In March, we celebrated my then future sister-in-law in Greenville with a shower. Sisters are fun, and I am psyched to have a new one.
And we moved my mom away from the house that I grew up in. This was so bittersweet. Bitter in that it's the only place that I remember ever living, a place where all of my memories from growing up reside, and to quote Miranda Lambert, is the place where "under that live oak, my favorite dog is buried in the yard". It was sad to pack up and/or throw away so many things that had meant something to me at one point or another, and to know that I couldn't ever "come home" again. But sweet in that the house that I loved so much had become a burden in the past several years. My mom lived there alone and the upkeep was a lot to handle. Things would break and it was expensive and the mortgage was too high. So while it was a blessing to grow up in such a great neighborhood, it really was time to say goodbye. And since then, my mom has moved into an apartment nearby. I think that everyone who's lived in an apartment can attest to the simplicity of that life, and it's been really good.
In April, we celebrated Easter in Hilton Head with Sean's family. It was kind of a cold weekend, but I can't complain about the beach!
In May, we celebrated Jensen and Laura as they graduated from college. Jensen received the President's Award, and I can't say how proud of him that I am. He was the student body president, the editor-in-chief and founder of the Anderson University Centennial Yearbook, a member of SGA as well as a member of the homecoming court (which he does not claim as an "accomplishment", but as his sister, I will) for the duration of his college career, a Presidential Ambassador, an intern for a company in Greenville, a board member for a business society (that I don't remember the name of), and still graduated Cum Laude with a job to start the following Monday.
Laura graduated Summa Cum Laude with a perfect 4.0 GPA and a teaching job to start in the fall. She also had an impressive list of accomplishments including being a Teaching Fellow and the preschool director for a local church. I know that she will be a phenomenal kindergarten teacher. She already has tons of great ideas for her classroom and is so passionate about it. It makes me wish that I could be in her class.
In June, we celebrated Jensen and Laura again as they got married in Florence. My youngest brother, my cousin, my husband, and myself were all in the wedding, and it was fun to have a time aside from Christmas to all be together. Since I've already bragged on Jensen and Laura a lot during this blog, I'll just say that we're really proud of them and love them very much :)
L to R: Kristen, Wallace, Bo, Jensen, Laura, Me, and Sean
In July, Sean and I went to Orlando to visit his grandparents and go to Disney World. I had not been to Disney World since I was pretty young and it was awesome. After a lot of debate, we decided on Hollywood Studios as the park to visit, since that was the one that I thought I'd never been to and I think it was a good choice. My mom pointed out later, sounding almost hurt that she had gone to the trouble of creating this memory for her children only to have me forget all about it, that I have actually been there. Tower of Terror was amazing, and as someone with little Disney World experience, I was blown away by how much went into each ride and show. I'd love to go back in January and run the Disney Half Marathon, but that's still up in the air :) Sean said that he would settle for just going back in January, sans 13 miler.
I insisted that we wait in line with tons of little kids for the half an hour that it took to get this picture. Sean said that he "didn't mind SEEING Mickey, but didn't have to have a picture". I begged to differ, as this is part of the experience.
Disney's own Chinese Theater
We celebrated July 4th with Nick and Lyndsey in Charlotte in typical 4th of July fashion on the lake kayaking and finished the day grilling at our house. Hanging out with our best friends/siblings makes me feel bad for people without them.
And...that's about it.
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