Christmas in SC

After graduation, we headed back to SC to celebrate Christmas. We started off with some photos for Christmas that our good friend, Brandon Hunter (www.brandonhunterphotography.com), took for us. He also did our engagement pictures nearly 8 years ago!

The happy couple 8 years later :)

 I love this. Love my sweet family. Caden leaned his head down and gave the perfect smile because he thought we were only taking one picture then going home to watch a movie. Ha. There weren't many smiling photos after that.

 Practice shot for lighting or just being himself?

Wait, where's our kids? Thanks for chasing them around, Emily :)

Merry Christmas!

Decorating a tree...a totally random tree :)

Caden did so great getting the ornament up so high. Unfortunately, it just toppled over. Oh, Charlie Brown tree.

what a tease

Caden's most genuine smile. This is the essence of Caden :)

And this is the essence of Grady. Hehe. Love him to pieces. Poor baby.

The one smile we got out of him because I was tickling him as much as I could. Amazing what goes on 'around' the photo.

He was crying in the previous photo because I dropped his lollipop. Shame. Fortunately, daddy got some water and washed it off. Save.

We ate at Sonic after the shoot. My sweet Grady gives the best kisses.

Christmas time! I made peppermint oreo truffles. They were divine!! We had a ton of awesome food. It was so great to spend time with family.

Someone came inside and told me I needed to see what my son was 'up to.' This was not what I was thinking. Thanks, Harvey. Ya nut!

We went out with some of our best friends that we had been trying to get together with, so we met up at Chick-fil-A.

G-man insisted on wearing his Jake bandana. Love this so very much. The apple juice makes him a little less intimidating.

We had the time to go see Britton's Aunt Jane. She is one of the sweetest ladies I've ever met. This was the longest time we got to spend with her. She is such a sweet lady and so strong in her faith. I told her I wanted to be like her.

After seeing Aunt Jane, we stopped in Charlotte with Mimi to see the Charlotte Motor Speedway lights and petting zoo.

G-man feeding the llama.

There was a fear factor event too, and Caden desperately wanted to play. He was so good to try but decided he wasn't quite ready after about 30 seconds of it :) Maybe another year and a few more inches buddy.

Here's some videos of the boys having "Christmas morning" with Mimi and Grandy along with Grady practicing his counting in our local language and some team rooting ;)

Before we headed to GA, we pulled out guitar hero and High School Musical DDR. Those were the good ole days. Ha!

Going to the Chapel...

No one is getting married. It's just graduation time...at the chapel! I love this place. It really makes me happy when I look at these photos. I have so many great memories, and it was such a wonderful place to learn. I'm happy where our family is now, but I sure loved life here. Britton wasn't overly excited about his graduation but at least it was a good excuse to go back one more time.

I have to give most of the credit of these photos to Ronica Smith, a sweet friend who did an excellent job at capturing this day for us! Thanks, Ronica!

Good seats. Ready.

The graduates' spouses...and sisters :)

The original fam.

Mike processing.

Britton processing.

The excited graduates.

Congratulations, Britton!

Here's a video of both of our men receiving their diplomas. You can't clap or cheer until the end, which is why we made no sound, but we did get to stand up :)

I ran to pick up the boys from a friend's house, and the celebration continued.

Proud, happy graduates.

My dad so proud of his son-in-law.

I love this shot of Britton and his mom.

Proud Mama.

Hehe. The story behind this is that Britton lost his tassel somewhere between the guest apartment and the school (which was less than a mile away!). The registrar's office had an extra tassel but no date was on it. Oh well...made for a memory that is soooooo Britton.

Pretty couple.

Britton's mom, Nana, and aunt and uncle all came. So sweet.

Proud Uncle Wayne.

I finally showed up with the boys. Caden really wanted to stay and play rather than come take pictures. What 4 year old wouldn't?!

Family shot.

So proud.

Love these two.

We all went to Red Robin for lunch to celebrate.

Gorgeous sunset on the way back to SC (+ a ton of traffic).

Congrats Britton. We're so proud of you, and glad you aren't a student anymore!

Back to our first home

Before celebrating Christmas, we had to take a trip back to our first home. The week after our honeymoon, we moved to Wake Forest. It's been a long journey to this point, but Britton finally graduated! It was not only wonderful that he graduated but also that we got to see so many precious friends.

Our small group leaders still lived in the area, so it was wonderful catching up with them. I think we could have spent 5 more hours with them! We went out to eat, and the kids loved this giant tree.

Caden loved the tree most. Can you see him?!

Then we headed back and hung out at their house a little while although it looked like we spent the night!

My sweet friend!

Then we headed to my sis and bro-in-law's house. He was also graduating!! Linc enjoyed sitting with me and pooped-out Grady.

I loved that he got comfy on Grady's bootie.

We got to stay in a guest apartment for the week we were there. We improvised with the bunk beds :)

Roaming the campus. I remember I used to watch kids sit on this tree, and here mine are!

Love this beautiful campus.

Family shot. We visited my sis. She used to work there before she moved to Chicago recently!

I miss it so much.

His robe came in. He's ready. Ha.

My sis and I had a night out together, and it was just fabulous. I wish we could have done this many more times, but I will always remember this fun night. We enjoyed some yummy sandwiches over conversation, got another hole in our ears, got coffee, and watched a cheesy Christmas movie while cuddling with Linc.

Our other hole we got :)

Sistas + Linc

Then my parents got there, and the boys were excited.

This was a MUST. Who knows when or if this will ever happen again, but we loved our time at the Wake Forest tea room.

I'm obsessed with the sky here! It just seems so huge!

Two buddies watching TV.

What an absolute ham!

Britton "accidentally" hit my mom in the face with a rubber band! He had some major sucking up to do!

Next up, graduation!