Honeymoon Day One

The morning after our wedding was an early one for me. G's brother had to be back in NY that day, so since G isn't an early riser I got up with his family to see him off. Before I could head back to my room...there was Trent. :)

Before too long everyone was awake and ready to go. My dad was making coffee and my mom was making breakfast. Now do you see why I brought them along? KIDDING! :) Once someone was up and could watch Trent, I went to my room to shower. Our room was on the floor with the kitchen and living room....above all the other bedrooms. We thought it would give us a little privacy. But when I came out of the shower that morning and there were 3 adults and 5 children racing around the room and jumping on the bed...I knew we had been wrong. :)

So it's Monday... the sun was shining and we were able to take T to see the water for the first time since we arrived at the beach. We couldn't walk on the beach because the tide was still too high, but the sun was a welcome sight after all the clouds, wind and rain!

See how yucky the beach looks??? ICKY! So many places had suffered damage from the storm. When we watched the news we saw where several beach houses had collapsed. Scary stuff.

Monday was a low-key day for us. We spent most of the day hanging out at the house and cleaning up from the wedding. My aunt was able to arrange things at her job so that she could work on the Outer Banks that week. It was neat because she would come and hang out with us after work and stay until she was ready to check in for the night. On this particular day the girls went for a walk and looked at all the houses in the area while the men stayed at the house and played pool. We did so much talking and so much laughing! THIS is why we invited everyone on our honeymoon. :) THIS is the good stuff.

And speaking of good stuff.....this last photo is just awesome to me. By the Master Artist Himself. :)

Food, family and fun.

Sounds like a wedding reception, huh? :)

Our reception was just what we wanted....simple, relaxed and fun. Me and G along with my parents bought and prepared most of the food.....saving us boo-koos of money on catering. We ended up with SO much food!! And we ate reception food all week. :)

We took more photos, cut the cake and before we knew it....the day was done.

The day went by SO FAST. One minute they were telling me it was time to walk down the aisle....the next minute we were hugging people as they walked out the door.

But the fun was only beginning. We still had our whole family....in one house....staying the week with us. Honeymoon....here we come. :)

So who's gonna take your pictures?

I can't tell you how many people asked me that while we were planning the wedding. And until about a week before the wedding....I said "I dunno". We had asked some family members to help us out....thinking I could do the editing and end up with what we wanted....but then I decided that any good photographer would hire a great photographer. So that's what I did.

I did a search online for OBX photographers and went to every site....looking for someone who shared my same style. I found Ginger. Everyone loved her! She was so fun....she fit right in...and I barely knew she was there (unlike some photographers who stalk you and get all up in your face). She was awesome!! So many people have commented on how much they liked her!

You can check out her work here: http://www.gingersnapsphotos.com/

Isn't that just the CUTEST business name??

And here she is....in action. :) I can't wait to see the photos she took! I promised her I wouldn't aggravate her constantly about them, so I'm waiting patiently. And checking her site. Daily. :)

The Story of Us.

Ok...so life happened again. :) Trying to pick up where we left off. Here are some photos G's brother-in-law took alongside our photographer. The wind was insane, but I REALLY wanted some pictures outside. Oh well....

But this is the story of me and G and how we met and ya da ya da ya da.

The story could begin in 1998 when a bunch of the 'locals' in town decided to convince me to ask G to my senior prom. Yes, normally the guy asks the girl....but if you know G....you know that ain't happenin'. But this story ends with me asking him and him saying 'no' and both of us going away to school and never seeing each other again for 7 years so we'll move along to the important stuff.

Fast forward about 7 years....January 2005. I was living with my parents when I re-met G. My first husband had passed away in November of '04, so T and I were staying with them until we were ready to go out on our own again.

If you've ever moved back home after being gone for awhile, you know it ain't easy. It wasn't bad...and it was definitely what we needed at the time....but this time around I was a mom and had a been a wife and was used to doing things differently than when I was only a daughter. However, my first marriage was very difficult and left me scarred. So by January I was really starting to become a hermit. I didn't watch TV....I only went out of the house when I had to....and I really didn't feel a connection with my own son who was quickly approaching his first birthday. A close friend of mine suggested that I pray for a friend to come along who could pull me from this dark side. The next day I met G.

The day I met G was cold....like 20 degrees cold. I had just finished doing door-to-door outreach with my church. I remember my hair was pulled back into the famous bun and I was wearing one of W's old hooded sweatshirts....one that I also wore when I was 9 months pregnant. I looked pretty scary. When I got home, G was standing on the doorstep. He had come to help my parents put together their first website. At least that's why he *thought* he was there. :)

Call it what you want, but my computer had alerted me a couple days before that I had a virus. How nice that this computer dude just happened to be there. So I asked him to come up to my room and check it out. The first thing I asked him was, "Do you remember when I asked you to the prom?". He laughed and that was the end of that. I remember G had poison ivy that day and that he joked me about the room I was staying in. Remember....I was being a hermit and hadn't bothered to add my own taste to this room....or to even bring up a TV. But that was it....small talk....and he made sure my computer was no longer infected.

But he would be back. Every week. It started with him just coming in to help my parents, but he was always helping me with something, too.....picking out a new scanner....buying Photoshop...helping me pick out my first REAL camera. I changed my room...bought new bedding and made it look "cool". G even brought my TV from my house and put it in my room...so I could rejoin the 'real world' and not the Amish world his brother thought I was living in. :) Then we started hanging out....shopping together....watching movies together. But it was totally on a friendship basis. He had a girlfriend and I was a weeping widow. :) But those few days here and there turned into weeks of us spending day after day together. He would come visit with me after I put T to bed and we would watch movies until the wee hours of the morning.

I don't remember us ever talking about dating very much. Any time our relationship would teeter in that direction a wall would go up and he would remind me that he had a girlfriend. Afterall, he was what I had prayed for, right? A friend.

Several months later he finally came to his senses. :) He asked me to be his girlfriend. But nothing really changed as far as our relationship went....but it meant we would have to make some changes. He had to break ties with his "ex" and I had to force myself to move on with my life.

G and I have never been this mushy-mushy couple. He doesn't bring me flowers, he doesn't sing me love songs....and I'm totally cool with that. Through the years we have perfected our friendship, so the rest really isn't a big deal. We've learned to be confident in our relationship with each other....not relying on romance or any of that silly mess. :) So it was MONTHS before we ever even admitted our true feelings toward each other and even longer before anyone ever uttered the "L" word.

Through the years, not a lot about our relationship has changed....but we have changed. G has become more responsible and has accepted and succeeded at the role of "Daddy" to T. I have had to learn to relax and not worry so much....two things I still work at.

After almost a year of living with my parents, I decided that I needed to step out and try life on my own. I thought I could go back to my original home...just me and T....but it didn't work. So G and I worked night and day on my house....trying to change it so it wouldn't constantly remind me of "before". Even then...the nightmares, visions and panic attacks would sneak in and I just couldn't do it. So G...once again....stepped in. And moved in.

It has always been a sensitive topic with some of my friends and family, but we had to do what was right for us. He was my Elijah....he moved in to take care of this widow woman and her son. Even when we became engaged and knew we would be married, our physical relationship didn't change. We remained pure and we are both so grateful for that.

So after over three years of being "me and G and T"....here we are. And G and I are still really good friends. We're working on the married stuff, but just as before.....not much has changed in our relationship....but we have changed. And we'll continue to grow and change. Together. The three of us.