look at me!

How in the world is my little baby standing!? I cant believe it. When I saw him doing this my first reaction was "no, sit down...you are too little to be doing this...you are still a baby!" My second reaction was to get the camera. So these pictures are of him standing in his crib for the first time. Kinda cool that I got to capture that moment.

He is growing up way too fast.

Scrapbook Pages

These are ones I did of William at 6 months.

This first one are the pictures that remind me of his sweetness. He is full of sweetness.



The next two go side by side. They are the candid moments of day to day life at 6 months. This is such a fun stage!

Catching Up

It seems like every few days I think about something that I need to post. It just seems like the actual appointment to sit down and do it never arrives. There are several events that I needed to post over the last month or so , but I kept putting it off. So, now I am going to cram them all into one post and just try better next time.
First of all.......at the end of last month I had the pleasure of going to Jacksonville, FL to visit my dearest friend, Jamie. It was the first time I have seen her since stopping by on my way home from our honeymoon.
This was especially exciting because I got to meet the newest addition to the Graston family, little Noah Justice.
The time I got to spend just sitting and talking with Jamie was all very refreshing. In a way, when I am with her it feels like going home, to a place that is familiar and comfortable. Her friendship is so precious to me, so necessary almost like oxygen to my soul at times.
Another great pleasure from the visit was that I got to take photos of Jamie and baby Noah together. They are very sweet pictures. I really loved being there with a brand new baby. It only made the yearning for William's arrival next year even stronger. I got some good baby 101 from the best mom in the world too. I wish she could be here to give me a refresher course when he does finally arrive.
It was a wonderful trip and I cant wait for my next one! Here are few pictures of Jamie and Noah.




I enjoyed the visit but was anxious to get home to see Shea and the dogs, what began as only a few days from home though turned into almost 9 days away on the way home.
Shea called me as I was driving back to tell me that he had the dreaded H1N1. That meant that I couldn't go home. Thank God I was gone the days that he was exposed to the swine flu. The Lord shielded me and my son.
Luckily we have a wonderful family here. Aunt Theresa allowed me to stay with her until it was safe for me to return home. As Shea rode out the flu, I was living the high life. Enjoying the magnificent view of the river from her condo, being treated life a queen. Shea said every time he called me we were always doing something. One of this family's favorite pass times is Scrabble....and we played a lot of Scrabble.
Here is a picture of that majestic view of the river.

And here is her cute dog, Willie. He dressed as Batman to pass out candy at Dianne's house.a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1UuajMR5K-Rts75l40fWk9yVHpzaXPiQt_qA_9qHz5kOhtD4yCYyx1pnwvRWaYAjpffZtsrYHHIXtMSCb6f4riyDZRqJYNJJNltjQRRPcOnv03-Wo0439v-gyRZ94muITEaeZXxFAhSLf/s1600/HPIM8633.JPG">
Last week, another one of our wonderful aunts, Aunt Cathy asked us to house sit for her and Uncle Tim. We took care of her 3 dalmatians for a couple of days. It was a lot of fun. We got to spend some time with Shea's cousin Mark too. It felt like a little mini vacation for us as well. It's nice to get away even if just for a short time. Even if it's not in a hotel in a land far away!
In case you haven't noticed.....(for the most part anyway) we are all dog people in this family!

Finally one of the last big events of this month........we celebrated Aunt Cathy's birthday with her on Tuesday. A hand full of us went to Outback for dinner and then headed over to her house for some.............you guessed it SCRABBLE. Another note on that little game of Scrabble...... I won! Just thought I would throw that in.



Now, November is almost over and the last event of this month will be Thanksgiving. Let's hope that I post photos and memories from that day before Christmas gets here.

Life is hectic right now, but it's starting to fizzle down. I have finals coming up in the the 2 weeks and a couple of research papers due. I am looking forward to this semester's end. At 25 weeks pregnant, I am noticing that my brain does not function at it's highest levels. I am praying for clear handedness the week of finals.


