8 years ago...

I wrote this post on January 3rd (Lonnie's birthday) but somehow it got lost in my drafts and I forgot to publish it.  Basically, on his birthday, we were sitting around talking about all of the birthdays we have spent together.  I was telling him that I remember very well the first time we celebrated his birthday together.  He didn't remember it at all so I went looking for this picture to jog his memory.  It worked.  

January 3rd 2006

We had known each other like 6 months.  His mom took this picture.  The three of us had dinner at Lonnie's favorite restaurant (The Terrace...I'll never forget!).  It was the second time I met her.  I super love looking back on this picture because it makes me feel all of the feelings I was feeling then.  I remember all of it.  We were crazy in love, I was oh so nervous because I wanted his mom to like me (love me).  We were "talking" about moving here but mostly just crazy in love.  This picture makes me think about the beginning of us.  I love remembering that time.  I was a few months away from finishing school and he had recently completed his fellowship.  The world was at our fingertips.  He was turning 33 and I was 23.  BABIES.  Great memories.  

PS.  Have y'all ever even seen a picture of Lonnie with ZERO facial hair?

PPS.  My husband and my baby look very similar, no?  

Happy anniversary!

Today I have been married for 4 years.  Our wedding was the best day of my life.  I am such a lucky girl to have such a great husband!  Here are a few pictures of that wonderful day.  I have posted about our wedding in this post and our reception in this post.  But here are a few pics anyway :)

These were on our honeymoon....we went to St. John and it was perfect!!!

On our first anniversary we went to New York City.  It was the first time either of us had been and we had such a great time.

On our second anniversary we went to Washington DC.  I had never been but Lonnie had been a few times.  He had to live there for a couple of months during his residency as well.  I love planning trips and I like to think that I am pretty good at it!  This trip was one of the funnest to plan.  There was just so much I wanted to see and I wanted to get it all in!  

 Supreme Court

 Arlington National Cemetery

 In front of the White House after our tour...

Last year on our third anniversary we didn't go anywhere.  I had just gotten off of bed rest from IVF #2.  Here I am right before our retrieval...  I have some videos that he took of me after the retrieval...which by the way is totally unfair.  I don't remember a thing and they are hilarious!  At one point I asked Lonnie if Tom Brady was taking me home...LOL!  I heart Tom Brady...that.boy.is.fine.

And here I am just after the transfer.  

I had so much hope for our anniversary last year.  I remember thinking that I was "pregnant" on our special day.  Ha!  Not so much....  But that is what brought us to our sweet Blakely and I can't imagine it any other way.  

This year we didn't do anything super special.  I made chicken salad sandwiches and we went down on our dock and watched the sunset.  It was very nice and relaxing.  Much better than being at some crowded restaurant :)  

 Yes. I look tired.  That is because I am...very, very tired....

I love you honey (I know you will read this!).  I can't believe we are about to become parents.  I would not want to share this responsibility with anyone else.  I know you are going to be the best daddy to our little princess.  She is so lucky to have you and so am I.  I look forward to what the next four years hold for us :) 

Anniversary :)

Yesterday was the anniversary of me and my husbands first date!  Like I said on Facebook, it obviously went well ;)  


We were actually set up on a date.  I was in ultrasound school and he was finishing up his fellowship in interventional radiology.  It was my first day of clinicals at this new hospital and, after a few hours there, one of the girls who was training me asked me if I was to go on a blind date.  I said a big fat no!  Then she talked a little about him and decided that I could meet him first.  She had him come over to our room under the premise of just chatting with her but it was really for me to check him out.  Little did I know but she had done the same thing to him.  So he was coming to check me out as well!  


After I met him I told her that I would go out with him.  Apparently, he said the same thing.  He was cute and he was TALL!!  That was a big plus.  I can't lie....I was a little intimidated because he was a doctor.  I had just turned 23 at the time and he was nine years older than me.  I had never gone out with someone who a) was that much older than me and b) actually had a steady paying job!!!


He called me and we talked on the phone a couple of times and set up a time to go on a date. A few days before we were set to go out I got a call from him.  He asked me if he could take a rain check on our date because his dad died.  I said yes, of course, but I couldn't believe it.  He told me that he would call me later.  I had no clue what to think...all I knew is that I felt so very bad for him.  My husband was very close to his dad and the loss was very hard on him.  Looking back, it is strange that something so terrible happened to him and then something so wonderful (our relationship).  


I really didn't expect to hear from him again but I did about two weeks later.  I was pretty nervous for our date so I had a glass or two of wine before he got to my apartment.  This was very early on in my wine drinking and I didn't even have wine glasses!  For our second date he showed up with two wine glasses for me :)


On our first date we went to eat at a restaurant that I really liked.  We talked and talked and talked!  Before we knew it, it had been almost three hours.  So we went to a bar after to have a few drinks and talked some more.  Really the rest is history! 


Here are a few of my favorite pictures of us over the years!

This was our first Christmas together and we went to stay with my mom.  

This was on our first vacation together in Grand Cayman.

