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.