Mackenzie's Birthday Party...

And her daddy's 29th birthday!  We had 2 parties in one day and boy, were we all exhausted!  We celebrated Mackenzie's birthday with friends and family on Scott's actual birthday, so after Mack's friends left, we had a BBQ for daddy.  What we thought was going to be a small, intimate get together, turned into so much more!  We often forget how fortunate we are to have so much family within driving distance of us.  Aunt Kari and Uncle Mike have a family of five, then we grandparents, uncles, and NaNa came in town all the way from California to meet Mackenzie for the first time.  Then we had Mackenzie's closest friends, daddy's work friends, neighbors, and a very, very special surprise when Ronnie and Joyce showed up in our driveway!  Mommy was already having an emotional day/week/month so this put her over the edge.  I was fully expecting Rick to show me that someone backed into a car when he demanded I go outside because, as he said, "You have to see this!"  But when Ronnie and Joyce walked out from behind the cars, I couldn't believe my eyes!  We are truly blessed to have these two in our lives.  Ronnie grew up with Rick and they are our friends we meet every year at the Outer Banks.  They live outside of Richmond, VA and we consider them extended family.  They treat us like we are their own children and make us feel oh so special and loved.  As with any party, it was chaotic.  Mackenzie and mommy opened all the gifts and Mack sat ever so contently on mommy's lap while mommy oh-ed and ah-ed and got maybe just a bit too excited about the gifts.  Mackenzie was definitely spoiled beyond belief!  We had a butterfly theme and tied in hot pink and lime green.  I've had the butterfly idea for years after I saw a neat cake idea out of a magazine many moons ago.  I had way too much fun planning and executing the whole party.  We were a little nervous about the singing and cake part, but let me tell you, Mackenzie ate it up!  She giggled and smiled the whole time even batting her eyes for the camera.  As for the cake, she really could have cared less, which cracked us up.  Blair literally had to smash her hand into the cake and even then, she just starred at her hand.  We had such a fun time and can't wait for many more birthdays!
 New bows!

 Enough with the pictures already!

A new sippy cup, but wait, there's nothing in it!

Mackenzie's helpers, Walker and Jackson

 

Yea for Barney!!!

 

Mesmerized by everyone singing.

 

 

 

 

So excited!

 

My mommy and daddy call this my stinky fish face.

September 5, 2009

Mackenzie's 1st Birthday!

I now know how it feels when older people always told me "take it all in" when it comes to enjoying children.  I absolutely can not believe Scott and I have a one year old daughter.  It felt like yesterday that I was posting this story.  It's still strange to think we've already been married for 5 years and have known each other for 14 years!!  I have loved every single minute of being Mackenzie's mommy, even on the days she hasn't felt good (seems to be common right now), I haven't felt good, or just down right yucky days.  Mackenzie has been the one to keep me strong through the tough times.  She cuddled with me on the days after my Gramma died, and she has brought so much laughter and smiles to our family.  Due to my crazy class schedule this semester, Mackenzie spent the night the day before her birthday, so she wasn't home on her actual birthday, but Gram made sure to make it extra special for her.  I picked her up from Gram around lunch time on the 4th and we ate lunch at Steak n' Shake.  After lunch, it was off to get 1 year pictures made.  They did a fantastic job and I love how they all turned out.  Daddy insisted on taking Mackenzie out somewhere for her birthday, so we all had ice cream at Dairy Queen after a yummy supper.  Here are some fun facts about our 1 year old!

*has taken 10 consecutive steps.  She's a stubborn girl who will walk when she's ready.  She doesn't like people watching her and cheering her on.  We learned this lesson quick.  If this happens, she immediately sits down and crawls away.
*has her two bottom teeth.  One coming in while we were in NY and the other one about 2 weeks later.
*started "meow-ing" and "woof-woof-ing" while pointing to our cat and dogs.  She started this all on her own and she now will meow and bark at random dogs and cats.  When she "meows" she makes this funny distorted face making sure to elongate the, "meeeeeeoooooooooowwwwwww"!
*has a new found love of balloons.  She goes nuts in stores when she sees them.
*started playing peek a boo on September 20, 2009.  She found my baby blanket and covered her head and sat completely still while giggling.  When she took the blanket off, she thought it was the funniest thing she's ever done.
*not eating many solid foods due to the lack of teeth, but loves macaroni and cheese, but not the baby kind.  She hates the graduates and will either spit them out or put her head down and cover her face.
*started giving kisses!  This is my all time favorite.  She was sitting in my lap one day and hit me pretty hard across the face, I told her that we don't hit and that she needs to be soft.  She immediately brought her mouth to mine and "kissed" me.  Completely melted my heart.
*Got her first scary fever on September 15th.  She woke up with a 102 degree fever and was very lethargic, of course it was 7:30 a.m. and the doctor's office wasn't open, so I left an urgent message with the operator and Dr. Kim called back with 7 minutes.  He said as long as she was breathing properly, and we could give her medicine to break her fever, she was ok.  She had the fever well into the day, but it steadily went down.  We're pretty sure this all had to do with her teething.
*Mackenzie LOVES to dance...to anything.  Her latest favorite is Barney.  I thought I was put through enough Barney abuse over 15 years ago when my brother when through this stage, but nope.  The first time I ever put it on she immediately stopped what she was doing and focused on the tv...for 30 minutes, in awe.  She now dances to the music and it's so darn cute.
*Can go from sitting to standing.  She can also lean down to pick things up.

Yay for presents!                                                          For the love of balloons...

