Weekend Away

Friday morning Matt and I set out for a little town in North Georgia called Helen. 

No Georgia trip is complete without a stop at the Varsity. However, this is the Varsity's little bro, the Varsity Jr. Still delicious and greasy though. 

We arrived at our little quaint bed and breakfast after lunch. This was a little early anniversary get away for us. Thanks to my awesome family for keeping little buddy so we could get away with just  us. On a side note.. I think this is super important for us to do. We get so busy and wrapped up in day to day events, it was nice to take time for each other with no distractions. Back to the trip. 

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around in the cute little town. It's German looking and so festive. We even made some new friends... those that don't say much. 

We went to dinner at a cute little place on the river called Cafe International. Matt went straight for the German fare and I opted to stick with my good ole American food. 

Saturday morning we were up in time for our sweet little inn keeper to provide us a delicious spread for breakfast. We then put our trunks on and headed for the river. 

Not without these special little gems though. Thanks to sister and Pete, they let us borrow their beautiful water shoes from their tubing trip last year. 

This is what we did. Tubing down the Chata something or another River. Just imagine us in those pink tubes you see. It was simply glorious. We had the best time. Enough rapids and calm spots to meet both our wants. 

After our tubing adventure we grabbed some lunch at a cute little spot called The Meeting Place, ran by the sweetest Christian family. Precious. We hit up a few shops and Matt is already starting to get in the football spirit a little early. 

We put on dry clothes and went for a little drive through this scenic highway through the national forest. We weren't really sure where we were going or what we were even getting ourselves into, but the innkeeper said it was the highest spot in GA and you could see several states. 

Sure, why not?

So we get to the top and you have to pay a fee to go up to the observatory thing. Cheap Charlie in me said no thanks, but I was interested in using the restroom before we made the drive back down. This is the part where we encounter our little van driver George. He is just standing there, beside his conversion van, and asks us if we want a ride to the observatory part. Sure, why not?? So we went on up and then realized everyone else had a "I paid for this" sticker on and we didn't. We just tried to stay clear of the park rangers. This was the view from the top. Magnificent. 

We went back into town and had dinner at a yummy little place called Mully's Grill. We strolled back into the tourist area and came up on this traveling animal show. This crazy pirate put this parrot on my shoulder and it wasn't two seconds and he started chewing on my earring. Matt snapped this quick picture before I started totally freaking out and begging the guy to get it off me. No tip for your jar buddy. 

We spent the rest of the evening perched on a little log beside the river doing what I love best. People watching. The top award goes to the guys with the under water metal detectors looking for their ladies a new shiny little something I guess. I don't know what they were doing, but it was pretty entertaining. We had one more hearty breakfast this morning before making the drive back home. We had a great weekend spent with just the two of us. Wonderful weekend with my love. So blessed to call this man my husband!!

Checking Them Off

It's the fabulous "Summer to-do list." It started off with about 6 things on it and has quickly grown to almost 20. I posted this sucker right on the fridge so we would be forced to look at it everyday. And like any good list, we get to cross it off when it's complete. Ahh.. I love that part. 

Poor Matt... in all of his spare time I have kept him busy with my little projects. But so far, we have actually completed a few and hopefully we can mark them all off before summer ends. 

One of the things he started the week off was the bookshelves for Fulton's room. I have been wanting some fun, functional bookshelves for F's room and we found these old pallets and Matt took the challenge to make some out of them. 

So we have a fascination with tools lately. KK and Pops got him his very own Black and Decker toolbench and he loves it. He really loves to press the saw and electric screwdriver buttons. 

Anything with noise. He is learning to work the tape measure too... as long as 

he keeps it away from my waist. 

Matt's little helper was right by his side the entire time. 

Bookshelf project... complete. Completely free. Love it even more for that. Matt did a good job. Super proud of him and Fulton loves the easy access to his books. 

Another on my list was to "fancy up the faucets." That's exactly how I wrote it on the list. The left is the beautiful before. Don't be jealous. Matt has experienced several firsts lately and this was included. He had never put in a faucet, but he knows how now. He did great. Side note... I didn't think that now we must replace everything else in the bathroom that is shiny like the old faucet. Lovely idea huh?!

The last biggie of the week was getting a new dishwasher. We have been needing one for a while. No one wants to re-wash the dishes after they have gone through the washer, so we decided it was time. Pops came to the rescue to assist Matt because I was absolutely no help. I was just trying to keep Fulton out of the cleaning products. 

Since it has been a productive week, we made homemade strawberry smoothies and ate them on the backporch, under the fan, listening to the birds chirp. Ahh.. peaceful. 

Summer, please never end. 

