Six Years…etc

A wonderful six years it has been of being married! I won’t go into all of the great details of married life…if you care to hear it all over again, you can click here. I think anyone that knows me well enough knows how much I adore spending time with my husband. And I have nothing but good things to say about married life. Celebrating this year was a bit different for us considering I’m a human incubator and I have sweet Baby Finch (what I like to call him) growing inside of me. (I’ll update you and talk more about this in a bit.)

So yes, 6 years ago……

A few weeks back, we went away to celebrate our anniversary by doing what we did last year–visiting Florida and spending time with my best friend and her husband. We spent a day in Saint Augustine, Amelia Island, and just good ‘ole Jacksonville. (See last year here)

*On our way….

 

We spent our first evening there going to see The Hunger Games (no haters please,) which I loved. First morning there, we got up and went down to a lovely cafe on the water where we sipped coconut lattes and laughed together.

Spent some time on the beach…..

dipped our toes in….. brrrrrr…..

We then set out to Amelia Island, where we drove along the coast blaring Michael Jackson and letting the breeze make our hair beautiful. We spent time walking the city, looking in antique shops, eating fabulous Mexican food and hanging with our friends. <3

That evening our friends cooked us the most amazing venison meal I have ever had. Wow! A poor little Bambi that Ferrill killed…. he was yummy.

We ventured to the Winn Dixie to pick up Ice Cream and stumbled upon this…..

Let’s just say our ice cream run took an hour or so, complete with a Ferris Wheel ride. (It was my first carnival ever!) So amazing.

We got rained out the next day but spent time shopping and sipping coffee while watching The Office together. ;D

Sunday was Brandon and my day together…. Saint Augustine. sigh. Mossy trees, cobble stone streets, street musicians, sail boats, yummy food, carriages, horses, sweet shops that make me fall in love…..

This is one of my favorite Italian places there….

Gelato?

So we found this coffee shop….. ummm… can we say amazing!?

When I go to Saint Augustine, I never want to leave. ah!

That evening we spent time watching the sunset on the beach, eating pizza. ;D

So yes, a fabulous trip…… <3

 

The weekend before (I have to tell!) the son of some of our closest family friends got married, which was pretty much epic for me. I’ve known Jamie for 12 years and have been super close with his sisters. (They were in my wedding.)

I always shoot weddings, so to get to attend and dance and eat and be “normal” was quite the treat.

It was one of the happiest weekends for my heart…to spend time with friends. (Two of them (below) live in Kansas City and one lives in Argentina.) The Webb family is seriously my second family and some of my closest friends. Love them.

My Molly. <3

Lilly, Ashley, Jessica, Molly and me…

beautiful front camera iPhone photos always win! (The hot blonde is my mom.)

Me!

 

So, an update on me…. well… I’m 26 weeks pregnant today. I work out a few times a week, growing bigger and bigger. My belly button is trying to poke it’s face out. (Time for some tape!)  It’s definitely taking time for me to be secure in the fact my body is looking completely different than what I’m used to. It has been the biggest struggle for me to see “pregnancy” as a whole as a beautiful thing. (Not the baby part… the outward part.) My sweet son kicks me often and makes me smile. And seeing my belly pop up and down is pure joy. I’m not going to lie when I say it’s hard to “feel” excited in the unknown. Although we are excited, it’s definitely scary. My husband has been an amazing encouragement and is very proud of me. I’m hoping in the next three months to be able to snap into the confidence to share more about my pregnancy. It’s going fast. (Thank God!) I feel great! I’m still shooting weddings and working often. The baby room isn’t coming together yet… lol…. not gonna lie. Oh well, I have time.

We are planning on naming our son “Laef Owen Fancher.” “Laef” (pronounced Layf) means “heir” and “beloved.” Another form of it is “Leif,” as in “Leif Ericson,” the great explorer. “Owen” means “well born,” “born of nobility,” or “noble.” <3

I’m having to take from June to maybe Octoberish off from weddings. It’s bittersweet turning people down, especially when it’s what I love doing. So I’m sorry I haven’t blogged a ton of non-personal stuff yet. I have a few weddings I’m hoping to blog about here in the next few weeks.

