Our Family

We recently had family photos done by the wonderful Tanna Carter. She was FANTASTIC!! She suggested the location (Tom Bennett Park--highly recommend, it was beautiful). It was a perfect morning for them too. It took less than an hour, which was perfect because we start to lose the kiddos around then. And she was great with E and Caroline. Our kids always smile for the camera (well MOST of the time), but for family photos they take their cuteness to a whole new level. Tanna got so many wonderful pictures of us :) It was very hard to pick our faves. Check out her Facebook page Tanna C. Photography :)

A Work in Progress

So if any of you know me, you know I have super thick hair (and wavy when I let it air dry). And to style it takes forever. I normally throw it up in a bun and am done. But I have decided to start styling it more...but it's a long process. I will let it air dry for about 20 minutes and then blow dry it for about 10-15 minutes. I then flat iron it and that takes around 25-30 minutes. So to do my hair nice takes about an hour. See now why I don't do it much????

Well I have learned (or at least I think I have) to finally do my hair. I think the secret for my hair is good products, a good brush, and a hot flat iron. I get Birchbox and love testing out all their hair products. I am in LOVE with all Oribe products....however it is a little out of my budget. I have found that Living Proof products work for my hair type (thick and wavy). I use the Nourishing and Styling cream while wet, as well as Davroe Hair Wellness Ends Repair cream.

I use a big flat brush to help straighten it some when blow drying and use a $40 straightener (Porcelain Series 1 1/2 Inch Ceramic Flat Iron) from Sally Beauty Supply. Absolutely love this straightener........I've had the Chi and other ones too. This gets super hot and works on my hair. Once blow dried and straightened, I use a little more the LP Styling cream because it stops frizz (regular body lotion helps with frizz too...don't know how I stumbled across that one but it works.)

I am also a hair product junkie so my products tend to change. However, when I run out of these products, I will get more :)

Almost as Good

So I absolutely love Reese's peanut butter cups. Especially the holiday ones (the pumpkin-not the new orange one-that's weird, the Christmas tree, and the Easter egg). I have been dieting (trying my best-definitely have cheat days) and with all this candy I around I needed a supplement. Don't get me wrong, I ate a lot of Halloween candy to a point where I think I was done (don't judge I've been running 3-3.5 miles 4-5 days a week and working out). Lol.

I found this recipe on Facebook from Ambitious Kitchen. They are so good!!!! These Reese's Eggs definitely get my fix in :) Check out her blog for more delicious recipes!





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Time to Run

So I have been running more lately-about 3 miles a day. Normally, we always do some kind of run for the Turkey Trot. We are headed to Jax this year and are going to do one up there. My mom asked me what I wanted to do, the 10k or 5k. Well I must have blacked out because I am now  signed up for the 10k. The most I have run lately is 4 miles (felt good after). Need to get some more miles under my belt before November 24th :)

Our Life

So as we approach our 9 year wedding anniversary this Thursday, I have been thinking alot lately of how we met, what we have done, and where we have been.

Eddy and I met at a junior college in Clearwater while home for the summer. We were both taking the same class. I told my sister I had met someone cute and she asked his name. I said I didn't know, but I knew he wore a backpack and drove a cool car. So I called him backpack boy. Lol. We quickly formed a friendship and that was it. I remember he used to bring me fountain coke while I was at work :) Summer ended and we went back to school-him to UF and me to FSU. We kept in touch visiting each other. I brought my friends down for the UF-FSU game. Val lost a shoe somehow. Haha! She has a tendency to lose shoes. Nothing happened because we were both dating someone at the time. Well we came home for the holiday break and spent New Year's Eve together. We kissed and here we are almost 14 years later.

We got married in 2007 and were living the dream in Jacksonville. We bought a cute house and started a life there. We had a good time for awhile! Partied like we were still in college. Lots of stories there but that's for another time :) We had our first baby, Edward Owen in March of 2012. Decided to move to Nocatee in 2014. We built our dream house and the day we closed we found out we were pregnant. Caroline Elise came April of 2015. Life was complete! And you know when you say that, things happen real quick! Eddy took a promotion February of 2016 at Fidelity, but in Sarasota, FL. So I quit my job (YAY), we packed up the kiddos, and the house and moved down to Lakewood Ranch. It was an adjustment at first, but we have settled in and are loving it! I am also fortunate to stay at home with the kiddos. Some days are wonderful while the next can feel like I live crazy town and am the mayor.

So 9 years wedded, 4 homes lived in, and 2 wonderfully crazy beautiful kids here we are! And some great news--we bought a house! We are super excited to be out of this rental and to be planting our roots down here. I would not have wanted to take this journey with any other person. Eddy is my person. He is a wonderful father and a great husband. We still make each other laugh and have fun together. Looking forward to what the next 50 years bring :)

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! This was E's 3rd time trick or treating (he's a pro) and Caroline's first. All day E was like "Mommy can I get dressed so we can go?" His excitement was super cute! When daddy got home, we ate and then got dressed. I told him we had to take some pictures first and he told only 3. Well if you have kids you know taking only 3 pictures was never going to work. We gave them their pumpkins (which was an awful idea I know) and Caroline had some candy in there from last week. Well all she wanted to do was to take it out and eat it. With the wrapper still on. Lol.

We tried to take the pumpkin away and Snow White became real angry quick. So finally it dawned on me, make them hold hands! She loves holding big brother's hand. So we did that and we got that 1 great picture :) As a parent it's what we called winning.

Now it was time for the good part-Trick or Treating. Well the pure excitement came over her and she started to run like a wild woman. Her pumpkin was swinging and candy was flying out of it. It was cute. She only did a couple of houses because her little legs wouldn't last long and she doesn't need a lot of candy because she's already wild. And of course she was not happy--but daddy had to deal with it while me and E went on. He had so much fun! Running to the houses getting tons of candy. He was very polite and when allowed to take the candy-only took 1. They then said take more, which was fine. Made me feel good he didn't grab handfuls. We came home after about an hour and looked at the loot. Out of all the candy, his eyes were set on the best one-a ring pop?? I mean I saw Reese's, Snickers, Three Musketeers, and so much more. We saved that for the next day and he settled on Nerds.

He said it was the best day ever! His excitement is what makes me happy :)

Val Got Married

This past weekend, I had the honor of standing by one of my best friends as she married the most wonderful man. Valerie and Jeff had a perfect wedding. Everything was perfect-the day, the dress, the venue, the food, and the company. Not to mention she was absolutely stunning! Her dad was right...she looked like a princess :)

When it was time to go, she wasn't nervous at all. I think it had to do with the fact that the man she married is absolutely perfect. Jeff is an amazing guy. He is SO good to her. He got her to try new food (if you know Val this is a big deal for her) such as shrimp. He loves Kingston as much as Valerie does and even said he wants another puggle. When she walked down the aisle, I turned and looked at Jeff. The way he looked at her melted everyone's heart. It was a wonderful day :)

College besties! These women are something special. And they are gorgeous! The bridesmaids dresses were all sort of the color hue and looked phenomenal together!

Much love to both of them and wishing them many years of happiness!