Lights, CAMERA, Action

So excited that we finally got our new Digital SLR camera. We decided on the Nikon D5000 - for anybody who cares :) We are still learning a lot about how to use it, but here are a few pics from our first few days.

My All-Stars

The boys watching the Homerun Derby this week. Doug & I made our usual derby bet & thanks to Prince Fielder - Doug will be getting my gas for the next five fill ups. Yay! I detest filling up.

Great 4th of July and all I have are these lame pics?

Our favorite campsite

Such a tired pup (and full truck!)

We decided to go camping for the July 4th holiday at our favorite campsite at Jordan Lake. Even though it was pretty hot, we had a breeze the entire weekend and it was very comfortable even at night. We set up camp on Wednesday night and then invited friends Maria & Justin out for dinner on Thursday. Friday was a fun day with Willie on the lake. Chad and his dog Bo joined us, so Willie had a playmate. Trisha and Justin came out for dinner and camping Friday night. Such a fun night filled with card games, swimming and sitting around the fire.

Saturday we traveled north to another lake, meeting some of Doug's work friends for a great day and great cookout. Doug went tubing and I even skied once (it's been so long since I had been up on skis!) Willie enjoyed all the new people willing to throw the ball endlessly for him. Back at our campsite, we enjoyed a low key night and even some fireworks that were visible over the lake.

We packed up to go home on Sunday - which is when I finally remembered to take a few photos! I have never seen Willie more tired - I think he swam for three days straight. We had a wonderful holiday weekend, hope you did, too!

Pool Party

I hosted a pool party last week to say goodbye to our good friends Erin & Jon. They are moving to Miami for fellowship and we are very sad to see them go. All of the girls are already planning a trip to visit them this fall! Best of luck to Erin & Jon - they have a fun year ahead of them!

All the girls - Annemarie, Gretchen, Erin, me & Trisha

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.