Pigeon Forge & Gatlinburg

We traveled 3 1/2 hours to Pigeon Forge to go to Dollywood.

Honestly we are a fun group!

The photographer said, "Okay be normal now!"  HAHAHA!

Loving this time with Justin!  Took him a day or two to get in the groove of being talkative and social but once he did he was on a roll!  I think going away as a couple once a year is a great idea!  We need time to build our relationship away from the normal stresses of life.  Thanks to my mom and our friend, Jessica Little, we were able to get away.

We had such a fun time with Lori and Justin Reed and Kanani and Blain Brown.  Funny because both those couples are good friends.  Kanani and Blain are in our ward and we are friends as well, but have never done a whole lot together.  Even though our kids are best friends......Brody Brown that we have on half of our trips is their son.  Anyway just funny how things work out.  We were sure grateful Lori and Kanani invited us to join them on this trip they had planned.  It was a great time!!!

I officially became a roller coaster rider this trip!

I now love roller coasters!

When Justin could opt to have dessert as a meal he did.  LOL!!!  Oh man he had some sugar on this trip!  Well we all did but his love of ice cream and soda really shined through!  I think he enjoyed himself from the look of that smile!

Even driving in the car is fun with these peeps right here!

It's good to scream like a school girl every now and then.  And that is exactly what I did on those roller coasters!  I feel 10 years younger now!

The park was pretty dead.  Well lots of people were there but they were all going to the shows.  We were just there to hit the roller coasters.  So we totally scored! 

Lori happened to get us a hotel room in the neighboring town of Gatlinburg.  So glad she did.  Gatlinburg is the coolest little town tucked in the Smokey Mountains!  We all fell in love with it!  I'd gladly go back there some time.  

We enjoyed exploring the town the following morning.

Neat entertainment spot that had musicians every hour of the day and night.

Pretty awesome when they have rocking chairs for you to sit in while you enjoy the music!  Gosh I loved that town!

Here is a picture of Gatlinburg from the top of the mountain.  We rode the skylight up to check out the view.

As we stopped to get gas on our way back to Nashville what does Justin do?  Run across the street to McDonalds to get himself a coke and an ice cream cone!  Bahaha....we all had a good laugh at how every time we turned around Justin was having ice cream!

Gosh this trip was just what my soul needed!  I needed to see Justin let loose and relax.  I needed to see that we can fit in with other couples and have a great time.  I needed to see Justin act like a little kid.  I am so grateful for this time we had and for the fun memories that we made!

Seeing Justin Reed get a candy high on the streets of Gatlinburg was hilarious!  We were all laughing so hard!!  We all let our inner fat kid out this trip!  Hoping I can put mine back in when we get back home.

Nashville, Tennessee

Might as well start off this post with a picture of food because that is pretty much what we did.......... EAT.  GOOD.  FOOD.  REPEAT.

Ribs at Peg Leg Porker were delish!

Just being silly on this couples trip!  It's always good to loosen up for a bit!  Really there were some pretty cool looking places to eat.  And we had the best coconut ice cream with almonds in it just across the street from this joint!

We had some yummy Sushi thanks to Kanani and Blain.  I could eat this again any day!

We did a food tour in Nashville in the Gulch area.  We met at the Union Station, which is now a hotel.  I loved hearing the history behind the buildings.  That's one of my favorite things about going to a new place is learning some of the history behind it.  Not that I can recall what I was told, but maybe in the next life I will.  haha...

Started off with the history of the Union Station and this appetizer.

We are a good fit with these two other couples I'd say! 

We have never traveled with this group but it really was wonderful!!!

I'd have to say the Hot Chicken and Waffles at M.  Restraunt and Bar were my favorite food item this whole trip!  Beyond delicious!

Union Station from afar.

It was a walking tour which was fun.  You get to see cool things along the way as you walk about 1 1/2 miles.  Plus it helps to walk between the eatings.  LOL!

Such cool street art!  I am a huge fan of well done graffiti!  This one rocks and is a movement around Nashville.  I love the meaning behind it...

#whatliftsyou

Cool sign in the Biscuit Love joint!

This Bonut was amazing!

Blueberry compote with lemon filling was a perfect match!

When I picked eating at the Peg Leg Porker the day we arrived in Nashville I had no idea it was such an outstanding place that it was on our food tour.  No worries because everyone was ready to eat there again.

This time we all got the pulled pork sandwich topped with slaw.  WOW....so good!

Then we were on to a chocolate factory.  Kenzie Colt, who previously worked on the show Hee Haw, is the founder of this place.  She was actually there and we got to meet her.  I so wish we would have taken a picture with her.

These buttery bites were yummy!

Chocolate with a little spice kick was a nice combination too.

