Anniversary Celebration

Justin and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary this past Saturday July 26th. It is so hard to believe that we've been married that long already! Alex had a sleepover with her Pappy and Grandma Yocum while we had a nice night away. We drove down to Baltimore and stayed in a cute little Bed and Breakfast in Fells Point just up from the Inner Harbor. It was a cute little town with little shops and restuarants. We spent Friday evening just walking around enjoying the scenery and had a great seafood dinner at Bo Brooks crabhouse. I had blue crabs-it was so neat-they just cover your table with brown paper and then dump the crabs on the table. You get a mallet and knife and just go to town cracking the crabs. They were delicious-it's been so long since I had done that. Justin had never seen anything like that so he was very entertained watching me. He had a hard shelled crab stuffed with a crab cake and deep fried. It looked good too! Saturday we enjoyed walking around Inner Harbor before heading home to Alex! Here are some pictures-although I didn't do very well at taking many.

We had a nice view from the roof our of B&B and right across the street was where they filmed "Homicide-Life on the Streets".

Great Weekend!

I had a really nice weekend at home with family and friends. After celebrating Rob's birthday, Alex and I enjoyed a nice Saturday at home while Justin worked. We had a great time playing-especially in the pool. It was a hot one!

Saturday night we got together with friends-Marty and Hope, Jason and Angie, and Doug and Cressa. We had dinner and then played a competitive game of mini-golf. It was guys against girls and the guys won (I have to admit) but it was a close game. Jason and Marty had a great time entertaining Alex after dinner-they are quite the characters so she, of course, thinks they are so funny!!

Sunday after church we had lunch at Dilly's with our good friends-Kristi, Lucky, Mattson, and Sean. Unfortunately I forgot to take any pictures at lunch but we had a really nice time together. We've missed spending as much time with them this summer since I've been away all week but hopefully here in a couple weeks we'll have more time. Jen and Drue would have been with us too but they went to York for the day-we missed you guys!

Rob's Birthday

Friday was my brother's birthday so we celebrated with the family-mom, dad, grandma, Rob, and Susan. We had a nice dinner at Norland Pub (they have amazing crab cakes) and then went back to my parents for peanut butter pie (per Rob's request-he didn't want cake) and presents. Susan's dad and stepmom, Dale and Deb, joined us for dessert as well. We had a nice time together as always. I didn't take a ton of pictures but here a few pretty good ones.

First Steps

Well, the moment we've been waiting for finally arrived. Alex took her first steps this past Thursday (July 10th). She has been so close for a few weeks now and I was so worried that she would take those first steps while I was away at West Chester. However, she held out and waited until I was home. I got home around 5:00 Thursday evening and about 5:30 or so she took 2 steps toward me. I was the only one here (Justin was working) so it was really special! I was so glad she waited for me to get home. I couldn't have asked for a better homecoming! Since then she has been quickly progressing to now taking up to 5 steps and it's coming a little more easily each time. She gets so excited and so do we! Unfortunately I don't have any pictures to add to this post but wanted to share this exciting monumental step in Alex's life with everyone. Now mommy and daddy better watch out-our little girl will be on the move even more now than ever before.

Good Friends

Our good friends, Jeff and Peg, are in from Ohio visiting this week. They got to my parents late last Thursday night and then headed to Lake Anna the next day with mom and dad and got back Saturday night. We spent the day Sunday with them before I had to leave again for clinic. It was a really nice day. We always have a great time with them. Now this week while I'm away mom and Peg are taking care of Alex and having a blast. Monday they took her shopping and so I was told "Alex found some cute outfits she just had to have". They also had a great time enjoying Alex's new pool!

July 4th

It was really good to come home Thursday. My first week of clinicals went pretty well but it was hard being away from home. I was so glad to see Justin and Alex Thursday evening. Friday the 4th we went to a Hoke family reunion. It was a nice day and we had a great time visiting with the family. They have a huge slide at the park so we tried taking Alex on it-she was pretty much indifferent to it. She also tried the swings for the first time-she laughed coming forward but on the way back she had a look of fear in her eyes. She was trooper! She also enjoyed all the picnic foods-we think she probably ate a little too much and had a slight belly ache that evening but that's ok. She had a great time! That evening after we got back Kristi, Lucky, and Mattson came over to hang out. They brought chocolate cake that was wonderful and the kids had a great time playing together!