Memorial Day Weekend makes me remember, but for another reason tonight...

It is still amazing to me, all the changes that have taken place in my life over the last year, some good, some bad, some happy, some sad!

It makes me sad when I think about what I was doing a year ago today....thinking about what all I needed for the coming weekend at Lake Anna. What all did I need to bring? How many outfits? What was I going to make? What time were we going down? Who all was going? How much fun were we going to have? Did I pack the sunscreen for my hubby so he doesn't turn into a lobster? Did I check off everything so I didn't forget a single thing?

This is what the driveway typically looked like...filled with LOTS of cars!



It makes me think about all the memories at beautiful Lake Anna. The great, the good, the bad and the scary! The lake house was part of our family, it was "The Sweet Escape." The Sweet Escape that was only an hour away. The sweet escape from life even if it was only for a weekend. To wake up and walk out and breathe in fresh, tranquil air, to sit on the back stone steps with a cup of coffee and watch the boats go by in the early morning hours, to look out onto the crisp lake water. It was the late nights of everyone laughing and drinking together, to fun at the bonfire, to watching movies together, to trying to catch "the alligator." The lake was a staple for the Garrison/Ryan family and how can I say I don't miss it? I miss it terribly and I mostly miss all the memories we made together. It's what made me feel like we had such a close family because we didn't mind getting together weekend in and weekend out to have a good time. That was where we spent many a weekend during the summer months. I sure am going to miss that place.
 

So I figured in honor of my sulking I would post some pictures of how last year's weekend went down. We were celebrating Shannon's birthday and we had a blast, a messy blast, but a blast indeed!

Haiden had a blast when she figured out show could blow bubbles.

 Beautiful on her birthday morning!

Cami fishing with Jay & Jamie

Yes my family drinks...A LOT...I am usually the caretaker by instinct.

Let the birthday celebrations begin!

Some GG Poopa love!

And then the partying began...

And when you drink from the bottle it never leads to good things...well besides some of the GREATEST LAUGHS that is!

On a totally different, happy note I could not be happier with my decision to take the plunge and stay home. I bring this up again one because some days I am still totally amazed that we are even doing it and occasionally I wonder how, but honestly I know how. Two, I was driving to Warrenton today to take Cameron to a dentist appointment and getting off on the Meetze Rd ramp, coming to the stop sign and waiting for a chance to cross.....I thought wow...I used to do this every morning, racing against the clock to be to work on time, usually rushing like crazy, crossing at the first chance I got, only to do it all over again the next morning. Crazy how the smallest things make you stop and think and that's just what I did today. I stopped and remembered just how thankful I am to have a completely different routine for a morning now and how it is so much slower and so much more peaceful and ahhh I love it. If  you had asked me last year where I would be the same time next year I surely couldn't have told you here, but I am and I couldn't love it more. It amazes me every day and like I said today sitting at that stop sign really made me stop and think....Life Is Good!

Ladybug Love

Finally I found a ladybug, I have been waiting since I got my macro filters and I finally found one. However I had two things against me, it was on a thin long stalk of grass and it was windy so it was somewhat hard to capture and it was getting dark. But I didn't let that stop me. Not bad for a first attempt.

I think I am headed to the festival today...oh what the hell why not? Have a great weekend!

It's days like these where we make lasting memories that we can look back on down the road...yep that's what it's about

We bought Haiden, what i thought were ugly at the time but have now fell in love with these little boots. They aren't anything special. We were headed to the lake Sunday morning and I knew from times past all she would want to do is get dirty so we stopped and grabbed a pair. Of course, the ones I really wanted,  cute, colorful rain boots, were not available in her size so we settled for muck boots. She was all kinds of excited when she realized she could tromp through water and dirt and mud and anything else she wanted pretty much.

Oh and she loves rocks, she loves holding them like they are her pet and carrying them around with her. She even shows them off.

Daddy on the other hand had one thing on his mind, to catch some fish. He wanted fishing stuff for his bday so he could go fishing and this was the first real opportunity he had since the attempt at my parents lake was a complete fail. So here's to his first fish of the season, yet I have no idea what is.

I like how this picture turned out below!

Here is fish #2, a small mouth bass!

