Thursday, July 25, 2013

The big move.

Move? you ask. 
Yep I said move. And not just move, BIG move.
Big, as in like moving to another city & crossing state lines. 

That is what we are doing- moving to Nashville, Tennessee.
What. an. adventure.

How did this happen? Literally less than a month ago Matthew rode up to Nashville for a face to face interview after already passing a phone interview. When we started on this fun job seeking adventure a month or so before I said, "I will do Birmingham, I will do Auburn, and I will do Huntsville- Keep me in Alabama, my kids need to go to Auburn & take AL History in 4th grade." Well, a day after the interview we get a call with an official offer. Here we go... moving states.

Don't get me wrong. I'm excited.
I'm excited to see what God has in store for me and my family. I'm sure many wonderful adventures are to come! {Not to mention the Odom's are there!} It's just change, change I really didn't think was coming right now. 
But it's here and we are making the big move

This week has been packed with our lasts. 
Many last meals with many sweet friends.
I've so enjoyed our two years in Birmingham. It is so bittersweet.




Sunday, July 21, 2013

Roadtrip: Ohio.

Us Watford's have recently had the itch to travel. Okay, not true. I always am itching to go, go... but my husband on the other hand would stay home forever if he could. Wellllll, thanks to his buddy Freddy, we were off to Columbus, Ohio for Matthew to stand by his side as he married his best friend, Leah! I was plain ole thrilled for a roadtrip with my two favorites. 

Things change when you have a little one though. There is no jumping in the car and driving for hours with no stops. Babies need to eat, get changed, and stretch those legs out! So, we decided to head to Nashville and stay with the Odoms en route :)
I'm not going to lie, it is too fun to see Cameron and Tucker together. I can't help but smile when I think about the two of them growing up and being best little buddies! When we got there we hung out at their house for awhile before heading out for some Chinese food. We hit a new place to Meaghan and Brandon and it was delish- Besides the fact that our table felt something similar to an attraction at a zoo. These people would just stand there and stare at us and our babies. Not to mention they asked if they were twins and then followed up with asking if they were girls... You better believe when I have a girl, you will know it is a girl :) After dinner we put the babies to bed and watched some Netflix.


Friday morning we got up early and headed North. Since you lose an hour and we had to be there by 4:30 for the rehearsal we had to get an early start. We had a pretty uneventful drive with Cameron doing some good morning sleeping. He did really enjoy our stops though. Every time I got him out of the carseat he would just light up! Poor guy all strapped in... it has to get uncomfortable for sure!


It was really a fun drive up there since we went through many big cities that me and Matthew have never been to before. The two biggies were Louisville and Cincinnati. 



My sweet baby was beyond ready to be there when we got there after hitting some traffic when we were "within an hour" of our destination! I think he is voting for us to invest in a King size bed... dad agrees for sure :)


When we got there we hurried up stairs and got dressed for the rehearsal. My man was looking sharp- as always :)

After the rehearsal we headed to a cute little section outside of Columbus called Worthington (I think!). They had a cute little downtown and we enjoyed a yummy dinner above an Inn there. Cameron was already pushing getting tired at the rehearsal so I was a little nervous with how he would do. He did pretty good through dinner and then we spent sometime walking around during the toasts and such. He was a trooper to say the least!



Saturday morning Matthew was busy with lots of wedding festivities so me and Cameron enjoyed some more quality time :) We slept in and then headed downstairs for his first ever hotel breakfast. He did great, eating his apple sauce and some blueberry muffin.


After a morning nap we headed to a mall that was nearby. I ate some Chickfila while Cameron snapped a few selfies with my phone. He loves to see himself on there... he's just so into himself :) haha


After a bit Matthew got home so we picked him up and rode around a little. There wasn't too much right around us and we only had a little time. We were bummed we didn't get to go by and see Ohio State's campus... but as you know, wedding weekends are busy busy. When we got back Cameron refused to sleep in his packNplay so I ended up just holding him. He's so silly- he hardly ever closes his eyes completely... but I'd say he is out by the looks of that paci hangin' out!


