I am a first time aunt to Rebecca Grace … and I am already sad thinking about how I’m leaving the little snugglebug tomorrow. Good thing I’ll see her for a whole week again in a month.

Yes, the poor little dear is inside her daddy’s hard hat. This next one was a big hit at his work.

We took the little precious to the beach for the first time! She is gonna be a little water baby. I got her mama this book, so Becca has been having bath tub swim lessons most days. Hopefully she will grow up to be a swimmer like her momma and aunt!

Our baby in her itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow polka dot bathing suit. Look how SMALL she is on Aunt Jessica’s beach towel!

Okay so I know that in the last post I was talking about Trueluck as being the cutest dog ever, but really… Winky is pretty high up there. Plus she is FAMILY. Winkers has been so good with the baby. Such a sweet dog.  And yes– she has one eye. And her name is Winky. Lol.

And one last shot of my sweet little model in her pretty pink tutu! I love you Rebecca Grace!

I flew to D.C. and felt very cool as I took the Metro allbymyself, thankyouverymuch. I had to sneak this photo so I didn’t look *too* touristy

One of the reasons I went to D.C. was to see this cute girl. We hung out. And ate Ethiopian food.

Also staying with was Laura’s roommates adorable dog, Trueluck. Best dog EVER. Seriously. I don’t even like small dogs… but LOOK AT THIS FACE.

One theme of the trip: We did a lot of eating and drinking. I believe here we are enjoying some Caribou Coffee. Laura talked me into getting a *lavender* white mocha. It tasted, well, like LAVENDER. Gross.

My friend is very good at looking like she is not posing for pictures… but really she is… she is just trying to look really hipster and unaware of the camera.

And here she is with her new boy. Hm. I guess this is not really internet official– or Facebook official yet. Hope I didn’t blow your cover too much, you two

For the Fourth- we wanted to be near the mall, but maybe not in the swarming throngs of people– so, we sat on the steps of this building. Library of Congress. Holla.

And this was our view:

I am in Virginia Beach hanging out with my brand new (18 day old) niece, Rebecca Grace. Guess where her middle name came from??

And she is PRECIOUS. We are all seriously so in love with her. So, her photographer aunt was going to waste no time getting some pics (even though she may already have the most well-documented life of an infant thus far, when you consider the number of FB pics already attributed to her…)

She makes some seriously awesome faces. Like this one, that we call “the Elvis.”

I can assure you: there will be more. She has turned me into a crazy person.

Next: The man who put the bling on my finger. He liked it so he put a ring on it (I had that song in my head for DAYS afterward!)

The happy couple

A few days later at Thunder over Louisville. Yep, I was still pretty darn excited about my ring

And, our very first engagement/wedding present, from my dear friend Kayla Nuby. Aren’t these ADORABLE!?

I’m so, so in love with this man. I spent some time typing up our story the other day, so, rather than rewriting or pasting it: to read about our love story and engagement, you can read it here on our wedding website!

The kids were running around, we were mingling and standing on the porch in the sunshine… and it just felt like home. It just felt like family.

I took a few headshots of people to use for a project for the church. Look at these good-looking Avenue-ites!

And then it was play time.

Play time for the big kids too… apparently

Little boys. Give them a big stick, and they are happy for hours.

So these next photos are the last pictures taken before I became Lee’s fiance the next night! I had no idea what was about to happen the next day– but apparently a lot of the people at this meeting did! I’m going to post some of the pics from the night we got engaged soon!

She since came to Southern Seminary and met the man of her dreams. We started dating our guys right around the same time, so we would sit in our class together, and as soon as it was over…. just turn to each other and GUSH about our boys and how wonderful it was to be in love.

Jeremy and Christina just celebrated a year of marriage… and I was so honored to stand with them in their wedding last year. They have become incredible “couple friends” to Lee and I. Jeremy was so generous as to come over and do a whole bunch of drywalling in my house for me. The boys worked and the girls talked.

Anyways… I could go on and on about my friends and how much I learn from them and how they exemplify Christ every day. They are moving to Thailand… where they will learn to be English teachers and then look for a job. They walk by faith and treasure Jesus above all.

In honor of Christina moving, I thought I would post these ridiculous photos the boys snagged of us a while back. We went to an Indian festival here in town, which was especially fun given our history together in India, and when people were invited on the stage for a yoga demonstration, Christina and I, being the shy types we are, did not hesitate!

I saved the best one for last. Oh man. Classic.

And just in case you cannot see our ridiculousness to your satisfaction: here is a close up. I hope you also noticed how we are the ONLY ones sitting up at this point. LOLs.

Okay, so this next one on the left… I was trying to do this look with my flash where you overpower the sun– kind of like the awesome photos that Esther Havens often takes in Africa and other places around the world. So, as I was just messing around with it, I said “Kyah… could you stand there and model, please?” So, this picture cracks me up. She is standing like a perfect little model while you see the shadow of her crazy babysitter in the foreground doing all kinds of crazy contortions with her photography equipment. Kyah, you are a patient little princess.

I had to put more than one. Could you not just EAT. HIM. UP.?

These two beautiful girls are going to be my flower girls, too. Aren’t they just going to be precious?

And then I told her to lay down. Yes, yes, we know pregnant ladies aren’t supposed to lie flat on their backs. It’s fine. It wasn’t for very long.

Seriously, sister, I can only HOPE to be as gorgeous as you when I’m pregnant. GEEZ.

These last shots are completely my sister… being her ridiculous self. Here she is demonstrating that pregnant girls can still, in fact, <sort of> do our favorite yoga pose: “tree” while standing on a grassy hill.

Less than a month now til baby Becca is due to make her appearance. Can’t wait!

Recognize these photos?

Roommates. I think I caught both of them talking.

Out of the corner of my eye, I mistook Zach for my fiance. I told them they were twins… and they promptly stood back to back to see who was taller, and I heard Lee ask Zach how much he weighed. Yeah… I’m sure girls would do those exact same things if we said they were twins….

Yeah, I know this next one is all blown out. But I kinda like it.

My little boyfriend, Henry. Is he not the cuuutest thing ever?