Our First Married Fourth!

     The fourth of July was our second "big" holiday together and thus, there is always the question of whose family to spend it with. Well this time we got to be with BOTH of our families! My parents & brother came up to Jacksonville to spend the day with Ryan & I and his parents & brother! We had a delicious cook out for a late-ish lunch and then had cake to celebrate both mine & Ryan's dad's birthday! (his is on the 4th!) I also made some cupcakes and attempted to make the frosting red, white, & blue... here's what I got..

Some of them came out with Red & Blue icing....but others looks a bit more purple :/ eek!

 This first trial on the foil came out with pretty good shades of red & blue (I think I gave up on the white)

It was fun to try it though!

     We then headed out to St. Augustine to stake out our land to put our chairs out for the fireworks! Luckily Ryan's dad became friends with the people next to us & they agreed to watch our stuff while we walked around the town. We went to Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum & saw some unbelievable things! Ha...ironic huh? Then we walked around St. George's St. until we found some dinner & then headed back to our chairs! The fireworks were AMAZING and  there were thousands of people there! No exaggeration! The down side to the whole evening was that it took us over 2 hours to get out of the parking garage! We all really enjoyed the day together & the adventure to St. Augustine, but I think the verdict is still out as to whether we'll do it again! Here are so pics of the day:

Tis the Season....for a Wedding!

Whew! July seems to be FLYING by!! So here is my attempt at catching up on the last 3 weeks!

     The day after my birthday was Friday, July 1st, the day before our friends Booke & Jacob were to be married! We left early that morning for Gainesville to partake in all the fun pre-wedding activities! We all met at Brooke's old apartment and split from the guys there. Ryan and the guys went to get hair cuts, pick up tuxes and then went to see the new Transformers movie. From what Brooke told us, Jacob had been counting down the days till their wedding and subtracting one to know how much long till he got to see the movie! hahaha! The girls first made a run to Starbucks and then were on our way to get the nails done (essential pre- wedding activity) and then picked up Brooke's dress & headed to lunch. After the days activities we all met at the Boughman Center on campus for the rehearsal. I had never been inside, but when we got there I soon saw that it was beautiful!

   
     After the rehearsal we left for dinner and afterwards returned to the hotel we were all staying at. Ryan & Jacob were in the same Fraternity at school so a bunch of the BYX guys came to the hotel to hang out with Jacob on his last single night and all the girls hung out with Brooke working on last minute things for her big day!
     The next morning the girls were getting their hair done at 8 am and the next thing we knew it was time to head to the chapel. Here are so pics I snapped of Brooke & her bridesmaids while the photographer was taking pics!

     I snapped a shot with the beautiful Bride then left to snag a seat!

 The Groom!

My Stud Muffin! 

 Here comes the Bride! 

The reception was at Plantation Hall in Haile Plantation & it was a relaxed fun filled atmosphere! Here are some pictures!

 First dance

 All of Jacob & Ryan's BYX bros (& their women!)

 The Petermans & The Fryes! yaay!

 Couldn't resist this shot! ;)

It was a beautiful wedding & we were so thankful to be a part of their big day!

22 Seems So Old

     On June 30th I turned 22. Wow. Where as the time gone?? Actually, 22 doesn't seem that old, and thankfully I married an older man so I can always remember I am the younger one ;) I didn't really feel old until last weekend when I was hanging with the high school girls from church at girls night and we started talking about September 11th, 2001. I asked one of the girls what grade she was in when it happened and she said kindergarten! I was in seventh grade! Ahhh! But all of that aside, my birthday was on the 30th and Ryan had been telling me for weeks that he was so excited for my birthday surprise. (Hint to my dear sweet husband: don't tell me when you're going to surprise me....it KILLS me!) He told me he paid a "good amount" of money for it so I got the hint that I should dress up a bit. I went to Kohls for about an hour looking for a good deal and was disappointed when I couldn't find any, until I was on my way out and found my dress for $12! Originally $60! Talk about exciting! I also decided I wanted to try to curl my hair, ya know, change it up a bit from always being straight, so my friend Brooke Frye came over to teach me! 

     So the 30th comes and I start getting ready around 3:30, thinking Ryan wouldn't be home until 5:30 at the earliest because he had to go to the doctor to get his stitches out. I am about half way done curling my hair and at 4:15 in walks my sweet husband, surprising me already! He brought me a BIG balloon (which Chels was SO scared of), a delicious giant cupcake from publix, and the sweetest card I have ever gotten! Aaaaaand in that card were tickets to see the Cirque du Soleil show Alegria that was in Jacksonville for the weekend! I was so excited to see another show & to reminisce about our honeymoon, too! :) We went to dinner at a sushi place in the Landing called Koja and then headed over to the Veteran's Memorial Arena. (On our way we saw Jack Del Rio!) 

My curls started out looking pretty cute!

 Here we are, all ready to go! 

(He is just the handsomest!)

At Koja Sushi

The show was amazing as always! I would highly advise anyone to see a Cirque du Soleil show whenever possible! 

After a great night we headed home to pack up for the weekend and get to bed. About a mile (or less!) from being home we smacked right into a deer! talk about a bummeerrr! Ryan actually saw a deer and slowed down and swerved to avoid it, but then a second deer came out from the median on our other side and there was just no avoiding it! It was definitely not the best way to end the night, but it was a great birthday none the less and we didn't let it upset us too much! :)