happy 23rd john!

this past friday (6/29) john celebrated his 23rd birthday! i went up thursday afternoon after summer school to spend the weekend celebrating with him. we went to dinner at a little restaurant in downtown culpeper on thursday since we would be on the road friday night. although my seafood wasn't anything to talk about, john's steak was tasty and we had a nice long dinner over a bottle of red wine. a perfect dinner if you ask me!


john went to work on friday from 7-5 while i headed up to leesburg to meet some of my friends for a day of shopping! kristie and melissa, two college buds who were also in my major, met up with me for a fun afternoon of shopping. we shopped til we dropped and then i headed back to culpeper to wait for john as he got off work. once he got home, we packed for the lake and were off once more!

we met kelly (john's sister) and her hubby, kevin, in charlottesville. from there we all piled into kevin's car and headed to smith mountain lake. this was my first visit to the lake so i wasn't sure what to expect. boy was i in for a surprise!

the winstead (john's mom & stepdad) and the tanis (john's aunt deb & uncle dave) families bought the lake house together back in 1996. the beautiful home is filled with family photos of many a weekend spent skiing, relaxing, boating & jumping off the top deck of the deck! the house is situated in a quiet cove off the rather busy lake, the ideal spot for a relaxing weekend away from it all. saturday was a bit overcast, with a rainy afternoon; however, we had a great time enjoying each other's company and simply relaxing. the skies cleared up around 4:00 and we had some more lake time before dinner at mexico viejo, also on the lake. we piled into the boat while captain john drove us to & from the restaurant.

playing on floaties!

sadie, the SML long-jump unofficial champion

the whole gang!

rockin' the boat!

captain john

barbie, kelly & aunt deb

with the birthday boy!

kelly & kevin

aunt deb & uncle dave
(with the yummy margaritas!)

on the dock after supper

sunday we woke up to beautiful sunshine peeping in through the miniblinds. after a hearty, homemade breakfast, we headed out for a morning of skiing and boating.










after lunch we had a little more water time before it was time for kelly, kevin & myself to hit the road again. it was a great weekend spent with the person i love the most and his incredible family. we're heading back for a quick visit again this weekend to celebrate the 4th; i could get used to this! :)