Hello, Hydrangeas

We're back from the beach! (I'm really not that excited - I'd rather still be there - but I'm trying to be optimistic.) Most of the flowers I planted this spring were looking closer to dead than alive when we got home Tuesday afternoon. We've been drowning them with water trying to revive them.

But there was one bright ray of sunshine in our yard...the hydrangeas are finally blooming!

We lucked into these plants (we have two of them).  The previous owners of our house had them planted so we inherited them. This past winter was the first time we had cut them back all the way to the nub, and I have to be honest, I was nervous they wouldn't come back.

But they did!

They're like perfectly white snowballs and they're almost the size of my head.

See?

I wished they smelled as good as they look. I mean, they don't stink or anything, but they also aren't fragrant like the gardenia.

Know what I mean?

35 Years

Thirty-five years ago today, my parents were married in a small church in Selmer, TN. Quite a good-looking couple, eh?

Mom wore a dress that was handmade by Mrs. Winnie, her step-grandmother.

Now, 13 months ago, I was searching frantically for the perfect dress to wear to our rehearsal dinner. My mom never thought to mention that her handmade wedding gown was upstairs in the attic. What?? How could I have not known this?? I would've loved to have it altered into something I could've worn that night.

She didn't tell me about the dress until about a month ago when we were in the attic looking for something. Of course I had to try it on.

So it's safe to say the dress looked muuuuch better on her than on me, but still. It's handmade! And it was in our attic!

Look at the detail on the cuffs of the sleeves.

I can't believe I didn't know about this last year.

Anyway, back to the point of this post. My parents - 35 years! That's a really long time. They are quite the inspiration for Doc and me.

Here's to laughing together for 35 more years!

Happy anniversary, Mom and Dad. We love you!

P.S. Mom - in the dining room, look in the piece of furniture that used to be Memaw's bedside table. I left a gift for y'all in the top drawer.

Date Night

Today was much like yesterday - we slept in, ate breakfast, headed to the beach, played in the ocean and sand, read books, came back for lunch, and went back out to the beach.  Doc and I headed in earlier this afternoon to get ready for a much-anticipated date night. Lala took our picture before we headed out for the evening.

We started out with the pizza special from Bud and Alley's Pizza Bar. The special was margherita pizza with salame and it was delicious! I barely got this picture taken before Doc snatched up the last piece.

After dinner we walked across the street to the outdoor amphitheater to find a seat for the concert that was about to start. We traveled all this way to end up seeing someone from our home state! I have seen Dave Barnes several times before, but I think this setting was by far my favorite. It was so relaxed (and free!).

Dave is so funny and such a good singer that he had a gaggle of girls lined up at the front of the stage waiting on him before the show even started.

Unfortunately for him, they were all a little young.

In between songs I was playing with my camera and decided to take a picture of our feet...

...and then, as the flash went off, Doc said, "Oh wait, are you taking a picture of our legs and feet? I wasn't ready. Do it again."

Notice anything different about this picture?

I'm totally outting him and his flexed muscles.

At the end of Dave's set we got to go up front to get some better shots.

See all the blurry dots in the picture below?

Those are bubbles from bubble guns that the girls on the front row were shooting. I think he secretly paid them to do that. It made for a nice effect.

View from the other side.

And rockin' out the last song.

And that was it. It was such a perfect date night! If you don't know who Dave Barnes is, or haven't ever heard his music, I highly recommend you check him out.

We came home to a rousing game of dominos that has since ended and everyone is getting ready for bed. The rain held off for the outdoor concert but I think it's going to come any minute now. Hopefully it will all come tonight so we can enjoy another sunny day on the beach tomorrow!

Fun in the Sun

We are officially on vacation!! I told myself I'd write a post at the end of each day so that I wouldn't have a million pictures to sort through when we got home. But being on a relaxing vacation makes it awfully hard to get on the computer at night...especially when you fall asleep around 9! So here I am, the morning of day 3, ready to talk about days 1 and 2.

Although for day 1, there's nothing to report except that we were excited to be here!

Yes, that would be 5 of the 6 of us all on one couch.  We did walk to the beach as soon as we unloaded the car and the kids ran right into the water, completely unaware that they weren't wearing swimsuits.

Day 2 was awesome. I really don't think I have ever seen a prettier day at the beach. The weather was perfect - only 90 degrees instead of a miserable 100+ and a very good breeze off the ocean. The water was so clear you could see right to the bottom - no seaweed or anything.

Green means go!

Only one of us took the time to completely set up camp before heading out into the ocean. Can you guess who?

Here's a better hint...

My toes were so happy to be in the sand again.

Daddy and his kiddos.

"Come on! It's not cold at all!" Except you can tell he's sucking in from the cold since his ribs are poking out...

Anna got buried.

At least she had a good view!

Out in the water together.

We did lots of wave-riding on the boogie boards, and I have a nice strawberry on my hip to prove it. Apparently big kids crash into the sand a lot harder than the little kids do.

Anna and I built a nice sandcastle complete with manicured lawn, gate, and front drive.

Wyatt built...this.

We came in at the end of the day exhausted and hungry! Poppa and Doc made a delicious dinner of skamp, rice, salad, and fruit. It hit the spot!

Anna helped me make dessert. Can you tell from her face what we made?

Brownies. Mmmmm...and they were so good fresh out of the oven!

Lala continued to work on the puzzle...

...and these guys gave her no help at all.

We did finally finish the 500 piece puzzle. Hooray! It was a tough one - those flowers at the bottom were not easy to figure out at all. Next up, 1000 piece picture of hot air balloons.

Everyone is finishing up with breakfast now so it looks like Day 3 is about to get going. Beach, here we come!