cousins

Last week while Felix and Nicole were in town we were able to grab a photo of all 5 cousins together. We had to wake three of our four boys up from naps to attend the afternoon family gathering, where the photos were taken, and needless to say Luc was a little less than thrilled to be smiling for the camera. We grabbed one decent photo of the 5 boys ages 6 and under (which is no small feat) and then another that I love! Not because it is picture perfect but because it cracks me up SO much! I love my boys and their sweet cousin.

the five boys

less than thrilled

i love weddings

Two weeks ago this Friday my beautiful sister-in-law got married. It was an absolutely beautiful day and she was a stunning bride. You couldn’t help but feel the overwhelming love while watching the two of them commit their lives to each other and then get caught up in the joy and laughter as we watched them celebrate all night long. It was beautiful to watch and so fun to be a part of. While I did have my camera with me, it just wouldn’t be right if I didn’t, I wasn’t able to shoot the wedding like I normally would have- being a part of the wedding party and having a 7 week old who was still nursing every two hours seriously cut into my photography time. Darn that sweet, sweet baby! That being said, I still managed to take a handful and I apologize for the ridiculous amount of photos I am about to post. It was a fantastic day and a wonderful start to their journey. Congrats you guys I love you both!

details

Holly and Charlie

Mom and her kids

the best ushers!

the scene is all set

first look with Dad

cutest ring bearer!!

Charlie Tuna

Charlie Tuna

November

Papa

beautiful bride

beautiful bride

silly girl

waiting patiently

tiny wedding date

sweet fellas

Daddy Daughter dance

Memere

Grandma and Mimi

dancing girl

last dance

fire!

happily ever after

happily ever after

such a special day

I am delighted to share a few photos from the beautiful wedding Jamie, Jay and I got to be a part of last weekend. On Friday the 4th Jamie’s cousin married her long time boyfriend Josh in what can only be described as the perfect day! The weather was beautiful, the bride was even more so, the details were thoughtful and springy and the whole day was just so full of love and joy! Maggie and Josh, we truly couldn’t be happier for the two of you and were so honored to be a part of your special day.

While there were SO many things and moments that I would have loved the opportunity to photograph at this wedding I simply didn’t get the chance. It has been so long since I have attended, much less participated in, a wedding that I didn’t photograph! However, I did get a handful of photos that I love. So please excuse the ridiculous amount of photos I am about to share. I really had way too many favorites to narrow it down any further than I did!

First up- Bridesmaids’ luncheon and mani/pedis
Maggie and Josh- bridesmaids

Maggie and Josh- MOB and the bride

Maggie and Josh- the Bridesmaids with Maggie

the rehearsal dinner
Jay has a hard time not making a silly face these days
Maggie and Josh- me with Jay at the rehearsal dinner

Maggie and Josh- Jenna and Holly

Maggie and Josh- Kenny, Holly and Jenna

 

The wedding day!

Maggie and Josh- Jenna and Hannah getting ready for the big day!

Maggie and Josh- Uncle Mark prepping for the big event

Maggie and Josh- shennanigans from the day

Maggie and Josh- fancy bride!

Maggie and Josh- Maggie with her parents before the ceremony

Maggie and Josh- the beautiful bride

Maggie and Josh- something borrowed, old and blue

Maggie and Josh- gorgeous flowers!!

Maggie and Josh- beautiful flowers

Maggie and Josh- a few details

Maggie and Josh- Jamie and Luc

Maggie and Josh- an attempt at a family shot

Maggie and Josh- sweet Charlie with my boquet

Maggie and Josh- November cool dudes

Maggie and Josh- two of my cool dudes

Maggie and Josh - a few details

Maggie and Josh- the happy couple

Maggie and Josh- kisses

Maggie and Josh-

Maggie and Josh- Kenny and Jenna

Maggie and Josh- KENNY!

