Catch up, catch up!

I am super behind on blog posts, and part of the problem is that I have tried the past 3 nights to upload the last 2 weeks worth of pictures but they won't upload to the computer. Who knows if that is the fault of the camera or the computer, but I will work on that this weekend for sure! There are great things to share of Emerson and Beth, a surprise wedding, our weekly trip to Owens, etc! But luckily, on this weekly trip to Owens a few weekends ago, Aunt Laura and Jordan were with us because they came to spend the weekend!

I have been haggling Laura to come to see us for awhile now since I'm a lousy sister who hasn't been to see her in her new place in Raleigh. But I have great bait now (her favorite niece!) so she signed up quickly. Growing up, I begged and begged for a little sister. I have in my mind what seems like a 'clear memory' [if you know me you know this is a joke because my memory doesn't go past 2 hours ago] of finding out I was going to be a big sister. My 'clear memory' goes like this: Mom had just picked Adam and I up from school and we were on Silas Creek Pkwy, just one intersection away from Sherwood Forest Elementary where I spent my days K-5 (with a slight bump in the road along the way with a teacher who made us smell her armpits as part of 'health education' - EW). Mom had brought me a surprise in the car and it was the new pink Swatch watch I had been wanting and wanting. I remember looking at the watch while mom told me about Laura. Now. I am SURE this is probably not the way it went down...right mom? Surely you didn't tell us about her just casually one day in the car? I don't know why I remember this if it didn't happen, but I'm sure Terry will also testify that I 'remember' lots of things that didn't happen, and don't remember KEY things that do happen! Either way, true story or not - I was so stinkin' excited about a little sister.

Jordan, sorry you didn't get the message that everyone was sad in this photo...

And the best part is, I'm still just as excited about her today as when I found out she was coming into this world! Eight years older, I loved playing with her when she was a baby, and my days of rocking her as a baby and singing Amy Grant's rendition of "Thy Word," [which I thought the words to were 'died bird' - yes, seriously] probably prepared me for my hours of rocking and singing to Emerson. Laura called me her 'real mom' when she was little, which was no offense to the lack of time my mom spent with her just a testament to how obsessed I was with a baby sister! We now (even though 8 years apart) get mistaken for each other all the time, but you can tell us apart because she was blessed with the gorgeous blue eyes, while I got the grey hair...hmm, fair? I think not. But she also got the cool, relaxed, super fun genes that I'm just digging out of my genetic code, and I have loved to watch the freedom of her spirit grow and excel and HAVE FUN. I would SO want to be her friend if she weren't my sister...I mean, she is my friend, but you know, even if she wasn't, she's the kind of girl that when you meet you know you want her to be your friend. Except you (I) might be jealous of her. Because she's gorgeous, and keeps getting more and more beautiful every time I see her somehow!

We had a blast when she and Jordan were here, making homemade pizzas, doing a little shopping for Emerson's first bathing suit, lunch at Owen's, dinner at Cantina, splitting a milkshake from Cookout, playing Settlers of Catan, and snuggling the world's cutest baby.

Sorry, this is all you get to see of my beach ready self (the sun hat) the suit will be revealed at the beach!

Jordan was such a trooper and took to Emerson as if she was his own niece - feeding her a bottle and hanging out with her in the backseat in the car! We loved loved loved having you guys in Charlotte, and if you come back again I feel sure Terry can convince you to move here. Live-in nanny, what?!?!