St. Thomas

Finally!


I have been putting off doing this post because I took almost 500 pictures and so did the other two couples we were with. That's a whole lotta photos to go through! So I'm going to try not to post too many! After a while I'm sure they'll all look the same to most of y'all anyway! :)


Our friends Chris Lewis and Katie Wood got married in St. Thomas the weekend of MLK. John was asked to be in the wedding, so we decided to make a mini vacay out of it.


For some reason, I was super anxious {that's actually very much an understatement} prior to leaving. I think it was a combination of it being the longest we were going to be away from Curran and the fact that we were flying to get there. I knew once I got there I would be excited, but I was so upset in the weeks leading up to the trip. And I am not a nervous traveler, so the fact that I was worked up about this trip made me even more anxious. I thought for sure that something was going to happen to us. I wrote in my journal {that I had neglected since June} everyday for about 2 weeks so Curran would know how much I loved her. I thought about backing out of the trip several times. I know...I was a bit ridiculous. 


We were leaving very early Wednesday morning and coming back late Sunday night, so I wasn't going to see Curran from Tuesday night until Monday morning. But right after my alarm went off Wednesday morning {at 4 am}, C woke up crying. That is not like her, but normally I wouldn't rush into her room, but I took that opportunity to go rock her and cuddle before we left. I was glad to have that extra chance to say goodbye!


But once we landed in Miami, I felt infinitely better, and once we landed in St. Thomas I was so happy we were there!

Driving on the left side of the road was scary! Well, I wasn't the one doing the driving, thank goodness, but being a passenger was no walk in the park either. I was thankful that Ben felt comfortable enough to drive us around the whole week!

We rented a house with two of John's pledge brothers {and their wives} who were also in the wedding. It was so much fun, and we were all so glad we decided to do that as opposed to staying at a hotel!

This was the view when we arrived on Wednesday!

Chad {on the right} really wanted me to take pictures of them jumping in the pool. :)

This picture cracks me up. We sent the boys to the grocery store shortly after we arrived, and they spent a small fortune, mostly on junk food and alcohol. Granted, we did cook a nice dinner of steaks and asparagus the first night, but those asparagus were the last green thing we consumed the rest of the week, unless you count the limes in our beers. We ate Pillsbury cinnamon rolls every single day. In the pic above we were eating them for dessert after our dinner Wednesday night. Now I love junk food more than most, but even I was ready for some healthy food after that week!

John thought it was funny to swim laps across the pool {that was like 10 feet wide}. 

And Chad thought it was funny to take pics like this. :) 

me with Ben 

The view from our living room {where we actually spent no time. everything we needed was outside: patio table, TV, pool}.

 Thursday night we ate dinner at a neighborhood bar and grill.

 Then the groom {on the left} joined us at our house after dinner, and I have never laughed so hard in all my life!

On Friday we drove down to Magen's Beach. I think it was rated as one of the top 5 prettiest beaches in the world.

Chad and Fleming, checking out the view of the beach below.

 Ben, John, me, Chad, Fleming {Ben's wife, Kate, didn't get into town until later that afternoon} {and I obviously didn't have my camera on the right setting seeing as how I'm glowing}

And Chad, coming off the high of Auburn's National Championship win {he went to the game and barely made it back to Birmingham before we had to leave for St. Thomas} was thrilled he got his wife {a hard-core Alabama fan} to wear his AU visor. He wanted as many pics as he could get! {and if you don't live in Alabama you probably don't understand the significance of this}

The beach was indeed beautiful, but all the people there kind of took away from it a little.

On our way to the rehearsal dinner Friday night.

{and as I was looking back at this post, it looks like J has an earring. don't worry- he does not}

Unintentional triplets 

 Kate made it!

Fleming and me with the bride, Katie

Getting ready to leave for the wedding on Saturday afternoon

They had the wedding at the house where the bride's family was staying. The view was amazing!

The groom's nephew, Cole, was seriously the most well-behaved and laid back baby I have ever been around! I snuck him out of his pack-n-play so I could play with him while the family was taking pictures. Don't worry, he wasn't napping or anything. But he was perfectly content in there. :)

We had such a wonderful time, and I am so glad we got the opportunity to go! It was so relaxing to be able stay up late visiting and then sleep as late as we wanted! We had so much fun catching up with wonderful friends, and I wasn't ready to come home! 

But I have never been so excited to see Miss C! I almost woke her up when we got home, but I settled for peaking in on her and rubbing her back for a few minutes, only slightly hoping she would wake up "on accident." :)