Family Vacation

When Tyler and Kaelyn got out of school on Friday, we brought them home and ate lunch. Then we asked them if they wanted to go on a trip. To which they enthusiastically replied "YES!". I already had suitcases packed and Chuck had put them in my car before going to pick the kids up from school. So after getting the last minute things together we started out on our journey to the mountains of Tennessee. On Friday we stopped north of Atlanta and stayed the night in a hotel and then we were back on the road Saturday morning. We made it to our cabin that afternoon. After checking out our cabin and unloading all of our luggage, we headed to the local Kroger grocery store there in Pigeon Forge to buy groceries that we would need for our stay.

On Sunday we rode go-karts in Pigeon Forge. Later on we went into Gatlinburg, our first stop was at Ripley's Davy Crockett® Mini-Golf.

Kaelyn saw the Gatlinburg Sky Lift and wanted to ride on it. Tyler said he wasn't interested in going on it, so Chuck bought two tickets for him and Kaelyn to ride. Tyler and I sat at the bottom of the mountain and waited for them to get back. Then we walked around Gatlinburg and stopped in at numerous shops.

For supper Chuck and I wanted to go to Bennett's Pit Bar-B-Que. The last time that Chuck and I had ate there was on our honeymoon almost fifteen years ago. It was just as good this time as it was back then. I ordered their Smokehouse Combo with pulled pork, quarter chicken, and pork spareribs along with a side of fries and bar-b-que beans. I had some of the best sweet tea that I have ever tasted before. This is a place I highly  recommend you eat at if you are ever in Gatlinburg.

Don't you just love this little container that they brought our BBQ sauce in?

After we ate we drove back to our cabin for a relaxing evening with more time in the hot tub. We also played a few rounds of pool. Tyler really enjoyed that pool table and wanted to know if we could get a pool table for our house. I asked him where on earth did he think we would put it if we got one. His reply to me was, "In my bedroom.", I asked him where did he plan on sleeping at, because his bed would not fit if there was a pool table in there. You could tell he was putting some thought into his answer, he then said, "I could just sleep on top of the pool table, I like a firm bed." I just about fell over laughing. He wasn't joking though, he was serious about it. Our final answer to him about getting a pool table was a big "NO".

Monday morning started our day with being cold and overcast (the weather was nice and comfortable on Saturday and Sunday). We ended up spending some time in Pigeon Forge going to some different shops. Then we went back into Gatlinburg where we stopped for some photo opportunities.

Kaelyn asked if we could eat pizza for lunch, so we went in search of a pizza place that was local. We didn't want to eat somewhere that we had back home. We did find this little place called Best Italian Cafe & Pizzeria . After eating here I told my family that I didn't want to eat pizza again back home, because it wouldn't be anywhere near as good as what I had just eaten. That was some very good pizza.

After lunch we had to go and walk off some of that pizza. So we walked the streets of Gatlinburg one last time. Tyler and Kaelyn both had some spending money that was about to burn a hole in their pockets. They knew what they wanted to buy so we went in search for those coveted items. A knife or several knives for Tyler and Kaelyn got a new purse and wallet. We did one last fun thing before heading back to our cabin. It was Go-Karts. I decided not to ride this time, so it was just Chuck, Kaelyn and Tyler that were riding.

After the go-karts we went back to our cabin and started getting our things packed back up. Then after supper we went to bed early. On Tuesday we were up early and ready to make the long trip back home. Even now almost a week later our kids are still talking about our vacation to the mountains. We had a great time and are looking forward to making plans for another vacation next year.

Fun at the Park

Do you ever have those days where you say to yourself, "It just doesn't get any better than this."? Well today has been one of those days. The weather was great, not to hot and not to cold, just right.  I picked my kids up from school (they get out at noon on Friday's) and took them out for lunch. This was a treat for them as usually we come home and eat a sandwich or something that is quick. Then we stopped by the Church to see my husband for a few minutes and also for the kids to change out of their uniform clothes and into their "street clothes" (jeans and shirts). After that it was off to the city park where they played for almost two hours.

I was able to get some reading done while they played. Every now and then they would come over and just sit on the bench with me and just talk. I really enjoyed my time with them and am so thankful for them. Sometimes you just have to stop in this busyness that we call life and reflect on what is important to us and everything/everyone we are thankful for. I know I need to make the time to just put "stuff" to the side and spend more quality time with my children, goodness knows they are growing up way to fast and before long will be on their way to college. Okay so I need to stop before I start crying. Enjoy the pictures of the kiddos at the park.

Winter Conference

As I said in my last post, Chuck and I had the privilege to take a group of High School students from our Church to Pigeon Forge last weekend. The topic of our conference was "Ask Anything". We had some good questions from different students that attended. Questions that pertained to dating, college, missions, even persecution for being a Christian. We had a total of three sessions and spent a lot of time in discussion and answering questions from a biblical point of view. There were answers to questions and even closure for some hurting. I have to say that I love each one of these students that went with us, and I would go anywhere with them. We really have a great group, and have never had any trouble with them. God has truly blessed our Church with these students. It is a blessing to be able to work with them.

