happy halloween!

....from the cutest little ladybug in town....

a post as big as TEXAS!

Pull up your cowboy boot straps folks, it's gonna be a big post!! Summing up our trip to Dallas, Tx to see Corie and Emery tie the knot is no messing around. What a weekend it was. For one, it was the wedding of Ryan's childhood friend Emery (I got the pleasure of meeting him in high school) and his college love, Corie....two people who are so ridiculously in love and perfect for one another that we couldn't wait to watch them say I do. AND, it was a big weekend for Ryan and me because we left Emma for the first time as we set out to enjoy a mini vacay.

We started out bright and early on Friday. Emma helped her Grandma see us off at the airport. She was so cute and interested in everything going on. I did what we all thought I would do which was break into hysterical tears as we said goodbye. Boy, was that hard....Ryan was upset too but he held it together and looked waaaaay cooler than me :) (typical!)

"ooooooh mom, you're SO embarassing!" (get used to it, beanie!)

We stayed at the Hotel Adolphus. Very cool, old fashioned place in downtown Dallas. They even had a high tea every afternoon which was pretty neat to see people going to....I'm talking tea, crumpets, and fancy hats :) I'll admit, the hallways kind of reminded me of the movie, The Shining but overall a cute place.

As soon as we got into town, we settled into our rooms and hit the town for some exploring. Here we are at the intersection of Murphy & Main looking like total tourists ;)

very cool upshot courtesy of my architecturally inclined hubby

That evening, Aaron had made us reservations at Samar. OH my goodness. It's a tapas fusion restaurant that had options from Spain, the Mediterrenean, and India. Each of us got one from each region and shared....18 tapas later we were all full and happy and totally impressed. Best meal I've had in a LONG time.

We also had probably one of THE best cocktails I have ever had. Gin + limoncello with a sprig of rosemary....unbelievable. They call it the Cyprus Rose and we'll be making it around the Murphy house sometime soon so stop on by! ;)

we had the funniest waiter who kept us entertained throughout the night. how do we repay him? by making him take pictures of us, of course ;)

Here's Ryan, the lover of all things spicy, getting a little run for his money with his Indian dish :)

Here are the girls after almost losing our lives at the hands of a crazy taxi driver!!!

OK! Now on to the main event. Corie and Emery's wedding! I didn't take pictures at the ceremony but suffice it to say it was perfect. There wasn't a dry eye in the place. The church where they were married was beautiful and it was a gorgeous place to start off what I'm sure will be long and wonderful marriage. Emery and Corie spent alot of time writing little paragraphs about each person in the bridal party, many of whom we went to high school with, so it was really funny and really cute to read while we waited for the ceremony to start. One of the paragraphs was a prelude of what was to come later that night (I'll get to that in a bit!)

Then, we headed back to downtown Dallas to the Tower Club for the reception. 48 stories up is a room with floor to ceiling windows and the most amazing view of downtown Dallas. It was GORGEOUS. Very Sex And The City. Everyone looked great and wore huge smiles and it was obvious it was going to be a great night.

the ladies

the gents, looking FABULOUS if you ask me!

with my beautiful bestie :)

the girls with the gorgeous bride :) corie, girl, you rocked the dress like we knew you would!

my handsome hubby with the handsome groom!

Ok, so remember those little paragraphs emery and corie wrote? in emery's post about adam, a great high school buddy, he made mention of adam's mad breakdancing skills. not willing to upset the crowd, adam threw off his tux jacket and showed us all how its done. i love how this picture captures him in action AND got corie and emery's monogram too!

ryan was a dancing machine and by the end, my feet were sore, my body ached, and my voice was hoarse from singing :) as new parents, we don't get out much and we don't get a chance to spend a whole lot of time with the friends we love so dearly. this trip was so special to us and while we came back more exhausted than when we left, it was SO worth it. and at the end, it was like a huge GIFT to get to snuggle with our little Emma bean again!!!

to all the friends we enjoyed the weekend with, we love you! thanks for such a great time :) to corie and emery, Y'ALL throw one heck of a party. congratulations on a day you will never ever forget. may the love and laughter we all experienced on 10.23.10 stay with you forever!!!!

cheers!

a few faves

just a few of our faves from Emma's first pumpkin patch visit. hope you enjoy them as much as we do :)

while the cat's away....