Pregnancy is beginning to get pretty cool! Finally, at 21 weeks I felt the baby move for the first time. I was at Jamie's house laying on the floor when felt him for the first time.
I called Shea to tell him about it and he said....." I am not sure you should be doing that, you could crush him." Once I figured out that it was easier to feel his movements whe I lay on my stomach, I did it all the time.
At 22 1/2 I began to feel him more throughout the day. It is one of the coolest experiences. Last night for the first time Shea put his hand on my stomach and felt kicks. That was also really special. I love experiencing him in new ways everyday. I think almost daily about how blessed I am to be giving the gift of fertility and motherhood.

I thought these were cute pictures of the dogs.........






This is one of my favorites!! This is how I feel 90% of the day!

Gender Revealed.........

October 15th has been the most anticipated day of the pregnancy thus far. We we got to find out the sex! It was a really special day. Shea and I shared it with his mom, Angela and Shea's aunt, Theresa.
We arrived for the appointment and we were taken back for the ultrasound. It was all so exciting, that finally we were going to know. The ultrasound tech didn't look at gender first though, it wasn't until after 5-10 minutes that she got an image of the baby and said "it's a girl." Shea and I were really happy but had felt all along that we were having a boy (of course we will take what ever God chooses).
I had even bought 2 boy outfits with airplanes on them. Shea said, "looks like you have some things to take back."
The ultrasound lasted for about an hour, and about 20 minutes after she told us the it was a girl we heard her say, "uh, ohhhh?" I, of course, thought what is wrong with my baby. She said everything was fine, but she had big news about 5 minutes later. She said "it looks like your baby is a mischievous little boy!" She told us that what she thought originally were girl parts, were actually fingers. He had his hand covering himself.
So that was the official verdict...WE ARE HAVING A LITTLE BOY!
Shea of course is to excited, he has thought of nothing but having a son one day. I am thrilled as well. I was the oldest, and being a girl I always thought it would be really cool to have a big brother. Shea and I still cant get over how we found out. It is a really funny story.
To celebrate the occasion our sweet Aunt Theresa took us the the Irish cafe, Blue Rose ("blue" to celebrate having a boy of course).
Here are a few picture from this precious day in our lives.
............ and of course a scrapbook page for my precious son, William Shea.

I have been told that after you have a baby that there is very little time for scrap booking. I am sure this is very true. One of the first goals I made when I found out that I was pregnant was to complete our wedding scrapbook at least digitally before the baby is here. I am sure that after his/her arrival the furthest thing from my mind will be archiving my wedding day. I am sure that all of my focus will be on scrapping first baths, smiles, etc. Our wedding was so beautiful and sweet, everything I could have imagined and I don't want those precious memories to be swept under the rug never to be archived.Before I found out about the baby I had already completed a few pages. Since then, I haven't done any (I haven't even opened span Photoshop in over 6 weeks). I am beginning to feel human again though so it is time to put my goals into actions.Completing our wedding album is among those at the top of the list.

Wedding Bouquets

This is a page of my bridesmaids and I picking out our bouquets the morning of the wedding. We went to the marioI got a ton of compliments on the flowers. I have to say that they were really beautiful. The wonderful lady that helped is one of my fondest memories of that experience. She shared genuine joy with us in the celebration of the moment and was honored to be a part of it.
It was a really creative way to take care of one of the biggest parts of a wedding.....but just awesome if I do say so myself!
This is a picture of Jamie, Me and Nicki with our bouquets. I am going to include in another page. I got it after I had already made this one. I thought I would throw it in this post though since it's us girls and our flowers.

Beautiful Summer Day

Yesterday, in the early afternoon I went out with my camera in search for beauty. We have been blessed with so much rain in the last 2 months, so the flowers have bloomed beautifully!


Here are a few that I took and a couple of pages I made with them. Enjoy!

