What We Did This Summer.

June was probably the most social month of my entire life to date. I’m a bit reclusive by nature, and at first the prospect of visiting with people nearly every day for an entire month struck terror into my shriveled hermit heart. I didn’t even know I was capable of spending so much time with people.

Happily (and contrary to my own personal expectations), I did not implode or shrivel up and die, and I even managed to enjoy myself! I really did have the most lovely visitors, so it was a very pleasant and easy way to be dragged out of my seclusion. :)

(Still, just to be on the safe side, I plan to be a hermit all autumn. If you enjoy quiet afternoons and rainy days and reading and falling leaves and peaceful thoughts and pumpkin spice, feel free to bring your knitting needles and a book, and we can be hermits together. I’ll provide the coffee).

At the end of May, my husband’s parents and his seven youngest siblings came to visit for Memorial Weekend. They stayed in a lovely farmhouse at Historic Leiper’s Fork, which we enjoyed exploring with them.

They even discovered a rope swing just a little down the road from the house. Can it get more perfectly summery than that?

Beatrice was doted on by her loving aunts and uncle, even though she was a bit of a bear and refused to nap or go to sleep for almost the entire weekend until my amazing, gracious, and loving in-laws somehow rocked Beatrice to sleep with their grandparent magic while I cried outside. Ah, the humbling moments of vacation. That’s life though, and we still managed to have a wonderful time visiting and getting lots of hugs in, in spite of the Energizer Baby who can cry for three hours straight without falling asleep.

We were sad to say goodbye, but the next weekend we were off to Arkansas to visit Will’s Nana and Grandad.

It was wonderful to see Will’s grandparents again, and it was a very relaxing weekend.

They have one of the most beautiful, interesting homes I’ve had the pleasure of visiting. Also, it was so quiet and peaceful. I took some amazing naps.

When we got back from Arkansas, we had some surprise car repairs and celebrated National Donut Day.

And of course, Beatrice managed to look cute, so there’s a photo of that too.

The weekend following our trip to Arkansas, my Mom flew in for a visit. :)

We explored the shops in downtown Franklin, and of course visited the Frothy Monkey… multiple times. Mmm, coffee.

Another highlight of the visit was eating dinner at The Pharmacy in Nashville. I love burgers and fries, and we got to eat outside on this gorgeous patio.

When we weren’t trying as much local food as possible, we also managed to get lots of quality relaxing and chatting in (and more iced coffee at the Frothy Monkey). Here Beatrice is sleeping through a passing fire engine while we enjoy our refreshing beverages. The sleep habits of babies are truly mind-boggling.

Eventually it was time for us to head to the airport and say goodbye to Mom…

…and hello to Laura and Anne!

Beatrice is only a few months older than Anne, and they are obviously bosom buddies, as I have mentioned before. It was so fun to see them playing together (or… near one another). Anne is such a jolly baby and we loved hearing her little squeaky laughs!

We spent a Saturday exploring the Farmer’s Market and The Factory again.

We also sewed things and took photos. The usual. ;)

We somehow forgot to take a moms-and-daughters photo of the four of us, but we did get this photo, which is pretty swoon-worthy. ;)

It was so fun to have Laura visit, and to be able to chat while we fed the babies, or worked quietly during their naps, or tried to get them to sleep. Sometimes it’s just nice to have another mom to commiserate with. :) And did I mention that she and Anne are completely gorgeous and photogenic (see below)?

After Laura and Anne flew home, Will and I discovered this lovely park.

And I took more photos of Beatrice.

Because… well… it’s hard not to.

June 21st was Father’s Day. Beatrice is so blessed to have such a loving, thoughtful, protective, hilarious, kind, caring father, and she absolutely ADORES him. Every evening when he gets home from work, Will scoops B up to talk to her and read books and shower her with kisses. Her first laugh was for her Daddy, and they share the same mischievous twinkle in their eyes (and impossibly long eyelashes!). I am so completely smitten with these two, and so thankful for them both.

Will has been such a loving, caring, incredible father from the moment he knew our little one was on the way. His strength and encouragement and love and joy carried us through pregnancy, and labor, and newborn-induced sleep deprivation, and with good humor and a servant’s heart he has shown Beatrice and I what it means to be loved by our Heavenly Father each and every day. He is amazing, and I don’t know how to say thank you enough.