Thanks for looking and reading! <3

Bahama Beaches and Blizzard Biking

Yeah, so it’s been a very long time since I’ve done a very personal blog. And by the end of this you may feel like you’ve become connected with what October was like for me. But, it’s your choice as to how far you keep scrolling. You won’t hurt my feelings.

As I said last year, fall always has the way of making you feel reminisc(ee)–haha! As soon as pumpkins start coming out and color starts happening on my front yard trees, I want to kick up the leaves and remember this year. It has been an extremely insane year. Busy, busy, busy. And I don’t think that “busy” for the sake of “busy” is necessarily a virtue. It doesn’t make me sound cool saying… “Oh, I’ve been so busy.” But the truth is, busy is what puts food on the table, and makes life “happen.” I’ve also had extreme heart hardships this year. Never in my life have I experienced more growing through heartache. I’ve grown in confidence, in identity, and in perspective.  My business has done extremely well this year, and in the end I can’t believe that “I did it!” haha! I’m not quite at the end of my weddings for this year, but I am very proud of me. And that feels good to say.

So, with all my busyness and my husband working 50 hrs a week in the translation industry, and seeing him only on some evenings when I’m not working at my small part-time job, and on the weekends I’m not shooting…we needed a vacation. Back in April when we went away for our anniversary to see my best friend, Sharon, Sharon and I schemed that in the fall we should all four go on a cruise. Sharon and I talk on the phone almost daily. I love, love, love this girl. So the thought of going on the cruise with her and her hubby along with my man and me. wow!! Well…we did it. In August we booked our tickets on Royal Caribbean’s Monarch of the Sea cruise to the Bahamas. Four nights, Two stops. Yes please.

During the second week of October, Brandon and I drove down to Jacksonville, FL to meet Sharon and Ferrill. We then drove down to Port Canaveral to catch our ship.

*Disclaimer: I shot mostly with my iPhone on this trip. And I’m okay with that. So, you’ll see the dance between high resolution photos and the crappy photos from the front camera on the iPhone 4. But… no worries, If I can handle it, you can too.

See that pile of wings…. yeah, they killed it.

*Below: Sharon is so ready to go!

So I have never been on a cruise before. And I could NOT stop smiling. Getting our cards for the boat. (It was like a credit card!)

We had a drill, that didn’t include wearing the vests… but we put them on anyways…

My first of many pina coladas …

This is our boat baby!

Sunset over the ocean. So amazing.

Can I just say, there is nothing like being in the middle of the ocean in a hot tub in a rain storm. ammmmazing.

Every evening we got to dress all nice and go have a three-course dinner at the fancy restaurant. We had steak, duck, my husband ate snails, fruit soup, pasta, chicken…. oh man!

Below: Our first dinner…

So the story goes: we stayed up till 2AM dancing on a dance floor. yeeeep. And we were so tired. I set my alarm for sunrise time, I was determined to watch the sun rise over the Bahamas. I mean… who gets to do that!?

Brandon decided to come along. He was happy he did.

Our first stop was Royal Caribbean’s private island “CoCo Cay.” The cruise boat anchored in the middle of the ocean and we took small ferries to and from the island. The island itself is a bit touristy. Bright colored signs, straw huts, beach chairs everywhere. The water is to die for. So clean, so clear and so blue. We snorkeled, and got to see big bright fish hanging out over the ruins of a 4 seater airplane crash under the sea.  Fab! I also almost ran into a jelly fish. eeeee….

Halfway through our time there, Brandon and I decided to walk across the island. We walked a little less than a mile and came upon the most beautiful private beach I have EVER seen. No one was there.  Giant shells EVERYWHERE! It was a sand bar that reached out so far, and next to it was deep water where you could dive. Unbelievable. We ran back to our locker to grab my camera and Ferrill and Sharon. We spent two hours or so having the most amazing part of our cruise. The four different shades of water that you could see crystal clear straight through–it was heaven. I was in a vacation commercial.

Sunset that evening…

I loved dinner that night. We got to get really fancy. I primped all up for our fabulous dinner. oh man! sooooo fun!

The next morning we docked in Nassau, Bahamas. We prayed for a really great day. And oh yes, twas amazing!  As soon as we got off the boat we met a man named “Byron” (Which is the best name ever… considering my fav youtube video is HERE) He offered to give us a two-hour tour of the island and then drop us off at the amazing Cabbage Beach. We had the most incredible time driving around the city of Nassau with Byron.

