Sailing into Summer!

We headed to Wilmington Friday night to visit Tyler & the fam & hit the beach on Saturday. It was a beautiful day! We cleaned up, enjoyed some dinner together, then headed home Saturday night. Short trip, but a good one!

Check out the rest of the family fun.

We all know I didn't inherit any of the tanning genes in my family. I am a ghost, I like to call it healthy, but the rest of you just call me pasty or pale!! Sunscreen is my best friend! I only wore 15 & hate to say I didn't get much sun even though we were out there for 6 hours. I like the "healthy" look much better than the "lobster" look & it is less painful! Funny though- we went into town to grab dinner before we headed home. Ty (my sweet little brother/nephew!) was commenting on the lack of sun....he comes up with this..... "Aunt Ashley, you are sour cream & Seth is a taco.... Hey, at least they go good together!" Every seat in the Tahoe was filled & we were all laughing.....Sour cream! He said he was going to start calling me "Daisy"....gotta love middle schoolers!

It's Official!

The sign was updated today when we got home. This house has been so good to Ashley and a great purchase. It's just so beautiful and quiet here...its hard to say were leaving. We're so happy the new owners saw the same features and put in an offer.

...here we come Garner!!!!

We close on our new house July 7th & here on July 10th. Busy week- seeking volunteers!!

I (Ashley) have to add in all the details! God is good! The house we bought was one we saw the 1st day we went out. We fell in love with it & compared every house since to it. We finally decided it was time to make an offer. We went to VA for Mother's Day & most of the way home we talked about houses & tried to make a plan. Seth says, " I think we should put an offer in tomorrow." Great I thought! Then, reality hit me- but what about our house? What if it takes a while longer to sell? The questions set in & I started to worry, most of you know I love to over analyze & worry!! Seth's response- "Where's your faith?" We had prayed about this move since the beginning & felt that God was in control of it all & had a peace He would work it all out. He had a point- God would provide & we had to trust Him. We prayed about it, went in on Monday afternoon & wrote up an offer. Monday night the listing agency called to say they were showing our house on Tuesday night. Excited!!! Tuesday night they called to extend the showing time....even more excited! We heard great things from their visit & anxiously awaited... On Wednesday we finalized our contract on our new house & 1st thing Thursday morning my phone rang! It was our agent & she had an offer on our house! We worked it out that day & it was all settled! 1 bought, 1 sold, dates set, get the boxes ready! God is good! It will be hard to say goodbye here, but we're excited at all that is to come!

Empty Nest

I am having empty nest syndrome! No, I haven't completely lost my mind!! Our baby birds flew away today. They have gotten so big over the last week & hardly fit in the nest. This morning they were on the edge of the nest & just looked at me when I left for work- guess that was their "good bye". I got home tonight & looked up to check on my little birdies.......empty nest & I was really sad. Guess there comes a time when we all have to spread our wings & fly. I just wish I could have seen them take that big jump! It has been a neat experience & hopefully we'll see them flying around the yard!

These pics were from a day or so ago- SO much bigger than the 1st ones we posted.

Happy Birthday Carter!

Happy 5th Birthday to our nephew Carter!

When I talked to him tonight I asked him if he could be 4 again- "no", how about 3?- "no, I am already 5!"......how does time fly by so fast?! We celebrated at his party on Saturday- lots of fun! Hope you had a great birthday!

Well, that rounds up the birthday marathon! We have 4 nephews & 1 niece. They are ALL born from late March-early May- Happy Birthday!!

Pictures are up!

We finally got our Mexico pictures up. Hope you enjoy!

Our 1st Anniversary!

Today was our 1st anniversary! Seems like just yesterday, but at the same time it feels like we've been together for so long. Can't imagine life any other way! We spend a relaxing day together- it was so nice! We went out to dinner at Bonefish Grill. This was where we met on our 1st date & hadn't been back since, so good! After dinner we enjoyed our anniversary cake with Grandma. It was SO hard to save that cake for a year, but it was worth it! I was worried it wasn't going to taste the same, but it was as good as a fresh Cake Lady cake- that woman has serious talent! She even put a "1" on the cake-too cute! It was chocolate in case you're wondering. Cake Lady chocolate is the all time best, however 1 layer of our wedding cake was strawberry- a VERY close 2nd to her chocolate! Yummy! & a great anniversary! We celebrated in Isla 2 weeks ago & again today! Who says the honeymoon is over?! Just happy to be together & celebrate our 1st year.....any many more to come!

We're camping out with Grandma this week so mom can go back to work. What fun! (camping out w/ Grandma, not mom working!!) When I tucked her in she said she had never had "anniversary cake" before, there is a 1st time for everything! We were excited about sharing our cake with her. You all know I love my Grandma more than just about anyone! We thought sharing it with her was the perfect thing to do- after all she knew all our firsts 1st! I'll explain- it was quite a while before Seth & I kissed when we started dating. Grandma would always ask me if we had yet & I assured her she would be the 1st to know when the time came- she was! After that we made a deal with her- she would be the 1st to know all the news! When we got engaged she was the 1st phone call we made to share the news. She gets all the good news 1st! & tonight she got the 1st anniversary cake!

Get your buckets ready!

It is strawberry time again! We went to Smith's today to pick our 1st strawberries of the season. It took a little more searching to find those perfect ripe berries, but a little patience, several rows, & we had a bucket full! Sarah came over & went with us. We had a good time-picking is fun, but eating them is the best part! Smith's is just across the street from our neighborhood- makes for MANY trips throughout the season!! See, there are some perks to living in "Benson"! Come visit & we'll take you over to pick!

They've Hatched!

A few weeks ago a sweet little bird built a nest on our porch. We had a bird last spring on the far end of the porch, but this one built her nest on the corner right by the front door. We almost moved it, but decided to let her live there! Seth checked it a week or so later & he found 5 eggs! They hatched this week. SO cute! At 1st all you could see was fuzz, but today you can finally see all 5 of them! SO cute! Isn't nature amazing!