Smith Mountain Lake

Last weekend we headed to Smith Mountain Lake to enjoy a long weekend.  My mom had rented a house on the water that was beautiful!  We spent five days relaxing and enjoying the water as much as possible.  Jack absolutely loved being on the boat and out on the water and I couldn't have been more thrilled.  It was such a great vacation and we were so sad to come back to real world.

Playgrounds and Pools

This was one of our first weekends in a long time to relax and plan as we went.  Saturday we went to the Farmer's Market and got some delicious produce.  I absolutely love getting up on Saturdays and seeing all the fresh goods. Later in the day we took Jack to a huge playground in our area.  It is covered in a soft matting (which is wonderful for a little one just learning to walk) and has endless things to play with.  He is still a little young be we had so much fun chasing him around.

Sunday was beautiful so going to the pool was a must.  My mother-in-law belongs to a Country Club that has a great baby pool.  They have water the shoots out from the ground in the shallow section and then some more water that shoots out from the sides of the pool.  Jack loves trying to catch the water.  This time went way better than the first time we took him and I am so happy that he loves being in the water.

It was such a wonderful weekend.  I love this time of year and I am so excited to see Jack experience so many more new things this summer.

Race for the Cure

Every year my dad, Jason and I run in the National Race for the Cure at the National Mall.  This year was extra special though because Jack got to be a part of the run for the first time.  My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer 10 years ago and that summer we started running and haven't missed a race yet.  It is an event we look forward to every year because it reminds us how lucky we are that my mom has been in remission for all these years.  Our goal was to finish the race in under 30 minutes and we finished around 29:45 :)

Memorial Day Weekend

Three day weekends are always wonderful because we get an extra day with Jason.  It was even better this past weekend because the weather was perfect! We had another jam packed weekend that started Friday night with us cooking food for a BBQ the next day to celebrate Jason's mom's birthday.  We made a phenomenal potato salad as well as a delicious homemade chocolate cake all from scratch. That's right I made it all by myself and it was DELICIOUS! :) Saturday we celebrated my mother-in-laws birthday with about 20 family members and some delicious crabs and food. It was so great to see everyone and they all loved seeing Jack and how big he has gotten.

Jessica and I

CRABS

Eating Crabs

My brother-in-law Jeff and sister-in-law Charlotte

My other brother-in-law Ryan and the birthday girl :)

Opening Gifts

He loved playing with the envelopes

My sister-in-law Debbie and niece Courtney

Sunday was a busy day too.  It started with us going to Carmax to get an estimate of what the Lexus was worth.  We didn't plan on walking out with a new car but, we did.  We have been looking at the Ford Edge for a while.  It is more practical for us with a baby and plans to have more kids than the Lexus was. The shocker is what the car looks like.  My husband went to Virginia Tech and is a die hard fan so it was only fitting that we buy an orange car right? Yes, that's right we bought an orange edge and...I LOVE IT!

On Memorial Day we wanted to do something special to remember the troops who have given their lives for us.  We decided to take a trip to Arlington National Cemetery. My grandfather and grandmother and buried there so I have been there quite a few times however, Jason has never been.  We went with my dad who is a veteran and my brother.  I don't think I was prepared for how emotional it was going to be.  After we went to my grandparents grave site and saw the tomb of the unknown soldier we drove over to the section of the cemetery where the Iraqi Freedom soldiers are buried and it was heartbreaking.  Nothing can prepare you for that site. There were parents who lost their children sitting in chairs just staring at their child's grave site and some graves had photos of the soldier taped to the back of the grave.  Seeing this made everything so real.  Most of the men and women who passed away are my peers, people who were born the same year as me and now they are gone.  You hear about the loss of soldiers on the news but when you see the number of tomb stones lined up its unbelievable. Needless to say it was an emotional day.  Thank you to all of those who serve our country and defend our freedom every day. 

My Grandfather

Jack at my grandmother's site

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

The Wedding Photos are Here! :)

This past April 9th Jason and I renewed our wedding vows and had our dream wedding.  It was a little cold and dreary but to us, it was perfect.  We said our vows overlooking the Bull Run Mountains and danced the night away at our reception.  We had an amazing photographer (Gabe Aceves) who captured every moment perfectly and we couldn't be happier with how the photos turned out! It was one of the best days of our life with our closest friends and family members. Here are a few of my favorite pictures of Jason and I.

There is also an amazing slideshow Gabe made of our wedding at   http://gabeaceves.com/slideshows/mcdonough/ Turn up the volume because the music is fabulous!