Smile of the Day

Happy Fathers Day!

We had a very fun day celebrating Toby's first Fathers Day! The day started with some group singing early in the morning.....

Followed by dressing Annie in Toby's favorite outfit...

Annie and I made pancakes for breakfast, and we went to Toby's favorite Indian restaurant for lunch. Much lounging followed in the afternoon. Happy Fathers Day, Toby!

PS - If anybody knows how to make a baby smile for the camera, please let me know. :)

Nana and Grumps visit from England

Nana and Grumps (formerly known as Mum and Dad Cooper) visited us for two wonderful weeks recently. We had a fantastic time showing off the baby, traveling to the Smokies for Memorial Day weekend, visiting Carnton, shopping and just hanging out together. The weather was a bit miserably hot, but then again we've never had very good weather when the Coopers have come to visit.

Annie was absolutely fascinated by Grumps and his beard! He would "fly" her overhead, too, which she loved. Sally spent much of the trip behind the camcorder lens, so they should have some great videos.




We took a quick trip back to Carnton, which has some new plants in the garden and a wonderful new visitor's center. The center has huge, air-conditioned bathrooms (which is only important if you want to get married there and don't want to have to rent your own). It also has a permanently installed tent out back, so we're not sure if they still allow receptions in the location where we had ours. Toby, Annie and I took some photos under the orange ossage tree but I don't seem to have them on the computer to share. Here are Nana and Grumps out front of Carnton, surrounded by trees that we don't remember from 2 years ago.



We spent a wonderful Memorial Day weekend in Wears Valley, TN in the Foothills of the Smokey Mountains. It was the same cabin where we spent Christmas with the Thorntons in 2008. The view is gorgeous!

The hot tub was used a bit more this trip...the Cooper men love their hot tubs!

Toby was super excited to see a Copperhead on one of our hikes. I was not so excited, especially since he had Annie strapped to his chest and he kept trying to get closer and closer to the snake.

A fabulous time was had by all! We can't wait to see ALL the Coopers for Christmas this year. It is going to be especially joyous as Beth and James will be getting married while we are there. We absolutely can't wait!

Three Months!

Our sweet baby girl is growing up! Annie is a champion hand-sucker, a super smiler (though you wouldn't know it from these pictures) and she is starting to enjoy looking at books. I think she weighs about 13 pounds, and she just graduated into size 2 diapers and size 3-6 month clothes. I can't believe how big she is! Here are some photos we took tonight:

Here she is looking very concerned that we put her down on the ground outside.


Goofy face!

And Toby's favorite photo - demonstrating Annie's size relative to a beer. Judging by this photo, I would guess that she is approximately two and a half beers long.

I have hope that she will eventually look like a girl, rather than Toby in a dress. One day.... :)

Catch up - Law School Reunion

I've been terrible about updating the blog lately. We had a fabulous two week visit from the Coopers, and I will be posting lots of cute photos soon.

In the meantime, scoot on over to Jess' blog and Autumn's blog (see Harris Telligman and Witt Boyd blogs at left) for highlights of our law school reunion in Asheville. Six good friends plus six husbands plus three babies made for one awesome and exhausting weekend. Annie was an angel, except that she was not as cute and smiley as usual and she still refuses a bottle.

I have to admit that some of our exhaustion was from seeing the older babies and how active they are! You can't leave them alone for a minute! Right now I can put Annie under her gym in sight of the bathtub and take a 15 minute bath, but it appears as though those days are numbered. Maybe she'll be a late crawler. :)

Highlights of a two-year marriage

To say that time flies is such an understatement. I can't believe that it has already been two years since Toby and I stood under a huge tree in the blazing sun and said our vows. We have had so much great fun in the last two years, and maybe 1 argument.

We honeymooned in Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. We've spent vacations with family in England, Canada, Florida, South Carolina and other places I'm forgetting. We've seen three other dear friends commit their lives to each other.

We've nearly renovated a house, worked hard at our jobs, and hosted a few really fun parties.

And our greatest accomplishment is snoozing away next to me while I type. Thanks to Annie, now we're our own little family.

Happy Anniversary, Toby! As I said two years ago under that big tree in the blazing sun, I am the luckiest woman in the world.

Two Months!

Annie turned two months old last weekend. I couldn't decide which extra-cute picture to post, so here are both of my favorites. We're so lucky to have such a very smiley baby - she makes everybody else smile, too.

Here's the evidence - betcha can't help but smile!

We hope that she brightened up the very sad weekend for our Broach family members, as we gathered to say goodbye to Grandma. As family members converged on South Carolina, Grandma hung on until every last one of us made it to see her, a true blessing and an unexpected miracle. Toby said that, in true Broach fashion, Grandma wouldn't want to hurt anybody's feelings by saying goodbye to some family members but not others. I didn't think Annie would get to meet her great grandmother, and I am so glad that she did. We had a very joyful and tearful reunion, just as Grandma would have wanted.