summer so far

We've had a busy summer so far! The first weekend in June we drove up to Nashville for my best friend from highschool's wedding. Cayla was beautiful and the wedding was just perfect.

It was at a farm outside of Nashville in Ashland City. We had so much fun! The band was amazing and the setup looked stunning.

We danced the night away and had such a blast. I am so happy for Cayla and Ryan! :) 

The next week Danny's mom, Maritza, arrived from Costa Rica to stay with us for 10 days. It was her first time to see our house and I just love her SO much!

I hadn't seen her since our wedding in 2008 so it was so good having her here. She is the sweetest woman in the world - so loving, caring and so in love with Jesus.

She cooked authentic Costa Rican meals for us every night...

and Danny was in heaven! 

So sweet! 

We had a couple of parties while she was here too. The first night we had a "latino" party and invited over all of Danny's Spanish-speaking friends. This is Maritza and Yvonne's mom, Yolanda.

Our good friends, Yvonne and Pablo

My sweet, sweet hubby!

Danny and his momma!

We spent Saturday shopping and taking her all around town. We got some cute clothes! She has so much energy and it was so fun staying busy all day. That night we had a BBQ at our house. Love summer parties!

On Sunday we went to church, went shopping and hung out around the house.

We also hosted life group at our house that night and Maritza made some yummy Costa Rican food for snacks! On Monday, I got my first professional photography backdrops in the mail. I was SO excited!

We had the best time with Maritza and I'm SO glad she was able to come visit. It was like "chicken soup for the soul" for Danny to spend time with his mom. He is such a momma's boy and we both miss her and Danny's dad so much.

I love Maritza so much and I'm so amazed at her passion for Christ. Danny's parents instilled in him a love for Jesus at a very early age. I am so blessed and thankful that he was raised in such a spiritual household, and couldn't ask for a better spiritual leader in our home.

But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. -Joshua 24:15 

the girl, the boat and the lake

...that's the name of my favorite song by Benjy Davis (my favorite band).  I think it kinda sums up my summer so far.  Have I mentioned how much I love Southern summers?  The heat, the lake, BBQs, late nights, the crickets and lightning bugs...I can't get enough.

I wanted to recap our Memorial Day weekend and I then I think I'll almost be caught up! ;)  We got a group of friends together and rented a pontoon boat and took it out on the lake! It was so much fun.  We all met around 10am and spent the whole day on the boat!

We took the boat up river and docked for awhile at a little beach off the river.  There were a ton of boats!

There were 9 of us on the boat (plus 3 kids) - Yvonne & Pablo, Beth & Kevin, Caleb & Taylor and Josh.

We brought sandwiches and snacks and floats!

Me, Beth & Noah

Kevin

Taylor and Josh

Pablo & Danny

Danny's "tattoo" - he's such a kid at heart haha!

We spent a few hours on the beach and then took the boat back down river. We all got in the water again and there were so many boats around. It felt like the redneck yacht club - haha, just kidding!

It was such a fun way to start the summer!

photography

Check out my photography blog (Sweet Magnolia Photography) for pictures from my most recent photo shoot with sweet Lee Ann & baby Logan! They were absolutely precious and so photogenic! :)

family

It is embarrassing how long it's been since I've updated y'all! The month of May literally FLEW by and I cannot believe it's already June! I'll be doing a series of posts recapping May, so just bear with me! :)

My sister, Ashley, came in town for a week long visit from San Francisco and she arrived the day before I got back from Hawaii (May 2nd). The Wednesday I got back in town, I met her and my mom at Aqua the dayspa for massages and manicures. It was SO relaxing! It had been almost a year since I had a massage and it felt wonderful. That night we all ate dinner at my parents house and it was so good catching up because we hadn't seen one another since Christmas! 

Her boyfriend Darin flew in on Friday and we all went to dinner at Local 463. It was delicious.

On Saturday we rented a pontoon boat and spent the entire day on the reservoir.

We had so much fun and the day just flew by!  On Sunday my dad cooked lunch and we hung out by my parent's pool. 

It was so nice spending the whole weekend with family!

We already miss them, but hopefully Danny and I can make a trip to San Fran soon to visit!

On Thursday, May 13th we went to the Paddler's Party at the Yacht Club for the dragonboat regatta Danny was participating in. 

It is a boat race they have at the reservoir every year and different companies sponsor boats!  As always, I had so much fun with my good friends Yvonne & Beth! They are so funny!

On Saturday, May 15th we went to the boat race. It was freezing! Normally it is already really hot in May, but it was probably in the 50s and rainy that day. I even had to go home to change into warmer clothes - ha! We had so much fun watching everyone race and we spent the whole day there!

My brother Trey and his girlfriend Ashli came in town that evening from Montana! It had been over a year since I'd seen Trey and I hadn't seen Ashli since our wedding in 2008 so it was SO good to see them!

We had fun relaxing at my parents house and spending time in their pool.

We also had a bonfire in our backyard one night. It was so fun! We went out to dinner and enjoyed each other's company. I miss them already and can't wait to see them at Christmas!

More to come! :)