the big house

the following weekend, thanks to some really really really good friends, pat and i had a couple of days away with some of our air force academy friends.  USAFA played the university of michigan in football.  how could we pass that up?


friday night started early, with delicious nachos and margaritas.  it was a long night.

tailgate on saturday.  

perfect day.

HUGE stadium

the falcons fought hard and came so close!  the only thing that would've made the day better is a WIN.  

very thankful for cory's RV that evening.  brrrrrrr!

meanwhile...

thank you platings and stanfords.  you guys ROCK!

 

i missed this little booger so much!

first day of preschool

 
can you tell how excited she was?

 

 
i mean, she looks like a teenager sometimes!




 

also, first day of ballet.  8-)

labor day adventures

the day after we climbed pike's peak, the kids and mom and i flew to huntsville, alabama, where pops was waiting to take us to tupelo.

 
baby girl is not used to mosquitos...  but they sure do love her!

we had a restful couple of days in tupelo, then we headed down to the beach.

 
i told laurel she could relieve herself in the ocean.  so she just let 'er rip.  this will make a good rehearsal dinner pic one day...

 
what a beautiful day in destin!  in the little time we spent in the condo, we were watching hurricane isaac on the weather channel.  that night after dinner we got a call from the sheriff's office issuing a mandatory evacuation.  so much for our relaxing week at the beach!  we loaded up the car and left in the wee hours, to avoid the (nonexistent) traffic.  headed 6 or 7 hours north to smith lake!

 
the kids did a great job in the car.  what a treat to have an unexpected visit to our favorite place! 

 
no signs of mean ole isaac up there.  it was actually a restful day and a half.  then we headed back to destin.  lots of time in the car.  i think i read all 3 hunger games books...

 
pops was exhausted from all the driving!  the weather wasn't great, but we were thrilled to know we could sleep in the same beds for the next 5 nights!  :-)

 
my boy

 
so happy

 
the whole johnston crew was there for our annual labor day weekend reunion.  we LOVE our time with our cousins, and we were especially excited to see daddy!!

 
isaac cleared out and we ended up having a couple of beautiful days.  so thankful.

 
creative cousins - reopened their restaurant, umbrella santini.

 
special special memories.  

everybody except mej3