Crawfish Boil

Eloise giving crawfish a try

On Saturday before Easter, we headed to Frisco to join the Pittman family for Doug's Annual Crawfish Boil.  We were beyond excited to finally live in Texas and get to be a part of their annual tradition!

Cate was willing to hold one, but wasn't that interested in eating one

Cate and Eloise had a great time in the clubhouse (going up the side and down the slide)

Cate just made herself at home bringing toys outside

Eloise hugging Charlotte

Matching crawfish outfits

Happy Birthday to Doug (these 3 are his brother-in-laws)

The birthday boy

Sweet Charlotte

Thanks for including us in the festivities, we can't wait for next year!

Wedding Fun

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we were in North Carolina for my cousin Jesse's wedding.  We traveled on Friday after work to Durham (via St Louis) and we were followed all weekend by storms crossing the midwest/south.  We had tornadoes in Dallas the night before we left, sirens started around 11pm, but luckily nothing hit anywhere close to us.  On Friday as we were traveling, as soon as we got off our plane in SL for a layover, rain and hail fell suddenly for about 20 minutes, but passed and we were able to get out to RDU on time.  Saturday, about half way through the welcome picnic, the storms tore through North Carolina and destroyed several parts, not far from where we were.   

Despite the storms, the weekend was wonderful and it was great to get to see family.

Cate and her daddy

Sunday was beautiful after the storms the previous day

Cate and her "mo-mo" and "pa-pa"

The wedding was held at the Pavilions at the Angus Barn (our favorite steak house in Raleigh)

It's a beautiful barn-like structure tucked behind the restaurant with a pond (where the ceremony was held), a fire pit, great seating areas and wonderful open windows....it was just beautiful, and of course the food was fantastic!

Finally, a good family photo!

Yummy cupcakes

My mom with her sisters (JoAnn, Cathy and Loretta)

A bunch of Audleys

Girl Cousins

Meghan, Sunny (who made her fabulous dress), Anna and Carolyn

My cousin Jesse and his new wife Mara

Cate enjoying some cupcakes

Sunny and I 

When I think of Audley cousins, Sunny and Jesse are the first to come to mind, Sunny and I are 6 months apart in age and the first girl cousins on mom's side of the family, so we stuck together anytime I was in Kansas....and we spent a good bit of time terrorizing her older brother Jesse (the groom).  I'm glad we've still get along just as well as when we were young (not that we're old, just older).

Poor Cate started to feel sick as soon as I picked her up from school to go to the airport.  But she was a trooper the whole weekend (thanks to tylenol and motrin.....).  Thanks to "mo-mo" and "pa-pa" for the trip, we had a great weekend!

Back to North Carolina

In mid-April we were lucky enough to head back to North Carolina for my cousin's wedding (more to come on that beautiful day later).  While we were in Durham we were able to catch up with a few old friends....hard to believe it's been almost a year since we left NC, it seems like yesterday we were selling the house and packing to move!

Dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant, El Rodeo with friends from the CCU at Duke

 The Menacho family came to meet us at the hotel so we could all do a little swimming

Cate and Merrill catching up

Harrison wanted to be in a picture too

Cate and Harrison

Merrill our sweet god-daughter

Josh, Harrison, Lanny and Serge at lunch

Merrill, Melissa and Carolyn

We had a great time seeing everyone, hopefully we'll get to see everyone again soon!

A week with family

Cate loved having Nana Julie and Aunt Suzie in town to play, but she also loved having her Aunt Callie, Uncle Rob and cousin Robert here from California too!  Lanny was quite surprised when they arrived at dinner Tuesday night, he knew we were up to something, he just didn't know who was coming in town!  We had a great week with family, trips to the park, great meals, and lots of play time for the little ones!

Cate loved making her daddy and Aunt Suzie climb up to slide with her, and of course she loved sliding over and over to her Nana!

Trying to head up the wrong way like the big kids at the park

Cate actually hates the swing....she was laughing, but practically crying at the same time.

Sweet Robert playing with all Cate's toys

Giving hugs

She really did love having Robert here, as long as she was in charge!

LOVE the hair!

Aunt Cal and her sweet boy

Cate insisted on feeding her baby when cousin Robert was being fed....

Cate and her Nana

I think they're going to be trouble when they're older!

These two loved their Aunt Suzie!

It was such a great week, Cate (and Robert, I'm sure) loved all the attention they got from their Nana and Aunt Suzie.  Cate was asking for Aunt SuSu the morning after they left, and she was not happy with me when I said they were gone......so I guess that means you guys had better come back soon!

Fort Worth Zoo

Nana Julie and Aunt Suzie were in Dallas at the beginning of April for their spring break, so we took advantage of Lanny being off and headed to Fort Worth to see the zoo.  We were little worried Cate might not be able to appreciate all the animals, but she had a blast and 3 hours flew by!

Headed out to see the animals

A view of the monkeys

Daddy checking out Cate's view of things

Silly guy

He was playing it up for visitors...

Very excited to see all the monkeys

One of the elephants eating grass

Cate's only concern....her juice box

Really reaching for it...see the back leg off the ground?!

Giraffes just relaxing

Suzie and "Bonnie" (Bluebonnet the elephant, Suzie used to come see her while she was a baby elephant when they lived in Texas)

 

Cate with Suzie and Nana

Daddy and Cate feeding the birds

These two were fighting over the little food stick

Having fun

Our pretty girl

family photo

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Cate liked the kangaroo statue

Let's jump!

Cate's been practicing her animal sounds....she can't wait to get back!