An awesome vacation!

(You can click on the pictures to see a bigger version...some of these look so tiny just looking at the photos on here.)
We had an awesome vacation last week. It was suppose to be a get away for Chad and I but we had a change of events and ended up taking the girls with us. What a blessing it turned out to be for our family. As we were traveling, we realized that this was our first family vacation that included just the five of us. We went to Pigeon Forge, TN. We stayed in a cabin that we found on vrbo.com. It was just perfect for us! Definetly was nicer to come home to that at the end of a busy day, instead of a stale hotel room.

We went to the Ripley's Aquarium, rode the sky lift, went to the Comedy Barn, The Black Bear Jamboree, and hiked up a Great Smokey Mountain trail called Laurel Falls to see a beautiful waterfall. We also walked around the Tanger Outlet mall and found some shoes that we desperatly needed. It was a busy week but we wanted to make the most of it since we weren't sure when we would be able to do that again.

We went to this one resturant thinking we could get a good steak...well while we were waiting we looked at the menus...we quickly took our names off the list...steaks were $23...so I was thinking...this resturant was not an option for us...no biggie...we found another resturant called Calhoun'....so yummy and reasonable!!!

While we were in Gatlinburg, they were having a Santa Claus convention...so we saw swarms of Santas...we got out of there before the parade started...we were exhausted from the aquarium and all the walking!

Our car started messing up a little on our trip and we were so blessed that it held on while we were gone and started really messing up when we arrived home. We also were blessed that Autumn started getting sick on the way home and she wasn't sick the whole trip. She was so sweet to wait to throw up til about 15 min after we walked in the house after our 8 hour drive.

We arrived back home Thursday evening. We spent Friday unpacking and getting things cleaned up around here.

It was nice to have a few days to just hang out after getting back in town so that we could recover. Why is it that you always need a vacation from vacation? All the packing and laundry...its making me tired just thinking about it!

Our Get Away

Every now and then, Chad and I try to get away for a weekend to bond again. You know how life gets crazy busy and you just sort of pass in the night. One of us is taking one to practice, the other is staying home getting the others ready for bed and getting supper cleaned up...just the normal everyday stuff. We usually only do one a year and try to keep it cheap because...well we have too! Earlier this year we went to a state park and I have to say that was our BEST getaway ever. We just kinda hung out...enjoyed God's creation and enjoyed each other's company instead of going all the time.

Thankgiving weekend, we decided to take another quick, cheap trip to Memphis. The kids stayed with Nana and Pappy. We are ever grateful for them being willing to keep all three! It wasn't the best time we've ever had, but it was good to get away for a while. Everything in Memphis was so expensive to do, so we just went to a couple of museums and then out to eat. We went to Sun Record Studio, where Elvis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis were discovered. They had an awesome tour guide who really made it worth it! We went to the famous Beale Street and ate. That wasn't so fancy. It was kinda neat learning the history of the blues and all. We also went to the rock and roll hall of fame museum. But everything was so touristy.

Here are a few pictures!


This is by the river at night. Just across the way we could see Arkansas. Isn't that weird that 20 min away was Mississippi, we were in Tennessee, and you could see Arkansas.
This is the resturant we ate at Friday night. This lady was just a singing the blues. It was kinda funny to listen to her. She almost sounded like she was in church trying to get an "amen" section going.
This is one view down Beale Street
This is a lamp at the other resturant we ate at on Saturday. How weird is that, that people signed the lamp.