Beach Bums

We went back to Myrtle Beach this year.  Josh's company sent him out for a few days of training so we tagged along and then stayed for a few days of much needed relaxation as a family.  Ansley was thrilled to go back the beach.







Her Poppa bought her a bright pink camping chair of her very own and she thought she was big stuff sitting in her own chair on the beach.  She also thought the fact that we had capri suns was AMAZING.  Poor deprived kid, getting to drink capri suns was one of the highlights of her vacation.



This is what our mornings looked like... sitting on the foot of our bed, eating breakfast, and watching TV with Angelina Ballerina.



On the few days that Josh was in training, we tried to not send too many pictures of the fun we were having without him.  But we did send him a few good morning pictures like the one below.



And the nice thing about getting out on the beach early, sometimes we were the only ones out there.





My girl really is a kid after my own heart, total beach bum.  She was more than happy to spend most of the day on the beach.  Granted, she prefered to dig and cover herself in sand while I would rather stay in a chair as sand free as possible, but I love that she wasn't begging to go to the pool all day.





This is one of my favorite pictures from the trip.  VBS clearly made a lasting impression on my daughter.  Every time a wave came in she would tell me to "stand strong!" and then tell me she was "strong and brave".  This is her "standing strong."



She must have really believed she was strong and brave because she WANTED to go out into the deep part with her Daddy.



The beach is always more fun with Daddy.







Look at my tan little girl.



We did go the pool a few times.  They had a kiddy pool that was about 1.5 feet deep with all of these sprinkler type things in them.





And again with the bravery.... the BIG pool with Daddy... WITHOUT her float!





We only had rainy weather one afternoon and fortunately Mom came prepared with markers.



The beach isn't the beach without good food, and man did we eat.





This is where we went for Josh's birthday dinner.



The meal was great and I am still dreaming about their hush puppies....





We decided to let Ansley give putt putt a shot this year.  Another beach must.



And true to his nature, Josh took it very seriously. 



Ansley, not so much :)  Although she did manage to get a hole in one on her own!



Here we are post game. 







As you can tell by the scores, Josh won (shocker) and I barely beat Ansley.  In my defense, she had her dad's help the whole time.



I told her she needed to tell her Daddy that little girls who got a hole in one deserved ice cream.



It was an awesome, much needed, relaxing vacation.  This picture of Ansley pretty much sums up the week.

The Official Wedding Photo

"Daddy, we have to get married because I am Rapunzel and you are Flynn Rider." 

I was asked to sit in the audience and take the wedding photo. 



One of the best weddings I've been to.

Birthday Steak

Since we were going to the beach the week after the Josh's birthday, he opted to wait and go out for fresh seafood while we were on vacation.  Even though I knew we were going to celebrate later, I couldn't let his birthday pass without some sort of special meal and I definitely wasn't going to skip the candles.  And there are few things Josh loves more than steak.  He actually prefers steak to cake.  Which is why this happened...



A birthday rib eye with blu cheese. Introducing the birthday steak.



I think this may really catch on.

Happy Father's Day

The only reason I would willing dress my daughter up in Georgia gear is for her Dad's Father's Day card.  I must admit, it turned out really cute.

"Daddy's Girl"

Father's Day for Poppa and a Surprise for Daddy

We celebrated my dad's father's day on the Saturday night before the actual day with dinner at their house.  Actually, dad cooked his own dinner.  He had been wanting to try a brisket and took this opportunity.  He smoked the meat and we got the sides together.  After dinner dad opened his presents.  This is the card I made him. Yes, he is a trekkie :)



And just like Mother's Day, both of the grandkids had to be in dad's lap while he opened presents.  Poor dad couldn't hardly eat his banana pudding.  Not only because of the kids in his lap, but because he had to share with Huddy too :)



We thought we were surprising dad this year, but once again, he figured us out.  He still loved the rocker though, surprise or not.



After dinner and dessert we put the rocker to good use and sat on the back deck while the kids played.



Even though it was dad's Father's Day celebration, there was a small surprise for Josh.  I had gone in with mom, dad, Shelley, and Kevin to get Josh an AWESOME birthday present.  An iPad.  Because I am TERRIBLE at waiting and also very fearful that my 3 year old would tell her dad what we had been shopping for the day before, my dad said it was okay to surprise Josh with his birthday present that night while we were all there to see.  Josh isn't quite as animiated as I am, but you can tell I definately surprised him.







It was a great night of food, presents, and a relaxing evening with my awesome family.

Kingdom Rock Vaction Bible School

This year our church offered VBS for preschoolers as well as elementary school age kids.  They got to go from station to station just like the big kids for story time, snack time, craft time etc.  As much as Ansley enjoys Awana's I knew she would LOVE vacation bible school so I signed her up and volunteered to help with the older kids.  We opened and closed VBS with a celebration rally and once Ansley realized I was a few rows behind her with my kids, she would turn around and wave and sometimes make a dash down the aisle to stand by me for a few minutes to sing and dance with me.  She would talk to me about it the whole way home and then come home, sit her dad down, and then tell him all over again.  I'm not going to lie, it was a tiring week (being pregnant probably didn't help).  Dinner for volunteers and their families was at 5:30 and VBS was over around 8:15 but it was always 9 before we actually got out of the church.  It was tiring, but so worth it.  Not only to see what it did for my daughter but our church ministered to over 300 kids that week!  My daughter is STILL singing the songs and talking about bringing her pennies to church for the penny wars next time. I took pictures almost every night, but sadly they were lost in my iPhone upgrade :( The only one I have is from the family night celebration they had for all of the kids and their families.  Keeping with the Kingdom Rock theme they had horse rides for the kids.  Ansley has been asking to ride a horse FOREVER so this was a huge deal for her.  In case you can't tell by the smile on her face, it was everything she hoped it would be.

Newest Addition to the Morgan's

Introducing our newest pet, Slimey.



We found Slimey while we were playing outside and after spending some quality time holding him, I convinced her that it would be better to leave Slimey outside in Daddy's flower bed so that he can help Daddy's flowers. 

Not so little Morgan

I had my 28 week appointment today and little man's heartbeat came in strong at 155.  That's a little higher than normal (he's usually in the 140s), but considering all I had consumed was that nasty glucose test stuff that is just concentrated sugar, it makes sense that it's a little higher than usual.  So far I have been measuring right on target, just like I did with Ansley.  Not so much this time.  At 28 weeks I am measuring 31 weeks!  Needless to say I am going back for a sonogram to check on Isaac's growth.  But considering I was a 9 lb + baby I am not surprised that he is big.  My mom told me I got off too easy with Ansley since I was 9 lbs and she was only 7 lbs, that this was motherly revenge :)  I knew I felt bigger this time... but I didn't know if it was just because this is my second and my stomach muscles were already stretched out.  However, this pregnancy I have felt his growth spurts.  My stomach will get uncomfortably tight and ache for a day or two and then I am fine.  I think he is growing faster than my body can keep up with and it takes me an extra day or so to catch up.  I felt better knowing it wasn't just in my head.  I know I have been calling him the Littlest Morgan but that may not be case much longer....

Pool Date

We met my friend Jenny and her son Bennett at the Cumming public pool.  They have this great kid play area. 



They played SO well together.  Bennett even shared his googles with Ansley since she didn't have any :)  I got to catch up with my friend, get some sun, and then I got a 2 hour nap out of Ansley that afternoon.  Great day :)