Capturing a bumblebee at work.......

Wishing & Discovering

For the last 3-4 months as I planned my wedding, I was excited about many, many things.....but if anyone knows me well they know that the scrap booking to come was what I couldn't wait for. I have been saving ideas and inspiration for what I hoped would be the most amazing wedding book of all time. Each day since I received my photos I have gotten in Photo Shop, opened some of my favorite images, made a 12x12 format and then.....NOTHING!
I have had a hard time placing words with images and colors that match. Each photo is priceless to me and placing them on a page seemed to take away from the sheer beauty that I would hope to emphasize.
So, yesterday as I was playing with my wedding photos, I just had to go in a completely different direction.
Daily I look at Jamie's blog. I love to read of the daily adventures in Grastonland. Jamie posted these pictures of Jacob a couple weeks ago. It reminded me of my own childhood. I spent a lot of time with my maternal grandparents as a child. I remember a home they had where I played in the backyard. Unusually alone, or my grandfather would sit with me. He would challenge me to find the most 4 leaf clovers in a clover bed. I guess it wasn't a very well kept yard because among those clovers there were hundreds of dandelions. I loved to blow the petals off of them. I still do. I cant help myself. I wonder what it was that I wished for? As I look around now, in my tiny house, unfinished floors....and mountains of school work that I sometimes feel will never end. I have to believe that most, if not all of those wishes have come true. My life is beautiful. I am richly blessed. I am discovering in this season that there is a Father that hears the wishes of my heart. The ones that are unsoken and the ones that blew in the wind of my own breath as a child. He is a Dream Maker.
Today if I came across a dandelion I know that I would have to make a wish. I know what it would be for...but if I tell you may not come true, so I will hold it close to my heart.
I hope that Jacob wishes on thousands of these in his lifetime.

I'm 25 Now

Over the weekend I was in Georgia with my family. I had to go down to look for a suit for my dad and deliver my sister's dress to her as well. It was nice to be with them for part of my birthday. Of course I love to see Asher, so that was a nice birthday treat. I really needed to get back to South Carolina though, so I left that afternoon and headed home. On route I had a flat tire, which was not a nice birthday treat.....but it all turned out okay.
I have had all kinds of tire issues over the last few months. So getting a flat tire was no shock to me at all.
Since I was out of town on my actual birthday Shea and Angela planned to take me out on Monday.
Last year on my birthday I ended up having to work and there was no time to really celebrate. Shea asked me then what I would like to do next year since we would be in Charleston and there is so much more to do here. I told him that I would want to spend the day downtown and have a nice dinner at one of the restaurants where we can eat on the rooftop. In planning the day, my birthday wish from last year didn't cross my mind.
We went downtown and walked the market together. It is one of my favorite things to do downtown. I love the different homemade things that vendors sell. There is always great art work and photography.
As we were walking to the restaurant where we planned to eat we passed one of the restaurants that has rooftop access. Of course we had to eat there. It is such a small thing but it was a real blessing too, like the Lord just put that birthday wish down and made it come true. It amazes me when He is reveals His love in that way. I love that He cares about the details of my life. He truly enjoys me! He definitely made it happen.....Shea wouldn't remember (that's for sure).
We had a really nice time. Looking over this beautiful city as I sat there with my future husband (3 weeks to go) I just took it all in......thinking wow this is my life. I am a blessed girl! The Lords has given what I always wanted in Shea and my new family. God is incredible! So another birthday in the books...defiantly one of my best.

Beautiful Day at Givhans Ferry Park

I love those days when Shea and I can take the dogs our to the water or the beach, or dog park and just enjoy them. We walk almost daily but that gets to be a chore. There are times that I am just walking them purley to wear them out!

We decided since the weather has been so nice to go to Givhans State Park. It is simply a beautiful place. The wonderful thing about it too is there is hardly anyone there during the week this time of year. The river was really high. Shea and sat on the bank and watched the boys play for more than an hour.

