Wedding Weekend

Striking a pose...

This past weekend a very good friend of mine, Katie Ray got married and we went down to Carillon Beach to be there for it. It was a beautiful venue and the wedding was SO "Katie Ray". It was perfect! I love a good wedding!! It was Hayden's first wedding and he did so great. He even got a kiss from the ring bearer(who was their cute dog Hank I might add!) as he walked down the isle! We made it through the ceremony(with the help of puffs and a bottle!), and actually got to stay for the reception. I was afraid we would have to leave before the party even got started, but after a little while Hayden was able to fall asleep(we used the stroller for a bed for a few hours!) and we were able to stay. We had a great time getting to chat with everyone and it was great getting to see Katie and Andy having fun at their reception. Before Hayden fell asleep we were able to get some pretty good pictures of us all dressed up. He looked so cute in his little suit!

Family pic! You can't see it in this pic, but there was a beautiful
chandelier hanging over our heads... it was so cool
to see them hanging from the trees!

Isn't her dress so pretty?!?

I loved the cake...

Hayden REALLY loved the lights on the trees!!

We both had to get our picture with Hayden with the leaping
frog in the background. Isn't it just the cutest thing ever?!?

This was taken at the rehearsal dinner...
how cute are Hayden's suspenders?!?

Our little grandpa!!

Momma's Boy(well for now anyways)!!!

Having fun at the rehearsal dinner!

In front of the Carillon Bell Tower...

Our big smiles!

Just sittin' in the tree!

All the girls!!

I love this one!

All tired out... the stroller came in handy!

And this is what he looked like when we got back to our room!
I love his newest sleeping position... butt up in the air!:)

While we were there, we took Hayden to the beach one last time for the year. It was too cold for swimming or playing in the water, but not to cold to do a little playing in the sand! It was actually perfect weather for a good walk. It was so beautiful.

Our wedding filled weekend was great. We love you Katie and Andy!

Apple Pickin'

So, Matt's shadow is in the picture, but you get the idea...
we were pickin' our apples!!!

You would think by the title of this post you were about to hear all about picking apples... but you are getting so much more than that! Over the weekend we went to the Hillcrest Orchards up in Ellijay and we had a blast! The name of the place is so deceiving... there is so much more to do than picking apples. We saw a petting zoo, a moonshine museum, a farmhouse museum, went through a nature trail, went on a wagon ride, watched cornmeal being made, went down a big slide, saw Buttercup the cow, took our picture with a bull, watched the pork hill downs pig races AND picked us some apples! The craziest thing is... we didn't even do it all! Alot huh?!? The pig races were so much fun. There were 6 pigs that raced around a small track trying to be the first to get an oreo cookie! The bleachers were packed with fans cheering on their favorite pig. I personally wanted Hamgelina to win... cutest name ever! Hayden's favorite part of the day was the big slide. He LOVED it! He was smiling before we even sat down to slide. Lucky for him he got to do it twice... once with Mommy, and once with Daddy! We didn't actually pet any of the animals in the petting zoo, but we did get to see them. Matt spotted a tiny goat with little miniature horns that were just starting to grow. Absolutely the cutest thing you have ever seen. Next year I'll be brave and let Hayden hold a little goat just like him! We enjoyed both of the museums and the cornmeal exhibit. Now I know how they get that cornmeal for that oh so yummy cornbread! It is going to be a great learning experience for Hayden when he is a little older. Buttercup is a cow you can actually milk, but of course I didn't want Hayden to be touching that yet either! We did get to see her though! Maybe next year?!? The only type of apples we could actually pick were Rome Beautys, and they were quite beautiful. Although they were kind of hard to find(lots of people pickin' apples!), when you found one still on the tree it was so pretty. They were HUGE! We didn't fill up our apple bag with the apples we picked, so we finished it off by adding some apples to it from inside the farm market. That is also where we got our yummy to my tummy apple cider doughnuts and apple fritter!! Absolutely delicious. Here are some pictures from our day at the orchard!

Getting ready to go down the big slide!

So much fun!

As soon as I sat Hayden on Mr. Bull, he decided to start moving!

It never occurred to me that the bull might move, so that is
why my face looks like that! It really caught me off guard.
Hayden didn't seem near as startled as me!!

Time for some pig racing!

We got a front row seat to the races!

