Letter to Lilly

Dear Lilly,
 I wanted to write you a letter letting you know how much you are loved. As you have noticed, there are a lot of things changing, in all of our lives. You have seen me change physically the last 7 months and now our house is filled with new furniture ,tons of toys, and little girl outfits. However, do not worry, all of this change is for the better, I promise.   

Photo of Lilly in Florida before coming to Roanoke

I want to tell you the story of how much you changed our lives two years ago. Before you came into our lives, I was not a fan of big dogs. You probably never even noticed,  because you grabbed my heart, the minute I picked you up at the airport. However, when I was a young girl I was attacked by a mean large dog, which made me very scared of dogs. However, all that changed when your granddad, Tom, got your Auntie Grace. The day came, when he had to travel for two weeks and we had the job of keeping her. During those two weeks, I grew so much in love with Grace. She was gentle, fun to play ball with, and became a nice companion to your dad and I. When we had to give her back I had a really hard time. That's when your dad and I knew that we wanted one of our own. So, for the next couple weeks we searched and searched for the right lab. However, we never found a pup that grabbed our hearts. Then, we reached out to your Auntie Grace's previous owner and found you. You were born on November 30, 2009 from the same blood line as Auntie Grace.

Grace and Lilly at the beach

You arrived in Virginia from Florida on Valentine's Day 2010 and were the best gift, we have ever given each other. The minute you arrived, you became such a big part of our family. One of my fondest memories, of that weekend, was when you were scared of snow. Since, you had come from a climate where it never snows you did not know what to do . So, your dad had to shovel our yard to make sure that you would go outside. However, that did not last too long. Since, now we cannot get you inside when it is snowing.

Lilly on her first night

First night in Roanoke

Lilly's first bath

Over the next two years, we have enjoyed many memories with you. You are definitely the most spoiled dog.( Which is fine with us) You are always travelling with us , even if it is to Kroger, and are never left out of anything we are doing. You are now golf cart trained and go on all our golf adventures. You get to enjoy going to the beach many times, throughout the year, and love to play ball and swim in the pool and ocean. It has been such a joy watching you grow up.

Lilly in a golf bunker

Lilly in her pool 

Lilly at Myrtle Beach

Lilly at the beach

Riding in the car

We just want you to know that because all of our lives are about to change that we are never going to stop loving you. I do know you will get jealous of your dad and I, paying attention to baby Harper, but do not worry we will make time for you, too. I promise that you will get your daily walk, you will still be able to go to the golf course, and will continue to go to the beach. The main thing changing is that you are no longer going to be our only child/dog. I do promise that you two will be buddies even if you get annoyed with her in the beginning , since you may not get as much sleep as usual. Just hang in there, it will be worth it. 

Lilly enjoying the beautiful weather

Lilly in 2011

So, to our first little girl, please know we love you so and are excited that your are about to have a new best friend in two months.


With love,
Mom

Midweek Confessions

Last week, I was too busy getting in family time with my parents in Northern Virginia to come up with Midweek Confessions. However, I am back this week with many new ones. I am also linking up with one of my favorite blogs and good friend.

Here are my midweek confessions~

~ Recently, I have been really enjoying not going to work and being able to sleep in everyday. Since, I am out of school until next Monday, January 2, 2012. So, this will change next week.

~ I do not leave my house without makeup on. Maybe this is vain but I feel better when I put myself together before leaving. This will probably change when Harper is around.

~ I am praying for a HUGE blizzard the month of January so I can relax at home and wait for Harper's arrival.

~I really miss being able to tan during the winter. Yes, I know it is bad to tan in a tanning bed but I just cannot stand being pasty white.

~ For some reason, when I wash socks I always seem to have a few that are missing their matching half. So, our socks are always messed up..:)

~ I sometime ignore phone calls and let my voicemail get them. Oops :)

~ I am scared to death of  going into labor and am really hoping that I get the epidural right away. I just do not want to feel any pain.

~ I do not buy anything that is full retail. My brother-in-law works in the corporate clothing business and I know how much they mark up clothes. So, I only buy at outlets or if it is on sale.

These are about all the confessions I could come up with for this week.  Since, I am still visiting with family for the holidays I have not had much time to be around the computer today. More to come next week!

Christmas Week In Review

Christmas is very busy for Will and I. Since, we do not live in the same town as either one of our families we have to split the Christmas and New Year holidays. We always spend Christmas week with my family in Northern Virginia and the week of New Year's with Will's family.

On Tuesday, December 20, we embarked on our annual trip to see my family. We spent all week there until today, the day after Christmas visiting with them. Throughout the week, we were so busy that I was not able to update all our adventures. However, now we are home for the night before leaving again tomorrow to with visit my husband's family. So here is the Christmas week in review.

Last week, we really enjoyed our time visitng with my parents and brother Bryan. Everyday, we went out to lunch and dinner and ate really well. On Wednesday, we decided to go shopping and visit one of my favorite towns, Shepherdstown, WVA. This little town has a soft spot in my heart since, I went to Shepherd University my first year of college. This is also the university where both my parents gradutated from and where Bryan currently is a Senior. 

