silver beach, 2011

the annual johnston family reunion at the beach labor day weekend. we had everyone there (31 people) for the first time in a very long time. crazy and wonderful!

partners - rebecca and laurel

don't worry cece, your partner will be ready to play next year!

hooray!!! daddy's here!!! such a cute daddy...

birthday celebration. 65 and dirty thirty!

i love this family!!!

some merrills

the original 4, duncan trying to explain something to freddy, and the angry ocean. it rained all weekend. i didn't get in the pool or ocean one single time. :-(

champion travelers. seriously.

goodnight irene!

after mary's wedding, we had to flee the northeast a day early, thanks to hurricane irene. it ended up being a blessing, though, b'c after a hard travel day we got an unexpected day of rest at smith lake. :-)twins?

i haven't even mentioned yet how much i was missing my husband. man! especially at mary's wedding. life is just not as much fun when he's not around.

i was also missing this little squirt. freddy and i went to clarksdale on monday morning to pick her up. i'm glad she was excited to see me - i was afraid she might not want to go back with me!

so good to visit with kissy, ginger, warner, and jackson

woo woo!

jacky mac!

that's a WHOLE lot of love happening right there...

precious precious

after lunch and naptime in clarksdale, we drove back to tupelo. but first we had to stop in oxford for dinner at proud larry's with good friends. look at little dolly mcclendon and little gibson rayner in their tutus! (posing on the square and playing with johnny barrett on the courthouse lawn)

freddy got a bottle from stewart and some love from ev. in my favorite of our wedding photos, pat and i are standing right where laurel is on those courthouse steps...

back in tupelo. quality time with abbi, dress up time, and time with posey.

the x factor

ready for the next season!

do you think they look alike? that's laurel on the left and freddy on the right - both taken around 7 months old

meanwhile...

laurel had a very special kissy date in texas

they went to the mall and the aquarium and the disney store!

and apparently ate a LOT of ice cream! happy happy girl. then they drove a looooong time to get to clarksdale for...

jackson's birthday party! happy birthday, big boy. can't believe you're two already. wish we all could've been there. so glad lala was!

the only air force falcon in the bunch. :-)

next stop... cape cod!

laurel got to stay in texas while my little boyfriend and i flew to boston for my cousin mary's wedding on the cape.

freddy was a great traveler and it felt much better in massachusetts!

i finally got to meet my cousin richie's little girl isabella and her new little sister, clara. so precious! freddy's new best friend was isabella's grandfather, joao.

kirk and rich's house on the cape. i want to spend a couple of weeks here...

richie and renata hosted the rehearsal dinner at their house on the cape. cutie patootie taylor (mary's then fiance) and yummy lobster!

love these pics of the snell "kids." all grown up. top left picture - richie, alex, mary ramsey, and adam.

adam dishing out breakfast, mary getting her hair-do done

hooray! praise you Lord for this precious married couple. :-)

i stole these off renata's blog, so they're a bit blurry. doesn't kirk look beautiful?

cutest kids at the wedding, hands down. i love isabella's dress. of course renata is always stunning. i love y'all!

the wedding was gorgeous

but not as gorgeous as the bride. man! she is just breathtaking. love you, sweet mary. thank you for letting me be a part of that special day!

deep in the HOT of texas...

we (all 4 of us) got to spend a weekend at kissy and buddy's house. then daddy left and we just kept having fun!

laurel had a blast at the jump zone


we cooled off in the backyard

we explored the indoor safari park...

i can't believe she actually found two pink balls in there -- she went straight to them!

train ride and a happy happy girl!

monster boo boo at chickfila. ice cream fixes everything :-)

swimming with our friends at lifetime.

we had a fabulous visit, kissy and buddy. thank you so much. we love you!!

camping trip (in a cabin)

last month we ventured out for our only "camping" trip this summer. we rented a cabin up near aspen and had a wonderful weekend!




on friday we drove to aspen and took the bus to maroon bells -- one of the most photographed spots in the country. and here you see why...

the view is breathtaking

bottom left, here, you see a grove of aspens. they are everywhere! the nearby town is aptly named.


laurel is SUCH a good little hiker. she tripped and fell several times (surprise, surprise kissy), but the only time she cried was when we would not let her go see the bear some other hikers spotted. yikes!

i couldn't stop taking pictures. it was so gorgeous!

last one..

hanging out at the cabin. i love the top picture, but i had to put the bottom one on here too so you could see what laurel is reading to daddy.



happy campers. :-)

they're growing up so quickly!

lala and the fredster shared a room. we could barely wedge the packnplay in beside the bed, but we did it! and it actually worked -- they both slept well. mama made homemade biscuits on saturday morning. yummy tummy!

then we drove to glenwood springs, about 10 minutes away. they have the largest hot springs pool in the world! they have to pump cold water into both pools (one is 98 degrees and one is 104 degrees), bc the actual hot springs are 120 degrees!

our little swimmer had a ball of course. see her out there with daddy?

i think freddy liked it too...

back at the cabin, being silly

s'mores and dirty summer feet! what could be better than that???

thank you daddy. we had a fabulous time! can't wait til next year...