Maggie and Josh- Holly and Jamie

Maggie and Josh- me and Jamie

Maggie and Josh- the flowers

Maggie and Josh- silly parents of the Bride

Maggie and Josh- silly Aunt Holly the great and Uncle Mark

Maggie and Josh- Jamie and his mom

Maggie and Josh- Nicole and Jeremiah

Maggie and Josh- Mary Beth and Michael

Maggie and Josh- more flowers

Maggie and Josh- more flowers

Maggie and Josh- with Grandma

blue waters- beach time

Here’s the second installment of photos- the beach. We spent almost every morning on the beach playing in the beautiful water and sand. It was glorious and these photos don’t really do it any justice.

water baby

daddy and his boys

Maggie

Charlie LOVED standing in the crashing waves and almost getting knocked over.
thrilled charlie

on a few of the days Charlie took it upon himself to nap while in the ocean
sleeping Charlie

birthday sharers

Josh and Charlie

Mommy and Charlie

happy couple

uncle bob doing what he does best

uncle mark and his guys

november boys

all 5 of the coopers

aunt holly the great and her kiddos

maggie and kenny

shade from the BAT

mimi and jay making drip castles

cuddly boy, who's almost asleep again

maggie

the square hole

kite flying

even at the beach there are cars

sand play

jay waist deep in sand

fort building

more car playing

two boys in a hole

blue waters

A week ago we returned from a wonderful week at the beach, Anna Maria Island specifically, and while laundry and a sick kiddo have kept me from being able to post these as soon as we returned here they are for you to enjoy. While we were there I was 34 weeks pregnant, and on my last week of allowed travel per Doctor’s orders, so while I was moving a little more slowly we made the best of it and cherished our time as a family of four.

I am pretty short on words these days, I blame the tiny person inside of me along with the other two that are running around outside of me, so instead of a whole lot of commentary I will just let the photos speak for themselves and say a great time was had by all. As usual, we have a ton of photos from the week so I will break them up into a few posts so I don’t overwhelm you.

sunset and my boys

silly batgirl maggie

maggie and josh

a nice one of the happy couple

Daddy and his boys

aunt Nicole and uncle Jeremiah

before the storm rolled in

my favorite photo from the trip

Jamie with his Mom and sisters

sitting on the dock of the bay

march babies

all 9, almost 10 Perreault's

2013 Cousin Photo

Charlie Tuna

If you would like to see some of the photos from our last trip, it’s a semi-annual trip made by Jamie’s family, check out this, this, this or this post.

fishing

Over the years we have had many, many visitors to Florida and while we love to do the traditional things with them while they are in town it’s always fun to do something a little out of the ordinary and I am pretty sure Terra Ceia qualifies as out of the ordinary. So while my cousins were in town we packed up and headed down to treat them to a little tractor riding, castnetting, dock sitting and fresh caught fried fish. We enjoyed it and we hope they did too!

This was also Charlie’s first trip down to Terra Ceia; it’s sad to think that we don’t get down there as often as we would like to. There are only showers at Terra Ceia so we had to imporvise with a few sink baths.

Nighttime fishing and a few first catches- it was catfish but at least it was something ;)

a little tractor fun

dock fun

castnetting

throwing like a pro

checking out a crab that was caught

saying hello to the crab (affectionately named Herman the Hermit crab- Jay is really curious about people and things’ names these days so most days I just make it up)

watching Daddy throw the net

future photographer- it must run in the family ;)

Jay loved seeing anything Jamie brought up in the net. He also wanted to touch everything! Don’t worry we washed his hands after this.

Like I said, it was Charlie’s first trip down to Terra Ceia and he loved venturing around the property and checking things out but I think he enjoyed playing under the bar chairs the most.

christmas 2011 recap

The holidays this year were filled with many different things…  Time to relax and enjoy playing with the boys, time to start “new” traditions and to introduce the boys to old ones. Time to cherish with family that we don’t get to see very often and time to hang out with friends that live far away.  Honestly we got to spend a whole bunch of time appreciating what is really important and spending time surrounded by people that we love; to say that we are blessed would be an understatement.

