Aaron's Birthday - Photo Style

Aaron's birthday was this past week, we celebrated all week long.  Enjoy our photos.

Monday - Homemade Meatball Subs - per request.

Tuesday - headed out for a birthday adventure.

The Meat House

Performance Bicycle - to pick up a few things for his ride with Brad this weekend.

Checking out all of the new bikes.

Picked up some new coffee at Raleigh Coffee Company - a local favorite

Wednesday - BIRTHDAY MORNING - The birthday fairy arrived early Wednesday morning.

Gracie enjoyed watching Aaron opening his presents.  I think she just wanted to play with the wrapping paper.

Aaron's new charcoal grill.

Gracie in the middle of the tissue paper.

Gracie enjoyed playing in the box as well.

Homemade yellow cake with chocolate buttercream icing.  

Getting ready to grill the hamburgers.

Hamburgers, baked beans, and fancy fries.  Those hamburgers were so juicy.
Looking forward to cooking on the grill all summer.

Aaron and Julia Rose share a birthday in the same week, so we decided to have a joint celebration.  We had so much fun eating cake, drinking frappes, and being entertained by the kiddos.

Aaron and Julia Rose getting ready to blow out the candles.

After celebrating in Wake Forest, we headed to Alabama to spend some time with our families.  The birthday celebrating continued with tons of new grilling accessories and delicious desserts.   Happy Birthday Aaron!!!

Encouragement Journal

I recently had the pleasure of making an encouragement journal for a dear friend, what a blessing.  My sweet friend Laura Ashley and her family will be moving to Europe to serve the people there.  The ladies in our small group wanted to be able to encourage and lift Laura Ashley up, even thousands of miles away.  Our solution: an encouragement journal.

The Process:  Every lady in our small group was asked to write a letter of encouragement, with their favorite scripture, a joke, or loving words.  These letters would then be placed in a journal face down, so that Laura Ashley wouldn't know who had written the letter until she had read it.  We extended the invitation to Laura Ashley's co-workers, mom, mother-in-law, grandmothers, sister, sister-in-law, childhood friends, or other ladies that have had an influence in Laura Ashley's life.  Oh my goodness the letters just started pouring in, my mailbox was full every day for about three weeks.  Once I gotten all of the letters, I used double sided tape to place them in the journal.  Each letter had a blank page beside it, for Laura Ashley to use as needed.

I personally enjoyed chatting with her mama and mother-in-law, as well as friends, answering questions about the journal and actually getting the letters to me.  The entire process was a SURPRISE to Laura Ashley.

Putting the journal together.

The many letters that were hand delivered or mailed from friends and family.

Finished Product

We presented to the journal to Laura Ashley at a BBQ get together.  She was completely surprised and very grateful.  This project is perfect for anyone who wants to send a little encouragement to someone.

Two Year Anniversary - June 18, 2013

June 18, 2011 - Aaron and I got married.  June 18, 2013 - two wonderful years have flown by and we had a wonderful relaxing day celebrating.  The morning began with a 4 mile run for me and some running and swimming for Aaron.  We ate breakfast, chatted, and just enjoyed each other's company.  We have always been very practical with our gifts for each other.  For our wedding gift to each other we bought a TempurPedic King Size bed, for our one year anniversary (the traditional gift is paper) we bought a printer, and this year we bought clothes (the traditional gift for two years is cotton).  After picking up our CSA we headed out in search of some cotton clothing. 

A new set of pj's for me.  They are so comfy.

A cool new shirt for Aaron.

Next we got ready for dinner.  We have seen quite a bit more of the area since our last anniversary, we had only been in Wake Forest for 4 days when our 1 year anniversary arrived, so we decided to branch out for dinner.  Some friends of ours had recently eaten at The Cowfish Sushi Burger Bar, so we decided to try it out.  What a fun experience and DELICIOUS food.

Headed out for our anniversary dinner.

Cowfish

Our Appetizer - Edamame
*just for you Laura Ashley

My meal: Chicken Bacon Avocado Sandwich with Sweet Potato Fries.
The sandwich had a wasabi mayo on it.  Just the right amount of kick.

