Another Athens Graduation

Last weekend, Harrison and I made the trip down south toe watch my sister graduate from the University of Georgia!

As always, Harrison was the best little travel buddy.  Despite having to be woken up at 5:30 a.m., he did great on the plane ride down Thursday.  We knew it would be a long day, so once she walked across the stage, we hit the road for the condo so I could get Harrison home and in bed before the party started! He was looking mighty dapper in his red pants and adorable bowtie.

Thursday night we had a little party at the condo with Julie's friends, our family and of course - Pappy's cookies.  Oh, and big cutout heads of five-year old Julie. See below.

Friday was the entire university graduation and the speaker was Ernie Johnson, the NBA announcer.  If you haven't heard his speech, take time and go look at it here. I promise it's worth the time.

My key takeaways from the two speeches I heard and her graduation are...

1. Be Kind. Show Up. and Be You. 
2. Always have a job that you GET to go to, not one that you GOT to go to.
3. Find lives blackberries.  You will understand when you watch the speech. 

Before the graduation on Friday night, we hung out downtown, grabbed some beers and pizza and just enjoyed the time together! 

The trip was fast, but it was so great to see the last Merryman child graduate and move on to the next chapter in her life - grad school! 

2016 Family Photos

Two weekends ago, we got together with the amazing Meghan Ippoliti Photography for an amazing family photo session! We took these beauties at 88th street at the oceanfront. I knew I wanted to get photos around this time of the year for Christmas cards, but these are so much more than pictures for a Christmas card for us.  They are memories saves in hard copy.  I cannot get enough of these photos and cannot wait to print them and get them up in the house. Here are some of our favorites...

Harrison Cole at 7 months old.

 
It's hard having a 7 month old and a solid marriage.  I strive to make our marriage a priority every day and show D.J. that.  I hope that over the next few months he is home for the off season we can continue to grow in love for one another and show Harrison what it means to not only be mommy and daddy, but husband and wife.

2015 Fourth of July Weekend

Whew. What a weekend! The 4th of July is my favorite holiday and this year did not disappoint.  Having Friday off and not having to drive to Lynchburg was amazing.  The weather here was pretty overcast and rainy, so we spent the whole day watching almost two full seasons of Grey's Anatomy.  Yep, that's what us baseball girls do when the team is away and we don't travel. 

Saturday morning we got a workout in before the family came up to visit.  Every year our neighbor has a big July 4th blowout party and I was so excited that a few family members decided to come see D.J. play instead.  This is now the third year in a row that D.J. has played on the holiday and this year he did AWESOME! 7 innings, 4 hits, 0 runs, 2 walks, and 3 strikeouts!

 I didn't get any pictures of D.J. pitching because these little girls were loving on me the entire game and learning all about balls and strikes while D.J. was on the mound.

These ladies make baseball fun! 

I couldn't be more happy that these pretty twins are back in America for good!

And when they saw D.J., they were attached.  I think I heard "D.J." said almost as much as they say "mom!"

After the game, we watched fireworks on the field with the guys.

I had to beg the girls to get out of the photo so I could at least get one good one with him.

D.J.'s dedicated fan club.  My in-laws, my aunt, Nana, mom, and the girls. 

And while waiting for the guys to come out of the shower, we played with sparklers and figured out how to do this cool photo.  Now I know how to do it, so the next photos will be even better! 

 Hope you all had a fabulous 4th celebrating America with friends and family that you love!

I Have Everything I Need

At Bodyback, we always end the class with either a quiet meditation or an inspirational message from our coach.  The Tuesday message was all about repeating phrases in our head as she said them and one really stuck with me.  

I have everything I need at this moment in time.

The baseball lifestyle leads itself to comparison, greed, and always wanting more.  Always comparing your husband to someone else or your signing bonus to theirs.  Wanting to be like a certain couple and wanting to move up in the system.  Even when baseball isn't involved, I feel like these tempations of comparision and greed creep into my life.  Always wanting new clothes, or more money, or new decor for the house.  And I hate to admit this, but I even find myself looking at other blogs and comparing our lives. 

When I was laying on my mat on Tuesday night I took a step back and said to myself, I really do have everything I need at this moment.  

I have exactly what I want in a family - a loving husband and the best dog on this side of the Mississippi (maybe even both sides :) ).  Now in a few years, this could change, but I think D.J. and I both agree that our family is perfect for us in our current situation.  We are able to spend time as a couple, with our parents, and our little cousins/nieces/nephews.  

I have a beautiful home that keeps me warm, dry, and grounded.  We have shared so many memories in these walls over the past 12 months and continue to make more as the off season continues.  Owning our own home is something that I am so proud of.  Never would I have thought that I would purchase a home when I was 23.

I have a stable job that allows me to be financially stable.  I could always be saving more, but I am able to spend money on myself and still pay all the bills.  I am fortunate enough to be debt free and that is something that I do not take for granted.

I have friends that support and love me.  Having friends to do life with is such a great feeling.  D.J. and I are blessed to have those people from all different walks of life.  I know that we will continue to add more friends to our group, but I am so honored to have such dear friends on our side.