This was in Key West and was one of my favorite trips we have taken together.  We had just found out that after three months of him taking hcg injections his sperm count was normal!  They told us we would be able to get pregnant on our own....we were so excited and happy....little did we know it would take two more years!

at a Razorback game...

I love you so much honey!  I know that the next six years are going to be even better than these first six!  

Our reception...as promised!!!

First I want to say Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mommies out there.  I know that I am so lucky to have mine in my life.  She is the best.  I was going to post about my mother's day today but then I realized I can't!  I was going to post pictures of what I got from my mom and my aunt but if I did that it would give away the sex of the baby.  So I will post that later this week after my gender reveal post.  I know y'all are just on the edge of your seats ;)


So in this post last week I promised pictures of our royal reception :)  Here they are!

This is my sweet niece and nephew Collier and Syble.  They were our ringer bearer and flower girl.  They were two and a half at the time and did such a great job.  

I mean....

This was when we were first announced and entered the reception.  I love this picture because we look so happy and excited.  

This was the food table.  Which I never actually saw so I am glad someone took pictures of it!  I was just so busy talking and dancing!

 The ice sculpture that I just had to have.  That is shrimp surrounding the bottom of it.  

 A table serving champagne punch....never actually saw this either but I still have plenty of those napkins!!!  

 These were our wedding favors.  They were small bags of blue and white M&M's.  Some of them said Kelly and Lonnie and some said the date....10-6-07

 Programs that I made.  Pretty sure I was still printing them and tying a ribbon to the top the night before the wedding.  

 Some of the flowers...my favorite part!

 We had tall centerpieces on some tables....

 and smaller ones on others....

Cutting the cake!

 This is one of my favorite pictures.  My niece Syble REALLY wanted those chocolate covered strawberries.  We were standing there about to cut the cake and I felt a little tug on my dress.  She didn't look at me at all just had her eyes dead set on those strawberries.  So cute!

 I also love this one a lot as well.  We were having such a good time!

This has been super fun going back and looking through our wedding photos!  I should do it more often.  We have been through a lot in our 3 1/2 years of marriage but I feel like we are closer than ever.  I love you honey!

OUR Royal Wedding

Yes, I did watch the Royal Wedding.  I didn't care about any of the hoopla leading up to it but, I mean, I am a girl....I'm a sucker for a wedding!  Also I just think Kate is beautiful and they seem so in love and happy.  I had to watch.  I did not get up at 4 am, I recorded it and watched it when I got up.  


I love tradition.  I love pomp and circumstance.  I love pageantry.  These are the reasons that I watched this stuff ALL day long.  Oh and I am a hopeless romantic.  I mean she woke up that day a commoner and went to bed a princess!!!!  Hello?  That is awesomeness!  I also think the Queen is amazing.  The woman has been queen for a gazillion years and has almost NO  wrinkles!  How is that possible?  She is the original HBIC.  (if you don't know what that means...google it)


And can we just talk for a second about how hot David Beckham looked?  There really are no words for this amount of hotness.  It should be illegal.  My husband knows that I feel this way and he understands.  I love him for that :)


But anyway, Kate looked amazing like we all knew she would.  My favorite part was when she finally made it to the alter and William looked at her and told her she looked beautiful.  That was just too sweet.  I might have cried.   


My other favorite part was during the ceremony the archbishop said that every wedding was a royal wedding.  I could not agree more!  Every wedding is special and is celebrating the same thing.  We may not all have a jillion dollars to spend but none of that really matters anyway.  It is all about committing your life to the one you love.  No matter how big or small the wedding they are all just as meaningful.  


So on that note I thought that I would share with you guys a little bit about OUR Royal Wedding!


Lonnie and I got engaged on May 16,2007.  Here is our engagement picture

We got married on October 6, 2007.  Yes I planned my wedding in a little over 3 months.  I wouldn't do it any other way.  Less time to stress out.  We both wanted a somewhat small wedding...intimate.  The problem came in when I told my dad to make a list of people he absolutely HAD to invite.  That list was over 100 people long.  Since he was paying we sort of had to go with it :)

We got married at The Arlington Hotel which is a very old and historic hotel in the city where I live.  It has a beautiful ballroom and that is where our ceremony was.  Our reception was in a large room adjacent to the ballroom.  My wedding colors were hydrangea blue and white.  The flowers were blue and white hydrangeas, white roses, and white calla lilies.  Everything was beautiful!  Now for a picture overload!

getting ready!

Bridal portrait

Bridal Portrait

before the wedding

This was the first time that Lonnie saw me...

my brother Matt, my mom, me and my dad

This is right when the doors to the ballroom opened and me and my dad started walking down the aisle.

This is right after we got married and when we were walking out of the ballroom.  

This post has gotten pretty long so I will post some pics of my reception tomorrow.  As you can see, I have been playing around with putting a watermark on my pics.  I am going to continue to do this on my family pictures.  It actually isn't too difficult! 


Feel free to share about YOUR Royal Wedding!