ramblings on our holiday

we had a great weekend at the beach and came home early today to skip the traffic and enjoy a restful memorial day afternoon. 

i came home to a garden bursting at the seams with tomatoes and zinnias.



this should be a sunflower...im so excited.  {i say should because about four of the one million seeds i planted actually grew...i hope it blooms!}
there was even a NORMAL looking cucumber in the mix {vs the baseball looking ones from last year}
however my squash plant just up and died on me.
what looks like an incredibly painful death.

it technically did not miss a day of watering, so im at a loss.

some friends of ours joined us for the weekend - my friend ashley and i went down saturday morning and until the men arrived saturday night and sunday morning there were two adults and four children.  while it wasnt as intense as it could have been, lets just say we were excited when the daddies arrived to take over swim time and the like.
foggy camera lens+boys who will not look at the camera=

two silly boys on a boat:

probably thanks in part to his fearless friend walker, bennett overcame an entire summers worth of water fears in one day and ended the day jumping off the side of the pool, dunking his own head under water, and swimming by himself with the ring:

however i do have every expectation of starting the process all over next beach visit...
our resident studly mc studlierson:

watching the fish:

catching the fish:

this girl was not the best sleeper this weekend.  waking up at 5:50am does not look good on either of us.  neither does 45 minute naps.

the sun and i had another run in.
it did not go well for me, again.
burn me once, shame on me. burn me twice, shame on me.

theres no way out of it.  i need to remember i havent really seen the sun since '09 and my body is in some sort of sun shock.

one good decision i did make recently was purchasing two pairs of these

when they were on sale at old navy.  so so comfortable.  i dont know if they are still on sale but even if theyre not they are well worth the $5.

now lets move on to food.
ooooh boy.
my sister rachel {happy bday sista} inspired me with her weekend holiday cooking and i pulled out some old recipes i havent made in yearrrrssss.  they were staples for spring breaks and holiday gatherings with friends in high school: lemon squares and mrs. norris' dip.  i will be posting these easy and fabulous recipes this week.
just cant beat em.

i had so many more random things/thoughts to post about but for now i would really like to veg on the sofa and then hit the hay.

hope everyone had a safe memorial day holiday!  the reports ive seen on the news all state that the crowds on the alabama gulf coast were up at least 30% over the past three years and possibly record setting in some cases over the past eighteen or so years.  this makes me very happy...while i once resisted the "destin-ization" of my beloved gulf shores/orange beach, i am happy for all the local business owners - they needed/deserve the revenue!

thank you to all who are serving in our military at home and abroad, and mostly to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice so we can be free to celebrate!

{emory says da da yah gah shhhhhhhhhrrriiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeekkkkkkkk!}

{as in thank you}