Weekend Recap

This past weekend three of Gary's closest childhood friends [along with their better halves] came to visit, making the trip from Dallas and New York to meet us in Hot Springs for a couple of days at the lake.  Two of his friends briefly met Elliott when we were in Texas earlier this summer, but for one, this was the first time seeing our little man.

We enjoyed taking the boat out, cooling off in the lake, dinner on the water at Fisherman's Wharf, playing games, making smores, watching Elliott entertain us with his every move, and just catching up on each others lives.  Of course in packing all of E's stuff for the weekend, I ran off and left our camera at home, but I did get a few photos from our weekend on my iPhone.

This was our first time taking Elliott out on the boat, and I have to brag on how good he did hanging with us.  He never once fussed about having to wear a life jacket, stayed happy and content for several hours out on the water, and even let us put him in the water to cool off.  I think he's gonna be a little fish next summer.  I'm going to have to find some Mom and tot swim lessons for us.  We held him and put him in the lake in his life jacket for a few minutes, and he loved it!  He started kicking those little feet the moment they hit the water, and the boat, when moving lulled him instantly to sleep.

It was so nice of Reid, Stephen, and Stanton to plan a time to come visit Gary and make the drive/flight to Arkansas.  I know it meant a lot to him to have them here and get to see them interact with Elliott.  We loved hosting them at the lake house [thanks to my parents] and showing them a little of what "The Natural State" has to offer.

Father's Day.

Happy Father's Day to the two best father's I know, my Daddy, and my husband.  We had a laid back day today, celebrating Dad and Gary in Hot Springs with breakfast, followed by more celebrating with my Papa over lunch at my Aunt and Uncle's in Benton.

My Dad has always been a source of constant encouragement in my life.  I wouldn't be living my dream as a salon owner had it not been for his encouragement, support and advice.  Watching how he loved my mom, and led our family spiritually growing up, molded my standards in choosing my mate.

Gary is a loving, encourager as well, providing for our family not only as a financial leader, but as a spiritual leader.  Watching him take on his new role as "Dad" the past 5 months has been truly wonderful.  I didn't think it was possible for me to love him more until I saw him with Elliott.

Praising the Lord today for blessing our family with these two men!

Water Baby.

I finally got around to uploading our photos from Memorial Day weekend, and I had to share a few cute ones of Elliott's first "swimming" experience.  I think he really enjoyed cooling off in his pool.  It won't be long and he'll be splashing around like a little fish.

Happy little water baby.

He found his toes this week, and they are his new favorite toy.

Daddy and Elliott.

Mom and her sleepy boy who refused his naps all weekend to hang out with the family.

Happy Memorial Day! (I <3 BBQ)

I love how happy our little guy is all the time.  He has such a fun personality and we're getting lots of smiles and giggles every day.  We're looking forward to seeing our little water baby take in the beach this August.

Memorial Day Weekend.

We had such a wonderful three day weekend with family and friends.  We spent most of the weekend in Hot Springs at my parent's lake house relaxing, eating, and getting some sun.  But, we did make it back to Little Rock to see Third Eye Blind play at Riverfest Saturday night.

Elliott loved being at the lake with family.  He refused to nap for more than 20 minutes at a time for fear of being left out of the fun.  Here are a few moments captured via Instagram.  (I'll post a few more from our camera later this week when I have time to upload them.)

This holiday weekend could not have come at a better time.  I needed a change of scenery after being cooped up with a sick baby all week.  Feeling refreshed and ready for the week ahead.  Happy Memorial Day!

Mom's Day.

Gary, Elliott and I went to Hot Springs for the weekend, where I got to celebrate my first Mother's Day. We enjoyed spending some time relaxing and preparing my parent's lake house for Memorial Day weekend.  On Saturday evening, we celebrated my Momma over a dinner of steak and potatoes.  I think she the best Mom there is (but, I may be a little partial)!  She taught me everything I know about being a Mom, and I look up to her in so many ways.  I'm so thankful God blessed me with the parents he gave me.  I often think how different my life might have been without them guiding and directing me.  I am truly blessed.

Sunday morning, my boys showered me with gifts!  I got a beautiful hydrangea, handmade (or should I say footmade) artwork from Elliott, candy, a new devotional, and a target gift card.  I think I may be a little spoiled! :) Here are a few photos from our fun weekend with family, as you can see, Elliott was the center of attention.

Hope you got to spend some time with your Momma this weekend.  And happy belated Mother's Day to all you Moms out there.

Elliott's first trip to the lake house.

This weekend I took Elliott to my parent's lake house with my Mom, brother, and sister while Gary and Dad worked.  This was Elliott's first time spending the night away from home, and I was amazed by how much we had to pack for just a short weekend getaway.  Who knew such a little person could require so much stuff?

