Weekend Photo Dump

This weekend we were home and had basically zero plans. Weekends like that are far and few so we took advantage of it. Friday night we went to the mall to shop at the new H&M. This is how we shop together: we split up, do our own shopping (quickly), text a photo of what we find and meet back up. We can be in and out of the mall in an hour. Here is one I sent to Todd which is very librarian of me. All I need is a bun and I'd be set!

Saturday was a beautiful day so we took Maggie to the dog park. Unfortunately she doesn't do much playing. Instead she decided to take a mud bath. Grrrrrr. 

Which led to us having to give her a bath. We have a local DIY place that allows you to bathe your pet ($15) which was well worth it because there was no way I was letting her in our house like that!

But she really can be a sweet girl. Just look at the way I found her sleeping in our bedroom on the floor. Adorable! 

Even though the Spring temperatures aren't really here to stay just yet, I decided that it was time for a Jamicure on my toes anyways. I love this pattern and I love even more that I don't have to worry about them chipping. If you want some yourself, visit my website by clicking here.

Thanks for following along! Hope you had a great weekend too!

-Sara

Race Weekend Year 3

3 years?! Feels like just yesterday Todd and his brother Matt ran their first half marathon together. The race at Wrightsville beach has become a tradition each year. Matt lives in Wilmington so we make a full weekend out of it and get to spend time with his family. I look forward to this weekend each March.

We left after work on Friday and the drive was gorgeous.

On Saturday we took our nieces to the aquarium at Fort Fisher then to a lunch date at Chick-Fil-A. It was so much fun to spend time with them. They are the sweetest and we spoiled them greatly that day! 

Sunday was the big race and the guys left crazy early to get there. I slept in but still went to see them cross the finish line. I tried to take a selfie with the girls but P was not quite thrilled for it to be so early. My hair looks super red in this picture with the way the sun is hitting it. P makes me want to get bangs again!

What a great weekend! I'll leave you with one of my favorites from the weekend. Doesn't this look like Maggie is cheesin' for the camera too? Too much cuteness in one photo!

-Sara

2 Years

Life has been busy. I could write pages but I'm not. The good news is that there are only 4 days of school left (woohoooo). Even though I'm looking forward to a break from the daily grind, I will certainly miss all my students and teacher friends over the summer. I'm SO blessed to be at such an amazing school.

But the reason I wrote this post was to just throw up a few pics of our 2 year anniversary trip. We went over Memorial Day weekend since our anniversary was really Tuesday, May 28th. This year we went to Lake Lure and stayed at Rumbling Bald Resort. It is certainly a trip worth taking and very affordable. We spent most of the weekend outdoors exploring the area nearby.

First up...Chimney Rock

Our resort had many activities to keep you busy and even fed us all smores on the beach one night. If you know me at all, you know I love love LOVE smores so this was an awesome surprise. We felt like we were at summer camp considering we played putt-putt right before smores. 

Kayaking...

We also enjoyed going on a boat tour, visiting the shops of downtown Chimney Rock and visiting Asheville where we splurged on a big dinner. It was a nice weekend getaway and the weather was perfect. I can't believe it has been 2 years already! Marriage is certainly full of ups and downs but it's a journey worth taking. More on our trip (traditions) and life news to come soon!

Just for fun...May 28, 2011

For more info on our wedding and vendors, check out these blog posts by clicking here and here.

-Sara

Snow Day

A few weekends ago we actually got snow in Charlotte! Growing up, I remember getting snow often but it seems to be rare these days. The snow came really fast and covered the ground within fifteen minutes. I had never seen anything like it before. Todd took this video during that time...

This was Maggie's first snow and she loved it! She kept wanting to eat the snow. Warning: I have an insanely high pitch southern baby talk voice. Todd especially loves to make fun of my "woooooo" at the end. 

The snow reminded us of our sweet memories from when we lived in Boone. Surprisingly, we never got many snow pics together when we lived there and the only one I got from our Charlotte snow is blurry. Go figure.