Then we went exploring through the woods.....we discovered an old bridge that I had never seen before. I love the pretty wildflowers, just reminder to me that winter is over....and a new season is here! I know that many of them are weeds, but I still love them!
We also took Bionca (the Drolet's dog). We are trying to make her a real dog.....she is confused somewhere between human and cat. But she is cute.

It was a great day. I look forward to a lifetime of days like those. Shea and I were just talking the other day about how boring our life must seem to others......but we love it. It may be a boring life to some....but it's our life.

The Adorable Wyatt & Ella

Usually 1-2 times a week Shea and I hang out with Rob and Bonnie. They have two adorable kids, Wyatt 5 and Ella 2. I love spending time with them. Wyatt has a funny personality, one full of mischief and humor just like Rob and Shea. He is quite the prankster! (his poor Mama, Bonnie has her hands full with Wyatt and Rob) He a ton of fun though and really cute.
Ella is the sweetest little girl. She has a wonderful personality and an infectious laugh. Until I knew her, I had no desire to have a flower girl in my wedding. Now, of course she is my beautiful little flower girl.
For a couple months we have been over at their house pretty regularly and every time the kids would say "where are the dogs.....will you bring you dogs next time?"
So after being asked over a hundred times we brought Game and Moses to meet them.
It was a lot of fun to see them play with the kids.
Game and Moses have totally different personalities......especially when it comes to kids.
Moses tends to hide from kids. He doesn't care for all the noise and just wants to chill out on his own or with me and Shea. Game on the other hand is so loving. They crawl all over him, play with his ears, and play rough with him. He can not get enough of all the attention.
Here are a couple of pages that I made from the day.

Talking about the Weather

Here in South Carolina, we didn't get any snow. A few years ago that would have made me very sad, but after living in Missouri where there is more snow than you actually care to see, I wasn't really all that sad about.
I say that mostly because driving in it was a pain. I did enjoy playing with the dogs in the snow and walking the trail in the snow.
Right now I just miss the warm weather of last week! It was warm enough last week to get the hose and pool out for the dogs. One highlight from last week was giving the dogs a bath.
Living in the country makes giving my enormous dogs a bath so much simpler. We used to have to bath them in the bath tub, where they would shake and get water everywhere. Not to mention all the water throughout the rest of the house.
Now their baths take place in a kid pool outside. It can actually be a lot of fun for me too. They are so entertaining.
Game has an obsession with the water hose. His passion in life is to play with that water hose!

A Magical Day

On Thursday Shea and I didn't have any plans. In my mind I had thought I would stay home all day and study.
That morning Shea told me that he needed to go downtown to pick up something for work and he wanted to take the dogs to the beach afterwards. I really had no interest in going, but reluctanly decided to go with him.
We ran the errands and Shea mentioned going to the King Courtyard.
It is this really pretty little courtyard on King Street downtown that I have shown Shea before. It is one of the things I love the most about this city, the courtyards to me are like hidden pockets of serenity. This one in particular is really cute. There are a couple of fountains and I love the sound of the water in the background.
I told Shea before that I thought it would be the perfect place for a our future wedding.
We go there and he was asking how it could be set up for a wedding and where people would sit.....I showed him where the pastor would stand....him......me. He was very causally asking me all details of how it would play out. As I was standing in my spot, Shea got down on one knee and proposed!
It was the most beautiful moment of my life. He said a lot .......I cant remember most it though...I just know that it was magical.
I am not shocked that he proposed, of course I knew already that he would be my husband, but what shocks me the most is that he actually surprise me. I love to be surprised but I am extremely observant and attentive, my wheels are constantly turning. It is hard to pull anything over on me.
He did such a great job. I am so proud of him. I cant wait to marry him!







oh yeah.....the ring is beautiful too.......cant forget that !

