Engaged!

Our oldest just got engaged! Alex drove up to Greenville to talk to Eric several weeks ago and asked permission to marry her. He then waited for the right moment to propose to Ashlyn.

She said yes. 💙

He proposed in Columbia, SC on the State House grounds where they took a walk on their first date.  

Their friend is a photographer, so she hid behind a bush to snap these incredible pictures.

This one is my favorite, though.

We drove down to Columbia the next day to congratulate the happy couple and welcome Alex to the family. I hope he knows that I blog, Facebook, and everthing else a proud mom would do. That includes embarassing her kids eventually. 

Here's the newly engaged couple at a Halloween party dressed as Lois Lane and Clark Kent (aka Superman). They looked great! 

When not in costume, this is Ashlyn in her normal attire. Alex is a wonderful guy to be her rock as she's working in a stressful field. We miss them both. We're excited to see what they accomplish together as a team in this thing called life.

You can follow all their latest wedding plans at The Knot. 

Luke's Bday

Our son had drill over the weekend, so we prepared his 23rd birthday celebration for the evening he got home.

Presents and dinner with family was first. 

Then cake with friends.

As one of his gifts, he accompanied me to a TEDx type event called CAN Talks. Each speaker had a disability, but their perspectives of how they viewed themselves was so refreshing and inspiring. Here, Mark Shoop shares how he is impacting his community through law enforcement. When you're called to serve, it's about your abilities and what you CAN do, not what your diagnosis limits you to do.

And since Luke shares his birthday with his namesake's feast day, a photo next to the statue of St. Luke seemed appropriate.

XC 2022

The fall sport of choice this year for our youngest was dual...cross country and swim. That meant TWICE the events to watch. Since I attended her XC parent meeting and Eric went to her swim meeting (both held at the same time, by the way), those were the schedules we each downloaded to our calendars. Hence why there are XC pictures and not swim.

Some courses are solely on the grass and wooded areas, while others intertwine with the road or track. The finish is always exciting as the runners sprint to the end!

It's a great group of kids who cheer each other on no matter what PR they hold.

Eric likes to get in on the action with his own races. It's gets us up early sometimes, but we wouldn't have it any other way. This was a 6K sponsored by GE.

Nice finish and time!