Megan's Visit

I feel so lucky to have friends that make the trip out to visit my little family.  One of my best friends from high school flew out for the first weekend of May to meet Meredith.  It is so nice to get so much quality time in since we are lucky to see each other for an hour when I'm back in Minnesota.  Meredith and I picked Megan up from the airport Friday morning.  You could tell we missed each other as we jumped from topic to topic at lightening speed trying to catch up on everything.  We took advantage of the nice weather and ate lunch ocean front at Daddy Macs.  I introduced Megan to my favorite burger and she agreed ;)

We spent the rest of the day at home relaxing and Tyler joined us after work.  I must have been feeling really lazy because we ordered pizza from Long Island (our fav) for dinner as well.  On Saturday we woke up, had breakfast and headed to Wilmington for the day.  We had lunch at Elijah's (another favorite of mine) on the river front to celebrate Megan's birthday, stopped at the pink cake stand for cupcakes and then Ironclad Brewery for a drink.  Tyler made us dinner on Saturday night and we rented Unbroken.  We stayed up until almost midnight and that felt so late for us! ha

Sad face because we are missing Megan's husband, Ryan :(

Sunday was our beach day. It was mid 70s and sunny which is the perfect weather in my mind.  I am also starting to get super paranoid about Meredith over heating this summer so I will take as many 'cold' summer days as we can get! We went to the south end of Topsail beach where we started on the Intracoastal side and did a loop around the island to the ocean side.  Tyler wore Meredith for the first time and was in heaven. 

Morning smiles

Ty's first time wearing Mer

"I want a picture with my daughter in her first tide pool."

While we were in Topsail, we grabbed a late lunch at the Beach Shop and Grill.  Yum again. I hope Megan wanted to eat out so much because it was just the perfect weekend for me hitting up so many of our favorites and getting out and about.  Megan and Meredith spent the rest of Sunday bonding before we had to bring Megan back to the airport :(  Loved every minute of this weekend.  Thanks Meg for visiting and being such a great friend!

4 Years!

I can't believe it has been four years since our wedding! We still feel like newlyweds ;)  I sure do love being married to Tyler.  We have had so many changes and so many adventures in our marriage so far - law school, dental school, a Caribbean honeymoon, a 2 week west coast road trip, a big move to North Carolina, professional license exams, new jobs, trips to Dana Point, DC, Savannah, Charleston, Atlanta, Asheville, the outer banks, etc., multiple races, and a beautiful baby girl!  

Our anniversary fell on a Wednesday and Tyler took the day off to spend with Mer and me.  We began the day with an early morning beach walk, came home and made a big breakfast, ran a few errands and grabbed lunch at our favorite bagel shop, and went on our first date night without Meredith!

Tyler also had a card and gardenia plant waiting for me when I woke up.  We are going to get laminate floors in our house (after an unfortunate spit up incident) so we said no gifts this year.  We also do something for the traditional gifts and since four years is wood - fake wood it is.

Our neighbor, Dorothy did daycare for 20+ years before she retired down here.  She insists on babysitting Meredith for us so she can get her baby fix and we can have date nights and beach days.  It is so nice to have someone down here so close that we trust.  Having a baby so far away from family makes leaving our baby so much harder.

We have been wanting to eat dinner at The Bistro at Just Baked on the island since we moved here.  We have heard great things but since it is more spendy, we were saving it for a special occasion.  It was so worth the wait!  We had an appetizer and then Tyler ordered a ribeye and I ordered the best grouper I have ever eaten.  Seriously, this meal was SO GOOD. Tyler claims it was the best food he has ever had.  

While at dinner (as we tried to not talk about Meredith ;)) we talked about our relationship and our goals for our fifth year of marriage.  Our number one goal is to prioritize our relationship first - which is especially important now that we are parents.  We also came up with a list of activities and travels we want to do as a family over the next year.  We want to make sure we are taking advantage of living on the east coast!

After we picked up Mer and put her to bed we had champagne, split small mud pie and red velvet cake desserts and watched our wedding video.  We hadn't watched it in a few years and it was so much fun to relive the day again.  Its crazy how the emotions we felt that day can come back from watching it on video.  I am so glad we splurged and  paid to get such an amazing videographer!  

Happy four years to my amazing husband! I couldn't imagine doing this life with anyone else!

My Very First Mother's Day

Mother's day is officially my new favorite day of the year.  I love being a mommy and an entire day to spend with my new little family of three and reflect on how lucky I am is a great day!          
       

<3 

We kicked off the weekend with my friend Katie and I treating ourselves to pedicures and then having a BBQ at the beach with friends. 

 Sunday morning, Tyler surprised me with a sweet card and a beautiful hydrangea plant.  

We enjoyed a nice brunch at home and played with Meredith.  Then we headed into Wilmington, grabbed a late lunch at Sweet and Savory and then ran a few errands.  Tyler also gifted me the hunter boots that I have been wanting.  Perfect day to get them since a tropical storm was going through but it hasn't really rained since so I will be anxiously awaiting the next storm. :)   

Who wouldn't love a day to celebrate this cutie :) 

Last Meet Up

Our great friends Sara and Jasper came to visit and meet Meredith.  This visit will be the last meet up since they will be moving to Minnesota in a few short months.  Sara has been working in Atlanta for the past two years so when Jasper is in town (from Germany) we always tried to meet up here or in Atlanta.  We love this couple and are so thankful for our friendship with them.

They arrived late Friday night so we caught up and headed to bed.  Saturday we had our first official beach day of the summer.  Meredith did okay at first but then screamed because she was so over tired and did not want to nap out there.  We made the mistake of forgetting to bring either her bouncer or rock and play.  I was also super paranoid about her overheating.  We have a great beach tent from Costco and there is a good breeze on the beach but I think I want to find a fan to put in the tent just in case.  Tyler, Sara and Jasper all took turns going stand up paddle boarding.  I planned to go out but by the time I would have gone it just didn't seem worth getting wet.  It was also my first time in a swimsuit so I was fine keeping my cover up on! 

Of course we don't remember to take pictures until we packed up the car on our way home.

Sara and Jasper ran to the grocery store when we got back and treated us to a fabulous dinner.  We finished the night with a bonfire.  We decided to brunch at Oceanic on Wrightsville beach on Sunday.  After, we hung out on the pier and went on a little beach walk before Sara and Jasper had to make the long drive back to Atlanta.

We are sad that we will never live this close to them again.  They will most likely end up in Europe though so at least it will make for fun trips when we visit them!