And back to Haiden, she found a puddle! And the rest was history. She would splash a few good times, run away and come right back for more. Cameron on the other hand was just as content walking around, or waiting with Steve while he tried to catch a fish. She is definitely the quiet, calm one out of the two. Where as Haiden on the other hand is full of LOTS of energy and bold and lives out loud! I do like how they differ but sometimes I wish Haiden would listen just a little, no wait a lot better. All in due time hopefully.

After almost two hours of constantly chasing Haiden, I was getting irritable. I just wanted to stand still for literally 1 minute but nope. Not to mention, it was getting hot, Haiden was well overdue for a nap and it was lunch time, so all of that together = CRABBY! We decided to head out and come back later in the evening and boy am I glad we did. The weather was perfect!

The little ladybug that she is, ran around having a grand time.

I know these below are a wee bit bright but who cares? This is the best big sister, and while I try not too I take for granted having her around to help out so much sometimes. She is there when I need her to grab something quickly, watch Haiden for two minutes, run upstairs and get something or just entertain her sister for a bit. She is such a great helper and I know one day, when the time comes, she is going to make a great mommy. I was very disappointed in myself yesterday. I realized that there was one thing I longed to do about a year ago when I was still working and that was to go have lunch with Cameron. I couldn't ever do it, or really I never made the time when I was working because it would have been hard going from Warrenton to Culpeper and back to Warrenton in less that two hours and having to ask for an extended lunch, etc. Well I realized that I have been home since January and I live literally 5 mins from her school and haven't gone once to have lunch with her. It upsets me because I always said to myself if I ever get the opportunity to stay home that is one thing I can't wait to do, and unfortunately I haven't done it. But this week that is going to change, I am going to go have lunch with my baby girl on Thursday and surprise her!

On another note, Cameron is in love with Justin Bieber, and I have to admit I don't mind him and I do like a few of his songs. Well she really wanted his new movie so Steve surprised her with it on Friday. She squealed with excitement. We watched it with her the next morning and I have a new found respect for him, but more so his mom. I never knew that his mom had him at a young age, like me with Cameron, and it really changed my whole perspective about him. I mean anyone can become famous, but to watch and see how his mom stepped up, made the right decisions, took care of her baby boy and how he has become a pop sensation is pretty amazing and cool to me.

There is so much negativity that surrounds young pregnancies and I am not saying it isn't better to wait BUT having been down that road, GREAT things can and do come out of it. And believe me there are enough what I like to call Nasty Nellies, so why not try being supportive in someone's life for a change, instead of sitting back and just waiting for them to fail. Not once, have I EVER regretted the decisions I made or the gift God gave me at a young age. I am proud, proud that I knew I could do it and I did. Proud that even when the odds were against me I stood strong and showed people what I was capable of. Proud that I not only finished high school with my advanced diploma but went on to get my degree in Business Management. I am tooting my own horn for a minute because I have worked hard and accomplished what I set out to do! Wow, how did I get off on this note? Who knows, but I am so thankful for the little miracle that came into this world on January 19, 2003 at 12:36 am, weighing 8lbs, 10oz, which reminds me, I really need to finish my babies' birth stories! Back to the lake...here is my beautiful first born who I love so much and admit I sometimes don't tell her as much as I should!

Growing up too fast, I surely am not ready for a child in double digits yet but it's coming quickly!

We went for a walk around the lake, just the three of us, it was fun stopping along the way to check out anything and everything. 

My messy haired bundle of love, who ever so sweetly swipes her hair out of her face.

I am in love with the one above and below :) And no Haiden didn't pose for this! I love my good lookin hub! He was excited, he caught a large mouth bass!

I had to get some of these adorable tooshies in!

She was in her own little world, trotting along, carrying daddy's worms for him.

Haha and Haiden was trying to hook something too, only difference it wasn't a fish...she was booger hookin! I know it's not the most pleasant thing but it cracked me up when I turned around and saw this. And she even checked out afterwards.

She melts my heart!

Haiden was getting cranky and Cameron was getting crazy. Time to head home.

These are favorites. They love eachother so much. I am happy to have two girls so they can know what it is like to have a sister, something I didn't get to experience. I'm okay with it though, my girlfriends are all I need and they are my sisters.