To me, that sounds like a pretty damn good life.  Next time you think about comparing yourself to another couple or comparing your outfit you are wearing to the woman next to you, repeat in your head...

I have everything I need at this moment in time.

Blue Angels are back!

Living less than one mile from the largest Navy base in the world definitely has its perks.  I cannot begin to describe the feeling of hearing the National Anthem in the mornings at 8:00 a.m. and taps at night when the sun has finally set.  Growing up it was nice for my mom because her work was always pretty close to the house, but far beyond anything was being able to see The Blue Angels perform right in our own hometown!

Now for a while now The Blue Angels have been in a hiatus due to the government funding, but I am pleased to announce their return! This past weekend I took my little cousin, Liam, and D.J. to see the show.  Liam was a little expert.  He knew everything you could about the planes.  He was giving us lessons on certain aircrafts and the history behind some of them as well.  It was perfect since this was D.J.'s first time seeing anything like this!

When we arrived around 1 p.m. most people were already there, so the traffic wasn't terrible.  We had to park about 15 minutes away and poor little Liam had some tired legs when we got to the planes!

He was a trooper though, let me tell ya! When we finally made it, we checked out some of the jets they had on display.  Different planes from all the squadrons at the air station as well as old time planes and prop planes.

 

Side note- how precious is this picture.  I am in love.

After we checked out the jets, we decided to find a spot to sit.  The front row was crazy crowded, so we settled for a spot a little further back with less people.  I mean the planes are in the sky anyways right?! There were a few things that happened on the ground before the jets did a demonstration in the sky.  The Shockwave Jet Truck was one of them. This truck is one of a kind.  It runs at over 300 mph racing airplanes and holds the world record for full size trucks at 376 mph in the Guiness Book of World Records.  It has 36,000 horsepower and have enough power to accelerate at 3Gs vertical, which is as much as the Space Shuttle! 

 Once the jets started to fly this happened...

...what better view than on top of a 6 foot 6 best buddy?!

When the Blue Angels started flying, Liam was very excited! He let us know that if four of the planes are flying together, that means its jets 1, 2, 3, and 4.  While they get the attention of the audience, jets 5 and 6 were off being the "trouble makers" that would come in and scare the crowd with a quick fly by or upside down crossover! 

The team ended up having to cut the show short due to the rain, but that allowed us to get right up front for some awesome pictures.  Liam was stoked to be able to see the planes land in formation and present the planes to the crowd. 

 And to top off the awesome show they did, Liam got the autographs of all the pilots and even got his picture taken with them! It was such a proud moment to be able to say thank you to those pilots who serve for our freedom.  These pilots are the top of the top.  They are the face of the Navy, so to say it was an honor to meet them is an understatement.

 

By the end of the day, my little man was exhausted and I had a husband with some sore shoulders.  If you ever have the opportunity to go to an air show, I highly reccommend it! Such a great experience and truly humbling to see how talented our military's pilots are.  

Weekending in Virginia

This weekend we did a whirlwind tour of Virginia to see some pretty awesome people.  Friday after work we cleaned the house, had dinner, and tried to avoid traffic on the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel, but who are we kidding on trying to avoid that.  It's inevitable that you will hit traffic there.  Luckily there are about 25 movies on D.J's list for me to watch so we popped in a movie in the car and we made it up to The Brown's house in no time.  We watched The Other Woman and Draft Day (both were great!!) and pulled in the  driveway in the in-laws house around 9:30 p.m.

Saturday morning we got up around 8:30 and had some healthy breakfast before running over to my sister and brother in-laws house.  Now that they moved into the neighborhood it's only about 1.5 miles away and right by the soccer fields that Jayden, my nephew was playing on.  Thank goodness for D.J. running with Stryker because he isn't the best on the leash and D.J. was a trooper and held Stryker while I ran ahead of them.

 

Jayden's soccer game was too cute.  Watching 3, 4, and 5 year olds "play soccer" is so hilarious.  Wherever the ball moves, they move.  Goals are being scored by both teams in both goals.  Kids are running off the field to their parents because the rain is getting them wet.  It was beyond hilarious, but the most precious thing ever! We left about halfway thru to go back and take a shower before driving to Mananas for the Fitz/McVicar wedding!

We arrived at the church around 1 p.m. for the 1:30 wedding.  It was nasty outside.  Not torrential downpour, but enough to use an umbrella.  The mass was beautiful.  A full Catholic Mass with a great singer and priest that was pretty funny.  The flowers were stunning, the bridesmaids dresses were beautiful and Stephanie looked like a million bucks.  A full post on the wedding will be on the blog later this week!

Between the ceremony and the reception we checked into the hotel, had a glass of wine, and chatted with some friends in the lobby before calling a cab.  The venue was to die for.  An old mansion that overlooked rolling hills and a beautiful piece of property.  The wedding took place in the renovated barn and covered tent.  Every little detail was thought out and displayed perfectly. The night was one to never forget!

Sunday morning we grabbed some Panera and headed back to the Brown's house to watch the Redskins play.  Perfect way to end the weekend.  Baby Bryce fell asleep in my arm while I napped, we had crabs, and spent the day enjoying our family!

Hope everyone has a fabulous week!!!