Chirstmas Pictures

It has been a while since I have taken the time to write. I am on Christmas break right now. I have a couple more weeks until I am back in school. I went o Macon for Christmas. I had a great time! I enjoyed the boys so much. Asher is really starting to talk now, and calls me BoBo, trying to say JoJo. One of the cutest things Asher says to people is "sit down" even if you already are sitting. It is really funny....it must be his favorite thing to say!

My dad dressed as Santa for them Christmas morning. They dont understand the Santa thing yet, but it was a lot fun for us. I have it on video! It was even funnier when Asher told Santa to "sit down."
The grandkids really liked sitting on Santa's lap..........












And so did the big kids!






We created a lot of wonderful memories this year. I am looking forward to the wonderful year that is ahead for my family and myself. I am a very blessed woman with so much to be thankful for.

Perfect Morning

One of my favorite things about living in Charleston is living near the beach. I am a little bit of a drive away, but the trip is always worth the time.
Especially considering the fact that for the last 2 years I have lived 16 hours away!
A few weeks ago the opportunity presented itself for me to be able to take the dogs to the beach one morning. Since it would take so much time to drive to school then home and then to the beach, actually going with the dogs is hard. I usually have class from 8 am-11:15am, but this particular morning I had a class in my first class, and my next class had been canceled for the week.
Since the test would only take 30 minutes, I let the dogs stay in the car while I was taking the test. When I was finished I drove out to Sullivan's Island. It is one of my favorite places here. The beaches are more like private or residential beaches, not commercial at all.
I stopped in this cute cafe for a latte and headed down to the water. The dogs got to run free, playing in the ocean, chasing birds and wearing themselves out! I enjoyed every moment of watching them and running with them. I especially enjoyed my delicious caffeine....I mean coffee. It was a beautiful morning.
It was the perfect morning.

New Scrapbook Page

I haven't had a lot of time to play on PhotoShop lately. Things are a little crazy and getting crazier as final draw closer.
But I squeezed in a some fun time to play with these pictures of Aidan and Asher. I love to archive these precious moments with them.

Pictures of Aidan & Asher

Update....and of course a new page

Everything is going really good here. I love South Carolina! The Drolet family has been especially wonderful to me too. They have welcomed me with open arms into their home and life. I don't know what to with this kind of love from people that were strangers to me just 6 years ago. They are truly the most wonderful blessing in my life right now.
I love all the land that we live on. It makes for a great yard for my babies. Mr. Drolet (Mr. Mark) and I have the best talks about the Lord almost daily with our coffee each morning. I have never been one that can read the Bible before being awake for more than 1-2 hours (much less hold a conversation) but he always has a lot to tell me even as I walk in the door for the much needed first cup of coffee. When I am at school he is a nanny to the dogs. He calls them little monsters....affectionately of course. They have made themselves a special place in his heart.
Angela is becoming one of my best friends. We spend a lot of time together. We are so much a like that it is crazy.....especially since there are 30 something years between us. We both love to be creative, we love the natural lifestyle and find ourselves at Whole Foods and the farmer's market quite a bit. More than anything else that we may have in common though is our love of laughter. We are so goofy together! We have such a great time together...most of it in stitches.....I guess that is all the Irish in us.
I sometimes wonder if this is the kind of relationship that I would have had with my own mama if she were here today. As an adult I think we would have been good friends.

I have another 4 weeks of school. Everything is wrapping up and finals are coming nearer and nearer.
I cant believe that Christmas is almost here too. I actually started a couple of gifts that I have been planning today.
I have finished editing all the pictures I took of Aidan and Asher from last weekend. Hopefully I will put a slide show up tomorrow.
I gotta run now, I have a test tomorrow and a Hamlet paper to work on.

Here is a page a did a few weeks back that I forgot to post. The pictures are from September when I went Georgia to visit my family.
I adore these pictures of my dad and Asher.
I think they say it all.........