Sticky with a Layer of Family

I hope you all had a great Memorial weekend!  If you know any veterans or someone in the military, take a moment to thank them for their service!  In our family, we've had several brave men serve our country in various branches of the military.  In particular, I want to thank my brother, Andy, for his 10 years of service in the United States Navy!  We love you and miss you!

We had such a great weekend catching up with family this memorial day holiday!  Jordan and I both took Friday off work so it was a 4 day weekend for us to spend some quality time at the lake!

I have family from the Buffalo, NY area and they flew down to Texas for the weekend.  Truly, they don't really get a well rounded Texas visit because they spend the whole time at the lake.  The lake can tend to be a little redneck, but we love it!

When we have a long weekend, there is just too much to share so I have to give you the cliff notes version.

GAMES:  There is never a shortage of activity at the lake and games are a big part of lake life!

Top Left: My future cousin-in-law, Josh, and my Uncle Kenny measuring washers to determine point value.  This weekend, Washers was the most popular game.
Top Right: We had a very rare moment where a washer was suspended in the pocket.  There was a big debate over the point value of that but I'm not really sure how that worked out.
Right Middle: My cousin Dylan decided to make a little game out of the lounge chair by having Jordan roll him around.  That didn't last long though because that furniture is heavy!
Bottom Left: Aunt Cindy and my cousin, Stephanie, playing washers!  Good form Cindy!
Bottom Right: Jordan, friends, and family playing poker.  Even though it looks like it, Jordan is not stealing the chips in the picture, he is actually passing them out.

RIDES: Everything at the lake that has wheels, is well used when we have these kinds of family gatherings.
Top: Tyler, AJ, and Dylan riding along on the golf cart.  Sophie has claimed her spot because she hates to miss a ride of any sort.  You'll notice in the background a beautiful new truck!  The Denali belongs to Uncle Kenny and 5 grown men spent a considerable amount of time "oo-ing" and "ah-ing" over the engine.
Bottom Left:  Dad is driving the 4-wheeler and again, Sophie is making sure she gets to ride.  I'm pretty sure she understands the word R-I-D-E by now.  Dad mounted a piece of plywood on the back and covered it with a portion of carpet so Sophie could get a good grip and ride along.  It's actually pretty impressive how well she can hold on!
Bottom Right: Tyler and Stephanie driving around on the golf cart.  Jordan is breezing by on the 4-wheeler in the background.

FOOD:  At the lake, there is no shortage of food!  And meals are so unpredictable!  You never know if you will have a "small" dinner of 10-12 people or if you'll have a crowd of 15+ stop by.  Food at the lake just tastes better!


 Top Left: A plate full of potluck dishes from a neighbors shrimp boil!  Some friends like to host a  neighborhood gathering and it's great to try the delicious selections!
Top Right: We had a toast to our family, service men, lake fun, and the rain!  Bless the rain!  We finally got some good showers at the lake.  I doubt it will even begin to fill up the lake but every little bit helps!
Bottom Left:  Just your average bowl of guacamole!  Mom makes amazing guac and it goes fast!  This year, she made a huge bowl of it.
Bottom Right: This is a birds-eye view of the activity around just one of the food tables during dinner.  Oh, bless the amazing cooks in our family!

And you can't forget the MEAT!

It's totally normal to have 4+ kinds of meat during a meal, right?  Dad smoked some amazing meats for us to enjoy!
Top Left: Pork Loin - I think this was my favorite.  Luckily for Jordan and I, mom sent us home with some left over pork.
Top Right: Dad working his magic at the smoker.  Master chef!
Middle Middle: Rack of ribs (just a few racks) and pork shoulder.
Bottom Left: Josh, Joanie, Cindy, and Caroline pulling pork and packing it into leftover containers!  This turned out to be a productive and hilarious chore.
Bottom Right: More pork except this is Wilbur.  You may remember Wilbur from my Easter post but don't worry, he was handled properly and went in the name of family. 

And there is more food...

Top Left: The table at the shrimp bowl!  It was tough to muscle into the line to get this picture.
Top Right: OTB salsa!   LOVE that salsa so much!
Bottom Left: Craw-fish at the shrimp boil.
Right Middle: Bakers dozen of burgers for lunch! 
Bottom Right: Strawberry and plum spirits!

ADVENTURE:  When we are at the lake, Abby almost becomes a different dog!  She regularly gets into all kinds of adventures that she'd never find in our backyard at our home.
Top: Abby happy and proud to be free and exploring! She is still fairly clean in this picture.
Bottom Left: She got herself into a bit of trouble because she did a little too much sniffing in the grass that's full of burs!  Four times I had to pull burs out of her face just so she wouldn't eat them.  She looks so guilty in this picture to me...lol!
Bottom Right: And the typical crash ensues.  By Sunday night she'd had enough of the noise and crowds.  She put herself to bed and seemed happy to be alone and asleep.

FAMILY: Does anyone else have huge family?  We had a great turn out of friends and family but, wow, we had a lot of people at the lake!  And that isn't even the whole family!  Jordan and I got some great shots to share with ya'll.

Top: My 4 uncles on my mom's side. Ray, Kenny, Tony, and Steve
Bottom: Just a few of the ladies at the lake!  Rebecka, Caroline, Grandma, Me, Megan, and Joanie

Top Left: Jordan, Tyler, and Rebecka hanging out at the neighborhood shrimp boil!
Top Right: My cousins, Megan and AJ.
Bottom Left: Aunt Cindy and Uncle Ray
Bottom Middle: Mandy and I!
Bottom Right: Mom and Joanie

We managed to circle the wagons and get a family photo while (almost) everyone was together.  I will spare you the list of family members but this is a memorable picture indeed!

Here's to the lake!

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