The Last Few Weeks

The past couple of weeks have been such a whirlwind! Not only were Mike and I working through predeployment leave.. we were/are newlyweds too! (How long do you get to be newlyweds for?) I feel like since I got to North Carolina on March 28 we didn't stop moving. Not even just from house to beach house to another house, but there has been so much paperwork and packing and last minute shopping  that Mike had to do before leaving for the next seven months. Here's the breakdown of the trip and all of the pictures!

• Bachelor/Bachelorette parties - Thankfully, there are no pictures from that night! But I just have to say thanks again to the Moore's and the Rickheim's for planning and hosting such a fun night for us! We love you guys!
• Taylor's baby shower - We were just a LITTLE tardy to the party... But once we got there we had a great time playing games, eating, drinking, and seeing our friends. No pictures from this one either!
• OUR WEDDING DAY! It honestly felt so surreal. We woke up and got ready together like it was any other day. We drove to the Jacksonville courthouse and filled out the applications for our marriage license and then grabbed some food and margaritas while we waited for our "wedding party" to join us. The whole ceremony took about 5 minutes in a room with a lovely beach scene painted on the wall and when the magistrate pronounced us in holy "macrimony" (seriously.) I almost couldn't believe that was it! Regardless, it was an amazing day and we can't thank Taylor, Joel, and Logan enough for being there to share it with us!

Oh just cracking up over our "macrimony".. Be jealous of that beautiful location! ;)

BY FAR the best part ;)

Check out those hotties!

 

A proud Mrs. Beard and her squish.

Love them so much!!

• After the "wedding" was done we made our way down to Wrightsville Beach for our two day mini-moon courtesy of my wonderful dad :) The weather was a little chilly so we didn't hit the beach but we got plenty of snuggling time and it was absolutely perfect!

Our gorgeous view!

• The next week we spent at in one of the rental units at Onslow Beach on base. Aside from taking care of MOUNTAINS of newlywed paperwork, we slept in late, ate great food, and finally got in some beach time! 

Our very fancy first toast! Thanks mama!

Being silly :)

And again.. He's so dang cute!

• After checking out of the beach house, we drove up to Virginia to visit some old friends for the weekend. Luckily, we had the chance to drive into D.C. for a few hours and get our tourist on!

The White House

 

The Capitol

The most crowded memorial EVER! We could hardly get up the steps!

And my personal favorite, the Marine Corps. Memorial!

• The next week Mike had to go back to work but luckily he really only worked half days. Perfect for lazy old me because by the time I was waking up, Mike would be getting home! We stayed with the Hanson's and just enjoyed each other and our time with our friends! 

My very favorite mama-to-be!

• We picked out our wedding bands :)

• We got tattoos!

And that's really about it! We had an amazing four weeks together and I'm so thankful that I was able to be with him until he left.

The busses weren't there yet, so we were still all smiles!

Our last kiss for the next seven months... UGH!

Saying goodbye :(

 Deployment is hard, there's no doubt about that! But I know we'll get through it and come out of this experience even stronger than we are now! I'm thrilled to be Mrs. Beard and I can't wait to see what the future has in store for me and my hubby :)

P.S. Stay tuned for a care package post! I go a little overboard... But hopefully someone will get some ideas from the items that I'm sending!