Then we ended with tasting different juices.

The apple juice was the best I've ever had!

One night we had dinner with Brad Hull, from the Nashville Tribute Band and Due West.  Justin Reed is his cousin so that's really why we had dinner with Brad and his cute family.  It was good to visit with them.

After that Brad told us about a cool little place having a song writers jam.  We listened to 5 song writer sing some of their originals.  So crazy these people have written for George Straight, Lee Bryce, Garth Brooks and many others.  You forget that there is often a song writer behind arts hits.  It was a good time!

As we headed out for Pigeon Forge we stopped for breakfast at Biscuit Love.  It did not disappoint!

Spicy candied bacon was good!

Such a wonderful trip and it's only half over!!!

Salsa Fest Time

Oh how I love this time of year!

Fall is in the air and I can tell because the kids have a gazillion dance performances it feels like.....lol.

These boys are AWESOME!  They really steal the show with this production number.  Hunter even gets to kiss a girl on the cheek at the end.  Logan and Gavin tried to argue that they also needed to kiss girls on the cheek.  Sounds just like those two right?!?

These boys had a really hard time "pretending" like they hate school and that they like girls for this number.  HAHAHA..... NOT that came pretty natural to them!  No acting involved.

Sure love watching our kids perform.

Mac, JP and their two little came with us and we all enjoyed sampling all the yummy and HOT salsa. Might be paying for that later today.....yikes!

Way to go Hunter!  What a stud!

Kiersten rocked the stage as always!

Look at those gorgeous girls!

They all did amazing and it was a fun show, even though it was super hot!

I love my Kiersten girl!

Happy Birthday Mr. Grant!

To add to the hectic week, I had Grant's birthday party on Thursday of Homecoming week.  It really was either now or in about 4 weeks.  So I "took one for the team" so to speak.  Who needs sleep anyway right?

It all started with this cute invitation!  And yes you read that right it was a campout sleepover party!  If you had any question as to whether I was crazy or not.  Well this is clear proof that I am indeed crazy!

But seeing the excitement in Grant's eyes as him and I planned this party was totally worth being exhausted!  We borrowed a tent from Quincy and Gloria, of course we only own a very small tent that Hunter has used for scouts.  We aren't the tent camping type.

We had a weenie roast....

Along with bottled root beer!  These boys hit those pretty hard.....such partiers!

They also had a BLAST playing capture the flag with the new cool glow in the dark set I bought. They all really loved it. Must have played 10 rounds of capture the flag!!

Logan gave Grant a knife that use to be his.  I love that my boys took my advice and just re-gifted stuff for Grant.  Grant was super excited!

Grant was happy with all his gifts!

Hunter hurried and wrapped up something special for Grant....

I don't know who was happier Grant or Hunter!

Mr. Grant has a thing for Elephants.......he LOVES them!

Then Justin hid glow in the dark bugs and lizards.  The boys really enjoyed finding these.

Then it was time for s'mores!!!

Rigdon Claridge is such a cute kid!

Okay so I might have planned s'mores just because I wanted one....hahaha!  Oh how I love me some s'mores!

Then it was time to calm these kids down for the night.  Might I mention that it was about 11:00 at night.  A few of the boys had to go home for the night, but they will return in the morning for a couple more fun things.

 Grant, Rigdon and Ryker ended up having a hard time going to sleep.  So around 12:30 I went out there and stayed in the ten with them.  Finally around 3:00 I was able to come back inside the house.

The next morning we had breakfast, which consisted of none other than BIRTHDAY CAKE!!  WOOT WOOT!  

The kids were all excited about having birthday cake for breakfast!

Then we all went on a Ranger ride out in the desert.

These boys were in heaven!

We found a spot where the boys could search for cool rocks!  Crazy enough there were tons of indian arrowheads.  Each boy found 3-4 arrowheads!  They were THRILLED!!!

We had a great morning and who ever placed those arrowheads there was one smart cookie! Hehehe.....

After that I took all these cute kids home and had just enough time to get Kiersten to the places she needed to go.  And get us all to the homecoming parade.

Grant LOVES his birthday gift from Justin and I!

It was a fun birthday party!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR. GRANT!

We Love You!

7 Things I LOVE About Mr. Grant

1.  His kind heart!  He is so good to everyone around him!

2.  I love the deep conversations he gets in to.

3.  His infectious smile!  This is one handsome guy right here!

4.  I love watching him admire this older brothers.  They truly are his heroes!

5.  I love watching some good Grant treats Ella!  He is a wonderful big brother to her!

6.  Love watching Grant play soccer.  He is quite the athlete.  Him and another kid on his team score most of the points!

7.  I love how many complements I get on how well behaved Grant is!  He is an amazing kid!