We got to see some of the biggest resort in the islands–Atlantis.

That water is legit.

And at last… *sigh* the brilliant Cabbage Beach. We spent four hours on this beach. Unreal.

OMG! I drank out of a coconut. You have no idea. Best day ever.

Said goodbye to our tour guide…. =(

And then… I get back on the boat and they are selling drinks in PINEAPPLES! HOLA!

*Like my bad vacation sunburn? haha…. it’s awesome.

 

The cruise boat had a party on the top of the boat, this is at 1AM. They roasted a pig, had ice sculptures, and a giant meal.

We spent the next day and final day on the water, at sea cruising home. I slept on the deck, swam, relaxed. Bittersweet.

Woke up the next day, and we were docked in FL. All good things must come to an end. =(

Brandon and I had the most unreal vacation. So much fun. So much beauty. I can’t stop dreaming of that water. Hands down, next year we will do it again. And I’m totally going to be one of those old people who cruise all the time. yes!

So we came home to the “busy” place we call life. Two weddings to edit, back to work. yeah. Life just keeps going. But we had the Virginia Creeper trail to keep us excited. The Virginia Creeper Trail is a 17 mile bike ride mostly downhill through the mountains of Virginia.

Last weekend we left home Friday evening and car pooled with our neighborhood friends, Josiah & Nicole, up to Damascus, Virginia. We met the rest of our group (which is all of our friends) at a small cozy house that we all had pitched in and rented. There were twelve of us all together staying in this home. Brandon and I found our place on an air mattress that we later discovered had a slow leak in it. In the middle of the night we would wake with our butts touching the ground. This air mattress was connected to a button to blow it up. Brandon would lean over and say… “Beka, push the button.” We did this about four times the first night and six times the next night. haha!  (phrase of the trip…”Beka, the button!”) —->bunny trail.

So we heard that it was going to snow the next morning. And I can honestly say I like snow once a year and then I’m done. And snow in October? ah…. Well… we woke to fog and coldness, but lots of pretty color.

Our cute home…

You wouldn’t believe what was waiting for us when we reached the top of the mountain.

I’m glad I bundled up. Very cold, and very snowy. We biked through snow, and wind, and beautiful winter, down to colorful fall. Seventeen miles.

 

Cozy Nicole.

Friends!

Hilarious! The mud slinging up hitting our butts while we were biking. haha!

It really was a magnificent day. We stopped in a small town at a diner and had hot chocolate and sandwiches. It was the cutest diner. I felt like I was in a movie. loooved it.

We finished just in time to see the light hit the town and bring out all the beautiful color around.

In the evening we all sat around and laughed, getting to know each other. It really was a blast! I so enjoyed getting to know our friends more.

Ending our time we stopped in a sweet town and walked around….

Some of my girlfriends–Mallory & Alisha.

While we were in the mountains, Brandon and I took a few photos of each other. I liiiike him.

So there you have it–our October. Might I also include that we added to our family this month? (no…I’m not………….) Brandon and I adopted another sweet ragdoll kitty so our other kitty would have a friend. His name is Hans. And I’m sure you’ll see a picture here in the near future.

I hope I didn’t bore you. And if you made it to the end…. (applause) I thank you.

Happy Fall!

 

 

 

vacation please. – Wrightsville Beach, NC

So… I needed a short vacation, and my husband surely needed a short vacation. And we really needed to spend time together (which has always been my excuse.) So, we went and visited some friends in the Wilmington, NC area.

Staying a few blocks away from Wrightsville Beach, we spent our first evening from midnight to 2 AM… just walking along the beach, stargazing.

Brandon found out that if you take your hand and write in the wet/hard part of the sand at night, there are small glowing sparks that light up. (He has a whole science lesson on it after he googled it.)

We spent hours the next afternoon catching waves, hanging with our friend, Therese, who we have missed so much.

I got burned to a crisp…

Later that evening, I went out on the beach as the sun was setting and captured some of this…

After all of that, Brandon and I lay under the stars and listened to the waves for a couple hours. We also watched a lightning storm over the ocean…as we drifted…… away……. away…..