Visits and Band Concert

Gamma came to visit in December! We had been wanting to try another Christmas market (in Berne) so we went over with Josh's mom. It was fine but not nearly as awesome as the one in Carmel. We did find a really cute store in downtown Berne after so that was cool!

Unrelated to other happenings but I saw this on Facebook and I had to have it. It is the creepiest adorable decoration. 

That Sunday the kids had their Christmas band concert. They did such a great job!

 

Dave is 16!! (and Thanksgiving)

How is my baby 16?? It is wild having such an old kid. Here's a little about Dave right now. He's still playing drums for worship every week, obsessed with golf, and has taken up guitar and is quite good already. He spends lots of time playing video games with his cousins and friends and likes to go support his classmates whether it is volleyball or playing in the pep band at basketball games. Dave is super funny and can be very sarcastic (gets that honest) and is so so close to getting that precious license! Only has to wait 3 short months longer. Really he is an awesome kid and we are so blessed by him!

Josh's mom put together this hilarious gift. A ton of money taped together and he pulled it out of a kleenex box. 

We celebrated both boys' birthdays at Grains and Grill with grandma and grandpa.

Splurged on a fancy dessert. 

I'm including Thanksgiving in this one since his birthday is basically thrown in with it usually anyway.

This was a light year for the Thanksgiving crowd but it was a great meal and we played some games before everyone headed home.

This one is just for me, I loved the way our living room looked for Christmas!

 

Officially Fall

Once we made it home from Folly it was full on Fall time. We didn't have much going on but here are a few highlights.

Josh and Ike went to the Grissom haunted house and loved every second.

The campus trees really put on a show this year.

We had a ladies painting night at church. Mine didn't turn out too great but I had a blast!

Josh and I went to watch a comedian (Demitri Martin) in Indy so we took the boys and dropped them at the Smith house.

And finally I put the Christmas tree up super early and here are the kids with their new ornaments. Dave got a set of Taylor Swift golf clubs and I found this sketchy website to do Ike's picture with his huge fish from Folly. Hilarious, it looked nothing like him. 

 

Folly 2025-Part II

 Wednesday

A few of us woke up early to go watch the sunrise on the east end of the island. It's always so beautiful!

Ike and Mom were back at it fishing again today.

Sunset on the west end :)

Thursday

Today we went into Charleston for a quick tour around our favorite spots before getting lunch in North Charleston.

Lunch was at The Glass Onion. The chef worked in some fantastic restaurants in Charleston so we decided to give it a try. Man that was a great decision!

After lunch the guys went to play golf so Ben and I hung out on the beach and then Mom, Ben, and I went out to dinner.

Friday

Last day! Ike went fishing again and caught a whopper. We hung out at the beach and got things around to head home on Saturday.

A guy next to Ike caught this huge shark!

A very nice gentleman helped Ike get this onto the dock. He estimated it weight around 50 pounds! Catch of a lifetime for sure.

Well that wraps up our trip. Another beautiful week in Folly!

Folly 2025-Part I

Saturday

We arrived pretty early since we stayed in Knoxville the night before. Since we were all hungry we snagged some lunch-Ike and I had empanadas and Josh and Dave had pizza.

The island was pretty busy since it was a weekend so we just hung out, unpacked and chilled on the beach for the day. 

Sunday

We had a beautiful sunrise to start our trip off right :) Then we headed into Charleston for a fancy brunch at Iron Rose.

I had the wild mushroom quiche and we all split this delicious pimento cheese. Overall a fantastic meal!

Tony and Ben took off for Savannah to visit a friend-the rest of us headed to the Citadel to walk around for a bit.

We played on the beach in the afternoon, then Josh and Ike went to a haunted house and Mom, Dave, and I got some dinner.

We had a beautiful sunset in downtown.

Monday

Mom and I were up early for the sunrise. Everyone but Ben and I went golfing and then came back and hung out on the beach!

Tuesday

Ike and Mom got up super early to fish on the pier. This was definitely a highlight of Ike's trip-they ended up going back several more times to fish. There was a group of guys on a fishing trip there every day and they helped Ike out a ton.

Tony, Dave, and I went for a long walk after checking in on Mom and Ike.

Today was the day for our family pictures on the beach. We've never done professional photos before and man this was super chaotic but the pictures turned out great!

After we went out so the guys could play this golf game they love.