Wedding Weekend in Wine Country

I know. I'm all over the map on this blog. I figure though, that it's better to share things out of order and weeks/months after they happen, rather than not share them at all right? Right? ..

Ok, anyway, we went down to Temecula on Labor Day weekend for my darling Sally's wedding. This was the first road trip for the duder and as he does everything else, he was amazing...well after the ginormous blowout that necessitated not only a diaper change, but an entire change of clothing. Good times.

 Instead of getting a hotel room, we decided to rent a house with Stacey and Aaron, Tracy and Vanessa and Brian. It was the best decision! It was so much fun and so relaxing and we got to spend a lot more time together. Plus, the house was gorgeous. It had an amazing back yard with a huge patio, ping pong table, pool and pool house and an amazing view of the hills.

Sally and Ryan got married at Ponte Family Winery - a gorgeous location!  It was a wonderful weekend celebrating a wonderful couple!  And Sally as of course a beautiful bride!  Congrats again to Mr. and Mrs. Stewart!

Waiting for his beautiful bride.

Beautiful girls

 Wine ceremony

 Cheers to the happy couple!

 Don't you agree Elijah?

 We had to hang out in the reception room during the cocktail hour because it was way too hot for the duder (ok, and mama too!)

 Me, Stacey and Aaron

 Duder's new face

 Duder's new hobby

 Dada loves the duder

 Instead of a traditional cake they had a cake tower and cupcakes and cheesecake cups.  YUM!

 Duder dancing with Stacey and Aaron

 Me and my girl

 Duder didn't quite make it to the end

 Geeks

 Jason, me, Stacey and Aaron

 Doing the Boot Scoot

 Boot Scootin' Boogie

 Hot stuff!

 Love these girls!

Duder taking a nap on Uncle Aaron

Mass. here we come!

We're going to Boston!!!  I was really afraid that we weren't going to be able to make it out there this year, but J had a last minute trip to NY come up so the duder and I are tagging along and then we're headed up to Mass. to see the Cruz clan!  We've been out there every year since they moved, so I'm so excited that we squeezed in a trip this year.  Plus that means we get to meet Charlie and they get to meet E and E and Charlie get to meet eachother and become BFF and Mer gets to boss both of them around!  I can't wait :-)

5 Years

I honestly cannot believe that it has been 5 years since our wedding day.  The time has absolutely flown by, which I guess means that we have been having fun right?  I still cannot believe how lucky I am to have found such an amazing man to spend the rest of my life with.  I wish that I could say it was love at first sight, but it only took us four years of high school and almost three of college to figure it out!  When we did figure it out though, there was no question.  We have had an amazing ride over the past 9 and a half years of being together.  I really can say that it has been quite a roller coaster with big dips and exhilarating highs and we're still here riding :-)  Jason, I loved you so much on the day that we said our vows, but it's nothing compared to how I love you today.  You are everything that I could want in a partner.  Thank you for loving me no matter what and making me feel like I am your everything.  Most of all thank you for giving me the most amazingly beautiful child.  You and he are my life, my heart and my soul and I thank God for blessing me so unbelievably with both of you.  I can't wait for the rest of our journey together!

I've made a decision....

I'm in the process of going through some photos from our weekend in Temecula for Sally's wedding, because I'm trying to get this darn bloggie updated!  I realized that the only photos I want to upload of myself are of my face.  No, not because I think I'm so beautiful :-) but because I don't want to show the rest of me!!  I've lost all of my pregnancy weight, plus one pound (woo!), but it just makes me realize how much weight I needed to lose before I got prego.  So I'm getting serious now and sharing with you as a way to motivate myself.  Hope you don't mind ;-).  If I have someone to answer to other than myself hopefully I'll stick to it.  So here we go off into weightloss land....well, after tonight.  Anniversary celebration tonight...

Working Girl

It is hard being a working-mom. Most days I do pretty well and am so busy that the day pretty much flies by and I actually enjoy my job most of the time, which is pretty crazy in itself. I love the people that I work with and I like the challenge. Today though, is one of those days when it's just plain hard. I made the mistake of running to Safeway to grab some things for dinner (Grandpa and Uncle Adam are coming over!!). I was standing in the aisle trying to find some form of organic yogurt and then I heard it....a crying baby. I literally had to physically restrain myself from running down the aisle to comfort someone else's child. I felt like a crazy person. And now all I want to do is squeeze my baby and I have no ability to focus which is probably why I am turning to my little bloggie. :-) Is it quitting time yet?

What??