There is mischief in those eyes :) Little Miss Emma is having her first weekend sleepover with Grandma & Grandpa while Ryan and I head to Dallas for a wedding.....and SOMEthing tells me she is going to have a good time. And so are her parents. If, that is, her mother doesn't lose it first ;) Having never left town without her....this is going to be VERY very hard for us both. I'm sure there will be tears at the airport tomorrow morning.

Emma doesn't seem to phased by it all. In fact, she seems darn right excited to be heading over for some supreme spoiling at her Mimi and Pop's house! Can you blame her??

She was nice enough to help me pick out my jewelry for my wedding outfit.

She even tried on the headband for me ahead of time so I could make sure it would look ok :) It got the Emma Murphy seal of approval!

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't totally anxiety ridden about the trip. Leaving Emma behind has me heartbroken. But at the same time, we're getting a chance to spend a weekend with our best of friends. We'll get to "sleep in"...whatever that means, have adult time with our favorites, and even get a chance to have lunch with some of Ryan's family whom we never get to see.

So, in true Texas spirit, we hope YA'LL have a great weekend. Lots of pictures of Dallas shenanigans to come, I'm sure :)

cheers! M

the sweetest day!

two years ago today i married my best friend. i’ve been in love with him since the back of 10^th grade algebra and the way i felt when he first gave me a ride home from school is the same way i feel today. times a million. ours hasn’t been a relationship without hardship or without its rainy days. but those times have made our relationship stronger, our love deeper, and the two of us much more capable of appreciating the blessing that we have in one another and our young family.

i literally remember every moment of my wedding day...seeing Ryan when we got a few quiet moments alone before the ceremony, locking eyes with him as I walked down the aisle, and the purest joy i had ever felt knowing that i was marrying the man of my dreams.

he laughs with me every day (and at me on most of those days), is my biggest cheerleader, and never goes to bed without saying I love you. he's the kindest man and truest friend i could ever imagine. and now he’s my baby daddy which makes me very VERY happy.

to my honey, happy 2^nd anniversary. every day is a holiday with you. i love you. i carry your heart, i carry it in my heart. :)

“Love knows no limit to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its hope; it can outlast anything. Love still stands when all else has fallen.”

fall is in the air!

happy weekend, friends! days like today are THE reason to live in Gainesville. crystal blue sky without a cloud in sight. the weather is perfect....cool enough for a sweater but not too cold. fall is my absolute favorite season and i'm so happy that it's finally here! sweaters, cuddling up by the fireplace, hot chocolate, family and friends....the list goes on!

what are you up to on this gorgeous fall day?

emma graced mommy and daddy with sleeping in until 9am! she's usually going strong by then but instead she slept all the way through and let us catch up on our zzz's. i knew the weekend was going to be great :)

once she was up and stuffed full of bananas, peaches, and cheerios she was off and running.....first stop, toys and cartoons! i try not to let her catch too many glimpses of the tv but when she does it is hysterical. she's totally mesmerized. she gets very loud and tries to talk back to the people on the screen. super funny!

next stop, enjoying the view from the window. she cruises the length of just about any solid surface in our house these days, often letting go and either cruising one handed or standing for a few seconds on her own. oh boy are we in trouble!

this girl is very curious. she likes going through boxes and containers an emptying them of their contents (this applies to things NOT intended for baby as well like, for instance, our laundry room trash can. lesson learned!). the process of looking through her pink bucket or whatever container i have on hand and emptying it of all its toys is endless fun for her.

when she's done we say "all done!" and she goes wild :) :) then pack up the container again and repeat!!

silly mom!!!!! (is that not joy on her little face?? swoon.)

ryan and graham are spending the day working on our new master bath/bed renovation! the jacuzzi tub is in place and emma and i are VERY excited. the girls are headed to the mall for a girls day with glammy.....clothes, shoes, and grandma time! perfection!

cheers!

sweet child of nine

oh emma claire. oh sweet child of mine. of nine. nine months old!!

nine months ago you entered this world and it will forever be different. you are the single proudest moment of our lives. i can't possibly put into words what your presence has done except to say that you. are. magic. and we love you more than you could ever know.

ryan and i got to talking over dinner the other night and came up with a list....what we love about emma at 9 months. So here goes....

