Forever Young: Fall 2013

So, it has been a while since I wrote...over a year. Where do I start?

I'll start where I left off I suppose.

At the beginning of September, Shane and I went on a 5 night cruise and left Elsa with his parents. It was tough to leave her, but so so good to get away with Shane. We had a great time. ALMOST forgot we were parents. Just kidding. :) We left out of Jacksonville, FL and stopped in Nassau, Bahamas, and Little Stir-up Cay (which is a private island owned my Royal Caribbean I believe). We snorkeled in Nassau, which was my first time. We also went down to a local restaurant that was recommended to up and got fried conk. It was delicious! We tried to workout most mornings in the gym, enjoy the steam room, and also tried to stay up late and enjoy the shows. We chose sit down meals for breakfast and dinner. It was so nice! We met a sweet couple who we were seated with at dinner one night and hung out with them the next few nights. They don't live too far from us, so we are hoping to meet up sometime in the future.

At the end of September, we went to VA Beach with my family...well, most of them. My oldest brother and his family were not able to make it because his son was in school. We were there for 5 days. Elsa had a lot of fun with her 2 cousins. They played on the beach every day.

There was an amphitheater down the beach with a big field and a couple play grounds, so we went down there a couple evenings after dinner.

There was a nature park up the road, so we went walking around there the last full day we were all there.

In October we started potty training Elsa. I guess Shane took advantage of her being still and painted her nails...

Also in October, I started watching a friend's daughter a few days a week. Her little girl is Elsa's best friend, so it was so fun to watch the two of them together. Some days they acted more like sisters than friends, which brings its challenges, but overall it was a huge blessing for all of us!

Elsa discovered her love for Krispy Kreme unfortunately...

At the end of October, I got to go down to Charleston, SC with a group of girl friends from college for a bachelorette weekend. We walked downtown, ate at a really good sandwich restaurant, and went salsa dancing.

Elsa experienced her first funnel cake at the state fair. We went with my mom for a long morning. She rode all the rides she was big enough for and fell asleep the second we got in the car to go home.

We went to a fall festival on my sister in law's dad's farm. Elsa rode a horse, played on a tractor and went on a hay ride that ended at a HUGE bonfire with hotdogs and hamburgers. It was awesome.

Elsa wasn't a huge fan of halloween, so we went to a few of our neighbors houses for candy and then headed home to hand candy out.

In November, Shane and I were able to attend a fundraiser banquet for Hand of Hope. It is a resource center for pregnant women. It was awesome to hear the mission of the organization, hear from the director, and also from the doctor that volunteers for them. We went with two couples that are in our small group at church. It was a very touching evening and we hope to go again this year.

Random dangerous picture of Elsa at BJ's.

My friend, Lauren, got married in Wilmington in November. It was Elsa's first wedding and she just followed the bride around as much as she could. She just wanted to touch her dress and stare at her. It was so cute!

In December, my mom and I flew down to Houston to be with my Uncle, who had stage 4 liver/lung cancer. I made a couple CDs with beautiful songs about heaven and we listened to them, prayed over him and sang to him most of the time we were there. It was an emotional trip, so I am so thankful for the time I had with him, my aunt and my cousin. My cousin, Kristy, actually died a few months later of cancer, so my time with her was very precious. I left to go back home before my mom, and she stayed until after he died and was able to attend his funeral. He was well known and loved by so many at his church.

We spent Christmas in Charlotte this year with Shane's family. A lot of his out of town relatives came in, so it was a packed house. It was great to see everyone! Shane's dad had a heart attack the day before we were heading into town, so we headed in early to be with him. Thankfully he was ok and was able to come home from the hospital Christmas morning.