Heather & Marc's Wedding

I know I still owe some pictures on Heather's shower I threw for her but I haven't received them yet so I'll have to come back on that one later. But October 1st was Heather and Marc's wedding! I was honored to be one of the bridesmaids.

The night before, Grannie and David at the rehearsal dinner.

A few pre-wedding pictures with the family.  Darren had to work so he couldn't come down for it.

But Erin did get to make the trip with Steven.

A few of the pre-wedding pictures.

 

 

Just two cousins messing around.

 

And they say I do.

A few post wedding pictures.

 
    

The cakes were adorable.  If you look at the grooms cake closely you'll see goldfish in the pond!

Everything was blue and white for their UK themed wedding!

Another congratulations to Marc and Heather! Love you.

Also Intruducing....

Charlotte Grace!

Newest addition for my friends Laura and Eric and baby sister of my munchkin Madeline. So beautiful and I can't wait to until I'm in Nashville to hold this little one!

Introducing...

I'm back I am alive.  Life and mainly work have been in the way with blogging.  Hopefully I can get back to some regularly scheduled blogging!!

Introducing our newest family addition... Taylor Marie!

She is the daughter of my cousin Emily and her husband Jacob.  What a sweet girl!  Can't wait to I get to meet her!

Florida - Animal Kingdom

Darren was not excited about going to Disney but he did suggest the Animal Kingdom knowing how much I like zoo type places and because neither of had been there.  Now when the Avatar land is done, we'll have to go back! :)

The Tree of Life was neat.

 

But the highlight of the day was the animal safari.  I'd have to say it makes me want to go to Africa badly and do a real safari!

See the baby elephant hiding behind the momma?

At one point we had to stop because the Rhino's were in the road.  For about 5 minutes they didn't want to move at all!

 

The animals get amazing close the jeep.  I thought they'd stay away if they could.

This guy wasn't that close, by my zoom was helpful!

Everest was neat and the roller coaster was different that anything I'd been on.  You go forwards, backwards and then forward again!

We ended the day being able to just squeak into the Lion King show.  Just barely making the last show.  It was definitely worth the run across the park to make it!

Florida - Islands of Adventure

Dork that I am, what I was most excited about was going to Universal Studios Islands of Adventure, the home of Harry Potter World!!!!  It was neat walking through many of the props used in the movies and seeing how they designed all the buildings.

You first walk into Hogsmeade the only town for just magical people in the Harry Potter books.

The buildings are so cute.

But the castle was crazy realistic.  Definitely smaller than I pictured Hogwarts to be but it looked the way in real life that I would have pictured it.

 

 

Inside had so many memories from the books and movies.  A classroom with Ron, Hermione and Harry.

Dumbledore's Office.

The moving paintings.

The sorting hat.

And of course the "Fat Lady."

In the village they even had the Hogwarts Express! 

I'm fairly certain this visit is what prompted me to spend the last few months re-reading all of the books back to back.  I just finished on Friday and I have to say I'm sad to be done with them. 

Florida - Universal Studios

The real fun began after we got to Orlando.  Four theme parks in four days.  It was fun though.  Up first was Universal Studios.  I had never been so that was pretty fun.

We saw the Simpsons come out of their motorhome.

And the Delorian from Back to the Future.

And the train used in Back to the Future III.

The park was so empty we were able to catch quite a few shows including the Monster Mash!

Florida - Wildlife Park

In September - Darren and I both were able to take vacation and finally took my cousin Paul up on his offer for us to come visit.  It was much needed after the move and starting back to work.  A few days of relaxing before we went to Orlando. :)

One of our afternoons outside Tampa, we went to a wildlife park.  It was a mini-zoo of sorts but aside from a Rhino contained only animals that were native to Florida.