Later that afternoon we headed to meet Matthew at the wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony- from what I saw. Me and Cam spent some time in the quite room... not because he was loud, but he is just a little too unpredictable for my taste! After the ceremony me and Cameron headed to the "cocktail hour" before the reception. We were sad to find out we wouldn't be seeing Matthew till much later at the reception. Thankfully we made a new friend, a fiancé of another groomsmen, Wesley. She was great and tried to help me with Cam as much as she could. I really don't know what I would have done without her... sat alone with my baby, that's what.
After the cocktail hour we got to head to the reception room only to find out that Matthew (and Wesley's fiancĂ©) would be sitting at the "bridal" table and not with us at all. 
I had a sleepy, cranky, hungry baby on my hands and I was a bit disappointed to find this out. Thankfully we had lots of visits and Cam successfully made it through dinner and some toasts! Unfortunately we have a little baby so we did have to leave early (around 8:45) and head back to the hotel. I was sad to miss out on the dancing, cake cutting and send off... but you do what you gotta do.




Overall I was very pleased with my CamMan and how well he did. Yes he was hard to deal with, but from a distance I don't think anyone would have known :)
Since we had to leave early, and Cam fell asleep immediately in the car, we headed to Graeter's Ice Cream. Leah told us that it was an Ohio must, so we had to check it out!


We thought it was pretty yummy. Matthew enjoyed his typical chocolate and I ventured out and got what Leah recommended- Black Raspberry Chip. It was definitely different then what I would normally get, but it was delish. I loved the HUGE chucks of chocolate in it!


Sunday morning we got up and headed South! Cameron was excited to head home I think!


We planned it so we could stop in Athens, AL and meet up with Pappy, Gigi, Wade, Amy, and Tatum for dinner! Of course Cracker Barrel was yum and the company was even better. I love anytime I get with family :) Tatum was so cute huggin' on Cameron. She did not enjoy his slobber though!


And just a while later we finally made it home! Me and Matthew were happy but probably not as happy as Cameron. We let him stay up a little late to play :)


Overall it was such a good trip and road trip. I was so pleased with how Cameron handled it all. And you know I just love to go out and see some place I've never seen before! 

Monday, July 15, 2013

#Thaxtonfamvacay.

The much anticipated Thaxton family beach trip already came and flew by. All of us are still really in shock that it already came and went. We had fun! But vacation as a mom is a new, different thing. Previously my favorite vacay pastimes were sleeping in and not having anywhere to be at any given time. You're laughing if you just read that and your a mom. We woke up early and had naps to take :) One benefit of waking early was me and Cam had the whole pool to ourself one morning! Vacationing is different but still a lot of fun!!

Unfortunately Matthew had to work some so he joined us later in the week! It was such a bummer without him there for a while! I hate single parenting! But that did mean that me and Cam got to ride down with my parents which was fun:



First stop was in Milton, FL to celebrate our sweet Caroline's 1st birthday!! We have loved seeing this hyper baby turn into a hyper, walking around little girl! She is super fun and cute! Of course her party was adorable and we enjoyed it!! It was cupcake themed- perfect for SWEET Caroline! She thought her smash cake was pretty yummy!




After the party we headed to Ft. Morgan for our vacay!
The first day we spent some time on the beach:





And at the pool:

Lots of time with family:





On Tuesday was Gigi's actual 50th birthday! So you know we had to celebrate! It was wonderful having everyone together to try and make her day special!

She woke up to this:

We headed to Lulu's for lunch:



Then we headed to The Track for some go-carts! Gigi was flyin' out there (; 


Had a little birthday beach time:


And of course there was cake :) We ended the night with a party including chocolate cake, pink lemonade, 50 reasons we love her, gifts- which included a photo shoot for Friday at the beach for the fam!




We continued on Wednesday with more beach time:



 Because we're silly:



We love to celebrate in the Thaxton family. SO we threw April and Dustin {+ Emmaline} a baby shower! They were so surprised and I thought it turned out perfectly!!










I put all the girls monograms on koozies for the girls:

And we celebrated the 4th of July:


And of course there are many, many pictures on my phone that is just too much trouble to put on here! But this is a good description of our trip. Before everyone headed home we all went to eat at Lambert's Cafe and got way fat thrown some rolls.
This Watford family truly loves to get to spend time with out family and we cherish the fun time we have! So thankful for a wonderful family :)