My baby is going to be 1 in less than two months. What??? I'm confused. How did that happen?

Georgia on my mind, cont.

I almost feel ridiculous blogging about this almost a month after it happened, but this is my life now....everything seems to take longer than it did 10 months ago. I wonder why? :-) If you need to catch up on the beginning of our trip to Georgia, you may do so here. After the only restful night we go while in GA, we got ourselves up and headed out to meet Jason's dad and stepmom for lunch and then over to the local department store because they of course wanted to spoil the grandkid, even though I later found out they had a giant bag of clothes and books for him at home as well!

Grandpa Joe and Eli

They were incredibly generous, although I think it was probably as much fun to shop for all those little outfits as it was to give it to him! After our little outings, we headed out to "the little red house". This is the house that Jason's dad and stepmom currently live in. It is on a little country road and the drive back there is GORGEOUS. I forget sometimes how beautiful the foliage is in the east. It makes you want to take drives, just look. Not quite the case in the Bay Area.

The little red house (which is what everyone calls it) was originally built by Jason's grandparents as something of a retreat - a place to get away from it all. Jason's dad decided to make it a permanent place to get away from it all some years ago and has slowly made additions so that it's not so "little" anymore, but still completely charming. It's set on about 30 acres of land, which again, blows my mind after living in the Bay Area for so long. We talk about our parcels in square feet!

We spent a really nice day just relaxing at the house and watching the baby play. They had a Winnie the Pooh ball that he just couldn't get enough of! It was so much fun to watch them, watch him. It's amazing how fresh everything is with a baby (minus the diapers of course). Everything is new and fascinating and exciting, because you're seeing it through their eyes. You can see the effect on everyone. It's pretty amazing.

Unfortunately the little man developed a fever and we had to cut the night short. This continued through most of the trip sadly. It's hard enough to have a sick baby, but a sick baby in a hotel room, across the country from home is quite enough thank you very much. I must say, he was quite the trooper though. He smiled and laughed and didn't really complain at all. My little angel baby.

On Saturday we took a trip down to Savannah and Tybee Island. Savannah is absolutely amazing! So much history and beautiful architecture. I wish that we had had more time to explore all of the antebellum houses.



After a stroll through the city, we got back in car and headed out to Tybee Island. It was so cute! It was very East Coast Beach Town and totally reminded me of the summers I spent on the beach in DE and MD. It was very Ocean City.







We took a stroll out on the pier and then headed down to the beach where the duder dipped his toes in the Atlantic ocean for the first time. So exciting!

He is such a well traveled baby already!

Tybee Island Lighthouse

On Sunday we had a lovely brunch at the Coleman House Inn. It's a beautiful little jewel box Victorian house that was built over 100 years ago and has been converted into a B&B. It was a lovely place to have brunch. Of course everyone had to stop by our table to meet the duder. He was quite the attraction.

We finished the weekend with another lovely afternoon at the little red house. It was so great for Jason to be able to spend so much time with his dad.

Hello in there?

First time on a rocking horse!

We even got to take a trip down to Smith Chapel (yes, it was built by J's family).

The entire area is actually full of Smith family history. Many of the roads are named after the Smith family and there is a Smith cemetery just up the road from Jason's dad's house. It's something special to see all of this history in one place and to know that generations have walked in the same place.

We left on Monday to head back to Atlanta and head back home, but on the way, Jason had an amazing surprise for me. He took us to Juliette, GA to the Whistle Stop Cafe where they filmed "Fried Green Tomatoes"! It was so amazing to actually walk down the little street that's in the movie and to have a delicious snack of fried green tomatoes in the cafe.

Fried Green Tomatoes

What shall we order?

Drinking out of a mason jar.

Yum!!

Whistle Stop Cafe (interior)

Whistle Stop Cafe (exterior)

Thanks GA for a wonderful trip! We hope to be back soon!

Baby Love

The extended Smith Clan has expanded! Daisy Ellen Smith was born this morning! 8lbs 15oz and 21" long. Pictures will follow soon!

Pictures of the new little Smith Munchkin! We still haven't gotten a chance to meet her, because the men in our house have been sick, but hopefully this weekend!

Meme and Baby Daisy

Precious!

Daddy and his little girl.

So tiny!

This one kills me! Look at those cheeks!!

Sister love!

Daisy - we are so, so, so excited that you have joined our family and even though we haven't met yet, you are so very loved! Kisses from Auntie Shilo, Uncle Jason and Cousin Eli xoxoxoxoxoxo

Oh and Parker and Elle would like throw in their own kisses ;-)