ready for the humidity to break . . . seriously!

for real though, why has it been so hot and humid lately?!  at least the holderness family is keeping us laughing about the weather! trying to unstick your legs from leather seats in the car is a unique type of torture!

stay cool!

love, laurie

the perfect pregnancy venn diagram

i get a kick out of pregnancy memes, but i really had to laugh when i stumbled across this venn diagram.  it could not be more true!

love, laurie

in bloom

the african violet plant in my office is currently blooming and it's the fullest i've ever seen it!  i'm loving how pretty the purple flowers are on my window ledge next to my desk!

love, laurie

another sunday evening outdoor/indoor summer concert

i mentioned that ryan has been involved in planning a little outdoor summer concert series at the university, and the first concert was last week.  the second concert was on sunday evening, and it featured local musicians.  

we watched the weather closely, and brought our camp chairs and set up outside to watch the concert.  a little less than 30 minutes into the show, ryan made the call to move the setup inside which was the perfect decision because as soon as we got everything inside the skies opened up and it down-poured!  good call, ryan!  perfect timing!

the show was great and everyone enjoyed it.  i'm looking forward to the third and final concert next weekend! 

love, laurie

cooling off

it's been crazy hot and humid lately . . . crazy hot and humid!!!  we've been trying to cool off any way we can and trying to keep leko cool too.  he sure loves hanging out on our back screen porch.  we're keeping our fingers crossed that the weather will cool off this week!  pretty please!

love, laurie

visiting with jeremy

it was so nice to be able to visit with ryan's brother jeremy this week while he was in pennsylvania.  we haven't seen him since december 2019, so it's been a long while.  normally when jeremy comes to pennsylvania we're really busy with shows, so it was nice that we actually had a few times this past week when we were able to see him in between work commitments!  in addition to spending some time wiht him at the cabin, we also were able to grab a lunch out during our work day, go out for ice cream after the concert, and stop by ryan's parents house for dinner.

love, laurie

a sunday evening outdoor summer concert

ryan has been involved in planning a little outdoor summer concert series at the university where we work.  this sunday was the first concert and it featured our friend kenny playing guitar as well as an eclectic mix of instruments.  

we brought our camp chairs and sat out on the grass listening to the zen music.  the weather cooperated and it was so nice.  one of the local news stations even showed up to cover the event and we were on the news sunday night.

i'm looking forward to the other concert concerts coming up on the next two sundays!

love, laurie

a little family overnight cabin getaway

this week ryan's brother jeremy is visiting from north carolina.  jeremy rented a cabin in the pocono mountains for the week and invited us and ryan's parents to spend the night at the cabin over the weekend.

we headed to the cabin on saturday afternoon and stayed until sunday afternoon.  we had a good time visiting, grilling dinner, celebrating three birthdays (belated and early), watching old bob ross painting videos on tv, looking out the windows for wildlife, and opening baby shower gifts.  it was a nice little overnight family getaway . . .

love, laurie

celebrating our volunteers

on thursday, we gathered our volunteers together who usher our shows at the theatre.  after a very busy spring dance recital season, it was time to celebrate them and give them a proper "thank you" for all that they do to help make our shows/events successes.

we threw a little party and it was nice to have everyone all together without having to work a show!  a very big thank you to our volunteers!!!

love, laurie

a few more snapshots from our baby shower

i shared photos from our baby shower last week and then realized that ryan's mom had a bunch of photos on her camera from the shower when we were opening presents.  we were so grateful that our family/friends were able to come celebrate with us, and so blessed by how they spoiled us and baby with such generous gifts.  

here are several more photos from last weekend's baby shower!

love, laurie

pointe shoe fitting day for my dance students

one of the dance classes that i'm teaching this summer is a pointe intensive for first-year pointe students.  i taught it last year too and loved it.  

wednesday was a big day for the girls because we all took a trip down to the dance shoe store for them to get fitted for their first pair of pointe shoes.  we did this last summer with last year's class and it was such an fun day for them!

i was happy to be able to go along again this year to help.  it was great how much individual time each girl got in order to find the best shoe and fit.  i'm excited for the girls to get up on their toes!

love, laurie

hello, baby!

yesterday we got to see baby's cute little face via a 4D ultrasound.  well, we saw most of his face, because he was covering the left side of his face with his left hand!

love, laurie

our baby shower

sunday was our baby shower and it was such a memorable day!

we were involved in choosing the date and location for the shower, but other than that we had no idea about anything else regarding the shower.   our moms and dads worked for weeks and weeks to plan the party and managed to keep every little detail a secret in order to surprise us (which i'm sure was not an easy task).

our incredible parents pulled off an amazing baby shower.  the room was beautifully decorated and the food was absolutely delicious!  they decorated in blue and white along with an animal theme which matched our animal theme for baby's nursery.  

their diaper decorations were so clever, the assortment of food was great, and the desserts were yummy!

we were so overwhelmed with the outpouring of love from everyone, and so blessed by everyone's generous gifts.

i haven't collected all of the photos yet from everyone's different phones/cameras, but in the meantime here are a few snapshots from the day . . .

love, laurie