Home sweet home looking mighty cozy in the snow.

Cheers to yet another great moment.

-S

{Wonderful Weekend}

Saturday I took my Praxis for media specialist (fingers crossed!). In the midst of the test I was thinking, "this is kinda hard" but I think I just had really bad anxiety when I first started. I've always been that way. I never thought I would use the entire time but I worked until the very end, checked over a few answers and before I could even put my pencil down the proctor said "times up!" That was the fastest two hours of my life. Hopefully it is the last time I have to take that test!

Afterwards, I needed to let my brain rest so I met Todd at a local Thai restaurant to unwind. It was delicious. 

Then we headed to Bass Lake in Blowing Rock for some R&R. Our goal was to not leave until we had settled on a dog name. Yes, we have changed it multiple times already. The good news is we left with a confident name but we still aren't ready to share. We are those crazy people who keep saying the dog names in a real sentence pretending she is in the room. Yea, see, CRAZY!

Sunday we (plus our entire fam and previous congregation members) surprised dad for a pastor appreciation day! He totally deserved a day like this, to honor his hard work. I wish I would have recorded his face as tons of us walked in right after the church service started. Because of our own church duties, we never get to be at his church on Sunday so that was a real treat to him. Mom did a great job of keeping it all a secret. Instead of him preaching, the service was full of people speaking about my dad and songs of worship about serving the Lord. My sister, Ronna, represented our family so well with a great speech. I wish I would have recorded that too! So proud of her for doing that. As soon as we all walked in someone pinned a rose on dad and moved his seat so he could view the pulpit.   Not sure my dad has ever been recognized in such a huge way and actually sat back and let others do the talking on a Sunday.

This is a real genuine humbled smile folks.

I love my dad. Fun fact: growing up through elementary school I called him Bubba and we would have "Bubba Days" where he would check me out of school (I was "sick" of course) and go play putt-putt or I would help him make his visits to the elderly.

Here is our family, plus Annlyn. Not sure why the husbands didn't squeeze in (oops). They must have been holding our purses and 283420 baby bags that my sister (love you!) carries everywhere.

What a great weekend! If you have ever been ministered by dad, feel free to write on his Facebook wall a comment of appreciation. All ministers need a day (week, why not!) where they feel the love!

Have a great week friends!

-Sara

Appalachian Satisfaction

I can't believe I'm just now getting around to typing this post. Since Monday was Labor Day and I didn't work or go to school my entire week feels out of the norm. I feel as if all I've done is played catchup with laundry, cleaning, organizing and school stuff. I'm finally getting everything back into routine and I couldn't wait any longer to tell you about our awesome long weekend.

The Greenway Getaway, as we are calling it, kicked off on Friday late afternoon and stretched all the way into Monday afternoon. I realized how much I've missed hanging with girls! Don't get me wrong, I love Todd and living with him is a wonderful thing but he doesn't exactly get excited over new makeup or hair products like my ladies do. We all spent the time truly listening to each other's hearts about life and jobs. It was also a great experience for our men. Although the majority of the guys were all friends during our college years (plus two are brothers), it was still nice to have them all together and create a bond living under the same roof....even if it was just for a weekend.

Enough of my blabber....here are some photo highlights

We bought the same pullover at Banana...

Can we go back...right now? Wish we all lived closer...

Dreamin',
Sara

Meet the Mcdonald's

Todd and Jon grew up together attending the same church, had the same friends and also contain a true love for frisbee. They were destine to be buds since they were born on the exact same day and in the exact same hospital. This past weekend we loaded up the car and headed to Siler City to see Jon get hitched. The weekend was so fun and like no other wedding I've ever been a part of. First of all, the festivities were on a goat farm! How cool is that? The farm has an historic house that serves as a Bed & Breakfast which is where all the family and wedding party stayed.

The rehearsal and dinner was so quaint and of course our appetizer was tomatoes and goat cheese. Delicious. Later that night we had a bonfire out in the field complete with smores. Since hurricane Irene was in the works we enjoyed a nice breeze. Saturday was such a chill day as the guys went on hikes and the ladies went into the town of Pittsboro to an old soda shop for lunch. I'm so thankful for both families in treating me so kind and including me in all the girl stuff since my husband was occupied. 

