Happy Memorial Day!

Memorial Day weekend is so important as we remember the loved ones who have served and are serving for us. Jay and I left Friday afternoon right after work for our three hour drive up to Tennessee. We took Jay’s truck for our trip even though we normally take my car. Murphy wasn’t so sure about the extra rumble of the truck, and refused to get up into the captain’s chair. Haley absolutely loved it since she had her whole own chair without Murphy walking all over her.

He spent the majority of the ride in positions similar to this...

We drove through some pretty serious rain storms, but we were determined to get there.

We arrived in Tennessee late Friday night, but mom had a crockpot full of pulled pork, sweet and sour meatballs and deviled eggs waiting for us.

We were also greeted by my parents new puppy.

This is Bentley. He is an English Crème Golden Retriever from this breeder. He is gentle-natured, curious and friendly…everything that a puppy should be. Have I mentioned that he has never met a stranger?

Early Saturday morning, Jay went to play golf at Centennial Golf Club in Oak Ridge while mom, dad and I were still waking up. He teed off right at 6:25 a.m., and was back by 9:30 a.m.

Just as Jay was on his way home from golf, mom was pulling the breakfast casserole out of the oven. She made an egg, sausage and cheese casserole and a hash brown casserole.

After breakfast, we finally got a couple of pictures with both Jay and me. Mom enjoys taking pictures with my camera so she was happy to take a few shots of us outside.

Mom told us that both my grandparents and my parents have pictures with them holding hands so of course we wanted to extend the family tradition. It would be nice to display their pictures next to ours someday.

I think at this point, Jay was saying “Ok, we’re done taking pictures now!”

Remember when I said that last weekend was my dad’s birthday, but we couldn’t make it up for the weekend? We decided to celebrate his birthday along with Mother’s day since we missed celebrating it as well. Jay and I cooked a pork loin, potatoes, salad and ice cream for dessert.

Mom had some decorations in the basement for Memorial day weekend and before we knew it we had a real party!! Mom had a treasure trove of decorations so we were able to celebrate right!

Dad toasted to the blessing of having our family together for the weekend, a great meal and this time to remember our lost soldiers.

We are definitely a camera family.

We bought dad Longaberger mugs for his birthday present. Dad likes them specifically because keep his coffee warm for an extended period of time. I don’t think he knows that they’re called Longaberger because when my mom asked what he wanted he said more of “these cups.”
We knew that we ordered a large-sized cup, but holy cow, these things are huge!!

Mom loves Philosophy products, so I picked up some really rich lotion with a light citrus and summer-y scent called Unconditional Love at Ulta.

My aunt stopped by on Sunday to spend some time with us before we left. Fortunately, we had tons of left overs from the two dinners the nights before. We whipped up another plate of appetizers and warmed the pulled pork and meatballs. We enjoyed ice tea, appetizers and salad, and everyone was free to pick their lunch.

After lunch, Jay and I rested on the sofa and just relaxed! We realized around this point that we hadn’t spent any time in the family room. The only time we spent time inside was to sleep and cook, the rest was spent on the back porch talking, enjoying a cocktail, eating dinner and relaxing on the sofa!

We enjoyed spending time with my family this Memorial Day weekend. We left early Monday morning at 8:00 a.m. to try to beat some of the Memorial Day traffic. Hope you enjoyed your Memorial Day!