Fun with friends and their families!!!

Since so many of my closest friends from college all have kids now, and we are not all in the same town, we don't get a chance to all get together as much as we would like. So, my friend Shannon and I decided to invite them to Nashville for a family get together and cookout at our house! Although I have seen my friends throughout this past year at showers, girls weekends, and other events...it had been a year since we had ALL been together with the husbands and kids at the same time! (Minus a few people that could not make it- we missed you guys!) It was SO great to be able to do that, and it was especially neat to see how much all the kids had grown and to watch them play and interact together. They all got along really well, and there were no major fights or meltdowns, which made for a great day and night! My friend Jennifer was nice enough to let us borrow her big inflatable bouncy house for the kids to play on outside. It was the perfect thing for them to do, and by the end of the night we had 5 little worn out and sweaty boys in the bathtub all at once (see picture below). My friends Rachael and Anne (and their families) stayed at our house, so we even managed to get in some "adult hang out time" after the kids went to bed! It was a great weekend!! I treasure these friends so much, and I am so happy to say that we are all still so close after all of these years! I hope we can continue the tradition of a family get together throughout the upcoming years! Here are some pictures from the get together. By the way- I promise there were husbands there, we just didn't think to get a picture of them- OOPS!)

All the girls with our kids- From left- Emily and Elizabeth, Shelly and Xander, Anne and Colton, Shannon, Calvin and Aiden, Stacey and Parker, Rachael and Evan



The hit of the party- the bouncy house!!


Evan, Aiden, Parker and Colton


Evan, Parker, Calvin and Elizabeth


Parker and Calvin


Parker and Colton


Rub a dub dub, 5 boys in a tub!! Parker, Calvin, Aiden, Colton, Evan



Colton, Evan and Parker that next morning

Visit to Ohio...

A couple of weeks ago we were FINALLY able to take a trip up to Akron, OH to visit Anthony's Gramma, and some of his aunts/uncles/cousins/etc. The last time we had been to Ohio was when I was pregnant with Parker, so we were WAY overdue for a trip up there. Gramma C had been down here when Parker was 9 months old, but had not seen him since. Anthony's mom (Giggie) went up with us, and it was fun all taking a road trip together! I think everyone enjoyed meeting Parker, and I know Gramma C loved having some time to spend with him. It was a really great visit! We also took Parker to his first major league baseball game while we were there, the Cleveland Indians. It was a lot of fun, and it held Parker's attention the entire time! Below are a couple of pictures of Parker with Gramma C, and then the rest are from the Cleveland Indians game. Enjoy!


GRAMMA C AND PARKER





CLEVELAND INDIANS GAME







SILLY FACES




PASSED OUT IN THE CAR AFTER THE GAME


ALL PACKED UP AND READY TO GO HOME...PARKER TOOK A RIDE ON THE LUGGAGE RACK

Mexico Beach Vacation!!

We had our annual family vacation to Mexico Beach last week, and it was a BLAST! We were not able to go last year, so we were so excited to be able to go this year! There were around 50 family members there this year, and it was great to see everyone! Parker had so much fun, and enjoyed the waves in the ocean- and making daddy catch hermit crabs to show him! He also became a pro in the pool, and is turning into quite the little fish! I think I took over 100 pictures while we were there, so this is just a small sampling of some of the fun we had over the week :) It was just so relaxing to get away from it all for a while and spend some time as a family! We are already counting down the days until next year!


THE DRIFTWOOD INN- THIS IS WHERE A LOT OF THE FAMILY STAYS- AND IS WHERE WE ALL CONGREGATE ON THE BEACH, AND AT THE INFAMOUS SWINGS TO HANG OUT DURING THE DAY/NIGHT!! LOVE THIS PLACE!





FUN WITH THE FAMILY








POOL FUN










BEACH FUN








BEACH BABY SHOWER FOR NICOLE, BILLY AND BABY KENNA




FUN NIGHT AT TOUCAN'S!

Beach pics...

The Mexico Beach Blog would not be complete without some of our "Teal beach pics." This was an idea that my mom had, that I have to admit we gave her quite a bit of slack about at first. We attempted to do them one night, and it didn't end up happening (long story that we don't want to re-live on the blog). So, we tried again on our last night and- and I am so glad we did because we ended up getting some cute pics out there that night! I guess my mom knew what she was talking about afterall...sorry mom! So- here are some of the pics from our last night on the beach!