birthday...weekend? yep, a whole weekend.

You know how some birthdays just don't FEEL like birthdays? 17 is one of those kind of birthdays but my family sure made it special, starting with a birthday party on a non-party year (we do big parties every 3 years and little celebrations on the years in between). Really, the celebration started when I got off of work Thursday and shopped all Friday afternoon for things for the party. Samantha spent the night and we had a ball. But I digress. Every day is a party at the Lyons Farm.

{Saturday 6.16}

Saturday was the partay day though and I felt so loved because all my friends came out and got sunburnt with me. Because, true friends get waterlogged with ya.

 Waiting for everyone to arrive...

That handsome brother of mine.

Gorgeous Samantha 

Father dearest.

photos of moi by Jack. he's a sneaky little guy. 

Hugs! MK & I

Rachel aka the prettiest girl ever. 

Grace

Dr. Pepper. It was really a great party just because of that. 

Watermelon aka the only fruit I can eat all.day.long

FOOOD.

Jack brought the processed sugar. 

Floats. We have so many there was barely enough room for people inside.

Kaley. Note Conner's face. Priceless.

MK

 Grace

Veronica

Clarky boy.

Rachel.

Kaley and MK, bffs.

MK and Veronica

Veronica and I

Me and Erika

Kaley & I...we've known each other the longest and we are still best friends!

Conner chilling. Literally. The pool was NOT warm. 

So many faces in this picture.

MK, Erika, and Grace

Veronica and Jack. 

Poor Sam...the water was COLD for some reason. 

Erika

Conner

Kaley

Rachie

Samantha and Clark...cousins. Note Clark flashing gang signs. Goober.

Quick intermission for cake. Four kinds of cake. Hard to explain but amazingly easy to make. Not to mention pretty dang tasty.

 Someone had the bright idea to start wrestling out in the yard. The girls watched.

 Then Mama said no to wrestling and started up arm wrestling. I lost to the one person who actually wanted to risk breaking my arm...Clark.

 manly men. 

After the wrestling matches broke up, I decided to kick Jack and he was all "Wow! You can kick high!" and Samantha said "Hey, try and kick my hand!" and I said "OK!!" and promptly had my feet fly out from under me and bruise my tailbone. Sam picked me up and moved me to the grass (because DUH it just so happened I landed on the concrete while the grass was a foot away) where I stayed until everyone left.

Both Sam's and Jack kept me company.

Such a stud :P

 They stayed in the pool until wayyy past the sun set.

Thank you to everyone who came out and made me feel so special!

{Sunday 6.17}

Sunday we went to church then headed out to eat for a joint birthday/Father's day lunch with Gran Jan and saw friends all over Cheddars. Lots of socializing. It was great.

DR. PEPPER

I like taking pictures of drinks OK?!

Clark's sign for "No more pictures, pleaseandthankyou."

After we'd filled up with delicious food, it was back home to visit with the next set of grandparents and just veg out in front of a screen. A relaxing Sunday afternoon was just what I needed!

{Monday 6.18}

Hung around the house, worked, saw my two favorite guys who came across town to visit me, and stayed up late watching Sherlock Holmes. Sorry, no pictures. CFA frowns upon flash photography.

{Tuesday 6.19}

And today. Oooh, today. It was a normal day sprinkled with lots of little things that made it amazing. Getting up early to meet Sam & Jack at the Coffee Shack, going to Walmart and not dying, going out to eat, just the parents & I. I took just a few pictures because I just wanted to live in the moment and not worry about ISO or whether the picture was in focus or not.

Breakfast...the Coffee Shack never disappoints. 

LumberSam.

Mama and her precious coffee. 

Frappe's to combat the sleep deprivation. 

FEET.

KNEES.

  

 Yep. That's my Jack for ya.

A tumbler for work from work..Happy birthday to me! 

Back home for a nap. Blissful. 

Added to my growing card collection.

Mama and I split Shrimp and Grits because if I had chicken ONE MORE TIME I was gonna start clucking.

Dad's Island Chicken.

DROOL.

Pretty sunset on the way home. Stopped eating my CFA Icedream to snap a picture.

Not pictured? Ordering a 50mm lens (SQUEE!), watching Firefly, and finally being able to say I'm 17 now.

Happy 17th birthday to me!