The Smokies

For about the last 5 or 6 years we have rented a cabin in Gatlinburg with several friends from Tech over Martin Luther King Jr. weekend. This year Matt and I went up a couple of days early and stayed at The Inn at Christmas Place. Besides not being up to my standards of clean, it did not disappoint.

Here's some of the things that made this place so fun:
After dinner one night, we arrived just in time for the last play of the bells. I was soooo excited!

This is PANCAKE PANTRY! The place where you normally have to wait an hour to get a seat....what a difference a weekday makes.

The Village by the Pancake Pantry is one of my favorite places to shop!

Check out the Christian book store that still has cassette TAPES!

Snazzy.

Clingman's Dome was closed, but we had fun site seeing on the way up.

We finished the weekend with lots of games, laughing, and fun with friends!

"You're My Better Half" *

We officially celebrated our 7th anniversary at the end of August by going to a Keith Urban concert in Nashville. We enjoyed some extra sleep, LOTS of good food, & time together!
Here's what Luke was doing while we were gone. It was our first time leaving him overnight...I don't think he minded :0)We brought a special friend home with us.... Mortimer the Moose is now Luke's traveling buddy!

*This is the title of one of Keith's songs.

Staycation

Instead of going camping in the middle of the summer, we spent a weekend at Grampa and Grammie's with Uncle Eric, Aunt Lydia, Elijah, and Haven. We went to several restaurants, walked at Long Hunter State Park, went to the neighborhood pool, played cornhole, and started a band. We had a GREAT time!


The pool was nice and warm this time so Luke really liked it. Daddy will be great at teaching him how to swim because he was a lifeguard you know :) (Pa can tell you a great story about Matt's "lifeguarding" skills.)

All nice and clean after being in the pool.

I can't remember why Matt needed my shoes, but yes, they fit just fine.

The pictures Grammie were in didn't turn out, but she was the best at cornhole. (Side note: I googled cornhole to see if it was 1 word or 2. This website http://www.playcornhole.org/ is full of info.! I guess we are joining in spreading the love of cornhole.)

This is what we all needed to do after a busy weekend.

All of us rocked it out at some point, but these are the only rockers that got caught in action. I'm thinking they should try out for America's Got Talent!