My brother is all grown up!

For the past year, my brothers David and Dylan have been living in Blairsville, Pennsylvania and going to school at Wyotech. I'll say its to learn about fixing cars because I know nothing about cars, but I know they learned more than that. This past weekend was their graduation. David decided to walk and I am so glad he did! We made the trip up there-it is COLD in PA in case anyone was wondering....I wore jeans and long sleeved shirts and sweatshirts the entire time aside from the graduation ceremony. Blairsville is a TINY town in PA in the mountains. They have a Walmart...that's about it. I am happy to say that I actually got to see the boys almost every weekend. They came home quite a bit since there is not much to do up there. After doing the 5+ hour drive, I'm not sure how they did it! 

I am SOOOOO proud of them and all they've accomplished this year!  Little David is all grown up and I guess eventually I need to stop calling him Lil' David because he's clearly grown up. I can't believe the baby I used to carry around the house and pretend he was mine is now a college graduate. 

All grown up!

With mom and Mike

With his sistas

David and his Daddy

With Grammy

With Darren and his favorite sister ;)

Models

This is from his HS graduation in 2009. I found it funny that we took a similar
pic this graduation as well...

See?  :) Love him!

My handsome brother

CONGRATS DAVID!

My 30th Birthday Celebration

I'm just going to be honest, this birthday is the one I've been dreading for the past five years or so. Thirty. No longer in my twenties-no longer a "young adult." It really began to hit me once my baby sister Samantha turned 15 in April. I did the math back when she was born (I was 15 at the time) and quickly realized that soon after she turned 15, I'd be 30. 

My birthday is the Fourth of July. The day came and went and I have to say-thirty is not so bad. Actually, this 30th year of my life has been the best yet-My family is doing well and growing up-and I got to marry the love of my life this year! I finally know who I am and what is important to me. I've grown, I've matured, and I've learned a LOT about life. I couldn't say the same about myself 10 years ago, or probably even five years ago. 

The actual day of my birthday I spent most of the day in the pool in my favorite float, just hanging out. We had no real plans (that I knew of). Once we got home Darren said let's get dressed, I'm taking you to dinner. Once we got to downtown Fredericksburg, I finally figured out where we were going-one of my favorite places to eat that I haven't been to in years-Old Towne Steak and Seafood! Once we were seated, Mom and Mike showed up! I had no idea they were coming, so it was a nice surprise! We had a DELICIOUS dinner and a great time. 

Here we are-STUFFED after dinner

The following weekend, Mel had a little get together for me at Casa Grande with some of my closest friends. In true Mel style she brought confetti, 30 Sucks! suckers, balloons, and straws with mustaches, because let's face it-we are classy like that. It was so nice to get together with my friends again! 

Me with my partner in crime-Me1!

Our "evil" faces

Scott and Brooke

My preggo friends-Kathy and Crystal

The whole crew

My sweetie and his old lady

Fried Ice Cream YAYYYY! Oh, and then we ate more ice cream after next door :)

My party face

No this hat is not embarrassing at all...

Dirty 30!

If you know my joke about my brother...
this is the funniest picture EVER!!!
What a good sport :)

Classy ladies-clearly.

Me and my girls :)
Just missing my E! 

Pop's Birthday Celebration

In May we also celebrated my late Pop's birthday. Pop passed last year and is greatly missed.  The family got together and had ice cream and did a balloon release. We each wrote a special message to him on a balloon and then released them together. Darren's was so sweet!!! The little ones really loved this. 

The oldest helping the youngest grandchild :)

Grandkids getting ready to release our balloons to Pop for his birthday!

Ready?

Go!

Up, up...

and away! Happy Birthday Pop. We miss you!

Nannie's 90th Birthday!

Back in May my dad's side of the family got together to celebrate our Nannie's 90th birthday! Nannie is actually my great grandmother-Elaine's mom. She watched me and my cousins for years growing up. This woman has survived so much and seen so much in her ninety years, she is truly amazing. This was also a great opportunity for Darren to meet lots of my extended family!

Me with Nannie :)

Birthday girl!

There were flowers EVERYWHERE! I love magnolias!

The President and First Lady sent her this for her birthday!
(Excuse the blurriness of the next couple of photos, some of these were taken with my iPhone)

Two of her 5 cakes. Yes FIVE cakes! My dream come true! I guess once you turn 90 you get multiples :)

The orchid we brought for Nannie

Me with my grandma-Elaine :) Love her!!! My dad chatting in the background

Nannie with one of her daughters (Elaine) and nieces and nephew

HDP Awesome Deal!

I know it's been a while...ok that's an understatement. I promise I'll start blogging more soon! In the meantime...check out this FABULOUS deal with my favorite photographer-Hollie D. Photography

She only has one session left-they went FAST! So please contact her ASAP if you are interested, and I know you are, because she's the best! If you would like to see her work you can click HERE or check out my wedding, engagement, and couples photos from previous blog posts.