All the cakes were different types of chocolate and this one was the main cake. Look at those bride and groom goat toppers. So charming! And the Mason jars were etched with Bride and Groom. Melissa loves cake so as soon as the ceremony was over they cut the cake instead of eating dinner first. I love a bride who knows what she wants and sticks to it!

Todd's parents came which I now can say my mother and father-in-law and we finally got a picture together. For some reason we always forget so this is a rare thing folks. Soak it in.

All weekend we got to hang out with these cool kids. Allison is Jon's sister and Brittain is her boyfriend. They go to ASU with us and we love spending time with them. Allison was a bridesmaid and isn't she just stunning? 

Jon and Melissa met after college (UNC) through some mutual friends. They are quite the pair and we are very excited for them. Looking forward to watching them grow and grow and make lots of gorgeous children together. Congrats Jon & Melissa!

Ta-Ta!

-Sara

3 Weeks!!

Good morning from Charlotte! We came into town to meet with our wedding planner at the country club to work out all the details of the reception. Now I can fully visualize where and what the guests will be doing before we arrive and know that they will all be taken care of. The place is even more gorgeous than I remember. Everything is becoming more and more real with 3 weeks to go!

Earlier Friday morning I had my bridal portraits made in Valle Crucis with the talented Eric Heistand. The Heistand family were some our first friends when we began dating and we loved getting to know a couple that were several years ahead of us. They have watched our relationship grow, given us such wise advice and have trusted me to take care of their two precious boys on numerous occasions. Although our wedding day photography is by Orange Cat Photo from Hickory, we wanted Eric to be involved somehow especially sine they are going to be out of town for the wedding. I must brag on Eric for a quick second....in 2009 his photograph won in the Banff Mountain Photography Competition that you can check out by clicking here.  The same photograph was entered in the National Geographic Great Outdoors Photo and guess what....WON. We are proud friends and I trusted Eric to get some shots of me that I know we will cherish forever.

The photo session was so fun. Getting dolled up just like I will on the big day was surreal! Mason, his wife and my friend, made my bouquet which added another special touch. The weather was perfect and I'm so glad we waited to take my pictures in May because everything was nice and green which made for a great backdrop. I'll have the pictures soon but really they will be on lockdown to keep Mr. Davis from getting any peeks. As soon as we get back from the honeymoon I'll try to link the pictures or post some on the blog. Ahhhhhh THREE WEEKS! Bring it on.

-S

Party!

I'm going to be real honest. One of the best parts of this whole getting married thing is an excuse to celebrate aka PARTY. I have just loved the showers which for this blog sake I'm going to call parties. Finger foods are always yummy, smiles all around and presents. Seriously it makes my brain want to explode with happiness when I'm in those moments. This past weekend my camp friends and a few bridesmaids gave me a little last party to celebrate my last days as a Caulder. The party was at Magan's (bridesmaid) house where she kicked out her husband for the night and let us all have a slumber party. Plus she is pregnant so that was very brave of her to invite fifteen girls over! Oh my, let me just tell you, it was WONDERFUL to catch up with friends. In fact I turned my cell phone off and vowed not to go near a computer. I simply spent some quality time soaking in the beautiful people in my life. We played a few games, ate lots of food and I got some well ummm necessities for marriage. As any true slumber party is, we stayed up so late laughing, eating some more of course and being silly. I'm so thankful for the women in my life! I could have spent a whole week with them like that!

College friends

 No words needed.

 Camp friends

 Saturday we went out to lunch and I was picked to crack the egg. It was not a good experience. I didn't do so well and I got burned but no hard feelings, it was still fun.

Wish I could post all the pictures but those go in a vault. Only parties left to go are bridesmaids luncheon and the rehearsal dinner. I can't believe we are so close! Ah, the happy tears are flowing!


-S