Happy Birthday Dad!

My Dad's birthday was yesterday, so happy birthday! We celebrated by playing some tennis together. Dad and his friend Jim are playing together in a tournament next weekend, as are my mom and I. So we recruited some volunteers and had a great time practicing. It's fun to play tennis, but I also really love to watch good tennis. Dad & Jim and Coleson & Jay played an amazing three sets of tennis including a couple tie-breakers. It was a beautiful morning and a super fun time. After tennis, we enjoyed a yummy lunch at Beef O'Brady's. Happy Birthday Dad; I hope you had a great day! We love you!

Rhode Island

Ryan and I just spent a long weekend in Weekapaug RI. It was Ryan's first plane trip and he actually did pretty well; I was happy. He thoroughly enjoyed reading the passenger safety instructions over and over. He also liked to stand up and shake the seat in front of us (I did try to minimize this as much as possible), play with the arm rest, and look out the window. The surprise new toy phone was no fun compared to exploring what the plane had to offer. A special thanks to Aunt Sarah for sitting with us and helping us out tons! I don't think I could have done it without her.
Weekapaug was very nice. We stayed in the same house that Grandma has rented every August for probably fifty years. It was great to spent time with her and watch her and Ryan interact. One of the highlights for me was watching Grandma feed her first great-grandchild. I'm really glad we made the trip and I think she was too. We also enjoyed an afternoon at the beach. They had bought Ryan a babypool and he lounged around in that and had a great time, especially with his Granddad. We also spent time with Uncle Tyler, Granddad and Jo-Ann, great-aunt Betty, great-uncle John, great-uncle Rick, great-aunt Cheryl, and cousins Chris, Amy, and Dan (or are they second cousins? or are they once removed? I don't know, so I call them all cousins!). Unfortunately cousin Ricky couldn't make it, but I know the dogs were glad he stayed home! Thanks to every one up there for hanging out with us and helping me out a lot! Thanks for flying us up there, feeding us lots of yummy meals, and having a pack-n-play & high chair ready for Ryan. It was also wonderful to have so many willing volunteers to help feed Ryan, take him on stroller rides, and help him nap (where were ya'll at 4 am though?!). The only down side was Ryan got a big time sniffly nose and he didn't sleep well at all. Which of course meant that I didn't sleep either, so we were very happy to be back in our own beds!

Laura + Brian

My baby sister is engaged! We are super happy for them! If you haven't heard it yet, here's the story in her own words:
As most of you know by now, Brian and I are ENGAGED!! He tricked me last night into saying we were going to a fancy restaurant for dinner, so I dressed up in a dress! As we were leaving for our late reservations (8:45) we were walking to the car and he told me we weren't actually going to the car but around back to the back porch. He had set up a roses, candles, string lights, etc. He cooked me a great dinner and we sat and talked and had wine for a long time. At about 11 pm he told me he had a present for me. He went upstairs and brought back a wrapped up letter. The letter told me all about his love for me and he listed his promises to me and at the end it said "I need to ask you one very important question though, so, at this time, please do me the honor of standing up and taking my hand."At this point I knew he was going to ask me, so I stood up and he got on one knee and asked me. Of course I said yes!!!We wish you lots of love and happiness!! We are excited for you both! Brian, welcome to the family!

   

Weekapaug

Ryan and I are headed up to Weekapaug RI this weekend. We are super excited to see Ryan's great-grandma, as well as aunts and uncles and grandpa Clay and Jo-Ann! Unfortunately Coleson will not be able to go with us. I am a little worried about the plane ride since it's our first time on a plane and our first trip without Coleson. But I'm sure it will go smoothly and we'll have Aunt Sarah with us for lots of help and support. I'm just praying and hoping we can get everything we need on the plane without too much hassle and with no extra charges! After our family breakfast this morning (at Chick-fil-a!), we went to Walmart and picked out a new toy for Ryan that he won't see until he gets on the plane. Hopefully that, combined with cheerios, will make for an okay ride! We are really looking forward to seeing everyone up north and hanging out on the beach. We'll be back Tuesday night and we'll catch up with ya'll then! And if you see Coleson this weekend, be sure to say hey in case he's lonely :)

Jennifer + Tyler

If you haven't heard, Coleson's brother Tyler recently got engaged, so....

Congratulations Jennifer and Tyler! We are super happy for the both of you! Welcome to the family Jennifer. I am excited to have you as a new sister and I am looking forward to getting to know you even better. We love you both and can't wait for all the wonderful events and special memories to come. Enjoy this exciting time and we wish you lots of love!

