jamie and i took the friday before memorial day off from work and met my parents + brother at nama’s in hot springs village, arkansas for a relaxing long weekend at the lake.  it. was. wonderful.  jamie and i were both in need of a little vacay [work has been keeping both of us pretty busy these days], and jamie hadn’t met nama yet nor been to the lake, so it was a great opportunity to fly down.  the lake wasn’t its warmest, but it thankfully wasn’t too cold to swim either, and we boated, swam, played games, and just had a great time with family.  lots of fun pics below!

{on the left, i started the trip with tacos and ended it with tacos!  this was before our flight at justin cucci’s restaurant root down at the denver airport.  not a bad way to start the trip… tacos and a beer!  on the right, not the best pic [i was a little sick at this point… thankfully felt pretty good for the majority of the weekend].  but we had to get an airplane pic!}

{we made it!}

{the cutest mother and son!  thank you for coming to pick us up at the airport!}

{the sunset was gorgeous the first night we got in.}

{always such a peaceful place to be.}

{the first thing we did the next morning was try out nama’s new paddleboard!}

{jamie loved paddleboarding!}

{we tried paddleboarding together and found out that it’s really hard, ha.  the picture on the right is about 0.5 seconds before we fell off!}

{trying again!}

{…instead we rode around on the paddleboard with our little dog friend who loves to swim!}

{these two brothers!}

{boating}

{the captain and the captain’s wife!} ;)

{swimming after a little picnic on the boat}

{this was right before step 3 of our typical boat picnics:  1. eat, 2. swim, 3. nap!!!}

{the beautiful table all set for memorial day dinner [we celebrated a couple nights early].}

{we don’t get enough mother-daughter pictures these days!}

{he’s a sweetie}

{this was the best meal!  an amazing marinated flank steak that my dad grilled, asparagus, orzo salad, and roasted potatoes.  nama, you definitely spoiled us!}

{family picture after church!}

{we are pretty dang good at accidentally coordinating our outfits, seriously!  and paddleboating with shiner.}

{we had to get some use out of the paddleboat before nama sells it!}

{my parents paddleboating… i spy a little dog looking back, wondering if he should have stayed back with the kids!} ;)

{mom, mike, and shiner paddleboating, and jamie kneeboarding!  he’s got the moves!} ;)

{mike kneeboarding on the left, and jamie giving it another go on the right!}

{tubing!}

{the tubing was a bit short-lived… i was being a bit of a baby about it!!  maybe i’m getting too old for tubing…}

{shiner is a cutie!}

{…and a good little swimmer too!}

{more paddleboarders… dad on the left and mike on the right!}

{i was wearing my dad’s hat and nama wanted a picture… i must say that it has become one of our favorite pics of the two of us.  good call nam!}

{shiner was soooooo tired after his weekend on the lake… he was all draped over mike’s legs like a wet noodle!  and then mike fell asleep too…}

 {i can’t handle the cuteness.}

{if you look close… you’ll see a sleeping mom, a sleeping dad, a sleeping brother, and a sleeping dog!  haha.}

{these two coordinated their outfits very nicely!!}

{this must have been gingham day!}

{gingham twins!}

{dinner at the last chance}

{another night with a beautiful sunset…}

{as if we didn’t get enough pics together already} ;)

{i love them.}

{this isle was dubbed “alligator island” by us as kids, even though [thankfully] there have never been alligators spotted in/near this lake!}

{kinda blurry but we watched these deer feed on the grass on this little uninhabited peninsula.  pretty cool!}

{that water was like glass.}

{gold.}

{photo cred: mike!}

{goodnight lake.}

{on the left, as mentioned before, i ended the trip with tacos too!  these were from stephen pyles‘ restaurant sky canyon at love field airport in dallas.  and on the right, i have to take a second and brag on this amazing man.  when we got home from this trip, i was actually diagnosed with walking pneumonia [FINALLY figured out why i’ve been sick for months!], and then two days later, i had to turn around and go again – this time on a work trip.  while i was gone, jamie came over and cleaned my entire apartment – he vacuumed the floors, finished all the dishes, cleaned the bathrooms, tidied my room and guest room and my closets, all so that i could “relax and work on the blog” when i got home.  i’m the luckiest girl in the world to have such a kind and thoughtful man, and i’m eternally grateful that God kept me waiting and then answered my prayers when the timing was right and put this sweetheart in my life.  he’s pretty dang handsome too!  i love you jamie v!

and THANK YOU to dear nama who hosted all of us this weekend!  we had a fabulous time and we love you so much!  xoxo