Home Sweet Home!

As much as I enjoy living away from home right now, I also miss it and the people there terribly.  Doug and I headed home last weekend and got to see so many people!  Doug headed home Wednesday with the dog so he could spend some extra time with his brother who was home from Florida for the week - he enjoyed the time he had with his family and Chloe enjoyed swimming in the pond AND the pool for hours on end!  I headed back Friday after work then headed out with the boys!  We had a great time and I really enjoyed spending time with my soon to be brothers in law!  We met up with a lot of friends while out and  had a great time!  We realize during nights like that how much we miss being home, miss our friends, and most of all, miss being social! 

On Saturday after VERY little sleep, I headed to Springfield for my haircut!! (yes, I drive 6 hours to get my hair cut and colored....I can't resist, I have the best girl ever!!)  I spent 2 hours there then headed to my aunt and uncles to hang out with my sister, brother in law, nieces, and cousin's and their kids!  We cooked out and enjoyed each others company - yet another part of my day where I am missing being back home!  We hung out there then I headed back to Jacksonville and got some pool time in before the BIG party! 

 All the kids (minus ella :)) walking down to look at the lake..

Doug's parents with the help of many threw us an amazing and wonderful party to celebrate the upcoming wedding!  Though it was sweltering hot out, we had a GREAT time!!  My parents came down for the party and my brother, sister, aunt, uncle,cousin's and their families all joined in!  It was so nice to have most of my family there to support Doug and I!  It was almost like a preview of the wedding which has shown me how much fun this wedding is truly going to be!!  After OUR party and most of our guests had departed, we headed down the road to a retirement party that had a live band and ended up being a great ending to a great night!! 

Isabel and I

Sunday we headed back late in the afternoon and didn't get back here until almost 10 - needless to say, I am still trying to catch up on the sleep I lost last weekend - but I would take time with family and friends over sleep anytime!  We don't have a whole lot planned for this holiday weekend (I have monday off!!!!!!)  But I do think we are headed to our town parade tomorrow and also to our neighbors for a cook out!   We will also be trying to find several firework shows throughout the weekend too!!

We found out the hard way tonight that Chloe does NOT like fireworks!!  We left her outside (like we always do) to play for a while and kept hearing this strange sound...we didn't really think anything of it because we have kids next door that play and are always up to something...Doug finally opened the door, found Chloe outside our door (where she should not be) and we found the door to the back yard like this......