Oh, Say Can You See!

 

What a great Independence Day weekend!

 

There is nothing like spending time with family and friends to remind you how blessed you are.

 

Sarah, the sweetest Grandma in the whole world and I playing around with the selfie stick while we waited for Susan and Alyssa to meet us

 

Thursday, after my doctor's appointment, my cousin, Sarah, who was visiting from Indiana, and my aunt Susan, cousin Alyssa and I headed to Nags Head for a day at the beach.

 

A ridiculously oversized chair we had to snap a picture in

Despite all of the shark attacks, Sarah was determined to swim. I waded in about mid-calf deep but the water was unseasonably freezing. I decided to stick to the sand and not take my chances with hypothermia or Jaws.

 

Is that a shark behind you, Sarah?

About 1:00pm I got a call from Tanner's mom saying that we had a new addition to the family. Carter Jerome Hardy was born at 11:19am at 7 pounds and 11 ounces. He is so precious and has so, so, so much hair and bright blue eyes like Mommy and Daddy.

So Sweet!

 

Once we got back from the beach I took the quickest shower of my life and met Tanner at the hospital to meet our nephew. We grabbed a quick dinner at Cheddar's and got home around 10:30, Thursday night.

Friday mom, Sarah and I went to a few stores in Greenville and had lunch at McAllister's. After that it was time to head back home to get ready for the streetdance in Belhaven. Tanner was a trooper and agreed to drive 5 crazy ladies to the streetdance and we all had a blast. We ended up going to a restaurant called The Tavern that turned out to be a really neat spot.

Lyndsay and Sarah

Tanner and I

Saturday we woke up about 8:30am and headed to the river to celebrate the 4th. We had a great day laying out, swimming and eating with all of our friends and family. Around 4 a storm looked like it was heading our way so we packed everything up and headed back up to the house. Sarah snapped this picture just as it was getting cloudy. God is an amazing artist.

Beautiful!

 

 

Saturday evening we met up with the girls again and headed Downtown Washington to catch the fireworks. There were a ton of people downtown. We found a good spot and got the hear the band finish.

This weekend was chaotic, busy and wonderful. The 4th of July is one of my most favorite holidays!

Thanks, Mom

-for  dance parties in the kitchen
-for always knowing what to say
-for giving me self confidence despite my big nose and teeth
-for always coming to the rescue
-for being yourself
-for your sense of humor
-for your love of musicals
-for teaching me to be myself
-for giving me independence
-for chocolate molten cakes
-for Celine Dion
-for your hard work
-for your love of crafts
-for our ESP
-for my brother
-for your voice
-for taking me to church
-for supporting me in everything
-for loving Tanner
-for accepting me
-for being hard on me when I needed it
-for Mexican pinwheels
-for letting me have meltdowns
-for listening to my rants
-for being honest with me when I didn't want to hear it
-for the gift of gab
-for not being afraid to get dirty
-for your round face
-for not letting me take myself too seriously
-for laughing at me when I accidentally shave my eyebrow off
-for movies like Practical Magic & The Holiday
-for letting me do your hair/makeup
-for watching all my plays and musicals
-for loving me even when I disappoint you
-for understanding me
-for telling me when something is unflattering
-for shopping with me
-for being my +1 at uncomfortable events
-for beach trips
-for James Taylor
-for not letting me cry over stupid boys
-for not letting me settle
-for your love of trivia
-for vanilla bean frappes


I want to be you when I grow up.

1 Month Down

In an effort to make polite conversation at the grocery store or bank, people often ask me the same question, "So, how's married life?" I usually give a variation of this answer (sorry): "He plays golf a little more, but other than that it's pretty good." And I smile and continue to run errands. I guess, if you've asked me and genuinely would like to know, I'll give you a little insight to the past month of our sometimes crazy, yet mostly boring life together.

First and foremost, marriage is FUN. There is no one else on this Earth that can make me laugh like Tanner can and I whole-heartedly appreciate that he has no reservations about being completely stupid and silly with me. So far, marriage is pretty much like having a continuous sleepover with someone who is willing to do the guy part of the duet for whatever song you're singing at that moment, and occasionally adding in his own lyrics just to make you laugh, then cooking you pancakes and maybe even adding chocolate chips to yours because he knows you love anything and everything chocolate.

But marriage is also fun in the sense that you can both sit on the couch watching endless episodes of Cops Reloaded while eating Oreos and not say a word to each other for an hour and still being completely happy just because you know that person is there enjoying it just as much as you are.

Secondly, although we've only been married a month, I'm already learning the very, very, very, very hard lesson of compromise. Who knew there were so many other ways to do things than how your mom taught you (i.e. folding towels, washing dishes, etc)? And just as important as the time is that you spend together, is that you have some time apart. Tanner is a great golfer. He recently won his first tournament, and I couldn't be more proud. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't get a little jealous sometimes when he leaves on Saturday mornings. Sometimes I even feel like he's being selfish by leaving me alone all day, when the weekend is only 2 days long and he knows we won't see each other until Saturday evening. But then I have to think back to all of those marriage articles I've read, reminding me that marriage is not about me at all. And it isn't Tanner's job to make me happy. And that what really makes me happy is when he's happy, like last weekend when he won his first tournament. Seeing how proud and confident he was after winning was worth not seeing him until that night. Not to mention his trophy is making a great candy dish in our living room right now.

Thirdly, yes, we've had our first fight. It was really hard and I cried and he got mad. I'm not a person who believes a good relationship has no arguments, but I'm not someone who believes you have to argue to have a good relationship. I believe that there should be a healthy balance. I know we're going to argue and maybe get in an occasional fight, but as long as we have boundaries, like not insulting each other just to hurt that person, or going to bed angry, I think we'll be just fine.

 

 

 

 

Impromptu Fro Yo Date