Shepherd University Signature Building

Downtown Shepherdstown where there are many neat shops and restaurants

German Street in Shepherdstown

After shopping and walking around Shepherdstown we ended the evening at the Blue Moon Cafe. This is a local eatery that has delicious food. It is a must if ever in Shepherdstown. My brother, Bryan, performs at open mic night on Wednesday nights at this cafe. 

Blue Moon Cafe

For the rest of the week, we visited with many friends and family.  On Friday, we had dinner with my Uncle Lewis and Aunt Sharon at one of my favorite hometown restaurants, Roma Italian Eatery. It was such an enjoable night catching up with my Uncle and Aunt and having a nice dinner.

Roma Italian Eatery

On Saturday, Will and Bryan went to the last Washington Redskin home game. Will and I split Washington Redskin season tickets with my parents this season. This year was not a very enjoyable one to have these tickets since, they struggled as a team. However, being the dedicated fans we are we still went to all the games and continued to cheer them on each week. The last home game of the season ended with a loss but Will and Bryan enjoyed their day at FedEx Field while, my parents and I watched the sad game from home. We are hoping the 2012 season is much better than this years.

Our seats for the 2011-2012 Redskin Season

That evening, we all celebrated the Christmas Eve holiday with our annual dinner tradition of going to Ichiban which is a Japanese Steakhouse. This is a tradition that was started about 6 years ago when a blizzard prevented us from going to my grandparents house on Christmas Eve and was the only  restaurant open in town. Since, we have continued to go to this Japanese Steakhouse for Christmas Eve dinner.

My Grandma Wanda, Bryan and Will enjoying some hibachi 

My parents enjoying the evening

For Christmas, we all slept in and enjoyed the morning in our pajamas while waiting for everyone to wake up before opening any gifts. I am sure that this is all going to change in the next few years since we now have a little one on the way. 

Will, Bryan and I's gift piles from my parents

My mom was the last one to wake up on this Christmas morning. So, while we were waiting Bryan opened one of his gifts, a new guitar and played some Christmas songs.

Bryan playing "Christmas in Dixie"

This year, my parents gave us some nice surprises. They gave us a video camera so we can capture all of Harper's moments and an IPAD so we can Facetime with my them each evening. We received many other nice gifts but these were the ones that we know we are going to use the most in the upcoming years. Lilly also got many nice gifts this year. One of her favorites was this reindeer squeaky toy (pictured below) that she played with all day long.

Lilly and her reindeer gift

After opening all our gifts we enjoyed a very nice lunch made by my mom and Grandma Wanda. 

Christmas Dinner Spread

Christmas Table Setting

Will and I enjoying the holiday meal

Me before eating way too much food :)

Christmas Family Dinner

After dinner, we went to my grandparents house and visited with them for the evening. It was such a great way to end our Christmas trip to my hometown. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family and to be able to spend this week with them. I cannot wait until next Christmas when Harper is able to be part of all of our Christmas traditions.

On our way home Lilly was so tired from the week that she fell asleep on Will's shoulder while he was driving.   

Lilly sleeping on Will on the way home

Happy Holidays from our family to yours!

Christmas Home Tour 2011

Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year. I love all the decorations and making my home very festive. Below is the tour of our decorations for this Christmas season.

  

Hope you enjoyed our holiday home tour!

Baby Shower

 Last Saturday, my mom threw us our very first baby shower. It was such a lovely event. All of my hometown friends and family came out to celebrate our little girl. I feel so blessed to have such wonderful people to share this exciting time with. This was a ladies luncheon and shower held at noon. So, Will was able to spend the day with the my grandfather, dad, brother, and uncle while us ladies had our fun. However, my dad and Will had the job of dropping us off and loading all our gifts into our SUV. 

This is the invite sent to all my family and friends.  I just love this invitation since it matches our nursery colors.
(I have whited out  information to keep some information private)

 The shower was held at my parents country club in Winchester, Virginia. The day was absolutely perfect with wonderful friends, family, and great weather. I will let the photos tell the whole story... (Warning..photo overload)

Showing the way to the shower..

The tables were set for the ladies luncheon. Lunch included chicken salad croissant sandwich, Route 11 potato chips (hometown specialty) and chocolate cake (all my favorite food items)

My dad, mom, me and Will before the shower started.

My Grandma Wanda..

My Grandmother Frazier and Aunt Sharon

My brother Bryan's wonderful girlfriend, Shelby. She is responsible for all these great photos.

My girlfriends since childhood, Jenny and Sarah.

Testing out my stroller. I researched for months the perfect stroller and decided on Baby Jogger.
I just loved how easy it is to fold up and push. Also, this is the stroller Matthew McConaughey uses for his kids. So, it must be the best on the market..haha

All the gifts we received from the shower.

As you can see, Will and I are very blessed to have such great friends and family to celebrate baby Harper. Now I am excited to start filling up her nursery with all these gifts.