1st trip to the zoo

we went to VA this weekend to visit the VA Renfrows and Pollocks! :) we went to work with matt on friday so that we could take the work truck. that puts us in the car a few hours longer than usual. we left in the morning around 9:30am and finally arrived at their house just before dinner time. that always makes for an interesting day! we watched veggie tales and wyatt "drove" the truck (pretty much the whole time) while matt worked.

wyatt all nestled in for the trip!

saturday the guys went hunting and the gals and kids headed to the zoo! we had a fun time and even though it was over cast, it was the perfect weather for being outside.

wyatt's favorite: the giraffe

oooing over the giraffes :)

claire peeking at me

the lion's den

1, 2, 3 groundhogs!

the NC Renfrows

on our way out the door this morning to visit the VA Renfrows, we had to squeeze in getting a family picture for claire's dedication letter! the letter and photo are due by these evening! we have started the letter, however, the procrastinators that we are still have to finish it this evening once we get the kids to bed at their papa and nana's house! praise the Lord for a pretty decent photo of the four us!! (pictures of our visit to come!)

cuties

just playing around with the kids and the camera today and happen to get a pretty cute one of both of them. (out of about 20 or so shots!!)

claire looking dainty ;)

sweet smilin' wyatt (yes, he's getting a haircut soon!)

family, shelby, lake lure and fun!!

\wyatt on one of the playgrounds at lake lure

the kids and i went to shelby, nc to visit my uncle tom, aunt meg and my cousin meredith. also there, all the way from indiana, were my aunt kathy, cousin jason, cousin-in-law hollie and their daugher abby, whom we have just spent a fun week with! (thank you guys so much for coming to visit!! it was so fun!) while we were visiting my aunt and uncle, they took us to lake lure, which is a really pretty mountain lake about 45 minutes from their house. parts of the movie "dirty dancing" was filmed at lake lure!! we had a picnic and walked by the lake a little. there was some sort of festivlle going on while we were there, so that was pretty neat. we had a great visit! thanks so much for having all of us tom and meg!! :)

wyatt on the smaller playground (he called it "his playgound"!)

jason pushing abby on the swings

cooling off under the wonderful shade tree
(l to r: mere, uncle tom, aunt meg, claire, aunt kathy)

claire and abby playing with toys back at the house

Baby Eli's here!

the sweet Gwinn family of 3!

Jason and Andrea welcomed their sweet little boy into the world today! Eli Joseph Gwinn weighed 7lbs 8oz, was 22 inches long and is such a cutie!! Yay, we have a nephew and the kids have a cousin! how fun!

sweet lil eli and his sweet lil mamma!

picture day

matt's mom and i took the kids to get there pictures made today. we wanted some nice pictures of them in their outfits from John and Ashley's wedding. we got it! our blog header is one of the pictures taken and here are a few more! enjoy! :)

i had to share this one because it's such a perfect picture of claire,
she is always doing the splits!! :)

surprise, matt's 30!!

matt didn't want anything big for his 30th birthday, but i just had to do a little something! we had a little surprise party with his college roommates and their families! he thought that we were going to go to dinner with our friends ben, carmen and their boys, so he was surprised to see them. they arrived first and matt, ben and the kids were in the living room as soon after, one by one the others arrived and would casually walk into the living room to surprise him! :) it was great! he kept looking at me with this "i'll get you my pretty" look, but he was really glad to see everyone and later told me thank you! :) what a fun day!

cake courtesy of carmen, she had connections and
had the super cool NC State wolf cake made for matt!

matt and a few of his guests, jimmy, ben, claire and bryan.

wyatt and oliver enjoying the pizza.
cool side note about the pizza:i ordered, payed AND tipped the driver online,
2 days before the party!! the delivery guy just dropped it off and took off!!
it was so nice! go Papa Johns!

a different view of the cake, you can see the "30" better at this angle!

me holding the cake so that matt can blow out the candles...thank goodness there
were only 2 and not 30...that could have been dangerous!

the kiddos

just playing today and took a couple pics!

sweet baby claire :)

me and my bubs, wyatt :)

asheville, grove park, biltmore

every year, through matt's work, we attend the NC Seedsman's Convention. they have it somewhere different every year and this year it was held at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville. the funny part is that we didn't even take any pictures of the Grove Park Inn!! oops! while we were in asheville we found that we were only 10 minutes (if that) from the Biltmore House, which i've been wanting to go to for a few years now. so that is where were most of the time! (that and the spa treatments were all too expensive).

the barn on River Bend Farm, the working farm on the estate.

matt and the Kitchen Garden, where they get some
of the produce for the restaurants on the estate.

a view from the "deck" of the house, i mean castle, i mean mansion!!

matt on the porch/terrace, not sure what they call it,
it was just so nice to sit there in the wonderful breeze after
over 4 hours of walking around the house/mansion/CASTLE!
and to think that we didn't even see but maybe 1/3 of the mansion...er house??!!

me on the porch/terrace with the view behind me!

the biltmore "HOUSE" :)

baby Gwinn's shower

today was the big day for baby gwinn's baby shower! what a perfect and hot day! :) i co-hosted it with hilary and laura (2 of andrea's best buds, and 2 friends that are dear to me as well!). i feel like they did all the work and it turned out great! what a awesome turn out!

the abundant gift tables!!

the spread: we had hot dogs and all the works!

the grillers/muscles of the operation: russ and jon. :)

guests: my friend angel's little cuties, colton and connor.

more guests: stasha, her son and husband, michelle and carla.

co-hostess and game leader: laura! :)

co-hostess, hilary, showing a basket full of goodies!

the sweet mommy and daddy to be: andrea and jason. :)
(there's wyatt checking out the goods!)

the hostesses and one of the guests of honor:
hilary, laura, andrea and me!

Pollock Wedding Weekend: Reception

so, since we were in the wedding we have no pictures of it! that and picture taking may not have been allowed anyway? but we do have a couple pictures from the reception! (if anyone has pictures of wyatt, matt or ali please send them so we can add them to this post! thanks so much!!)

the sweet Mr. and Mrs. Pollock's first dance

father-daughter dance

claire (on auntie ree's lap) in a cute bib our friends the Rays gave her

super pretty wedding cake

feeding each other cake...nice or mischievous?

cleaning up the mischievousness!!