Flashback: 4th of July & Vacation

So, we spent the 4th of July in Greenville with Coleson's family. Downtown Greenville is absolutely beautiful. If you've never been, I highly recommend it. There is an amazing park right in the middle of downtown with a river, a suspension bridge, waterfalls, and everything. We had a great time walking around and checking out all the food and fun. The fireworks were cool, although they didn't start until really late. Ryan did wonderful! He stayed up, wasn't too fussy, and actually watched the fireworks. We had a great time celebrating Ryan's first fourth of July with the family.

We left from there for Rocky Mount NC and on to the Outer Banks where we met up with my parents, my sister, and Brian. We spent a week in a house on the beach in Nags Head NC. It was a really nice place and we enjoyed hanging out with everyone and relaxing. The beach was great, although fairly windy (thanks hurricane Bertha). We tanned, played horseshoes, walked the beach, set up Ryan's baby pool, and did all sorts of fun beachy stuff. We also enjoyed lots of delicious meals, played fun games, saw the Wright Brothers memorial (that was the big rock in the earlier photo), climbed sand dunes, and visited a lighthouse. Thanks Mom and Dad for a super vacation!

  

If you're interested, you can see the all the vacation photos:

http://picasaweb.google.com/TheFamilyChase/Vacation

We're back!!

We have internet!!!! Somehow I survived a month without being connected! It's crazy how dependent I've become on it. I've missed blogging and sharing photos and emailing and online billpay. But alas, we have service again and life is good.

So we've settled into our new place and are enjoying being near to church and work and Walmart and whatnot. Oh and of course Chick-Fil-A as well. Let's see, I think we've been there three times already, including a fun and spontaneous trip last night with two sets of Isbells and the Webbs. We've also walked to Waffle House for breakfast and wandered the outlets. And Little Peking for lunch with Chrissy (there is no good Chinese in Canton!). Oh speaking of lunch with Chrissy - funny story about Ryan. So we went to the bank and visited for a while and Ryan even let Chrissy hold him. Then we left for Little Peking and I took Ryan inside in his car seat and slid him into the booth next to me. I promise you Ryan stared Chrissy down for a good two minutes. The look on his face was hilarious - sort of like who are you, why are you still here, why didn't we leave you at the bank, why are you talking to my mom. I've never seen him do anything quite that extreme!

Anyways, lots has been going on, so I think I'm going to try to do some flashback blogs because I want to get down all the exciting stuff Ryan's been up to. He's almost crawling - still rolling and scooting everywhere. But recently, he's picked his stomach up a few times, he just hasn't combined that with moving forward. He loves to stand and will "walk" with lots of help! He also has several new teeth. He has the original two bottom ones, two top ones, and two more top ones just broke through about a week ago (which included a fever, lots of extra sleeping, and a worried me!). And he loves Cheerios! Actually, I think he just loves that he can feed himself.

Well, I'm happy to be back and connected. Be sure to check back often since I plan to blog like crazy to make up for the last month!

7 days to go!

We are still internet-less, but there is an end in sight! The dude comes on Tuesday the 29th to hook us up. I am super excited to get re-connected!

Still Alive

Yes, we are alive and doing well. However, we are still without internet and I'm beginning to feel quite a bit disconnected! (Thanks for missing us Crystal!) Ryan and I are actually in the business center of the apartment complex using their internet. Hopefully we'll be back online soon; I think Coleson was going to work on that today for me.

So we've moved in and we've been on an awesome vacation. I've got lots of pictures that I'm super eager to share, so watch for those soon. I'm also hoping to blog a little about the highlights of our trip, but I can't conquer that right now. Ryan's sitting here in his stroller and I don't think he'll last much longer! Here's a quick preview of our trip, plenty more pictures to come, but again I'm limited right now by a really slow internet and a baby!

Vacation!

Hey to my friends and blog-readers! Just wanted to let ya'll know we are still alive and doing well, we're just haven't been blogging. We've moved and we don't have our cable / internet set up yet, so I've been disconnected from the world. And now we are on vacation, hooray! We left this morning and are currently in South Carolina visiting Coleson's siblings. We're off to see fireworks shortly. Then we head on to North Carolina for a night at my sister's, followed by a week on the beach with my parents and my sister and Brian. (speaking of beaches, Coleson and I got engaged on the beach, as did Sarah and Christian... ) So anyways, you won't hear from us again for a while. We'll be tan and relaxed the next time we blog! Love ya'll and we'll be back in touch in a week!