Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday {Yes I am aware that I am about a month behind now} Clark took Brookie down to the beach one last time. They built a sand castle. Love that they got some quality one on one time! We then got dressed and headed out to Charleston for Brunch.

On our way I HAD to stop at this amazing vacant lot to take pictures of my girls. It was gorgeous and I had been eying it every time we drove by. Spent about 15 minutes and then got back in the car to town.

Brunch was amazing!! We went to Hall's Chophouse {think that is correct...I need a refresher} and man talk about Southern Hospitality!! The owner and her son greeted us and were so incredibly genuine, caring, sweet, and nice. When we sat down at our table they gave Brookie an Easter Egg full of treats and kept smiling and talking with our babies! The food was to die for not to mention they had a male gospel singer with accompanist on the grand piano on the 1st floor and the sound carried to us on the second. He was singing beautiful songs even "How Great Thou Art" and It was so wonderful!! The food....YUMMMM!! Caroline and I split our meals and the boys split theirs. We all got the french toast which was incredible. No need for dessert. Never felt more valued and welcomed as a customer, like we had known them for years. Such a great dinning experience, the best I have had in my life to this day!

Then we all went on a carriage ride of Charleston afterward and learned some great history about the city. How a 2 story million dollar mansion had 2 windows worth more then the house itself. Well when you have 2 windows made by Mr. Tiffany himself of course it's worth a butt load!! And many more interesting things. Brookie crashed and so did Aubrey. Clark and I got to enjoy the quiet and the fun tour.


Then we headed back to NC, 3 hour trip back, and when we got home the Easter Bunny had come. Brookie loved all her treats and toys. Aubrey got a great colorful toy just like her cousins had. It was fun watching Brooklyn get excited. She kept calling him "Mr. Bunny came..."



We enjoyed our Easter Sunday back to our "home" and the kids had their toys to entertain them!

She is saying 'Play-Doooogh"

The next day we were headed home and honestly I don't think I will write it down. I kind of don't want to remember it. There was cranky kids, canceled flights, a threat of job loss, tears and crying {both kids and me} and just all around not so good time getting home. We made it back safely and everything turned out ok. Thank goodness!!

We LOVED our trip to NC and we LOVED spending time with my Brother Devin, Caroline, Liam and Charlotte!! We enjoyed every minute and can't wait till the day when we can head back there again. Thank you Devin and Caroline for all you did for us! I can't think of better hosts and more selfless people then you two. Love ya!

These memories we made are dearly treasured and will last forever.

Beach Day

Saturday started off with the boys leaving to go golfing at 7 in the morning. Clark was so excited, so giddy. Once the babies woke up we decided to take a walk and enjoy the weather. It was sunny out again. We found a playground that Brooklyn loved.

She took off her shoes and ran...

Loved that it was beach sand and went to work on building a sand castle!

Aubrey just sat and watched her sister play. She was a little fussy so we didn't stay too long. We enjoyed our walk back and once we got to the Villa Aubrey crashed. I decided to take Brookie for a personal photo shoot!

I still can't get over how fast the time flies by, I don't think I ever will. I wonder if I will ever stop saying it too?! Hahaha.



The boys weren't back yet so I decided to take the girls down to the beach! I wanted to create memories with them and didn't want anything to stop me. It was a challenge getting everything back up but it was worth it!

Brooklyn loved running away from the water and then would chase it back out. She made it a game.

The monkey and my little bear! She was loving the weather and was soaking everything in.

Once I put her down for the first time she wouldn't look up. She loved the sand. She seemed to love the feel of it between her fingers and would keep grabbing more. She was in a daze. Once I brought her back up to the tent she then decided to eat some, yummmm.

The boys made it back and LOVED their time golfing. They played where the PGA Championships will be played in 2012 and it is ranked #25 in the nation out of 1700 golf courses. Needless to say Clark was in Heaven!! We all went down to the beach together and watched Liam's and Charlotte's reaction to the waves, ocean, and sand for the first time.

They kept switching how they felt. One minute Charlotte was crying and Liam was happy. Then the next Charlotte was ok and Liam was freaking out. It was too cute! I love the pictures we got.



There are so many more but I posted them on Facebook so I decided to pick my favorites for the blog. Then it was our family turn, I was so thankful Caroline would take some of us. It is so nice to be in pictures and have them turn out great! Thank you Caroline, it is rare when I get to be seen.

Love this one of Aubrey and her Uncle Devin! What a great picture for her to have!!

Devin, Caroline and the 3 baby cousins!

Daddy and Brookie walked the beach together looking for sea shells and exploring!
Love this picture and love that Clark took some time to spend along time with Brookie, his girl!

Our family on the beach! Both girls were distracted with everything around them.

Oh Aubrey. She loved the beach and everything that came with it. She is her Father's Daughter!

Her collection of Shells she found. We did bring them back with us and they are currently sitting on the kitchen counter. {Side note: Brookie's hair was so curly from the humidity. I was loving it!!}

After the beach time with the whole gang us adults headed out to dinner. Devin and Caroline got babysitters, a family who moved from their ward in Charlotte to Charleston, so we could go out and enjoy a peaceful dinner where we didn't have to feed anyone but ourselves!! We went to Cru Cafe, a french cafe, which was also in an older home. Also mouth watering, delicious, and filling food. {as I swallow the drooling collecting in my mouth right now}. When we got back Clark and I went down to the beach and sat in chairs as the water swept under our feet. SO NICE! Best Date night in a long time. Thank you Devin and Caroline. We also declare that day to be THE best day Clark has had. {besides our wedding day, babies, etc, even though he might debate you on that}

We Loved, loved, loved our day at the beach, golfing, food, date night, and creating such wonderful memories.

