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- water skiing and tubing

This year during the beach trip we were able to take advantage of a pretty amazing boat. Jamie’s dad, Pepere, belongs to a boat club which he generally uses to have fishing boats while he is in Terra Ceia; however, while we were at the beach he rented a deck boat and the family was able to do some skiing and tubing along with other boating activities.

While I would have loved to have gone skiing or tubing I decided that I didn’t actually want to have our son while were on vacation and I played the part of photographer from the boat. I kicked myself for not having our big camera (dslr) with us but I do love the photos that we did get of everyone having fun. We even were able to give the boys a turn, riding with Daddy of course, and although their faces don’t really show it they really enjoyed themselves.

The first couple of photos are Uncle Bob’s, he took some amazing photos (with his DSLR) of Josh and Jamie skiing before I grabbed our camera. Josh has been skiing for quite awhile and this was Jamie’s second shot at it.

Josh Skiing

Josh Skiing

Jay on the boat

Kristen, Jay and Charlie on the boat

Jamie Skiing

Jamie Skiing

Uncle Bob Skiing

Maggie Skiing
maggie skiing

Aunt Holly the Great
aunt holly the great

relaxed boat riders

sean and mary beth

hanging on tight

Jamie and Charlie
Jamie and Charlie in the tube

still Charlie and Jamie

Nicole and Jeremiah
Nicole and Jeremiah

Holly and Mimi
Holly and Mary Sue

Holly and Mimi

Jamie and Jay
Jamie and Jay

Jamie and Jay in the tube

Jamie and Jay

giving the thumbs up

Jamie and Jay

Uncle Mark and Maggie

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.

tree elves

Honestly, I am not exactly sure how it started or why but each year Jamie and I pick up Christmas Trees for most of his family. I think it may have started one year when someone asked us to grab them one after hearing how reasonably priced ours was going to be and then the last few years we have taken more “orders”. Let me preface this story by saying that I love the holidays, I love getting a tree and I love picking out trees for others too. Honestly, I usually have trouble sleeping the day before we pick out trees… I think it’s the excitement over the holiday season starting, I know it’s silly but so true…

It’s been a fun tradition. We pick out the trees, trim them up with Pepere’s chainsaw and then deliver them to our “patrons”. This is the second year that Maggie and Josh have tree elved with us and it was just as fun as it usually is :)

Also, I dug through some old photos to find past elfing adventures- it’s crazy how much can change in a year!

2010


2011

pumpkin carving

Tonight Maggie and Josh came over and joined us in our pumpkin carving adventure- we didn’t carve pumpkins last year so it was Jay’s first time.  He was excited and kept saying “carve pumpkin” over and over again :)  Jay helped me to clean out all of the seeds before he headed to bed and Jamie designed and did the carving (it was getting late and I don’t think Jay would have sat for much of the carving).  It was fun and such a great end to our weekend.

 

the finished products- ours on the left, Maggie and Josh's on the right (sorry I didn't actually get a photo of the two of you, just your pumpkin)

pool time at blue waters

Aside from lounging on the beach I am pretty sure that we spent the majority of our time hanging pool side while at Blue Waters. I think that by the end of the summer Jay might actually grow gills- seriously this little guys loves to swim! He hasn’t finished his swim lessons yet (we actually have quite a few more weeks left) but he can kick his little feet with the best of them.  Luckily Jamie thought to bring his underwater housing for our point and shoot camera so I was able to have a camera with me at all times- yea! Here are a handful of the photos that I got of people enjoying the pool.

our little fish- love how he you can see his smile in this one!
swimming to Mama
more swimming smiles
Maggie and Josh- posing underwater
even Grandpa took a dip in the pool!
Mimi and Grandpa
Maggie again :)
the steps of the pool were great for Jay; they had a big handrail and were really wide. He loved climbing in and out of the pool while we were swimming.

 

Jay "wearing" Daddy's sunglasses
more underwater posing
our fish swimming to the steps- and yes he actually would swim 2 or 3 feet on his own to the steps!

Jay really loved to hang out in the showers at Blue Waters, especially after he figured out how to use the foot sprayer all on his own.

shower fun

working the foot sprayer

love this one!

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