1st Family Vaca // Finley's 1st Beach Trip // Day 1

Around 9ish on August 13th, we were packed up and on our way to the beach for our First Family Vacation!

Beach AKA My Heaven on Earth!

Several months ago, I talked to Shane about contacting Stacey (a friend who owns these cottages. We went to this same place when we first started dating this go around) and long story short, we nailed the dates down and wasted absolutely no time booking it!

I can't even begin to put into words how excited I was and especially for Finley to be going to my happy place for the first time. The ride wasn't that bad at all, well, Shane says it wasn't bad for me because I didn't drive but what he doesn't understand is that I didn't sleep well either. But seriously, it was such an easy ride down and we got there safely. Finley woke up about an hour or so before we arrived at the cottage, but she was so good. In fact, our door code wasn't even working when we were trying to get inside and she just kicked back in her car seat and didn't make a big fuss at all. I hated to contact Stacey at 4 in the morning, but we did, and thank God her husband heard the phone. She was able to give us her door code and we were in! WHEW!

Once we were inside, Finley stayed awake about an hour and half while Shane got the pack-n-play set up, and then she was out.. Along with the rest of us. 

We slept later than what we normally do, obviously and then of course, I was WAY too excited to wait on Shane to get up.. so after breakfast, me and Fin made our way to Walmart to get the cold groceries we needed and some other things that we forgot to bring. She did so good there and fell asleep on the way back. She took a LONG nap and then we were up and ready to go to the beach!!

This blue swim top was the only thing left on Carter's website and got called a boy SO many times!! "OH how sweet! How old is he?" The bottoms did have ruffles on them but I guess it was too hard to see.??

At first, Finley was't too sure about the sand and the water, but then it was like something just switched in her and she thought, "this stuff isn't so bad after all!" ...

personal note: add video when downloaded

 And she just dug right in!

Love this precious big grin!

We also learned that we could climb into the big chairs all by ourselves.. for the most part.

We weren't too sure about how she would do with keeping her hat on but for the most part she did very good with it! There were times when she would take it off but we just stayed under the umbrella or would keep putting it back on and telling her to keep it on.

Oh, and if you are wondering if that is drool, the answer is yes. We were cutting two teeth while we were there ( and since we've been home her front 2 have cut thru the gums).

Thanks Gamma for the sand toys!

First day = SUCCESS!

Finley turns 1

It was a HOT and humid early Saturday morning on July 23rd. We held Finley's first birthday party at our home on our screened in back porch. We've had some serious hot weather here in Georgia this summer and this day was no better. Everyone was a champ in celebrating with us tho and I'm so thankful for the family and friends who came.

Shabby chic was her theme and I absolutely LOVE how everything turned out. It was early morning from 9-11:30 so a dessert bar it was for the food.. donuts, rice krispy treats, cupcakes, white chocolate covered pretzels.. my mom made a lemon pie (that unfortunately didn't make it out), along with another sweet breakfast treat that she surprised us with. (It was so yummy!) One of my favorites were the cookies .. I sent pictures of the fabric that was used for her backdrop and the lady designed from that and did an AMAZING job!

Amber made this topper! Love it!

Finley's smash cake and the cake were absolutely delicious and just beautiful.

I'm in love with this fabric that I chose for her backdrop streamer and high chair. There was a little trouble in getting it to stay onto the high chair and finally the country came out in me and duck tape was the answer... but it was SO humid and sticky, that the tape eventually worked its way off the chair.

Still beautiful tho to me.

I made her party hat from supplies from Hobby Lobby.

Before everything got setup.. Love these tissue balls Amber made. Eventually one by one they started falling too and onto the cake! Ha! Just makes for some fun memories!

I ordered cotton candy from a local ice cream shop for the party favors.

After we got everything set up, friends and family started arriving! 

I love this picture! It's like she's asking "All you guys are here for my birthday??!!"

This sweet girl stayed with me Friday and was such a big help to get everything set up!

Such a sweet picture of Sox!

And Finley's boyfriend arrives to the party!

Sweet Brynn showing Fin some birthday love.

Just like for her birthday pics she did not like the smash cake. I let her try a donut later on and she LOVED it. 

It was so hot, present opening only lasted for a few minutes.

This girl LOVES to read and she nuzzled down in my lap and we read a few pages. This has ended up being one of favorite books. She brings it to us to read her all the time.

And afterwards, all she wanted was her veggies and sweet potatoes and that's just what birthday girl got!

Finley loves visiting the horses with her  Da Da.

After the party we BOTH napped for about 3 hours. We were worn out from all the fun (and Mommy from all the planning, running around, and decorating. WHEW! It was so worth it tho.) 

We are so thankful for everyone and our village that made this day so special!

I'm so thankful for those that lent an extra hand to help me get everything finished!

It was such a blast!