Monday, October 22, 2012

Fall in the Mountains

Happy Anniversary to Jason's parents!
They have been married for 53 years today!

In order to celebrate, they wanted to go to Pigeon Forge, TN and invited Jason and I to go with them. We, of course, said yes! It's an absolutely beautiful time of year to be in the mountains.

We took the Blue Ridge Parkway through the Smoky Mountains. The leaves have definitely changed and everything was beautiful. We stopped at Waterrock Knob Overlook to take a few pictures.



After lunch in Gatlinburg, we went to Ober Gatlinburg to ride the sky tram. The sky tram takes you from downtown Gatlinburg up the mountain to the ski resort area. From there you can take a ski lift up to the very top of the mountain. It was so much fun. The scenery was breathtaking. We even saw a deer feeding on the side of the mountain under us.

View from the top!
Jason's Parents at the top

Us at the top
From the very top of the ski lift
On the Ski Lift
View from the sky tram
After checking into our rooms in Pigeon Forge, we decided to go to a dinner show at the Smith Family Dinner Theater. It was a singing/comedy show. When we got there an employee gave me an index card and told me I was chosen for a door prize. He was a little sketch about it, so I figured it would be more complicated than someone just handing me a gift. I was right. I was called up to the stage along with 3 other women and 4 men. Then we had a hula hoop contest! Boys against girls. I still can't believe I hula hooped in front of all those people! They did end up giving each of us a CD and some coupons as a prize though. Jason got it all on video. I'm surprised he hasn't posted in on Facebook!

That's me, middle left.
The following day we had breakfast at Applewood Farmhouse and stocked up on our absolute favorite apple butter from The Apple Barn.
Then we were off to Dollywood.


At Dollywood we:
Rode all the roller coasters, checked out the 25 pound apple pie, watched the making of sorghum syrup, rode the train, caught a show, went to the Grist Mill for some fresh cinnamon bread, and fed the ducks and fish.
We had a great time!

On our way back home, we drove through Cade's Cove. It was a great drive. We were able to see more beautiful scenery and see some wildlife. We saw several black bears, deer, and turkeys.

One of the does.

One of the churches



We had a wonderful time! A big thank you to Jason's mom and dad for inviting us!

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Pumpkin Carving

Jason and I bought our pumpkin a couple of weeks ago 
and decided that it was about time to carve it!

Our pumpkin before
First, we had to pick up a pumpkin carving kit! 
We picked out our favorite pattern and got started.
It was my job to scoop all the goo and seeds out of the inside.
Jason is the artistic one, so he traced the pattern onto the face of the pumpkin.

Tracing the pattern on
Then, he used the little tools to carve it out. 
He did an awesome job, and it looks fabulous!

Cutting out the pattern
Now we have some festive fall decor!

Finished product! 

Monday, October 8, 2012

Weekend Update

This weekend was filled with family and friends. 

Jason went to Florida with his dad and brother-in-law on a fishing trip.
They left on Friday and went out on Saturday morning.

Jason and his dad
They caught several trout and a few bull sharks.

Trout
While Jason was gone, I went shopping with my mom, went to a birthday dinner with friends, and had a Saturday to just chill.

Jason got back late on Saturday night. 
Sunday morning we watched church online, then had lunch with Jason's parents.
After lunch we went to the park for a first birthday party!

The birthday girl with some of her gifts.
Because the party was at the park, we took Daisy with us. Miss Lexi loves dogs!

Playing with Daisy's ball
They even took a short ride in the new wagon!
The party was a lot of fun, and Daisy got completely worn out chasing a ball.

These are the outfits Mom and I picked out for Lexi. Super Cute, right?
On the way home from the party, we stopped and picked up our pumpkin. With the weather today and the pumpkin it's starting to really feel like fall.
It's time to start pulling out the chili and chicken and dumplins recipes.

It was a wonderful weekend.
I'll leave y'all with a picture of Daisy in her Halloween costume.


She's a bumble bee!
What do you think?