goofing around with mom
jamie relaxing
festive playtime with duplo- and no I did not make him wear the Christmas tree headband. he would frequently put them on and wear them around the house :)

Jay Bird at the sing a long playing frosty the snowman with Mary Beth
decorating cookies for the neighbors

quality control
christmas eve photo
"santa" setting up Jay's duplo table

the boys' stockings after santa came :)
holiday jammies
bed head and new toys
helping charlie with his books
jeepie!

jay getting michael to draw for him

mary beth and charlie

crashed!
mom, ed and the boys
group shot of my family
snuggling with auntie frannie
frosty!

a little bragging

I just wanted to take a minute and say how proud I am of my little cousin, Devon.  First of all let me clarify “little” with “younger”; Devon is by no means little anymore, in fact he towers over me standing at over 6 feet tall now.  Regardless, this post is not to discuss height, mine or his, but rather the fact that he was just signed with Prince George Cougars!!!!  For those of you non-hockey fans (ie- non Canadians) the Cougars are a WHL (Western Hockey League) team which is one step down from the NHL (the NFL equivalent again for those of you that are still clueless).  He is 16 years old and has just signed with a semi-pro team- yup, he’s a stud! Congrats Devon; we are super proud of you!!!

Here’s a few photographs from a recent Cougars pre-season game, courtesy of my Mom’s boyfriend.  Unfortunately, although the game was played while we were in Canada, it was a little to far for a day trip with Jay so we didn’t get to see him play.  However, if he signs with the NHL you can bet that I will be at the next game within driving distance to see him play!

not a super great photo, especially because of the plexiglass, but you can see his name on his jersey and you get the general point
a view without the helmet

the first of the beach photos

Last Sunday (father’s day) Jamie, Jay and I headed down to Blue Waters Beach Club, a beachfront motel on Anna Maria Island, to spend the week with his family.  A week at the beach was a long standing tradition with the Vickers Clan who sat sea side year after year and while they took a break for a few years (10 to be exact) it was such a nice tradition to resume.  Everyone had a wonderful time, enjoying lazy mornings on the beach and in the waves, early afternoons in the shade, dips in the pool before supper, plenty of family meals, amazing sunsets and great conversations long into the night.

We have so many photos from our trip (surprise, surprise) I am not really sure where to even start!  So in an effort to not overwhelm anyone I think I will probably break it out into a few post- you’re welcome, I know you were thinking it ;)

Here you go with the first batch…

Maggie and her supply of floats
Jamie and Jay walking in the sand for the first time on the trip
Aunt Nicole, who I think was taking at photo of Jay- love her expression in this one
playing in the sand
Grandma
Uncle Bob- the unofficial photographer
testing out the waves
group photo
I know that is not a great group photo but it cracks me up every time I see it, I love everyones expressions!
ice cream time
Jay was interested in sharing with anyone who had a spoon

Aunt Nicole relaxing in the shade of her hat
Jay and Mimi
Grandpa enjoying the shade
Jamie and Sean playing football- you can see the hotel in the background of the shot
building castles in the sand
the amazing super large tent, also known as the BAT
Aunt Holly the great
Jay with Pepere's hat
Jay trying out Aunt Nicole's hat
Pepere's splash art foot- can you see a heart?
a little boy who loves frisbee
coming in for the day
one tired little boy and his Daddy
Mama really enjoying the snuggle time

cousin pictures

Every year when everyone is together (which is usually only at the holidays) Jamie’s family takes a cousin picture.  Last year they (the Moms and Dads/ Aunts and Uncles) made every cousin a book with all of the pictures- it was so cool to see everyone grow up from year to year.  And also pretty darn funny to see some of the clothing (a lot of it was from the 80’s and early 90’s).  This year Jay (since he is a cousin too) was included in the picture.  I can’t wait to see this picture continue to grow as the family continues to grow!

some other group shots that I (or others) took that day…

the Perreault kids plus me and Jay
Cooper kids
Constant Family shot
Mary Beth and Sean
Mary Beth and Michael
Mimi and her girls
Jamie and his sisters