The Big Day

I am sure you know by now that we take birthdays very serious in our family. It's a big deal... and my family goes out of the way to make it an even bigger deal when it's my special day because they know how much I love it. Sweet huh?!

Matt started my birthday off great this morning. Fulton and Matt made homemade blueberry pancakes and decorated the house. Lots of homemade signs in very special places. My birthday is almost over and I am still finding some hidden ones. 

I even had a card made from Fulton. I had to wrestle him to stop eating the wrapping paper. He acts like we never feed him. 

Matt showered me with some fun goodies. 

Later on we met my family (as if they hadn't had enough of us yesterday) to eat Mexican. Fulton is so intrigued by the lights on the ceiling he couldn't concentrate for a serious photo. 

My sweet family. 

Sister made me wear a special birthday pin and all. No sombrero, I am too old for that I guess. So, it's official... I am now 31. Really?! How can that be? I am so blessed. Thanks to my fam and amazing husband for celebrating with me all weekend!!

Celebrating on the Water

We just returned from a fun long weekend at the lake. 

This guy was pumped to go up a day early to have extra time to play in the water. 

The whole fam took Friday off so we could enjoy a long weekend. Friday 

was spent playing in the water all day. 

And several boat rides too. This guy loves to take over the front of the boat. Maybe he has watched the old vhs of Titanic and is trying to recreate it, not sure. 

Isn't it sweet to have to force your child and hold him down to take a family picture. 

Oh just precious. 

He knows who to go to when he wants some snacks. KK always comes prepared. He starts sucking up to her and then sneakily sticks his hand in her bag to see what he can get a hold of. 

Snuggling with Uncle Pete before his pre-bedtime entertainment he provided all of us. There may be a video, but I think we have a country western dancer on our hands. 

Saturday morning I woke up to some fabulous birthday decorations by my sweet family. We are all about the health rating around here, so you can never be too careful in the kitchen. 

Hair protection is essential. 

We had some sweet friends come to play. The Bowens. Miller is three and so much fun. His mommy and daddy, Bo and Rebecca, are pretty cool too. Fulton enjoyed watching Miller jump off the side of the pier and I think it gave him a little courage to start preparing now for his Olympic diving career. 

The Warrens came too. This was little Chloe's first time to the lake. She did so good!

The three little amigos hanging out by the pool. 

We came in for lunch and a little surprise serenade of Happy Birthday, complete with candle blowing and all. 

 Nothing like two cakes for your birthday. A scrumptious oreo ice cream cake from Dairy Queen and the old standard you can never go wrong, cookie cake. Delish!

Sweet girls. The guys were good to man the kiddos and let us relax and chat. 

One last afternoon boat ride before calling it a day. Summer...please slow down. 

Dad's Day

We had a wonderful day yesterday celebrating Matt and my Dad.

Matt is an amazing father. He the spiritual leader of our home, always praying we 

will rear Fulton to know the Lord. 

He is kind and gentle, yet firm and stern when needed. He is disciplined and dedicated, focused and  determined. He is an incredible leader. I pray Fulton will model himself after his daddy. 

The family came over for dinner. We made chicken nachos. No serious food, just fun and laid back. However, what would you consider as serious foods?

And I am so grateful for my father. He is supportive and understanding, 

hardworking and loads of fun. 

Fulton kept us all entertained as usual. Happy Father's Day to Matt and to my dad!! 

I love you both!

The High Dive

We had a great day on the lake with the sweet family below. 

The Ness Family joined us for the day. Sweet Will and Fulton are about 3 months apart. 

They enjoyed a little dip in the pool together. 

The new pier finally arrived this week and dad had a little surprise included for us. A jump platform. Oh Matt is on cloud nine. He absolutely loves to jump off things and used to do it from the walkway of the old pier. Now, he can do it safely. So Emily and I decided to try it out after the guys did their flipping and showing off. Well, it was a little higher than we thought so we opted to do it together. Except Emily didn't actually jump... so I came back up and we tried again. Second time was a success. 

Pops even did it. We could not get Mom to try it. She refused... we will keep trying. 

Ellie is a water rat. This girl can swim and jump and swim and jump all day!!

Who wants these two to captain your next boat ride?

We enjoyed a good boat ride before lunch and these three did great. 

As long as there were snacks involved they were happy. 

We made a pit stop at the marina to feed the fish. Thankfully they actually threw the 

crackers in and didn't try to eat them first. 

We took a break from the sun for some grilling out. 

Look, another cake for the birthday boy. We like to celebrate all weekend around here. 

After some good naps by some of the little ones, we headed out for another afternoon boat ride. 

With snacks of course. Enjoyed the day with sweet people.