Macro, what a Concept!

My little sister Chelsea (not by blood) turned 18 this weekend. I forgot I was going to make cupcakes for her so instead I made her a Birthday Banner! I'm still aching to be creative and domestic.
With Chels turning 18 it reminded me of the time I was at that age and the time I had no real responsibility. Wouldn't it be fun to go back in time with the knowledge I have now? I wondered how it would have changed my course in life. Then I quickly quite thinking about it because I don't regret one thing. (well except not finishing my degree). But I know Heavenly Father knew what kind of person I wanted to be, and that meant learning a valuable lesson early in life and in a way I never thought possible. Wow, talk about distraction..

Highlights of the weekend:
*Chelsea turning 18!
*We competed in the Georgia Games- I won 2 gold, Cony won gold & bronze
*I learned Macro on my camera!! Hello, why didn't I know about this sooner!!!???
Here are a few pictures with my new learning tool..

Happy Independence Day!

I had a few days off from work, so we decided to take a little road trip! We went to visit our good friends Nick & Lindsay in Newport Beach, VA. We were hoping to get there much earlier than we actually did, but I guess that's how road trips go. Thanks to a good book, an iTouch and our PSP to watch movies on, the time flew. Here are a few of our adventures...

Taken on a hidden pier near the Hansen's house.

Our friends with their darling boy, Gavin.

I LOVE barns. I can't wait to have one someday with horses, a cow, milking goats, and chickens.

We celebrated the 4th by going to Yorktown, VA. This was a really cool experience because this was the last battle during the Revolutionary War, where we won our Independence thanks to the French Navy that came at the last minute to save us. I imagined this was the place the soldiers saw the French Navy coming and knowing they were saved. I also love history, even if I have a hard time retaining all the information I learn.

The little band that played during a parade. I was a little surprised that the celebration at Yorktown of all places wasn't more dramatic. But Less is More and I really did think it was perfect.

After we toured Yorktown and the Riverwalk we sat down to watch fireworks, but it began to rain and thunder. Since we were allowed to park on the battlefield we had a ways to go, and I was wearing white shorts!! Not a great combination in the rain.

I had to take a picture of these..They were the perfect amount and I wish all candy came in small packages!

Our camping site on Cape Hatteras Beach. It was so fun to camp on the beach. Until of course it stormed ALL night! It rained so much our tent began to leak. So unfortunately we didn't get a lot of sleeping done. We just stayed one night and since it's a National Park it only cost $20 to stay. With that $20 you get a nice cold shower. I will say, it's better than nothing after you have spent the entire day in salt water.

After we set up camp, we went Jet Skiing!! Which was such a blast. We rented two for an hour, and I kinda wish that we just rented one so I could have the task of hanging on. Although it was fun to race and then win. Cony was doing all kinds of tricks I didn't know he had up his sleeve, but he also fell a few times and now has a bruise on his hinny.
Cape Hatteras is part of the Outer Banks, but we drove south from our camp site to a beautiful part of the beach. It wasn't as crowded, the sand was so soft and the weather was perfect. (Until the storms showed up later that night of course..)

This is what Cony did to keep himself entertained while I took a nap and later went running. Which by the way was one of the hardest runs I've been on.. running on soft sand is a great leg workout!

My steamy HOT husband. Later that night we found the Outer Banks Fudge Company. Well it's a tradition for us to buy fudge while we are on vacation, so we went in almost at closing time. The nice lady working was older and we started talking, making nice conversation, when she started to hit on my husband. She said "You sure do look like Ashton Kutcher!" (this is the 2nd time I've heard this) She blamed it on her age and she can get away with flirting with younger men... and continued to say "I may have white on the roof top but it doesn't mean there isn't fire in the furnace!!!"
We almost passed out. We paid and quickly ran out.

On our way out the next morning we stopped at one of the 3 lighthouses on the island. Lighthouses always make me think of Maine, which is a state that I have ALWAYS wanted to visit. Which is funny because Cony's ancestor's are from Maine. Apparently George Washington stayed with the Metcalf family for a night and I think the house is now a historical landmark. Not sure about that though... I should really get started on his family genealogy...just add it to the list of things to get done.