God Bless the USA

We had a great weekend at the lake with my family! I think there were 20 of us all together. Too bad we didn't get a picture with everyone.

Every year my parents neighborhood has a parade and judges all the "floats". This year ours won Most Colorful! Yay!

Jack was so excited to ride in the parade with Aunt Sarah!  He was a good little co-pilot!

Molly and Linzi get all the credit for decorating the float this year (with a little help from the boys)!  They even had on red, white and blue hula skirts!  HA!  They threw beads, candy and other red, white and blue goodies.

Randy and "his girlfriend" hanging out at the boathouse.  I'm so thankful Memaw and Grandad got to come to the lake and enjoy our 4th of July Celebration!

Getting ready to watch fireworks with Memaw and Grandad.  I think this was Jack's first time to see "real" fireworks and I'm pretty sure he loved it!  He kept saying "boom, boom!" and talking about how the fireworks were "so, so LOUD!"  He prefaces everything with either "real, real" or "so, so" to emphasize whatever he's talking about.  He's a trip!

Ran and me enjoying the sunset and getting ready to watch the fireworks.

Recent iPhone Pictures

Jack is has gotten so big!  He can finally reach the pedals and pedal pretty good on his tricycle.  Just gotta work on that steering now. 

I thought these were such sweet pictures.  Jack sat there the whole time Ran was mowing the back yard.

He always loves to watch Daddy mow and will run from window to window to see what all he is doing.  Jack has become quite the little mower with his lawn mowers too!

Eating at Chick-fil-A one day and Jack found the perfect "hat".

In my effort to start healthy habits with Jack, I thought I'd buy plain 'ole oats instant of the sugar filled instant packs and to my surprise, he actually liked them.  He was even eating them dry.  I did add a little cinnamon/sugar mixture and dried apples, but I know it has to be better than the packaged ones I've been giving him for so long.

Pretending to be sleeping in the kitchen (he brought the rug in there), but he was really waiting for Daddy to finish working.

No stroller at the mall will wear a little boy OUT!  He needed to rest at Stride Rite after getting some new tennis shoes.  How does a child's foot not grow for months, then 2 months after you buy a lot of new shoes, it grows a whole size?  Jack's now wearing a 10.5 in shoes.  I'm not sure how tall he is, but he weighs about 36 pounds.  I'll do a full Jack update when he turns 3 in a few short weeks!  I can't believe it!

Planting Our Roots

Ran and I have talked about planting a tree for a while, so the day after Memorial Day, we finally did it!  

We stopped at Home Depot on our way home from the lake and bought a Live Oak tree and I love it (and our pretty new grass)!

We were trying to get Jack to pose in front of our new tree so we can watch both the tree and Jack grow through the years, but he was in a silly mood that day and acting all crazy!

And, just for the record (and so I don't forget), as much as I would love to live in this house forever and watch this tree and Jack grow big and tall, I DO NOT want to live in this town forever...

While our neighborhood is nice and I love living and working in the same town, I have my sights set on a nice, very small neighboring town about 5 miles away...

So, if that little dream of mine does someday come true, we can plant another Live Oak tree in our backyard and watch it grow big and tall!

But until then, I'll be happy and content watching this little boy and this tree grow up right before my eyes in this happy home!

Easter at the Lake

I have no idea who this other little boy is, but he was cute!

My parent's neighbors host an Easter egg hunt for the kids every year.  This was our first time to go and I think Jack had a good time, even though we missed the egg hunt.  I guess they are very punctual, because we were only a few minutes late.  HA!

Wipe out!

motor boatin' after the neighborhood get together.

Jack and Aunt Linzi

I hate that this picture is blurry, because it is my favorite one!  I love the look on both of their faces.  Jack loves his Aunt Linzi!

Hunting Easter eggs after church.

Catching Up - Part 2 (Thanksgiving)

Life is just too crazy, busy these days and before I know it months have passed since my last post.  I have a little time tonight, so I thought I'd post a few pictures from Thanksgiving... better late than never, right?

Grandad, Grandy, Jeff, Mama, Memaw and Grandad

We celebrated Thanksgiving at the lake this year.  This was the first year we had celebrated with two sides of my family (usually we celebrate with only my mom's side and this year we added my step-dad's side) and it was so much fun!  

The boys fried two delicious turkeys...

Jack helped peel boiled eggs and snap green beans.  I tell you that boy is one good helper!  He loves to help Grammy wash dishes, help me do laundry and clean up messes.  He is also VERY good at making messes these days!!

He played football with Uncle Zack and learned the Heisman pose.  He's practicing for when he wins the real thing one day!  ;)

The weather was absolutely perfect hanging out outside and fishing.  He is good at catching red "perch"!  I think he must have caught a million of them since he got his fishing pole.  HA!

The little boys were pooped after eating turkey and visiting with family.

We do have so much to be thankful for!

Thanks for sticking around, even though my posts are few and far between.  One of these days I will get it all together and be back to regular blogging.  I have been in party planning and throwing mode for the past month, so I hope to get my pictures edited and blog about all the fun that's been going on soon!

It's a Party!

All of the directors in my region were challenged to host an Associate Appreciation Party which would be judged by regional directors based on certain criteria.  The 1st Place winner would win $1000!  Woohooo!  That, plus a little Pinterest and inspiration from the cookbook Bite by Bite, was all it took to get me motivated!

I knew I wanted the theme to be Sweet & Treats and I wanted it to be very colorful... so this is what I came up with...

I designed sweet lolipop invitations with party details on the back.

Then I made cute labels with each associates name on them and handed them out at our monthly staff meeting.  Everyone started getting so excited and wanted to know what all we were having to eat and what we were going to do, etc.  My chef and I did our best to not tell them too much information.  We wanted it to be a surprise!

I came up with the menu and my chef made my vision a reality!  I could not be more pleased with the way everything turned out and shocked my staff was that we would take the time to do all of this for them!

7-Layer Dip 

(I actually made these.) 

Caprese Salad Skewers

Chicken Parmesan Bites

Ceviche Martini

Asian Meatballs

Southwest Sliders with Caramalized Onions and Chipotle Ranch

"Milk" and Cookies

S' Mores 

(these were my favorite for presentation)

Strawberry Shortcake

Water Bottle Labels to show my appreciation!

Me and my chef!  

I could not have done it without him!  And, remember that contest I mentioned? 

Yep, WE WON!