We were able to celebrate the day with Will’s three eldest sisters, who stopped over to visit us on their way to VA. :)

Beatrice enjoyed every moment with her aunts, and hammed it up even more than usual. ;)

After church we walked around downtown Franklin and enjoyed frozen yogurt and coffee. We even finally visited Landmark Booksellers, which resides in a very lovely historic house and was all we had anticipated. :)

We were sad to see Beck and Grace go, but we got to keep Emma with us all week, and Beck and Grace returned the following weekend to pick up Emma and all head home. During Emma’s stay, we even got to spend some time with our first cousin once removed, Hans Royal. Isn’t he the cutest?

When Independence Day came along, Will, Beatrice, and I strolled around downtown for Franklin on the Fourth, and just made it back to the car before rain started pouring down. The fireworks were cancelled, but we spent a cozy evening indoors watching a movie and eating a gigantic bag of kettle corn we had purchased downtown.

In mid-July we drove to the NC mountains, where we met up with my parents and rode up to MA together for my brother’s wedding!

The ride was long, but Beatrice was amazing. Here she is enjoying her first taste of sweet dark cherries somewhere in NY, and generally looking adorable.

The day before the wedding, we got to meet Aubry’s family at a fun, casual coffee-shop breakfast with these two lovebirds… :)

…we explored Shelburne Falls…

… and attended the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. The dinner was delicious and it was a beautiful evening. I loved watching Sean & Aubry dance together.

The next day the weather was delightful, the wedding was beautiful, and the festivities were so much fun. It was one of the sweetest, most joyful, and celebratory weddings I’ve ever been to (and not just because I love the people we were celebrating). :) Aubry was a gorgeous bride, and doesn’t she have the best smile? :) It was a delight and an honor to be her bridesmaid.

The reception was held outside and a delicious breakfast was served, with pies for dessert and plenty of dancing. It was so perfect for a summer wedding, and fit Sean and Aubry so well. :) I didn’t get any photos of the ceremony or reception, but here are a few from Aubry’s amazing wedding photographers (Katie Slater Photography):

I am so overjoyed and delighted to see Sean so happy, and to have gained such a kind, lovely, amazing sister-in-love as Aubry! When I was growing up I often wished I had a sister, but in the past three years God has blessed me with NINE sisters far more sweet and loving and talented and wonderful than I ever could have imagined, and I am so thankful for all of them. :)

Other events of the summer have included…

Blueberry picking. Beatrice picked an assortment of leaves but no actual blueberries (though I did feed her quite a large number of them).

Beatrice learned how to wave. She waves at Will when he leaves for work, and when she goes to bed. She also waves at the bean plant outside. (?)

We attended our first Nashville Sounds baseball game, and Beatrice’s first baseball game ever. :)

Lots of trips to the library. Sometimes Beatrice and I go together in the morning between her naps, and sometimes we all go as a family after dinner (one of our new favorite dates). :) I even stumbled upon the last day of the library’s summer book sale last month (quite by accident, I promise) and they were selling books for $5 a bag so… I might need another bookshelf.

I’ve been trying a lot of new recipes. I think I was in a bit of a rut, making the same meals over and over, so I’ve actually been attempting all those Pinterest recipes I’ve pinned.

Will joined a company volleyball team which met once a week for most of the summer – they just played their last game a few weeks ago. He usually played after Beatrice’s bedtime so it wasn’t practical for us to come along, but we came to cheer for him during his first and last games.

Will and I had a date night in East Nashville (courtesy of Will’s kind cousins) at Rudie’s Seafood and Sausage. This jambalaya was amazing, and if you ever go there, don’t even look at the rest of the menu. Order the jambalaya. Do it!

And of course… Beatrice has been cute. ;)

So there you have it – some snapshots of our summer and a few of the things we’ve been up to. If you made it to the end of this ridiculously long and rambling entry, your perseverance is astounding. I hope I never fall behind on blogging this much again because I really don’t think I could make it through waiting for so many photos to upload ever again. :)

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Did you all have a good summer? What were the highlights for you? Are you excited about fall? Now that I have this summer wrap-up post out of the way I can start talking about all things autumnal. :D Brace yourselves.