backyard livin'

During our busy summer of travels, we were able to stay at my in-laws home for a few weeks. I really enjoyed living away from the city, and loved spending time in their huge backyard. They were really sweet to buy Ruby Kay a kiddie pool, and so we often spent the afternoon hours outside playing in the shade. 

One day, I took my camera out and enjoyed taking pictures of their flowers and garden. My in-laws grow an impressive garden every summer, and we enjoyed all our garden-fresh meals during our stay. 

Left to Right: Green Beans, Tomatoes, Jalapenos (farther back), Bell Peppers, and Zucchini.

The tomatoes were not ready during our stay, but we enjoyed watching them grow.

A few Instagrams from our visit too..

exploring in tennessee

Earlier this summer, we stopped for lunch in Lynchburg, Tennessee on our way home from Georgia. It was the cutest little town, and we enjoyed the BBQ and a few shops downtown. 

Sweet as a peach. We say it all the time, but we are so thankful for our sweet RK. She has been such a good baby for us, despite our crazy summer travelling all over America!

It took us a while to get a table, but we really enjoyed the food once it was ready! Ben absolutely loves BBQ, and being married to him means that I get to try all different kinds.

Lynchburg is also home to the Jack Daniel's distillery- but I think Ruby Kay might be a little too young for that! :)

ruby kay's first birthday party

for ruby kay's first birthday, we had a flamingo themed party in the evening to celebrate with friends and family. we reserved a gazebo at a local park in fayetteville, and decorated everything in shades of pink. since we had been travelling for the three weeks leading up to her birthday, we tried to keep everything simple and easy. i tried to take pictures all throughout our day, since both sets of grandparents were out of town.  

we kept the menu simple, since we had an evening party. our guests enjoyed cupcakes, candy, and drinks. ben jumped on opportunity to get his favorite birthday cake oreo's.

i printed off a few favorite instagrams from our year with rk. when i picked them up from walgreens, i almost got teary eyed seeing her transformation in picture form starting as a brand new baby to a walking toddler! the first year really does go by so fast! the first picture of her is still so special to me, because it's the first time i saw what she looked liked while waiting for the nurses to bring her to me after my c-section!

after waiting to find out if ruby kay was a boy or girl until she was born, i thought it might be appropriate to go all out with the pink theme. also, pink decorations are so easy to find!

sisters, but missing one!

i spy a little girl who found the apple juice!

ruby kay's "smash cake" was simple: white cake and frosting with sprinkles. she surprised us all by being polite and slow with her cake. ben and i both expected her to dig right in and make a mess! i guess we might be able to save money on etiquette school in the future. :)

 

we had such a nice evening celebrating our little girl. we are so proud of her, and are grateful to God for making us her parents. she has taught so much about selflessness and love, and has made our year so sweet. here's to many more with our sweet girl! thanks to everyone who made her day so special too. we are so blessed by our friends and family, and feel so special when people love our little girl!

family pictures in georgia

while visiting georgia, my good friend brittany graciously took a few pictures of our family. brittany is self-taught, and has become such a good photographer in her short years with the camera! i love how perfectly she captured RK, and all her little expressions. thank you brittany, for these pictures!

a day in nashville

after spending the day in nashville, i'm hooked. it has the perfect blend of local flavor, and still feels like a small town. we stayed in brentwood, and made multiple trips into the city, which only took 15 minutes tops. since we were only in nashville for a short time, we decided to try as many fun restaurants as possible. we did, and our secret was taking it easy on the big meals, and opting for appetizers or sharing meals. 

 we visited the frothy monkey for breakfast, and enjoyed our "julia". ben's grandmothers name is julia, so he was partial to begin with.

 tourists for the day

 after some down town, we ventured out into the city again. the Parthenon was recreated in 1897 for the tennessee centennial exposition in nashville, and is a full-scale replica. our little girl seemed itty bitty next to the huge columns.

 

downtown nashville was quite fun too. we enjoyed walking up and down broadway, and braved the sidewalks with a stroller. we took a few videos, and hopefully will compile them later.

 mike's ice cream made me miss ruby kay's papa.

the ryman, or "the carnegie hall of the south" was such a beautiful, historic building.
here is a silly video that we made to remember our evening in nashville. enjoy!

http://vimeo.com/99502068

nashville, we hope to see you soon!

visiting kennesaw mountain's battlefield

we are currently in the atlanta, georgia area, and visited kennesaw mountain's national battlefield. ben loves history, and especially loved visiting this battlefield because his great, great grandpa wiley ellison fought there in the 3rd tennessee Infantry during the civil war.

we took a short tour through the museum, and enjoyed catching up on our civil war history. 

 downtown atl in the distance, but mostly hidden by the fog.

ben and ruby kay next to one of the four confederate cannons on top of kennesaw mountain. kennesaw mountain was one of the last holds of the confederate union, before the north could reach atlanta. 

south facing view on kennesaw mountain. downtown atlanta is on the horizon here also. This shows how the federal army took atlanta. wiley was apart of the blue troop movement.

according to the park ranger, at the far west side of the confederate line to protect the mountain, and atlanta, was kolb's farm. this is the area that wiley's unit would have fought.