Hillbilly Billy, the announcer for the pig races, did a few poses for Matt!
He was such a great announcer. So funny!

Go, Hamgelina, Go!

I thought I would never get Hayden to wear a hat again, because
he just takes it off as soon as I put it on. Contrary to my
belief, he will wear hats, it just has to be cold outside!
You can tell by his little pink nose he was chilly!
He never even tried to get it off!

Tons of apple trees!

I mean we were IN the trees!

They were SO big!

The sweet man showing us how cornmeal is made.
Cool contraption huh?!?

This is where the moonshine was made back in the day!!

Daddy being silly in front of the Moonshine Museum!

Hayden trying to ride this crazy horse swing at the playground!

Waiting in line for our turn on the wagon ride.
Look at all those trees behind us!

And the lady who took this picture for us said,
"That was such a good picture."
Maybe she thought Hayden's face looked cute?!?

These were some of the things we saw while on our wagon ride!
The huge catfish sprayed us with water!

I couldn't miss the tractor photo op!

He even had fun playing with the apples once we got home!

As you can see, we LOVED the Hillcrest Orchards! We can't wait to go back next year!:)

So much fun!

Hayden's first ride on a carousel!

We have been super busy this past week, and it has been so much fun! We took Hayden to his very first Fair this past Thursday, went to Gymboree twice, went to Noah's Ark and even did a little shopping. Crazy huh?!? It feels kind of like we never stopped, but it was worth it! The Cumming Fair was an absolute blast. Gigi and Grandaddy/Pawpaw came up on Thursday and came with us, so Matt and I even got to ride a few "grown-up" rides! Hayden took his first trip down the big slide, rode the rockin' tug and the carousel, watched his very first penguin high dive show, and even had his first bite of cotton candy! It was so much fun watching him take everything in. You could tell he was just in awe of it all. The most peculiar thing occurred during the high dive show. The show consisted of five penguins that were preparing for the Artic Olympic Games by doing all types of unique dives. Hayden watched every move they made and seemed to really be enjoying it UNTIL... they actually dove into the water. As soon as one of the "penguins" would make a dive and actually splash into the water Hayden would start to cry. It was as if he couldn't figure out where they had gone. He didn't mind the actual dive part, but when they hit the water he just couldn't take it. Needless to say, Hayden didn't make it through the whole show!:) We did get to see the 85 foot dive though... crazy penguin!!

Our trip down the slide... fun AND scary!
Can you believe I actually let him do this?!?

Our special fair ride tattoos that surprisingly
washed right off during bath time!!

I had to include this picture for Gigi... she LOVED this pig!

We wore him out!!!

My Mom snapped a pic of Matt and I riding the Ferris Wheel.
It's blurry but you can tell it is us! I love when it gets dark
and all the lights come on... so pretty!

Watching the high dive show... this was before
they actually started hitting the water!!!

Riding the Rockin' Tug!

Hayden's first bite of Cotton Candy... he LOVED it!
He is just like his Momma...he was completely stuffed,
but he still had room for dessert!:)

Look at crazy Grandaddy/Pawpaw!

We love the fair...

We also had a great time at Noah's Ark. It is an animal rehabilitation center down in Locust Grove. A good friend of mine, Natalie, from way back in the day lives down there and we went to meet up with her and her girls, Payton and Baylor, for an outing to see the animals. It was a lot like going to the zoo, except that some of the animals weren't in cages so you could just walk right up to them. It was really cool how close you could get to them. There is even a deer that is so friendly you can pet her. We didn't actually see her Friday, but maybe next time! I hadn't seen Natalie since high school, so 10 years ago, and it was really nice to get to meet up with her. Hayden now has two new girlfriends, Payton and Baylor! They loved getting to play with each other. It was so cute how they would "pet" Hayden(he was their little baby!). We all had a great time and can't wait to go back again soon!

Hayden LOVED Mrs. Natalie!

Baylor was so excited that Hayden wanted to hold hands!
She actually picked his hand up and then said to us...
"Hayden's holding my hand!" SOOOO cute!:)

Baylor, I included this picture just for you... your ferocious roar!

These were some of the many animals we
were able to see... they were all so friendly!

As you can see we have been busy little bees around here lately, but have been having tons of fun! Now I gotta go get some housework done!:) Oh how I love cleaning, organizing, dishes, dusting, vacuuming and laundry!!!