Back to Vacation...

Day 7

We made our way to Charleston, SC on Friday. It was a rainy day so driving was interesting. We had Lunch at SNOB which was again delish! Then after wards we walked to a pier where they had swings and hung out before the down pore began.




Clark thought he was funny and kept making throwing up faces! Now the joke is on him because I am sharing it, haha.

After being pored down on and getting soaked we headed to our Villa and got changed. We were seriously debating going out to dinner, having to take the kids, drive again, etc. We decided to suck it up and go for it! Man we were SO SO SO glad we did. We went to Circa 1886 which was Ah-Maze-ing!! It is an old mansion turned into a restaurant. They put our party of 8 {4 adults and 4 kids} into the Garden room which was glorious because we didn't disturb anyone else and Brookie and the kids could be as loud as they wanted without us feeling too guilty.



Aubrey at dinner, She is too adorable! Anywho, dinner was wonderful. I wish I could fly there right now and get some dinner. We all shared a bite of our dinner and then got desserts and also shared. Everything was simply fabulous. Here is my Key Lime Pie.

After dinner we headed back and called it a night! Not many pictures of this day because the rain was so strong. I didn't want to take a chance with my new camera and all.

Next Day is beach day, boys went golfing, More yummy food, and tons more fun!

Relaxation Day

Day 6 was relaxation, recovery, and rejuvenate day. Nothing was planned and we enjoyed that. Devin was smoking pork butt and we just hung out and waited for it to be done. My mouth is watering just thinking about his pork....yummm.

Both Liam and Aubrey were practicing their recent achievements. Liam with scooting backwards and Aubrey with getting up on everything! It's both exciting and sad when they reach new heights. It's exciting because they are learning and growing and turning more and more into little people but then sad because they are growing.

Charlotte has been teething so she was kinda having a rough time!

Daddy sure loves playing with his girls!!

Liam has the best faces!! I could stand in front of him all day and just snap away! Ok, maybe I did for a while but can you blame me?!

Finally it was ready!! Man was it delish. Of course it wouldn't be a "Farmer" dinner without some good old root beer, Devin's favorite.



This was the second serving. I think, wait I know I gained about 8 lbs from all the wonderful food we ate! But seeing these pictures reminds me how worth it it was!!

That evening we lit off some fireworks! Brooklyn LOVED them of course. On the right pictures she is saying "Boom Boom in the Skkkkkyyyyyyy"

We sure enjoyed a relaxing day! Caroline and I got Easter baskets done and ready for when we got back and Caroline also made these wonderful bibs! And we shopped for more outfits for while we were in Charleston. The girls got an additional 3 outfits while were there!

Charleston pictures too come. Unfortunately I didn't get too many of the actual city, booo. But I did get good ones of the girls!!

Atlanta Georgia

Day 5 was planned to go to Atlanta Georgia to go to the aquarium. So we left at a decent time and got there about 3.5 hours later. Clark and I couldn't get over the beautiful greenery that we drove through. As we were driving Clark said "Why are you getting pictures of this?!" Thanks for the reminder honey! Sometimes I just want to relax and not worry about taking pictures but he was right. We definitely don't get this kind of reminder anywhere else.

Before we went in we stopped and had lunch right outside the entrance. I thought it was only fitting that Aubrey wear her fishie outfit! She was excited to go can't you tell?!




Brookie was really into her chips and Good old Liam went for the burger. He has recently been introduced to foods and obviously he is ready for the good stuff mom! Such a happy baby boy.

So we loved this aquarium!! It was indoors and was massive! Kind of like Sea world but like I said indoors and a little more condensed.

Aubrey was enjoying herself and loved looking at everything! They had manta-rays, bull sharks, sting rays, etc. in this HUGE aquarium the size of a movie theater screen!! These pictures don't do it justice. That is one thing I was sad about, I still don't know how to capture photos like these in this kind of lighting. I was lost but did what I thought I could.


Brookie also enjoyed it, she just sat with her nose almost touching the glass and watched!

They had the coolest looking animals. They had sea otters, whales, crabs, starfish, shrimp, stingrays, dolphins, you name it!

Aunt Caroline was showing Brookie the crab while Aubrey crashed in the stroller. I am so glad she would fall asleep because Brooklyn would NOT do that at that age.

Of course I get a picture with my girls whenever I can get a second. This was right before the Dolphin show, yes they have an indoor dolphin show. Brookie loved it and even Aubrey couldn't keep her eyes off all the excitement.



Then they had a separate aquarium for the coral reef. So many bright and beautiful colors. Brooklyn would just sit and stand in front of them and watch everything. It was a great outing to take her too. She loves all of God's creatures...except spiders of course.



We really enjoyed it. Brooklyn walked away with a dolphin and a purse, and that makes her 2nd dolphin of her stuffed animals. We named her Daphne the Dolphin.

After the aquarium we went to Atlanta Georgia's Temple because it was open for re dedication. Brooklyn refused to wear the booties so I ended up carrying her and really she was done for the day! It was still a fun and neat experience to be able to walk through it with our family.

We ended up home at about 12:30 that night and luckily Thursday was recovery day and prepping for our Beach/Charleston trip!! I will probably have to divide those days up into several posts.