Our Fourth of July was spent at Brian and Julie's Lake House (Chris's brother and wife). The weekend consisted of us, Brian, Julie, Miller (their 7 month old son), and Murphy (their lab), Lauren (Chris's sister) and Sully (Lauren's dog), Tom and Geri (Chris's parents), Terry and Melinda (friends of the family), and Eric (friend of the family). ALOT of people in a 2 bedroom lake house. Chris and I ended up sleeping on an air mattress in Brian and Julie's walk-in closet. Next time we have that many people I think we need to bring tents and set them up for people to sleep under the stars. It was nice though to be able to see everyone and have a good time. We brought lots of games to play at night. The best game of the weekend was "catch phrase" I highly recommend that one for any family. So Friday we spent the whole day out on the lake. Brian took a us on a boat ride to the other end of the lake. Just traveling the 4 miles to the other end is so beautiful and so relaxing. When we got back to the swimming area, we all had a bite to eat right there on the boat. Julie and I packed chicken salad sandwiches and beer and chips for everyone. When lunch was over, some of us went swimming like little Miller (check out those pictures on my flickr), and others went tubing behind the jet ski. That was alot of fun. Eric and Lauren both went flying off at one point. Terry even had a good time tubing. He wasn't sure at first, but after he got the hang of it he really enjoyed it. When everyone was done tubing, Chris took me for a ride on the jet ski down the lake and back. After our day was done down at the lake, alot of us went up to take showers and start making dinner. Most of the boys stayed down at the lake to go fishing. All in all that day was really nice!
On Saturday, we woke up to a cloudy day. We all thought that we would try and go into town and either just tube down the river or possible go white water rafting down the Ocoee River. When we got to the rafting place we asked if there were any openings for today to go rafting. And to our surprise there was one more trip and only one boat left for that trip. So we took it! I had never been white water rafting before. I was alittle nervous about the whole thing, but Chris assured me that I would have a great time and to not worry. Well he was right, it was the most fun I had ever had. The ones that went were Brian, Chris, Julie, Tom, Terry, and me. We all loved it! Saturday night we were all woken up by a huge storm that had blew in. The thunder was right on top of the house and so loud, and the lighting was amazing. We all got up and watched it for awhile.
Sunday morning we woke up to having no water cause of the storm. That was not fun but I was so glad that I took a shower the night before. So we pretty much just tried to pack things up and eat what needed to be eaten so that we all could get on the road. The weekend was really great! It was really nice to be able to catch up with everyone. Can't wait to do it again!
For me this is a surprise to be writing about my parents. I say this because growing up in there house wasn't always easy. I was the baby of the family so I did have it a bit easier then my brother and sister, I guess I wish that I would have realized that when I was young. Instead of being such a pain in the a**. But my parents have always been there for me in all my doom and gloom. I just really want to say "thank you " to them. The choices that I have made in my past have not always been good ones and my parents just kind of let me figure that out for myself. Now don't get me wrong they always put their two cents in. And when I found myself in a bad situation they were always there to help me out. For that, I am really and truly grateful! I just hope that when I start having a family that I can be just like my parents. Our family in a whole aren't as close as I would like it, so that is why I am so happy that my mom and my dad keep close and involved even though I live 12 hours away. 
