happy birthday, ryan!

it's ryan's birthday and i'm so excited to celebrate him today!  i swear, he keeps getting better and better with age.  i'm so incredibly grateful for ryan and for all that he does.  he's my best friend and my favorite person.

i took out my good camera last weekend to take these photos of ryan on sunday during a little impromptu photo shoot near the river that runs behind our house.  i absolutely love the way these photos turned out!

happy birthday, lover, i hope you have an amazing day!

love, laurie

hello, gerber daisy!

this crazy gerber daisy in my office keeps blooming.  this time around the leaves got huge!  

i'm not complaining one bit because i love to see it's bright and cheery pink color in my window!  i can't believe this plant is still going, it's so old!

love, laurie

high alert

oh my goodness, these pictures make me laugh.  they were taken only 1 minute apart.  ryan was home last week with leko while i was teaching dance class.  he took a picture of leko at 7:39pm while he was sleeping in bed and then another picture at 7:40pm when leko heard me open the back door to come in the house.  so funny how he can go from fast asleep to on high alert.  he's such a riot.

love, laurie

a night out at the wayne county fair

it's become a summer tradition for us to take a trip to the wayne county fair the first week of august.  we couldn't visit the fair last year because of the pandemic, so we were happy to be able to go again this year.  

we took a drive up on monday evening after work to walk around the fairgrounds, look at the vendors, ride the rides, say hi to the animals, and watch the truck pull competition.  the weather was nice and we had a good time.  a few snapshots . . .

love, laurie

previous trips to the wayne county fair: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019

hangry to happy

while we were in chincoteague and assateague last weekend, our friend katie watched leko along with ryan's mom.  the night we left, katie went over to the house to feed leko dinner.  she sent me a text along with these pictures saying he was "hangry then happy" . . . that kid sure does get passionate about dinner.  she snapped a picture of him yelling at her saying he was hungry and then went to very calm after she gave him his food.  he even stuck his tongue out for a picture.  so funny!

love, laurie

dancin' in the streets!

the dance company that i teach for was asked to dance at the moscow country street fair this weekend.  we lucked out with great weather this weekend which was awesome for the dancers!  on friday evening our girls danced down the street for the parade, and then on saturday afternoon they performed a few of their dances for the recital at the food court tents.  it was fun and they did a great job!

love, laurie

a little video of our anniversary weekend getaway to chincoteague and assateague islands

to wrap up our chincoteague / assateague islands trip, here is a little video from our weekend getaway.

love, laurie

see the rest of our photos: part 1 / part 2 / part 3

an anniversary weekend getaway to chincoteague and assateague islands - part 3

we enjoyed our quick getaway to chincoteague and assateague islands (see here and here).  

we were lucky that our hotel had free breakfast, so we had something to eat both mornings before heading out of the hotel.  it was especially nice to be able to eat out on our balcony!  

the seafood sure was fresh and oh so good this weekend in chincoteague.  here are some of the yummy things we ate . . .

love, laurie

an anniversary weekend getaway to chincoteague and assateague islands - part 2

we enjoyed our time in chincoteague and assateague.  we were very happy to be able to see the beach and the ocean each day.  the weather was by far the nicest on friday.  we were able to enjoy the warmth, walk the beach, and dip our feet in the water.  saturday was much cooler and very windy so we barely got wet but still enjoyed the sand.  sunday was so damp and rainy that we just enjoyed it from the car!

love, laurie

an anniversary weekend getaway to chincoteague and assateague islands - part 1

our schedules have been crazy, and looking at the calendar we couldn't find any time to get away to take a vacation this summer.  the only span of time we had available was friday through sunday this past weekend, which worked out perfectly since sunday was our 11 year wedding anniversary.  

we knew we couldn't travel too far for a weekend getaway, so we spent a lot of time trying to think of where we could go.  ryan came up with the idea of taking a road trip to virginia (virginia is for lovers after all) to visit chincoteague island and assateague island.  

ryan has been to chincoteague/assateague many times for family vacations, but i had never been there before.  we were looking forward to escaping for a few days, seeing the ocean, and seeing the famous wild horses.

in chincoteague, we stayed right on the bay (with such a great view from our hotel room), ate lots of great seafood, and explored the historic district of the town.  we drove to assateague each day to see the wildlife refuge, admire the wild horses, enjoy the beach, and see the famous lighthouse.

overall, it was a nice little anniversary weekend getaway and we're grateful that the weather mostly cooperated with us.  a few photos that i snapped on my phone . . . 

love, laurie