First Stop: Ireland

Prepare yourself for some picture heavy posts as I go through our Europe vacation. Let's be real, I know everybody prefers pictures to words in a blog post so I'm not going to feel too bad about the amount of pictures I'm about to share.

The reason for our trip was to watch Jack play for the team USA under 23 frisbee team. Jack is a crazy frisbee player. Just when you think you've seen his best game he gets better the next time. I'm serious...he crushed it in the worlds finals and then came back for his pro team's playoff game and I've never seen him have a better game then there.

Anyways, we figured if we were making the trip across the pond we would extend our vacation by a week in order to get some time sight seeing and exploring while we were over there. We flew out Wednesday and arrived in Dublin Thursday morning before the tournament. The jet lag was pretty terrible since we flew overnight and the airline kept serving us food and drinks every hour or so. None the less we tried to hit the ground running and power through that first day.

Our first stop was St. Patrick's cathedral.

The inside was beautiful.

I especially loved these old battle flags.

After St. Patrick's we did a walk by of St. Christ's Cathedral before heading towards Dublin castle. The cathedral was under construction and we didn't go in but it was beautiful.

One thing that trended in Dublin were the amazing flower arrangements. These outdoor shops were just dripping with gorgeous flowers. Everywhere in Dublin the the flowers were gorgeous and amazing. I wish mine looked that good...you should see my latest mandavilla. I wish I was joking.

Dublin Castle!

Real estate in Dublin! Derrick and I can not afford to live in the city. Maybe a 500 square foot out dated condo but we'd be stretching our budget.

Mom and Dad made it to Dublin that afternoon and we had a quick lunch before heading over to Trinity College to see the old library and the Book of Kells.

Our last stop of the day was at an instrument shop so mom could test out their whistles. She didn't end up getting one but it was neat to be there and see everything they had to offer.

We crashed hard that night! I had slept maybe an hour on the plane and gotten about a 2 hour nap before lunch and Derrick hadn't slept at all. We were going on 36 hours and I don't think I've ever fallen asleep so quickly in my life. The next day was one of the best of the whole trip. Post to come!

Ellie Grace Turns One!

We're back!!! Derrick and I have been traveling in Europe for the past two weeks and it was amazing! I'm still sorting through those 600 pictures and figuring out how to dive into those blog posts that will be coming so today I'm backtracking to a very special event that we hosted a few days before we left.

Our little niece Ellie turned 1 and the party was at our house. The theme was Minnie Mouse and the theme was very evident everywhere you looked! I'll let the pictures help tell the story.

Leanna made this adorable photo banner with a picture of each month of Ellie's life.

Derrick's Mom was a cake machine and made a total of four different kinds of cakes including 56 cake pops and 20 something cupcakes.

I thought this was so cute and so smart! it looks like a chalk board but it's just black foam board and neon sharpies. It looked adorable!

 Ellie made it after her morning nap and was in high spirits the whole time! Derrick's mom made this adorable tu-tu and a friend of mine made her cute Minnie Mouse ONE-sie.

 

We grilled hot dogs and everybody mingled and ate until time for presents! I had a little fun with Ellie's presents and wrapped them according to theme.

If you're judging by her presents this is one loved little girl!

Derrick and I got her some cloth alphabet letters for the refrigerator and then we made her latch board to play with. I just got a pre-cut and sanded plaque at Michaels and stained it and then we attached all these latches and hooks from the hardware aisle at home depot.

She seemed to think it was pretty cool.

After presents it was smash cake time. Derrick's mom made this adorable smash cake and Ellie had no problem digging right in!

We can't believe this little girl is already One!! Leanna, Kevin, and Ellie moved to Florida 3 days after the party. Kevin got offered a youth ministry job at a great church! We're so excited for this next adventure and opportunity for them but sad to be so much farther away. Looks like we'll be planning trips to Florida every few months as we keep striving for favorite aunt and uncle status!

Jack's Gone Pro

Little baby Jack continues to achieve greatness on the Frisbee field! A couple months ago he made the first Raleigh professional ultimate team and has been itching to play. He had to wait for his college season to finish up and then he had to recover from an injury after nationals so finally, last weekend, we got to watch Jack in his first pro game! Derrick and I have gone to watch the Raleigh Flyers in several of their home games but this one was so much more exciting with Jack in to cheer for.

Jack ended up playing almost every offensive point and scored a couple goals and got an amazing lay out D. Raleigh Flyers won pretty easily. Overall not a bad start to a professional career :)

We went with Alison and Beth. The only shot we have is blurry and Beth is being swooped by Alison's hair. I love that Jack's club experience is Raleighwood. So many of these elite men's players have men's club experience, very few have only ever played on a club mixed team and Raleighwood is so relaxed it's just kind of a running joke now. Raleighwood loves Jack and we're pretty sure he loves Raleighwood too. 

Jack's Wilmington teammates were there watching and heckling.

Alison has claimed girlfriend status since Jack walked her down the aisle at our wedding :)

Jack won't be playing in too many more Flyers games this season because he's heading to Worlds in a week to represent Team USA. Can you say golden child?

Day in the Life

I may or may not have just stained my arm brown making a birthday present for my niece.

And I may or may not have house showings in 10 minutes.

#firsttimeworkingwithstain

#Thisismynormal

#itseriouslywontcomeoff