Graduation Day

After 88 long days, my brother finally became a Marine. Each recruit is technically a Marine after the completion of The Crucible (54 hours of food and sleep deprivation along with miles of marching), but graduation completes the training. We were all up again bright and early to get good seats at the parade deck and it was once again hot and humid. Luckily, it was overcast so it was bearable. I along with all my family members had a giant lump in my throat throughout the entire ceremony. I was and still am so very proud of my baby brother. He did it. He is a Marine.

Trevor, Brittany, Michael, Hannah, and Matt-their signature pose
Trevor, Michael, and Matt
Matt, Gunny, Trevor, and Michael. Gunny was the boy's NJROTC instructor at North Forsyth High School. It was huge surprise to see him and his wife, Hillary at graduation. The boys were shocked when they saw them. On a sidenote, Gunny's son did several tours to Iraq only to come home several years ago and be killed in a senseless act of road rage. He left behind a wife and young daughter.
Matt, Hillary, Trevor, and Michael

Continuation of Family Day

The weather was questionable on the morning of Family Day. Parris Island is well, an island and it's not far from the coast of SC/GA. With that being said, it was hot, muggy and very humid the whole weekend. There were threats of rain, but only a few drops fell and storm moved on. Once we got done eating, Matt wanted to show us around the base. I must say, for it to be a military base, it wasn't half bad. On the drive in, it's lined with palm trees and the whole base is very clean. I think it's on the smaller side compared to the several bases I've been on, but it was fun to see where my brother has been living for the past 3 months. I'm going to let the pictures speak for themselves.

The famous yellow footprints. Each recruit is dropped off at this very spot on base. They are to stand on the footprints and they run over them on the motivational run.
I love these kids. First of all, the girls stuck through the 3 months of training without their boyfriends. I know that sounds so silly, but remember we all in high school at one time and boyfriends were a big deal.
See the bag my brother is carrying? He had to carry that with him everywhere he went on Family Day and had to keep his right hand free to be able to salute to his higher ups.
See, the Marines didn't change them one bit! They are all still as goofy as can be!
No glasses!
These lines ran down the barracks and the recruits were to stand on them several times a day.
How would like to wash up in here for 3 months? I know it could be much worse...
The "racks". Notice the beds are made head to toe, apparently, that's to help reduce the spreading of crud. And not only did Matt, Trevor, and Michael all stay together in the same platoon, they also all slept with a triangle of each other.
Where my brother kept all of his belongings. He had some great stories about those cases.


I couldn't have asked for a better girlfriend for my brother.


Thankfully, we didn't have to stay in a hotel for the durition of our time at Parris Island. One of my mom's sisters and her husband own a house on Dataw Island which is about 15 minutes from the base. After Family Day was over we said our good byes to my brother and spent the evening with family.

Mack did so good considering how long of a day we had. We enjoyed dinner at a fun little restaurant within the community that my aunt and uncle live in. This cracker kept her entertained for a long time!

Parris Island, South Carolina

Finally! My baby brother graduated from Marines Boot Camp on August 28, 2009! The whole experience was emotionally draining and left us all on a huge high for several weeks. The festivities started off on Wednesday night, when we pulled out of our driveway. We had a caravan down to Parris Island with Gram, Papaw, Hannah, and Pop. The plan was to spend the night at the hotel on base, because we were to report to the parade deck by 7:00 a.m. on Thursday. Gram had all the arrangements done prior to us leaving...or so we thought! Since we got such a late start leaving, we didn't roll onto base until well after midnight, in fact, I think it was some time after 1 a.m. We were told by the guardsmen where the hotel was and that was that. Well, after driving around the base for what seemed like an eternity, we found no hotel. The only one on base was clearly being renovated as it had no windows or doors. There are strick rules on base such as no cell phone use while driving, and the stinking speed limit is 15! Needless to say, we were all tired, cranky, hungry, and just wanted a bed to nap in! Remember we all in different cars, so it was getting difficult to try to all stay together, but as we drove back up to the guard shack, we were told we were on the wrong base! We now had to drive 20 minutes out of our way to the Naval/Marines base where our hotel was located. We finally got settled into our rooms after 2 a.m., where Mackenzie proceeded to play until our alarm went off at 4:45 a.m.

Parris Island holds recruit graduation every single Friday with the exception of holidays. On the Thursdays before graduation, they have what is called "Family Day". All family members meet in the bleachers of the parade deck where they see their Marine for the first time. All the Marines are in their platoons and go through a set of stretches before they all take off for their 4 mile motivational run. It was such an overwhelming experience seeing my brother for the first time. We were unable to talk to him until 10 a.m. that morning due to all the Marines having to go back to the barracks to clean up and get dressed for Family Day. As we all sat in the All Weather Training Facility we told what the recruits have been going through and so on. Then, on the far side of the facility, a large garage door opened and in they marched. I was speechless, choked up, and so giddy all at the same time. The senior drill instructors were all introduced and then volunteers slowly started releasing the ropes (much like the ones you see at your local bank) and we were free to hug, kiss, bombard, attack, etc. our Marines! Again, completely overwhelming. My brother was so ready to eat after all the excitement and we all had a nice family picnic with all of my brother's favorite foods from 10:00 a.m.-3:00 .p.m.

Very hard to see, but here are the Marines running on their motivational run.
Mackenzie was very confused over all the excitement. Remember, she didn't sleep when we got to the hotel. She slept the whole 5 hour drive to South Carolina, so she was ready to party by the time we got to the hotel. She was clearly over the fact that we were up and at'em so early in the morning!
Returning from the motivational run.
Matt, Trevor, and Michael's platoon, 3066
With music playing, the door opening, and the Marines marching in, it was very hard to hold it together.