Morgan Kate

We had such a great weekend celebrating the fourth. I'm beginning to think that next to Christmas, July 4th might just be my second favorite holiday. I love what it stands for and what it represents. I love that's it in the dead of the summer. I love that it just makes you feel all patriotic. I love that it's a good excuse to grill out and shoot a few fireworks. It's just an all around great holiday. 

This past weekend was a weekend good for the mind, body and soul. Anything that includes food, fun, friends and most importantly, family is always good for my soul. I got to spend some much needed time with my mom, dad, Owens, Trenholm, Kyle and of course my two sidekicks, Travis and MK. We've had lots going on in our familia lately and our time together has been a little sparse. I'm no dummy. I know that things like that happen, even to the closest families. One minute you are doing everything together and then a couple years, a wedding or two or three and a few kids later, finding family time is hard. It's not necessarily that people don't want to get together, it just gets more difficult. There are more people to consider and other families, like in-laws to think about. Anyway, my heart was aching for some fun family time and this past weekend, it happened. And the added bonus, it happened two days in a row.


Saturday my dad, Owens and Trenholm headed out to the lake shortly before lunch. Travis wasn't far behind them, but MK and I decided that it would be best to wait and go a little later in the day. Our plan was to be on the lake for the firework show that night at 9:00 and I knew there was no way in this world that my girl or myself were going to make it on the lake for ten plus hours. So, MK and I waited on my mom and Kyle to arrive and then we headed out with them. We only live about ten minutes from the lake, so it works out perfectly. We spent a few hours on the lake and finished the day with a spectacular firework show. It's kind of become our yearly tradition and it's always so much fun to sit in the boat and watch the fireworks. Thousands of people come out and the lake is covered in boats. I love it. It was almost midnight before we got home, therefore, it was after midnight before any of us went to bed.

Mom and Morgan Kate

Aunt Ninum and Morgan Kate

My love and his fried chicken

Owens, Mom and Bella

There are these huge rocks not far from where we park our boats. They are right below the surface of the water and the boys love to swim out to them. I thought this was a really cool picture.

Mom, MK and the greatest flotation device ever made

Every night around the same time these purple martins fly in to this one particular island. It is the neatest thing. The sky is covered with birds.

Who needs an ice cream truck when you can have an ice cream boat?

MK watching the fireworks with her daddy

Sunday we all took our time getting up and getting ready. It was lunch time before we headed back to the lake. We took some sandwich stuff, boiled peanuts and a few cold drinks and we were set. We caught up with some good friends and spent the day just hanging out. Hanging out that included snorkeling (my dad's favorite thing to do at the lake), swimming out to these enormous rocks, chatting and laughing and even a few water fights/dunks. It was good family fun all the way around. Such a good day.

Morgan Kate and precious McNary

Sweet Annie Parker

Good ole' Jonathan

Sunday evening we headed back to our house for a cookout to celebrate Kyle's birthday. Mom and Dad cooked a big pot of spaghetti and fixed the most delicious salad. And Trenholm made delicious homemade peach daquiris. We ate on our back porch and just had the best time. The night ended with some birthday cake and a little fun with some sparklers.

Happy birthday, Uncle Kyle!

Just a little fun with some sparklers

Owens and his many talents

Uncle Owens again

While we all played with fire, my daddy sat off to the side just watching and holding Lola. He doesn't get too excited about things like that.

It was a great weekend indeed. A weekend that I needed. A weekend that left me feeling refreshed and rejuvenated. A weekend that reminded me why I love my family so much (not that I needed much of a reminder). A weekend full of celebrations. The patriotic kind and the family kind.