What we did this summer...

Since there were no updates all summer, we figured a little update on the whole summer would be nice. Here are the highlights..

1. My sister got married! My sister is amazing...she is a single mother raising 3 kids and is quite an inspiration. She has been dating "Smitty" for about 2 years (their first date was to our wedding!) Aaron actually officiated the wedding (his first) so it was an exciting day for us and our entire family.

my family

2. Aaron continued working at Two Story Coffeehouse. Although this isn't monumental, it defined much of our summer! He pretty much works full time in the summer, so our lives change a little bit to adapt to his schedule of opening (at 6am) everyday. He absolutely LOVES his job and we are so thankful for it.
Update: Aaron is now Two Story's coffee roaster. Meaning, he takes the processed green beans and roasts them so that they can be ground and brewed. I know, i don't understand it either.

3. Planted a garden! We worked in our yard and planted our garden. This is always such a fun process for us. Since Dad owns the farm supply store, we get lots of plants to experiment with.  It is absolutely my favorite thing about Spring. We planted tomatoes, cucumbers, okra, peppers, squash, cantaloupe, and watermelon. We also had a separate herb garden with thyme, oregano, mint, and basil. Here is a picture of the very beginning of our garden:

Update: After getting lots of cucumbers and a few tomatoes and squash, deer came along and ate every. single. thing. This garden was TALL and GREEN and FRUITFUL! and the deer ate it all to the ground. I was devastated. Soooo, we are already saving for a fence. Apparently, that is the only thing in this neighborhood that will keep the deer out of your yard.....

look closely....its deer in our front yard.

 4. I pulled my back muscle. Ouch! I was in my grandparents basement moving around some of the items we have in storage there and I picked up a very heavy box of books by myself. Stupid. One of the stupider things I have EVER done. I felt it rip and couldn't walk. I had to have help getting into the car, getting out of the car, and even to the bathroom. For about two days, I was completely reliant on other people to help me stand and walk. It was around a month before I felt completely back to normal, so this experience was a huge part of my summer because of how long it took to "get back to normal".

5. My friends came! Right after I pulled the back muscle, my friends came to visit! It was a little bad timing, since I couldn't really do anything with them, but they are amazing, so they just hung around the house and watched tv while i (mostly) tried to sleep off the pain. Here is a pic of all of us....ahh if only life were like this again.

Kathryn, Katrina, me, Aaron, Kyle, and Chris

6. Went to PCB with my family. My family usually takes a beach trip every year. This year, we were a little late in booking it and instead of going to St. Augustine (where we like to go) we went to Panama City Beach. I haven't been there since I was little so it was quite the experience :) Here we are  squeezed onto the balcony for our "family picture".

7. Baby Norah was born!  Our friends Daniel and Katie had their baby, Norah on June 23rd.  Daniel and Katie are the friends that let us live with them after our house was broken into and we were waiting to buy ours. They are the best kind of friends. We lived with them when Katie was pregnant so we feel like we have been waiting for Norah forever! We love Baby Norah along with everyone else that meets her :)

8. We celebrated two years of marriage! Last year, for our anniversary we went on a little one night trip to Charleston. It was great for last year. This year, because of our new home, we I wanted to go on a little shopping trip. We had been saving our money to go shopping at Ikea to get some things for our house. We got A LOT! We got baskets, frames, lamps, and lots of house accessories. It was a very successful trip! Aaron also surprised me with a night stay at the Ritz Carlton in Buckhead, Atlanta. The Ritz does the little things so well. I am all into "tiny details" so I was in love! It was the most relaxing thing I think we've EVER done! It will definitely be a request for the future!

Our anniversary cake...courtesy of the Ritz. It was delicious!