Quick Post

Still working on the wedding photos!  I went through them all last night and deleted everything that was blurry, over- or underexposed, out of focus, etc.  Now I just have to go through and pick out the ones that are so amazing they will make my blog (haha :)).  I'll upload *all* of them (that made the first cut) to a Picasa Web Album, for those of you who are interested.

Anyway, for now I don't have many pictures to post, but I did want to give a shout-out to my awesome friend Sierra!  She did a photo shoot with the girlies and I two weeks ago and I'm in love with the pictures! You can see some of them here:

http://picturingtheordinary.blogspot.com/2011/06/pity-party.html

Scroll to the later part of the post for pics of the girlies, though there are adorable baby pictures on there from another photo shoot she did, too, as well as pictures of her own cutie pies!

She is starting a photography business, so if you're in the market for someone for a wedding, engagement, new baby, family photo, etc. take a look at her website:

http://sierrahamplphotography.com/

And her regular blog address is:

http://picturingtheordinary.blogspot.com/

Here are two of the photos from the shoot (credit, obviously, to Sierra Hampl)

I had this one printed for Michael for Father's Day :)

And the rest of the pictures from our vacation!

The moon looked so cool on the water that night ~ it was hard to capture, especially without a tripod!  Just imagine a bright, beautiful moon shining on the ocean <3

We found a park in the city where our hotel was on the way home.  First we ate lunch...

...then we played!

 

Charlotte likes hanging out :)

And finally, when we got home (on Sunday, Father's Day) the girlies and I tried to make Michael a cake.  It was supposed to be like a ho-ho or swiss cake roll.  It wasn't.  It was gross.  But the batter looked nice!

Caitlin and Matt's Wedding (Part 1)

My stepsister got married this weekend, and the girlies were in the wedding.  The weather was beautiful, the location was beautiful, and the bride was *extra* beautiful!  We asked Maya before bed tonight waht her favorite part of the weekend was, and she said, "Um, Aunt Cait's dress was my favorite thing." :)

We explained on Friday (before we got to the rehearsal) that Maya and Charlotte would have a special role and that they would of course be beautiful, but that their job was to spread out the petals for Cait to walk on, because the wedding day is ALL about the bride (ok, maybe a teensy bit about the groom ;)).  I think Maya *sortof* understood, as this was her prayer that night:

"Dear God, thank you for us going to Aunt Cait's wedding.  And thank you that everyone picks flowers and gives them to Aunt Cait because they are so beautiful.  And bees make honey from flowers.  Amen." 

We took so many pictures this weekend that my computer literally would not upload them in one fell swoop!  Needless to say, going through them and picking the best of the best is going to be quite the process :D  But, here is a very small preview of what's to come!

You wanted to see all of our vacation pics in one post, right? :)

Well then, your wish is my command!  Our vacation was so so amazing.  Michael's mom and siblings were so great with the girlies all week long ~ it truly felt like a week long break!  Of course Michael and I did spend a LOT of time with the girlies, but we also had plenty of time to sit back and read while they played in the sand and surf with Aunt Laura, Uncle Patrick and Uncle Chris, went for walks with Grandma and generally were occupied and entertained by their family and their surroundings all week long.  Uncle Chris also taught the girlies how to use his iPad which was pretty cute to see (and only makes Michael want an iPad even more! :)).

Our trip home was relatively uneventful, and now we're back in Ohio.  The girls transitioned home a lot easier than Michael and I and immediately went outside to play on the swingset!  I'm definitely still in vacation mode :)  We realized at the end of the week that we probably won't be back to the beach next year ~ having a less-than-one-year-old makes a vacation a bit more stressful, so we'll probably wait until the following year.  Saying goodbye to the ocean was no fun at all!

We have a busy week ahead with Maya going to Vacation Bible Camp (or, as she calls it, Vacation Bible Study :)).  This weekend my stepsister is getting married and the girlies are flower girls!  Don't worry, I'll have cute pictures I'm sure!  And then next week, Michael is back to Canada for 5 days.  After that (less than 2 weeks away, ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!) little Miss Charlotte Mae will be 2 years old!  I can't believe it!  I already have her birthday video pretty much complete and watch it when I want to make myself cry :P

Ok, without further ado...

(a few from the hotel first...)

credit for this picture goes to Uncle Chris :)

Only after this picture was taken did I realize that they were picking up the smashed remains of one of the bocce balls. Chris apparently doesn't know his own strength!

Flying a kite

On the pier.  Before we got there, I told Patrick and Laura about my irrational fear of the girls falling off the pier into the ocean, and gave them instructions to hold VERY tight.

"Maya, smile like Isabella!"

The guy that caught this was telling us scary tales of giant sharks he'd caught off the pier...and had the pictures to go along with it!

Maya was happy to stand back and watch other people touch the shark!

 

Family picture attempts! :)

Wait for it...

...sneak attack!!!

Maya was tired and wanted to be carried home from the pier :D

 

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