Aaron's Meal: The Fusion Speciality Bento Box - sushi and a burger.
Aaron said the next time we go, he is just going for the hamburger.
He said it was the BEST hamburger he has ever eaten. 

Afterwards we left and headed to get dessert, because an anniversary dinner is not complete without dessert.

Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake and a cup of coffee.

We enjoyed our dessert while watching the season Finale of "The Voice".  It was such a relaxing evening and the company was perfect.  I am so blessed to be married to my best friend.  I am looking forward to many more fabulous years ahead.


Until next time...

Added Bonus:  Just because she was looking cute.

Gracie watching me work out this morning.  Isn't she just the cutest thing!

Friendships

It has been a year since Aaron and I moved to Wake Forest, kind of hard to believe actually.  This year has been a very exciting one, lots of new things, one of those being friends.  Friends are important and regardless of where you live your friendships will continue to grow.

When we moved to Wake Forest, we didn' t know a soul, or so we thought.  Not long after we moved, we connected with a family we met at preview day in November of 2011.  We have spent many late evenings at their house, enjoying homemade pizza and the laughter of their sweet children.

In addition to making friends, Aaron and I were also in search of a church to join.  Several churches had been recommended to us, so we did our research and decided to try them out for a month.  We tried one church and while we loved what what we being taught, Aaron and I simply weren't connecting with anyone there.  Enter the Women's Life Office at Southeastern, I had to turn in my application so that I could take classes in the fall and there sitting at the desk was a friendly face from the University of Mobile.  While I didn't actually know the Harpers, Aaron did, so when they invited us to come to church with them, we said why not, at least we will know someone there.  The rest is history.  We have very quickly become involved at The Summit and have made loads of new friends.  Small Groups are one way that you actually get to know people at The Summit.  Meeting weekly to spend quality time in the Word, praying together, or sharing a meal are just some of the ways our small group has bonded.  From our small group more fabulous friendships were made. Aaron has guys he can talk mountain biking and BBQ with and I have ladies who I could share my teaching woes with as well as my love for Pinterest.  It is such a blessing to meet with these Godly men and women weekly, to discuss struggles, triumphs, and best of all pray for each other.

While we were making all of these new friends in Wake Forest, Aaron and I also had friends from home, college, and our childhood that we continued to stay in contact with.  Weekly, Aaron gets a phone call from Brad, asking how school is, chatting about this type of bike, how long someone has ridden, how hard the workout has been, Alabama Football, or whatever else comes to mind.  How grateful I am that this friendship continues despite the many miles apart they are.  We are looking forward to spending time with this sweet family during our trek to Alabama and the during 1/2 Iron Man the guys are going to be competing in in September.

Over the past year I have had FIVE friends who have had babies, two out of the five having their first.  There were several times during the year when I wanted to hop on a plane (for those of you that know me, this is huge, but I knew I could get their quicker by plane and I really hate being in car) and just be there with my sweet friends.  How I longed to chat with Rebekah while sitting in the hospital room, waiting on her precious baby boy to get big enough to come home.  Happy to say he is home and thriving, looking forward to the day when I meet sweet Benjamin.  Trying to hold in the excitement all day as I received a text telling me Blair had had her twin baby boys, only to have the wind knocked out of me the next day when I got a text telling me Brantley had not made it through the night.  I struggled with the right words to say, what to do in the situation, and really how to react.  I once again was willing to pay whatever price to fly to Texas and just be there.  However, in both situations my place was to stay in Wake Forest and PRAY!!!  And pray I did, I am so glad that God used my friends to bring me closer to Him, it has been an amazing journey.

Now I begin the process of watching a friend and her family, who I have grown to love so much over the past year, pack up their belongings and move across the world to minister to the people in Europe.  While I have accepted the fact that she won't be just up the street, the miles and ocean between us won't keep our friendship from growing.  I mean with technology today, I can still actually see her, how amazing is that!  I am looking forward to all the memories that are still left to be made in the week and a half before they leave as well as the memories yet to be made.

I am so blessed by the friends in my life.