 

(Not enough to bring home dinner though, Mark ;)) 

Sweet girl! She definitely has some energy when she wants! :) 

And not that I would ever choose a favorite..... 

But I love how Max liked to stick by my side :) 

No favorites.......

I just liked this mug's motivation. 

Okay.. And really?! I could live in that spot. 

Since we were only two houses down from my mom.. 

Of course we had to go get love from her! 

That face ^^ 

I got Charlie to pack up a lot of our stuff,

so when I went to get the socks out of my shoes to wear today... 

Babe, I don't think these are going to fit!! 

Made me smile :)

Aren't those dogs great?? 

Lynn and Mark, thank you for letting us stay in your beautiful home with your fabulous pups! 

They sure do love you! 

Hope you had so much fun at the US Open tennis tournament! 

LABOR DAY @ LAKE ANNA

For Labor Day we headed to my mom's house at Lake Anna. Growing up at our lake house led to such an enchanting childhood and I so hope to eventually live on the lake with my family. Sadly, the house I grew up in is now for sale :( looking for a lake house? Look elsewhere!!!
Just kidding... Even though I will miss my house, it's in all of our best interest to sell it (tear). 

Anyways, we decided to head over and get in a little time down by the water and have dinner with my parents (always delicious).

What a view to wake up to every day. Why would you NOT want to?? 

A few essentials. Beer for the people, and corn for the catfish - yes,
we have pet catfish that we feed at our dock! 

They love it! I swear! 

"Feeeed meeee" 

They also love bread. And turtle man does, too! :) 

My hubby doing what he loves! 

And once he was done with that...
Time to grub on some delicious food!! 

Momma working hard on some homemade cabbage salad!
So good!!
The ramen noodles are what make it. 

Homemade potato salad... YUM! 

Hal is the "grill man". Chicken and pineapple kabobs!
They were heavenly. 

They love each other so much. It's precious! 

But for most of the day, E just snoozed. Little angel. 

Well, I hope you had a fun Labor Day!
Now back to the real world...
Oh how I love you, days off. 

FAMILY REUNION

Pretty last minute, last week, my family decided that we were going to go to the Elkins family reunion. I 100% left it up to Charlie because he had to work night-shift Saturday and Sunday. Keep in mind that the reunion was six hours away! That drive was not going to stop my husband from showing off his baby to his whole family for the first time, though.  

After getting off at 5am, Charlie, Emmet, Pops (Charlie's [our] dad), Jill (Charlie's [our] sister), and Raylee (Charlie's [our] niece) loaded up our two cars and left the house by 6:05am. After sixish hours, we arrived to Lee County, Va. After stopping by some family's house, we headed up the road to the reunion. 

Of course everyone was captivated by Emmet's cuteness and it totally made the drive worth it! We can't wait until next year's! 

This was bright and early in the morning on the way 

(that's Pops, Jill and Raylee in the red car). 

Those mountains are so beautiful! Also, this was pre-ticket for Pops...

Happy Labor Day weekend!

This is Emmet in the car - we were amazed at how well he did!

 We are proud parents :) 

Of course we had to get pictures of the cousins!

 (Raylee holding Emmet - next to Gage who isn't technically a first cousin, but that's what we're going with!) We love you, littles! 

Here's a picture of my Elkins boys :) love them! 

Love them so much that I needed a picture with them! 

Raylee adores Jill. 

However, after a few diaper changes, Jill's response was "I'm never having kids." 

Trust me... You will, Jill :) you love those babies so much. Just admit it. 

As much as we love Emmet's cuddles, he isn't the most active yet (considering he can't even walk),

 so Ray was all of our entertainment for the day. 

Keep it up kid. You rock. 

Ps-don't you love our matching nails?! I love you, Raylee Keller! 

I love you OH so much, little girl :) 

And so does your "Uncle Cucky" :) 

Here's some family loving on our boy and our big strong baby standing up, almost on his own!!

I adore them. 

Sweetness. 

After the reunion we had some important business to attend to. 

Pops wanted to introduce Emmet to his parents. It was a precious moment.

 Emmet, you always have some veryyy special angels watching over you :) 

Always in our hearts! 

And I will end this post with a picture of Emmet's tush! 

I mean who doesn't love a picture of a cute baby tush in adorable baby jeans? 

I'm so proud to finally be an Elkins!

 Felt good to sign into the reunion today as 'Kelly Elkins' :)

 it will feel good to do it next year and 50 years after that, too. 

Happy Labor Day everyone! Stay safe!