Fresh Tomatoes

From my garden! So excited that my garden is finally producing some veggies. The cherry tomatoes are looking great. The bigger tomatoes are still green, but getting nice and big. I planted green beens and zucchini from seeds, so I think it will be a while - but the plants are looking nice and strong. I have a few heads of broccoli sprouting, too. The iceberg lettuce was a giant fail. It was great for a few weeks, but they flowered and I didn't know I was supposed to clip that off.

It's been a lot of fun to see everything grow since this is my first veggie garden.

Happy Birthday Doug

Happy 29th Birthday to my husband. He is spending his birthday week fishing in Canada with his friends and their dads. While this does sound really great for him, it is also as far away from me as possible. Therefore, I am posting a picture of Doug surrounded my flowers - which isn't exactly getting back at him, but it is pretty funny...

Hope you are having a very happy birthday! Catching lots of big fish and having a great time.

Relay For Life

My team :)

Doug, Willie and I took part in Durham County's Relay for Life two weekends ago. Along with being on the committee - we also joined a team to walk and raise money for cancer research. Thanks to our wonderful and generous supporters, we raised over $1,000! Thanks so much!

Relay for Life is an all day, overnight event with so many special moments - starting with the survivors lap. I was very proud to take part in the caregivers lap, light a luminaria for my dad and give him a personal tribute during the ceremony.

I look forward to working next year on the committee again - such a great, uplifting event and wonderful cause. Thanks again to everyone who supported us monetarily or in your thoughts and prayers.

Whirwind Wedding Weekend

After my fun family time down at Rockbridge, I picked up Doug from the airport to begin our official wedding weekend. Doug's good friend Pat was getting married in Kansas City and Doug was a groomsman in the wedding.

Friday night was a fun rehearsal dinner down on the Plaza. So fun to catch up with so many friends and even Doug's parents who came in for the event.

Saturday, was fun with lunch with friends and shopping with Mom on the plaza. The wedding was beautiful - Pat and Amy are a great couple and we were so happy to celebrate with them. A fun night, followed by brunch with our parents the next day. A very full few days, but so much fun to see so many friends and family back home. Congrats to Pat & Amy!

Rehearsal Dinner with the entire group

The guys

The girls showing off our dance moves

With my date at the end of the night

Rockbridge Fishing Trip

Our usual lodge

Love this picture of my mom and sister-in-law Niki

The Mill

Aaron reeling in a fish by the dam

My 3.67 lb trout

My family has been going down to Southern Missouri for 19 years for our Annual Fishing Trip. Such a great tradition and I was so happy to make it back this year. By far, our biggest group ever, along with the biggest fish we've ever caught (Grandpa John with an impressive 7+pounder!) With this trip and this group - it just keeps getting better and better. Such a fun time with my big Slayman family - can't wait for #20 next year!

Memorial Day Weekend

We were so excited to welcome our friend Christen to Durham for Memorial Day weekend. Christen drove all the way from Louisville - and we were so happy to have her!

Friday night, we grilled and had dinner on the patio - catching up for hours was our first order of business. Saturday, Doug was working so Christen and I took in some local sites, shopped, sampled some local North Carolina BBQ and had such a great time just hanging out. We met Doug at our local favorite The Federal for some beers and great eats.

Sunday, we woke up early to head to the beach - along with our friend Chad. We got to Carolina Beach right at noon - just as the clouds cleared to reveal the PERFECT beach day. We paid dearly for the 5 hours we spent on the beach - all of us were burnt in one matter or another - but it was TOTALLY worth it.

Dinner and drinks in our favorite place - Wilmington and then a late night drive back home - what a day, what a visit - Christen come back soon!

My hubby playing football with the Pier in the background - I'm a lucky gal!

With Christen at our favorite Wilmington outdoor barDoug & Chad in WilmingtonBeautiful boardwalk in Wilmington

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all of our favorite moms out there! Hope everyone had a great day. As always, we were sorry that we couldn't spend the day with Doug's and my mom, but we are excited to see them in a few weeks.

I was also thinking about so many of our friends who are celebrating their first Mother's Day this year! It's been a fun year - seeing so many friends begin their families. Wishing them a very special Mother's Day.

Speaking of parenting, I felt like a bad dog mom today. Willie keeps licking his paws so much that they begin to bleed. It got so bad this weekend that Doug made Willie a sock cast. Isn't his face so sad? We think he has allergies. Any suggestions besides benadryl and covering up the spot that he is licking?