a great day

I had such a fun privilege of photographing a really great day for some sweet people.  carly has been in canada for 6 weeks doing ministry and she flew back to charlotte on monday evening. something quite special happened upon her return. what a fantastic moment to be able to capture between she and aaron. take a look.

:a nervous aaron:

:reunited:

:sweet words:

:the hand reaching in the pocket:

:"no you're not! no you're not!":

:excuse the gut. there were loads of people in the moment:

:emotionally overwhelmed:

:oh yeah!:

:they're getting married:

:aaron is a STUD:

:the ring:

:best friends:

 :hooray!:

hope you enjoyed my commentary on a really great day! congrats to a super couple :)

behind

i am so behind on blogging. we have been here and there and everywhere this summer and it's not over yet.

the boys and i spent a few days in columbia for camp gigi with steph, maddie, and tyson. this was our third summer now attending camp gigi and expectations were high. unfortunately this year it was tainted with a stomach bug that i got first and it spread from there. (and lasted for DAYS) it sure did put a damper on our trip but i think the kiddos still had good time together. I only got ONE picture.

We came home for a couple of days and left again for simpsonville for a week while matthew was in Haiti. We got to spend time with abby, cady, and matt one afternoon which was delightful but never long enough. we celebrated my birthday on tuesday, my grandma's 85th birthday on thursday and had a visit from allison and garrett over the weekend! not to mention lots of marmie and poppie time :) 

happy birthday to me!

helping gram with her presents 

i will keep sharing as i find the time. let the summer continue! 

after the rain

we had a really big storm the other day that dumped lots of rain in our yard. and it made a good puddle. tucker is so predictable. 

celebrate.take two

Job well done to my husband!

I had the pleasure of enjoying another birthday surprise last night. woo hoo! 

we had planned on going on a birthday date to celebrate before matthew leaves the country so last night was the night. little did i know i was going to get enjoy dinner and dessert with such GREAT company! we entered Cabo Fish Taco and i looked to my left to a table full of people with menus over their faces. IT WAS A BOOTH FULL OF FRIENDS! i really was so excited! 

we ate and laughed and laughed some more. and then we laughed a little more. my kind of night for sure.  it was a really really good time and i appreciated all the planning matthew did to make it happen. 

we went to my all time fave, Amelies, for dessert where we all devoured the most decadent desserts and coffee among good company. matthew did happen to bring my camera along so we got a few pictures of the evening.

 jenny (pictured in the background) is what matthew calls "a party in a box" because she pulled candles and lighter out of her purse. it actually did make the night even more special.

the picture of tim and cindy was so dark they were almost unrecognizable but i will remember they were there! this is the point in the night that mendy got the camera and got really silly. i mean silly. here is some of her handy work. none of it is in focus but i loved it anyway.

we all had babysitters and could stay out until whenever. we had no idea what to do with ourselves. so we ended up at target downtown where i got a fashion lesson from jenny and am on my way to high style. i purchased a purple pair of shoes for $3.24! 

thanks for such a wonderful night of celebrating everyone. it was so special.

celebrate.take one

i love to be surprised. and yesterday i was really surprised. 


matthew had to work for a little while yesterday morning but got home around 11. the boys and i had spent the morning piddling here and there and were pretty much still in our p.j.s when he got home. we decided to head outside in the sweltering heat to play in the sprinkler for about 10 minutes. i went around the side of the house to adjust the water pressure for the sprinkler. matthew came around the corner with a sleek kind of smile on his face and tells me not to ask any questions but to go upstairs and get dressed. 


i thought "get dressed? what does that mean? like i'm going to a party or to the grocery store?" then he tells me to do it as quickly as possible as i ask him how exactly i am supposed to dress for this unknown occasion. he tells me "dress like you're going to target or something." well i wear my workout clothes to target so i decided to spice it up a little more than that. he came upstairs rushing me as i continued to drill him with a billion questions of which he answered NONE.


the next thing i know he's putting a blindfold over my eyes and leading me down the stairs. i proceed to make sure that whoever is keeping our children knows what needs to happen next and then remind him that i have no shoes on and was pretty sure i needed those. 


he led me out to a car and i got in but not without banging my head on the way in. (thanks matthew) he told me that the person driving this car would not talk back to me if i talked to them so i could choose what i wanted to do on my mysterious trip. this was quite possibly the strangest moment of my life. i made a statement to the unknown driver that went something like this, "i hope we're going to have fun whoever you are. and i also hope i know you." then i proceeded to ride 20 minutes blindfolded. i had a good idea of where we were heading because all i had to do this whole time was think and try and figure out WHAT was going on. it was the strangest feeling not having ANY idea of who i was with and who was going to be wherever we ended up. it could have been from any spectrum of my life and i was running through all of them. i also thought the whole time that whoever was driving me around obviously didn't know me because the country music was blaring the entire way there. (i later found out that was a decoy) i was pretty much kidnapped.


we finally got to our destination and the driver got me out of the car and led me a good long way before others started walking with us and there was a little hustle and bustle. 


FINALLY they took off the blindfold and i was surprised by all the ladies from camp with a birthday celebration lunch at The Cheesecake Factory! i will spare the details of their gift to me, some of our conversation, and what they yelled as they took the blindfold off. BUT it was an incredible birthday surprise and my birthday is still a week and a half away! let the festivities begin!


i have no pictures because i barely made it out of the house with all of my clothes on, much less a camera! but i will post one of my favorites i just discovered of my grey bear and tuck monster.

slight obsession

slc.2010

student life camp 2010 in a nutshell:

140 students.

a 6 hour trip to Lee University. 

the TRUTH spoken so many times I lost count.

18 students moved from death to life (just from our group) as a result of the TRUTH being spoken.

lots of laughing.


got to lead the coolest family group and in return have lasting, heart connected relationships.

late night bonding with the ladies.

a chance to worship the Lord like never before.

my heart was more encouraged than ever. it brought me to tears on multiple occasions.

saw students come to a deeper level of understanding in their faith in Jesus. 

students broken over their sin in need of restoration.

cannot get these lyrics out of my head. "You are stronger, You are stronger. Sin is beaten, You have saved me. It is written, Christ is risen, Jesus YOU ARE LORD OF ALL"

had the opportunity to counsel students intensely for 5 days.

got walk with my husband in ministry through an experience together and will cherish this week for a lifetime. 


continually learning and thankful.