It was so nice to have a change in scenery.  The weather was perfect, and Elliott did great being out of his comfort zone for the first time.  Some highlights were: getting some much needed vitamin D, drinking my morning coffee on the back porch overlooking the lake, late night soaking in the hot tub with Mom and Jess, doing a little shopping, making the familiar drive from Hot Springs to Arkadelphia to drop John Allen and Liz back off at OBU, playing [and winning] a game of 5 crowns, and morning snuggles with E.

The only thing that could have made this weekend any better would have been my sweetie and my Daddy, but this is just the beginning of lake weather.  I'm looking forward more memories being made here with the family this spring and summer.

Labor Day Weekend.

We spent Labor Day weekend at the lake with family. Gary's parents were in Arkadelphia visiting his grandparents this weekend, and they were able to stop by the lake to spend an afternoon with us.  Our time was filled with eating lots of good food, shopping, watching the Razorbacks play (and win) their first game of the season, sleeping in, catching up on some reading, boating, playing cards, and watching movies.

I hope your 3 day weekend was as relaxing as ours. Here's to heading back to work tomorrow.

Lazy Lake Day.

We spent the day at the lake today. We slept in, went out on the boat for a little while, took a nap, watched a lot of TV, read, and ate. It felt so nice to just be lazy. After our dove dinner tonight (which by the way was not too bad), we went to a little "filling station" not far from our condo for dessert.

It's the last weekend for us to be able to use the condo my family rented for the summer. We went and looked at a house on the lake that will be auctioned off in a few days. I'm hoping my parents will end up getting a little place here before too much longer. We all love being able to come down to the lake and relax and spend time together. It reminds me of all the summers we spent coming to the lake with the whole Jenkins crew as a child. My dad's side of the family had a lake house that we would all come to on the weekends. We made a lot of good memories there with our cousins. I hope my kids will get to have some of those same lake memories some day.

The first day here is already over. Why does the weekend have to go so fast?

Dove for Dinner?

This morning Gary got up and headed out for his first Dove hunt with my Dad and brother. They reported a good time. Gary killed 4 doves and Dad and John Allen killed several more. We are on our way out the door, headed to the lake for the holiday weekend. When we arrive in Hot Springs we're going to grill the doves Gary and John Allen cleaned this afternoon and eat them for dinner. Crazy huh? I have never had Dove, so it will be interesting to see if we like it or not. We'll keep you posted. Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend!

Father's Day weekend.

Gary spent all last week in Austin, TX working. It was a pretty uneventful week for me. I did a lot of researching for our upcoming trip to Europe in April, watched HGTV, went to the Trav's game with Kate, and spent the night with Lyndsey in White Hall.

This weekend, we went to the lake with my family for Father's Day. We did a lot of laying out by the pool (I have a good start on my summer tan now), rode on the boat (I even got on the tube with John Allen... but I only lasted about 2 minutes before I was thrown off), played cards, cooked out, and went to Pirate's Cove for a round of mini golf (I came in 2nd to Dad with only 6 over par!). It was a good time, lots of relaxing!

Gary took off work today since he was gone all last week, and we hung out. We came back from the lake around 1, and spent the afternoon reading and watching TV together. It's back to work tomorrow... it gets harder every week to drag myself out of bed on Tuesday mornings, and I am sure tomorrow will be no exception.

Weekend? What weekend?

Gary and I have been very busy the past few weeks. I have had to work on location weddings 3 weekends in a row. Weddings are fun, but it's a lot of work loading and unloading all of your stuff. We have enjoyed sitting on our back porch, eating dinner, and having a glass of wine a few times this week. I even got inspired at a pampered chef party last Sunday night to make a homemade pizza this week! It turned out wonderful!

We did get to go to the lake for the day last Saturday. My parents rented a condo for the summer on Lake Hamilton, so we are looking forward to heading out there several more times before the end of summer. I decided since I have been working weddings on Sundays, to just close up shop. It was so nice to be out on the water. However, I did come home looking like a lobster. SPF 50 is in order for our next trip!

Last night I threw my friend, Lyndsey, a bachelorette party at our house. We were picked up by a limo, taken to dinner at Lulav (downtown), and taken back home in the limo. The food was amazing, but I paid for all the mussels and sea scallops when I got home... When we got back, we had dessert, played some games, Lyndsey opened her gifts and we watched "Just Married". 3 of the girls spent the night, so Gary got booted out to the couch. It was a great time, good to see some friends for out of town and celebrate Lyndsey and Bert's upcoming marriage.

Gary got up early this morning at started packing to head to Austin, TX for a week. Jenkins Enterprises got licensed to sell University of Texas, Longhorns items, so he is going to 3 major cities in Texas on 3 separate weeks this summer to get things going. As for me, I think the bed and a good book sound really good for today.