While we were in Pigeon Forge we of course had our study time, but we also had some fun. One of the highlights of the cabin was the pool table. Everyone had a turn playing, for some it was the first time they had played. There was also some time for playing in the snow (what little bit we had). It snowed every day while we were up there, but just wasn't quite cold enough for it to stick to the ground.

Since this was also the weekend of Valentine's Day, and these gal's and guy were away from home, Chuck and I decided that we would do a little something for them. We left the cabin for just a little while on Saturday morning (Mrs. Kathy and Mr. Alan were there with the students) and found this neat little bakery just down the road from our cabin. It was the Wildflower Bake Shop & Boutique. We went in and looked to see what all they had in way of a cake to feed eleven of us. They didn't have anything baked that we were looking for, so we asked if they could bake one for us that day. The sweet ladies there said yes that they could and it would be ready around 3:00 p.m. So we placed our order for a white cake with vanilla icing and decorated for Valentines. We were not disappointed with the turnout of this cake. I do have to say that it was one of the best cakes that I have ever eaten. Thank you ladies at the Wildflower Bake Shop & Boutique.

On Sunday afternoon we went into Gatlinburg, (where we were going to go tubing in the snow, but the sessions were booked)  we walked around and visited the shops there and ate dinner. Then we went to Cooter's Place to ride the Go-Karts and play some miniature golf.

Needless to say, we all had a great time. It was so good to get to know each of the students better. I was able to have some good conversations with the girls. They opened up and shared with me some of the things that they are going through at school, with friends, and even with people that don't like them. I thank God for this opportunity that I had to spend with them.

Sneak Peak

This past weekend Chuck and I along with two other adults from our Church took a group of our high school students to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee for our Winter Conference. We had a great time, and some really great discussion in the study sessions that we had with them.

The cabin that we stayed in.

I wanted to give you a little peak into our weekend and I will be back to give you more pictures along with a better description of our weekend.

Happy Birthday Chuck!

Today is my husband's birthday. The four of us celebrated his birthday last night here at the house. We had steaks, twice baked potatoes and salads for our dinner. Then we had an ice cream cake from -

We had the Cake Batter Confetti Cake. It had layers of red velvet cake & cake batter ice cream with sprinkles wrapped in a creamy white frosting.It also had kit-kat bars on top of it.  If you are looking for a good ice cream cake, I can say that Cold Stone will not disappoint.

While this is not a picture of the actual cake that we had, (the picture I took didn't turn out) ours did look like this one. It was sooo good.

When we got home from Church today there was a message on our answering machine from our two little nephews, Waylon (3) and Wyatt (2), telling "Uncle Truck Happy Birfday!" It was so funny because they kept saying it over and over. We had a good laugh over the message. Those guys love Chuck and he loves them just as much.

Happy Birthday Honey!

Show us how you live . . . Beauty tips Favorite Hair & Makeup Products

I thought I would join in on the "show us how you live" going on over at Kelly's Korner.  Today's topic is "Beauty tips - Favorite Hair & Makeup Products".

Since my hair is so fine, I have a hard time finding a product that gives my hair the volume that it needs to keep it from laying flat on my head. So far I have not found a hair product that I really like.

When it comes to my makeup and skin care I use Mary Kay®. I start out with this:

TimeWise® 3-In-1 Cleanser

then I follow up with:

TimeWise® Age-Fighting Moisturizer

I absolutely love this:

Mary Kay® Mineral Powder Foundation

Mary Kay® Waterproof Mascara

The one thing that I have found that I don't like to run out of is eye makeup remover. I've tried several, and by far I think this one is the best.

 

 

Oil-Free Eye Makeup Remover

Okay, now for the last thing that I want to share with you. I like to have something on my lips, and I have found this (yes it is a MK product).

Mary Kay® Tinted Lip Balm Sunscreen SPF 15*

This botanical-enriched formula is like having three lip products in one – moisturizer, lip color and lip protection.

The color that I have is Poppy and I Love it.

I am not a Mary Kay® consultant, but I do have a great MK lady that I love dearly.

Thanks for dropping by. Hope this post was helpful for you.

Saying So Long, Insecurity

Several months ago I wrote about how I had won two tickets to a Beth Moore event of my choice to attend in 2010.  So I decided (it wasn't a hard decision) to offer one of the tickets to my sister Crystal.  We looked at each event and finally decided that we wanted to attend the So Long, Insecurity event. At the time that we looked into attending this particular event, I didn't know that she would be having a book coming out to go through before the event. Then in November I read a post on the LPM Blog about Beth's new book:

This book went on sale today. I have anxiously been awaiting this day for several months now, so of course I went and purchased my book. The one thing that I am really excited about in getting started reading this book is the study that will go along with it. To find out more about that, you can go HERE and Beth explains how this will work.

I can't wait to start this venture with my sister Crystal. We are ready to say "So Long, Insecurity you've been a bad friend to us".  And to those of you who have purchased the book and are going to be going through the study too, I pray that you will also be saying the same thing. 

We can do this!