A New Mr. and Mrs.

Two posts in one month?? What sorcery is this? I know that's what you're thinking.

This past weekend, I had the privilege of being a bridesmaid for my great friend Erica. She has been such a staple in my life. We met at both of our first nursing jobs, she let me live with her for 3 months when I moved down to the Lowcountry before Hunter and I got married, she basically got me my job at when I moved to the Lowcountry as well, is such a freaking great baby nurse that I want to be like her when I grow up, and I just love being around her. She and her now husband met at our hospital in the cafeteria, and it's been so much fun just watching their relationship grow and to be a part of their wedding! 

I've been a bridesmaid something crazy like 11 times. So I pretty much have that gig on lock. But I was thinking about it the other day, and I think I have only lived in the area of the wedding in which I was a bridesmaid once, and I had only recently moved back to the upstate like a month before the wedding, so I'm not even sure if that counts. I felt like I had been a bad bridesmaid for Erica because I had only been able to come to like 2 of the pre-wedding events and hadn't been very much help otherwise (not that she can't handle herself, because she is incredibly organized and can completely fend for herself, but it's always nice to have help). So I'm hoping I made up for it this weekend.

Sadly, I don't have many pictures with the bride, because I didn't want to keep interrupting for picture time when she was either spending time with other people or just enjoying herself. There are pictures of the bachelorette party, but a lot of the time those pictures were followed by, "That better not end up on the Crumley Chronicles!"

Lauren, Sami, Ian, and Rosa Parks. ;)

Some of the girls with our bridesmaids gifts! P.S. Erica - you did WAY too much for us, but I loved all the gifts and everything fits and is beautiful!

The photog wasn't arriving until 2 p.m. and we were supposed to start getting ready around 10 a.m. (which we clearly were late because let's face it, I'm involved). So I snapped a few (okay, maybe a lot of) artsy pics for Erica to have if she wanted them since we were already supposed to be dressed when the photog got there.

Part of the bridesmaids gifts were these awesome hangers for our dresses.

Short story about this kid. I love this kid more than words can describe. I had on a camisole and my bridesmaids jacket, and when I picked this guy up in my arms to give him a hug and a kiss he says, "Take off your jacket." I asked, "Why?" He said, "Because I want you to take your jacket off." So I said, "What do you want to see beneath my jacket?" He leans really close to my face and whispers, "Your bra..." I said, "Ian! That is NOT nice!! You do not ask ladies to see their bras!" And his mother proceeded to say she had no idea where that came from. He tickles me beyond all reason. Short story #2 about this kid. When he was little, I always called him "sweet boy" in hopes that he would actually be a sweet boy, because he could be kind of a terror. So he has always associated me with that phrase. I asked him later that day if he was my sweet boy, and he said, "Yep. I your sweet boy. I not mommy's sweet boy, I not daddy's sweet boy, I not Austin's (his big brother) sweet boy, I YOUR sweet boy!" I said, "We can share, you can be all of our sweet boys!" He said, "No, I YOUR sweet boy!"

Erica got some ROCKIN' jewelry from her husband as a wedding present. He did a wonderful job and made everyone tear up with the precious card he gave her.

The ceremony was PERFECT! The weather was wonderful, nobody fell out, the animals cooperated, and none of the children had breakdowns and were exceptionally adorable. Afterwards, we went to the reception where we danced the night away. I didn't take over with my nice camera until the photog left, so a lot of my pictures of the reception that I took with my little point-and-shoot are blurry. But these and more turned out nicely!

Ian loves him some Baby Garrett. All the little girls at the reception kept trying to get my little stud muffin to dance with them. So finally he asked his mom, "Mommy, can I just go play with Baby Garrett?"

I sure do miss these crazy ladies (with Daniel lurking in the background)!!

It was such an exhausting, fun weekend and I am so honored to have been chosen to be by your side, Erica! I'm praying that your marriage is awesome and that you are perfect help-mates for each other! Have SO much fun in the Dominican Republic, I am incredibly jealous! I love you!

Meet Murphy!

Hunter came to me several weeks ago saying he'd like to get a dog. I've been mostly anti-getting-a-dog since we've been married. One of the biggest drawbacks to a dog and apartment life was picking up poop in a bag, which I refused to do. So now that we have a house, I was way more willing to revisit the dog situation. At first, I was so pessimistic about it that I almost had Hunter talked out of it, but then I felt bad because he seemed really excited about the prospect. So I told him that I was sure that as soon as we went to see the puppies/dogs at the shelter, I'd fall in love and be on board with everything.

How right I was. We met this guy and have never turned back. This is Murphy!

He was around 10 months old when we adopted him 5 weeks ago. We know he has some pit bull in him, and we think he's part lab, too. I LOVE his brindle coat. I was so drawn to his sweet personality. At the shelter, he had a kennel-mate and whenever anyone came to visit, Murphy (whose given name at the shelter was Loverboy) would kinda box them out to get petted through the bars, wagging his tail the whole time. I felt sorry for his roommate, but it was so sweet! He had been at the shelter for almost a month before we adopted him, which surprised me because he is so sweet! However, he has a really bad case of RBF (Resting B*tch Face), as evidenced by his picture the shelter posted of him online:

His case of RBF is still pretty serious, but I don't really see it anymore because he has such a cute personality. He LOVES other dogs, loves most people, and loves playing tug-of-war with almost anything. He wanted to play so badly one day that he grabbed my sleeve and went to town.

He also loves his blanket, car rides, rolling around on his back when he's playing, and one of his favorite things to do is give kisses.

If you're not careful, he'll kiss you right in the mouth. He also likes to lick the cabinets in the kitchen. He's a weird guy. The biggest downsides are that he (understandably) whines while he's in his crate during the day if I'm trying to sleep and Hunter is at work, and that his gas is super noxious. But otherwise, he's already blessed our lives immensely! Stay tuned for funny Murphy stories!