~ does "EVERYTHING!" count?? no, seriously.

~ your "insane happiness" as daddy likes to call it. i've never seen a baby, or any person for that matter, smile as much as you. the world, life, existance makes you smile and you remind us that happiness is all around us.

~ those dimples. my gosh. don't know where they came from but we'll keep them!!!!

~ the crescendo of your voice as you test it out. constant chatter turns into SQUEAL!

~ your intensity of experience, curiosity about the world around you, and your extreme determination to accomplish whatever it is you've set your little mind on. the fact that your personality shines through so obviously already is so much fun.

~ watching you play with your friends. if only we knew what you all where talking about!

~ discovering new things that make you laugh. it feels like winning the lottery.

~ the way you play games....peek a boo and such. you'll offer your paci up and then take it away and laugh hysterically. what a comic!

~ what a good eater you are. and how much fun you have doing it.

~ your tired coos and your anytime snuggles. swoon.

~ your love for jewelry and iPhones. i swear i had nothing to do with this.

~ peeking on you every night before bed. i especially love how you've started sleeping with your butt up like your daddy did when he was little.

~ your excitement when either daddy or i enters the room....it's like you're saying "i missed you!"

~ how you've developed bonds of love with the people close in our lives. you recognize your family and friends!

~ ok seriously, does EVERYTHING count???

emma, you and your smile light up our lives. life makes sense and is infinitely more grand with you here to share it with. who knew one little person could have 2 big people so ridiculously wrapped around her finger. mommy and daddy love you to the moon and back....and even more than that :)

oh emma claire. oh sweet child of mine. nine. happy 9 months!!!

perfect little pumpkin

hope everyone had a fun weekend! ready for an adventure all our own, we packed up and headed over to julington park (outside of jax) for a quick photo session with our favorite, jenn hopkins. she was doing a shoot in a pumpkin patch and we couldn't resist getting some of our own little pumpkin just shy of her 9 month birthday.

armed with her latest favorite snack, mozzarella cheese cubes and sliced pears, we got an early start. emma doesn't much care for long car trips these days....she'd really rather wiggle so we have to get creative. snacktime is the perfect distraction from the fact that she is tethered to her carseat for over an hour! she was even nice enough to share with mommy.

we arrived a bit early and there really wasn't a great place for her to crawl and play so we improvised a little. yes, we put our child in the trunk of my car and let her go to town. i said we had to get creative, didn't i?

a baby in a trunk! parenting at it's finest! :)

when jenn arrived it was time for the real fun....pumpkins!

emma, in true fashion, was very curious....about the pumpkins and the hay and just what in the heck was going on. i snapped a few on our camera while jenn was working her magic :) not only is she an amazing photographer, she is just so great with kids.....emma cooperated well and jenn actually got her to sit still for some really cute shots without bribing her with toys or food. i need her to give me lessons apparently ;)

pretty soon the shoot was over and we said goodbye to jenn and all the pumpkins. we got the chance to visit an old friend in jacksonville and introduce her to emma. isis actually used to babysit ryan and his brother when they were little so its always so fun to see her and share funny murphy stories. we hadn't seen her since probably a year or so before we got pregnant with emma so it was an especially nice treat. my how time changes things :)

it's exhausting being cute all the time...

after all the fun the morning could possibly bring, we packed up again and headed home. emma was out within 5 minutes in the car....sleep being an even BETTER distraction than food :) it's an obvious statement, but seeing the world for the first time (again) through her eyes is a daily blessing. tomorrow she will be 9 months old. this blows my mind....how did this happen so fast? at the same time, it makes perfect sense because i really can't remember life without her here.

i may be biased but i think we've got the best pumpkin in the patch :)