The Air We Breathe

Well it has been a long time since I have blogged! I have had so much happen these last 4 months I cant even begin to blog it all!

We moved from NC to SC just before Christmas and let me tell you that was so hard moving close to the holidays! My advise: "never do that!". So stressful and what a mess it is! Stuff everywhere and trying to have Christmas! Actually, all my pictures from Christmas has all our boxes and stuff pushed out of the way to take a few good pictures! But I can say, this Christmas was one of the best yet! The kids said they had the best Christmas and we loved all being together! Even if we were buried in boxes!

Charlotte called this a "Christmas Ka-jama (her word for PJ's) Party"

Through all the moving chaos and holiday excitement, we were also planning a wedding. Talk about a lot at one time!

Because this was our second marriage for both of us, and most of our family and friends were all over the country and in Canada, we decided to keep it small and simple. We wanted the day to be relaxed, low-stress, and because we were getting married soon after being engaged, we didn't have much time to plan a big day! But I can say, It went off without a "hitch" and it was PERFECT! (minus we forgot the wedding favors- special-ordered jam). I remember, late that night, I sat up in bed and yelled "we forgot the Jam!!!" Kinda heart-breaking but oh well, what can you do? We were able to give some to a few friends that live here in Columbia. Let's just say, "we are going to be eating jam for a long time". LOL

I'm not going to do a big blog post with all the pictures of the wedding, because our photographer Trevor Mercer Photography posted our wedding on his blog link here. Plus, there are way too many pictures to choose from anyway! I love them all because they all speak to my heart and capture what an amazing day it was! I'm so thankful to everyone that came and made this day so wonderful!
Seriously, I love you all! I will post a few of my favs below!

^^ First, the forgotten Jam

^^This was right before the ceremony when the photographer asked if we wanted to do a "first look" photo, but Todd didn't want to see me until the official ceremony! He wouldn't even look at my hand! So precious!

^^ We call her the "Angry Flower Girl" because she was so excited when we told her she was going to be a flower girl for our wedding!! when the guests started to arrive and she saw her friends, that quickly changed! All she wanted to do was go play with her friends! (I mean, I kinda don't blame her, we had just moved and she was seeing them again).

So, when the ceremony started and it was her turn to walk down the aisle, She threw the flower petals down so hard and so angrily! Everyone laughed I think! She was mad as a Snake!

^^I got the girls matching dresses from a beautiful vintage place in Australia called Doll Cake Vintage. I loved them so much! When I ordered them, I didn't know our wedding color scheme so I decided to get off-white or cream. I was beyond happy with them!

We had Todd's Battalion Chaplin marry us. He was so wonderful!

^^The Children didn't want anything to do with taking pictures at all! This is really the only one we got out of them together!

^^ Doesn't Todd and his brother look like they could be twins? I sure think so! He had a few people at the wedding ask him if they were twins! Just for the record, They are not! LOL

^^ This is my sweet Cousin Hannah from my Dad's side. As some of you all know, I am an only child so, we are like sisters and let me tell you, My special day couldn't have been so beautiful without this girl help and all her help! What a life saver! She did all the music and helped keep everything calm...including me! Plus, she was amazing on the day of just keeping me focused and helping with the kiddos! Without her, it may have been close to a circus! Oh, and, just to mention, she came all the way from Canada just for our wedding! Love her!

^^We found these super cute blue shoes two days before the wedding, so I thought they would be cute as my "something blue" !

^^My handsome groom. I couldn't believe how amazing he looked in his "Mess Dress" Uniform!

^^ My sweet sweet mama! This lady has been my rock and the best mother a girl could ask for! Wouldn't have been so special if she wasn't there!

We got married Downtown Columbia, SC right by the Gervais bridge. We chose a place that was a little rustic and so beautiful! The venue couldn't have been better! All the thanks to Stone River!

^^ Oh how I love him so!

^^ This part with all the sparklers...Wow what fun! Our exit before we took off as a married couple! Just holding his hand and running through the tunnel of sparklers felt so magical, especially with the one I love so much!

^^ Our Florist was the best! She is so sweet too! We had Fern Studio do all our flowers and they did such an amazing job! I was blown away!

^^ We wanted a dessert table since we both LOVE desserts!! We heard of this bake shop from our wedding venue and they made some of the best tasting desserts I have ever had! Silverspoon bake shop is so delicious! We go there often just to eat some of the things we had at the wedding! Our fav was the macaroons and carrot cake!

^^ Our aisle flowers were my fav! Oh my goodness I was beyond happy with all the flowers! BEAUTIFUL

^^ My Grandmother (on my mother's side) who is 90-yrs-old, just couldn't make the long trip from Canada for the wedding! She wanted to be there so much, so we decided to put her picture there so it was a little like she was there with us!

Our day was a complete fairytale and my dream come true! Thank you Lord for blessing me with this
wonderful man!

Jeremiah 29:11

NEW YORK

Todd had his 20 year College reunion at West Point which is in NY, So we decided to make a trip to "The Big Apple", New York City! I had never been so I was so excited and thought it was such a great idea! And we sure did have a blast!

We went and saw all the iconic places that you hear and see in movies. We walked everywhere and the places that were too far to walk we took a NY taxi ! My all-time favorite TV show ever is Friends, so this was such a fun experience!

Todd's best friend lives in NYC, so we also went and saw him and his wife and their sweet little boy! It was so great to meet one of his oldest and most dearest friends. We saw all the beautiful parts of the city with his dear friend.

We only stayed one night in the city, so we were so exhausted trying to pack all we could in, in just 24 hours! But oh, it was so fun!

We then rented and brand new mustang and drove upstate to his reunion. New York in the fall is so beautiful! If you haven't see it in the fall I encourage you all to go! All the fall colors and the cool fall weather! Although, Driving in Manhattan was one crazy scary experience! Not something I would recommend if you don't like city driving!

We stayed 2 days at West Point seeing where Todd went to college for 4 years and meet all his college buddies. We got to see a great parade, went a college football game and stayed for the tailgate afterwards. Great times and what a beautiful campus!

I can now say that I have been to NYC!! The smell of the city is definitely not the best part and the size of the rats, well I wont even talk about that...

All the lights of Time Square, seeing CNN and Fox new, Rockefeller Square, Trump towers, All the shopping (which I didn't do any of), Tiffany's, Central Park, Yummy NY bagels, riding the "NYC yellow taxi's", Fifth Ave, The Met., Broadway, and all the other great things that I didn't mention! What a rush and a cool thing to experience! Y'all should go and experience NYC!