We're back and tan!

We had such a great vacation at Garner State Park. If you have never been to Garner, you should try to go.

I used the word 'try' here on purpose. I called for 1 month every single day at 9 am for reservations only to find that the only time available with all of the spots and cabins that we needed was during the end of May. School wasn't even out yet so I think that had everything to do with us getting in. But, this poses a problem for us in the future when our children are in school.

But, the benefit of this to us this year was that we felt like we had the park and river almost all to ourselves.

Needless to say, getting into Garner is a game- a very competitive game. I LOVE games, but I have not been able to wrap my mind around this game that I so badly want to play so my family can enjoy Garner every year.

I've heard of families that have been going there for decades. It is such a wonderful place. Our family only left the campground ONE TIME and that was to eat dinner at a local restaraunt the first night there. Other than that, we filled up our time floating around in the river, jumping off of cliffs and rope swings, working on our tans, snorkeling, biking, climbing mountains (Jason- not me), sitting by the fire, and hanging out with friends.

My goal was to look around at other campgrounds off of the Frio River to see if it might be easier to get reservations there. But, after falling in love with this place all over again, I'm pretty sure that other places would not be near as great as Garner.

.......The Set-Up.......

My husband is a breakfast cooking genius. He makes the best breakfast! And the amazing thing about it is that he LOVES cooking breakfast. We ate breakfast burritos with steak, potatoes, egg, cheese, and onion in them almost every single morning. Yum-Oh!


Another highlight was my husband taking me dancing! Garner hosts a nightly dance with a juke box and everything under this oak tree.


Laney Rae was hilarious in the water. As long as she had rocks on her floatie to play with, she was happy. I had no idea that she loved rocks this much! She also got quite the tan- except for in her roll cracks. Those are still white. Precious!


Kaylyn decided early on that a life jacket was not enough to keep her head above water. So, she added the arm floaties to her floating ensemble.


My husband, along with a few other people in our group (including a woman, her children, and a man with a baby in a front carrier), climbed this mountain referred to as 'Old Baldy'. Wow!

The Frio River is so clear and clean. You can snorkel around and see some pretty beautiful things. Here is Jason with a crew of friends snorkeling.


I have to admit that I'm not the best at taking pictures while on vacation which is pretty pathetic. Partly because I have an enormous camera to drag around and worry about something happening to it. I was smart enough to bring Jason's point and shoot camera, but not smart enough to remember that I actually brought it.

My husband blessed my socks off by letting me sneak away for a morning bike ride by myself to photograph a portion of the park.

Here are a few other photos I snapped at Garner State Park and the Frio River.

Busy Good Times

We are in the midst of getting ready for vacation! Woooohoooo!

We are spending a week camping at Garner State Park with 7 other families. This trip would only be possible because my sister and brother in law are going to live on the farm for a week taking care of things........things that are too many to even list. We are so appreciative of them. "Thank you" doesn't even cut it.

I'm also thankful to get to have farmer Jason all to ourselves.

I've been beyond busy getting the camper ready, the house packed, and the house cleaned and ready for my sister's family to live here the week. On top of that, I have two weddings when I get back. One of the weddings is the day after we get back.

These are my last and final weddings this season in my life- for the next few years anyways. Our family isn't getting any smaller and neither is the farm. The Lord has made it very clear to me that this is something that needs to go right now. I've held it very loosely in my hands from the beginning, so I'm good with that. I know that the Lord will continue to grow and use my gift in other areas of my life. My love and passion for photography will never cease. It is part of me.

Besides, I have plenty of photo opps between my family and the farm animals. There is always something to shoot and uniquely capture within my midst.

All of this is to say, I've been busy!

But, this next week, the plan is to RELAX, float down the Frio River, and have a good time with friends. It is beyond beautiful there. I had no idea a place this beautiful existed in Texas.

Jason and I have discovered something weird about us. It is a good weird thing. We are overly nice and giddy to each other while preparing for vacation. It almost sounds as if we are right out of a 50s sitcom or something.

"Darling Jason dear. Would you care to load those chairs up in that wonderful RV?"

"Sure thing, Lynsey love. You are the twinkle in my eye."

This, of course, is an exaggeration, but our conversations are definitely higher pitched and more gushy than normal. I think it is just plain sweet and adds to the wonderful vacation we are about to go on.

I thought I'd leave you with some things that I've finished up editing before the trip. I didn't want to leave my brides hanging while I was gone. Now that these are done and out of the way, on to more packing and getting excited!

Meet Melissa. She is a precious country girl. Can you tell? She and I have grown to become friends, as is very typical with most of my brides. I can't wait for her wedding in Brenham at Lillian Farms. It is sure to be gorgeous.





Meet Courtney. She is as sophisticated as she is sweet. Her wedding is my last and final wedding at La Cantera in San Antonio. This wedding will be amazing as my last one!