K turns 2!

Little miss Kaitlyn is 2 years old!  (Where did the time go??)  Aaron had some meetings in the Orlando area on her birthday, so Garrett and I tagged along to celebrate with her!  We celebrated at a family favorite - Mellow Mushroom.  Even K has caught on that this is a delicious place to eat.  But Wilson, party of 4 is now Wilson, party of 7, so we don't travel light anymore when going to restaurants.  Here are the happy kiddos post-pizza (well, for Kaitlyn, at least).  I love her smile!

Happy birthday, little lady! XOXO

A year in photos.

Hello again, old friend.  I'd like to give a shoutout to any and all individuals who have checked to see if I've updated this thing in the last year or so.  Blogger has page view counters now.  And I'm pretty sure I haven't viewed this thing in about 16 months.  So any number above 0 on the snazzy little "page views" chart is someone out there who has probably been disappointed each time he or she looks for an update.  Anyway, to the faithful few, I send my kindest regards.  Even though it's probably just my mom.

Let's catch up.  I'll (try to) make it snappy.  Because - let's be honest - we could be here all night.  As you'll soon see.

In May, we bought our first home in Jacksonville, Florida.

Here she is!

So, of course, we moved.  And brought Noa with us (like she gave us a choice).

Then we took a most awesome vacation to the greatest place on earth.

Bar Harbor, Maine.  This isn't the last you'll see of this place on this blog.  I plan on moving there one day.  Or at least getting rich and buying a summer home up there.

Later that month, we found out 2 would become 3 :)

And so I grew a little bit.

My longtime friend and neighbor who I grew up with took these photos.  Aren't they great?  She has some real talent!  Check out her work at www.jolisephotography.com .

Then we had our annual BYO Mug party.  Some excellent contenders for prizes in 2012.

Did I mention I got to go through pregnancy with two of my good friends!?  And we all had boys :)

My sweet friends threw me a baby shower in January 2013

And on March 6, 2013, Garrett Matthew was born at 3:31pm weighing in at 8lbs, 1oz, and 21" long.

First family photo.

You may think I'm a mean mommy, but this is my favorite picture of him at the hospital.  You'll be glad to know he has since fallen in love with baths, it was just the first one he wasn't all that thrilled about.

He came home the next day, and then got to meet his BFF Grayson.

And we can call THIS very moment the one where my blog gets commandeered by photos of my son.  After all, he is the most adorable kid of all time, and the next 12 weeks of my life were spent in maternity leave bliss where my only jobs were to feed him, change diapers, and take 100,000,000 pictures of him per day.  I didn't even have to cook dinner.  Our awesome family and friends took care of that.  Holla!

The cutest little NOLE baby you ever did see.

We got to introduce him to our niece, Kaitlyn. 

So sleepy during those first few weeks.

DIY newborn photo shoot.

Brought G to church for the first time on Easter.

Got to see great friends Kelly and Kent who stopped by after their annual trip to Daytona.

Then my sis got married to Mikey, and became Mrs. Knepper.

We communicate with simply a look.

What a crazy bunch we were.

It was a wedding miracle that he did not spit up on that gorgeous dress.

This girl graduated from college and got a big girl job.

Oh yes, and Angela (my awesome co-worker and friend) turned 30!

So what better way to celebrate than a "Nerdy 30" Bday Party!?

Garrett also attended his first baseball game for Father's Day.

3 grandchildren on the Wilson side nowadays :)

Because we added Shane Hardy Wilson in June.  

And this little guy keeps growing and growing.  More to come on that later. 

So there you have it, a year in pictures.  So many good memories made, but we're looking forward to a little bit of a slower year ;)

We also said goodbye to two grandparents on Aaron's side of the family, too.  Two irreplaceable individuals got to meet Jesus - Audrey Wilson (Oma...Andy's mother) and Marvin Hardy (Granddad - Susan's father).  We miss them dearly, but know they are smiling down on the craziness that is the life of this young family.

And that's a wrap.  I left a large mound of laundry sorted on the bed and Aaron wants to go to sleep, way passed normal bedtime.  Oops. :)

Rodeo Houston!!

Let's pretend I - for a moment - addressed the fact that I have not blogged in 3 months.  Does that brief mention sufficiently acknowledge my blogging slacker status??

Okay, I'm glad we're through that.

Let's take a little gander back to a weekend in March that was one of the best on record!  We finally made the trip out to to Houston, TX to visit two of our very closest friends, and we made the most out of the weekend!  It went like this:

Amanda picked me up from the airport on Friday afternoon, and we didn't waste any time before going to get some Tex Mex and Margaritas for dinner!

Lupe Tortilla!  Yum. Yum. Yum.

We, of course, made our usual stroll through the closest Urban Outfitters store.

Goodness gracious, this gal is awesome!

And on Saturday AM we no doubt embraced the fact that it was St. Patrick's Day!

Green yogurt for breakfast.

Here's a little analogy for you: boots are to Texas as bikinis are to Florida.  Here's Amanda's collection.

Boots, boots, and more boots.

We wandered through a store called Bering's, which was a combination of Bed, Bath, & Beyond, Home Depot, Carter's, Dillard's, Things Remembered, Kilwin's + Starbucks.  I am doomed if we ever get one of these in Jacksonville.  They have EVERYTHING.

Texans are proud to be Texans, that is for sure.  Also saw a bumper sticker that said, "I wasn't born in Texas, but I got here as fast as I could."  If only these people were joking.

Aaron was with John David most of the weekend while I was having some girl time with Amanda.  We met up on Saturday afternoon to go to the RODEO.  My one request of JD was that he didn't dress my husband up to look like some ridiculous wannabe cowboy.  Turns out, my man looks GOOD in cowboy boots!!

Pulls 'em off like a champ!

 Here we are at the rodeo.  So much fun.  I'm pretty sure I'll be going every year from now until the cows come home.

Speaking of cows...Here are some sights of the rodeo.  It was like no other experience I have ever had!  Beats those small-town rodeos in Okeechobee, Florida!

Cow butts. 

Guys will be guys.

John David initiated a search for this exhibit (which we all thought he was lying about).  Here it is, the animal birthing center!  You're welcome for only showing you this pic.  

You know it's a good weekend when you're taking photos of your food.  A BBQ LOADED baked potato from Pappas BBQ.  Oh. My. Word.

Yes.  Yes, we did.

There it is.  Fried cookie dough.

We walked alllllllll the way to the top of Reliant Stadium to our seats, and gave the guys the good seats during the first half of the rodeo... 

And then walked all the way down to the 6th row seats, mostly because we wanted to be an arm's length away from Brad Paisley when the rodeo events were over!

So. Much. Fun.

I love these people! 

We went out after the concert was over to make the most of our time together.  Who needs sleep when you only have 48 hours!?

There's just something better about a margarita that is made so much closer to Mexico!

And there's nothing really better about beer that is green, except that it's a must-have on St. Patty's Day!

We had a blast getting to know the city that our two great friends live in.  Aaron got to stay a few extra days (for a conference), while I had to head home on Sunday after visiting Amanda's church.  But that's that, our awesome trip to TEXAS!!