7 years, and 3 days late. 30 years and 5 months late.

(ok,so I wrote this a little while ago, just ignore dates they are wrong.)

As you can see from my title, I am just a little late. 3 days ago was our 7th anniversary (aug 3rd) and 5 months ago was my 30th birthday and I was planning on doing posts for both but somehow that never happened. So, here are both.

This past weekend Michael and I took a quick trip to seaside with the boys, I know, it's our anniversary but our main goal was to get a session with Marla. I can not tell you how excited I am about these pictures. They are amazing!!!Hands down, Marla is the most incredible and talented photographer ever!!! By the way, she was so easy going, relaxed, and natural with the kids. After she left, Finn was disappointed b/c he wanted Marla to go bike riding with us. We were sad too. We could have hung out with Marla all day:) So if you are in the market for photos of your kids, or anybody else for that matter, you got to check her out!!

OK, so back to the trip... We had such a wonderful time with our little family. The burrito held his own. He kept up with this ADD induced clan jumping from one activity to the next without skipping a beat. We played in the sand, swam in the ocean, jumped in the pool, had a photo session, road bikes, played at the park, shopped a tiny amount (life with 3 boys), went looking for alligators, played croquet, ran around in the grass, ate shaved ice, enjoyed Bud and Alley's, and napped on the go (praise GOD for my flexible children!!

It was hot so Michael gave them each a diet coke to hold on to to cool them off. It really cracked me up seeing baby Shands holding a coke, so I had to snap a quick pic. Finn kept saying "get off me burrito, I'm HOT!!"

So 7 years, WOW it totally doesn't feel like 7 years, it really feels like maybe 3. I am just so glad God chose me to be blessed with Michael. We started off as friends 11 years ago and have been best friends ever since. The first time I met Michael was on a blind date. I took him to my pledge formal. I actually didn't even ask him myself. I was being a silly college girl and asked my friend Adriane to call and pretend she was me, and ask him for me. Call me old fashion , but it was a hard adjustment to ask guys to sorority things. Anyway, he said yes and we went. We had an absolute blast!! My first impression of Michael was "man this guy is a really fun dancer" Any of y'all that know Michael and me together know we can cut a rug, it may not be pretty, but it sure is funny. So, our freshman year we hung out some, dated other people, became great friends. Sophomore year we did project uplift together, and one day it just dawned on me "Oh my gosh! wait, I think I like this guy". Apparently Michael came to that conclusion a while ago, but was waiting on me to figure it all out. I sure am glad I did. We had an great time at Auburn together. We were not the "typical" go to dinner and movie couple. We did things like spot light deer (just to look at them, not shoot, heavens no, I would cry!) We would get pulled over and questioned about drinking a lot for going too slow. One time, while Michael was trying to prove to me that armadillos will jump six feet if you scare them, a man saw us, and was certain we were stealing stuff from people's houses. He chased us in his car until the police could pull us over. After the police searched our car I had to explain " well officer the reason we were getting in and out of our car on a dark country road, was because I didn't believe Michael when he told me if you sneak up on an armadillo and scare it, it will jump six feet up" The policeman wrote up the whole thing and stared at me like I was insane b/c he new i wasn't making it up.

We would go to Lake Martin and sail the sunfish. Joe Ruzic would always come along, and that is when the Phi Gam sailing club was created. Michael and Joe were President and Commodore. Michael needed a leadership position for his Dental School application, so he created one. I'm pretty sure they were the only two in the club, and it probably ended when they graduated.

We would take Sunday drives in the country, take pictures of old dilapidated houses. We would always walk in the old house and make up stories of who lived there, what they did, how many kids they had etc... One time Michael took me in one of the old houses and surprised me with a picnic. It was surrounded by hundreds of acres, he thought surely no one will be out there. Well, after about 2 bites, two trucks pulled up right outside the house. We sat there for a minute and then decided to jump out the back window and high tail it through the corn back to the car. We left everything there except for the sparkling apple cider (my favorite). We decided to go sit by the train tracks and smash pennies and drink the rest of the bottle.

O-my goodness I just went down a rabbit trail, I'm not sure what that really has to do with, but I'm going to keep it, so I won't forget it one day. You just know a little more about Michael and me.

Ok, now on to my 30th birthday. We had been talking about what we were going to do for a while, I decided I wanted to take a trip. I wanted to go somewhere I hadn't been before with water and sunshine. KEY WEST!!! The best part, was Michael arranged it so 2 of our very best friends (Chris and Emily) came with us!! We don't get to see them often b/c they live in Seattle now. We seriously had the best time ever. Key west has so much character with a laid back lifestyle. We went sailing, snorkeling, kayaking, rented scooters , did a scavenger hunt, and ate the best food ever!!! It seriously was my favorite trip to date! Here are some picture from it.

Celebrating the sunset at the Pier. The people that live here do this everyday!! Michael and I decided we should do this at home too.

Emily and Chris snorkeling.

They all laugh at me b/c I am the most stressed out snorkeler. They are all enjoying the beautiful fish, and I am on the look out for SHARKS!!! I have been this way my whole life. I am absolutely fascinated by them, but I sure as heck don't want to be their lunch. Beth (one of our guides) pointed out two nurse sharks while I was snorkeling. Michael said I practically walked on water to get back to the boat:)

kayaking in the mangroves.

Our mode of transportation while on the island.... scooters!!! It was so much fun. I think we were the only ones in key west who wore helmets.

I never thought I would be able to bring attention to myself in key west, you know with all the eccentric people there. I thought I would be among all the normal people staring at them. Not the case. On the way to dinner, my muffler busted on my scooter. I had to ride all the way down duval street (think bourbon street in New Orleans, crowd everywhere) with people staring at me. Drag queens were staring... you get the picture. I couldn't help but just laugh, the noise was so loud echoing off the buildings!!! And I was causing it!!! oops

the Southern most point with two hat heads standing next to it.

Right before our scavenger hunt. Emily found pinky!!! Because of you Em, we won!!!

Chickens and iguanas EVERYWHERE!

Ok, before I shut down this forever long post, I want to thank Michael for the best birthday ever. I had a ball for a month and a half. Michael tried so hard to make it very special. He unintentional had 4 birthdays for me. 1st a surprise birthday dinner with all our friends at Felix's a week before my birthday (due to friends being out of town on the real day) Then the actual day came and he said we need to do something special, even though Key West was coming up in April. So we headed to New Orleans to hang out for the day, and eat at the Court of Two Sisters. He then realized he forgot to give me my cake (the only thing I actually asked for), so he invited everyone over to have cake and pizza. Can you tell he has a lot on his mind? this is Finn doing "Mr. Napkin head" in New Orleans. Never a dull moment, and I love it!