When I was younger, my granddad had a house on Lewis Smith Lake. We would spend a large part of our summer there, riding the jet ski and being pulled behind the boat on an inner-tube or knee-board or skis.

When Justin and I met, we built our relationship at the lake. Justin was an avid wake-boarder and I instantly fell in love with the sport. Every weekend, we would go out on our friend’s boat from sun-up til sun-down.

Justin proposed at Smith Lake on one such weekend, on a little island we now refer to as ours.  (Please excuse the graininess of the above photo, but I got a little nostalgic for a minute.  I found this old picture in an album and just had to include it.  You know it’s true love when you wakeboard together, right?)

Fast forward a few years and kids later and we still love the lake. Our kids love the lake. It’s just not nearly as easy to get out there now. My granddad sold his house and we didn’t have a boat. We had a jet-ski, but it’s hard to share a single jet-ski between nine people!

For years, my mom has begged my dad to buy a boat. For years, my dad has been searching for THE boat. One that had everything he wanted on a boat for the price that he wanted. Two weeks ago, his patience paid off.

He bought a Bentley pontoon that seats 16 people. It runs fast enough to pull an inner-tube and knee-board.

We have spent the last two Saturdays running up and down the lake. The kids have inner-tubed for hours. We’ve jumped off tall rocks into deep water. We’ve rode around, checking out all the big houses and pretty land and just relaxing.  Everyone has taken turns driving the boat.

We’ve installed a love for water and the lake into our kids and I couldn’t be more proud.  Lake life is THE life, yo. 🙂