1 year

We all have "demons" we fight on a regular basis whether it be restraining yourself from eating too much chocolate, shopping too much, and also having to resist that drink or drug of choice.....some have to fight these temptations off more often (every minute...second) than others. There are people also who "attempt" to act holier than thou.  (excuse me if this was offensive to anyone.....should not be taken personally....I am speaking in general) As if they have no problems they are facing and often choose to out right judge to avoid being looked at themselves. AGAIN we ALL have "demons" and it's not fair to judge those people who may have more open addictions. On to the point of this blog.....we travelled to Knoxville this last weekend to visit my younger sister who celebrated 1 YEAR of freedom!!! So very proud of her and what she has accomplished in this past year! We ate at the yummy Table 4 restaurant where she works, visited the farmer's market, went to the zoo, relaxed (a bit), celebrated her and cried (tears of happiness) with her, and just once again had a beautiful weekend!!! I have before mentioned that we are a very close knit family.....nice to have that 1 link back which has been "missing" for so long!!!

Kayden and Taylor playing in the fountain at the Market Square

Emery Grae....that face!

Yummy grilled tofu with mushrooms, red peppers, and arugula sandwich from Table 4 (where Karlie works) 

Locally made and fresh focaccia bread (ate some with a salad [have to balance some good with bad :) ]the other night....sinful!!!)

Tasting yellow watermelon....over and over

Listening to music at the market

That smile speaks for itself....freedom!!!

Gift opening

At the zoo we went to the  butterfly exhibit....1 landed on this man's hat

In the elephant building (where they are bathed) the walls are stucco like...Kayden thought this looked like a dog! She has a knack for finding shapes in clouds, walls, ect

Riding on daddy's shoulders.....

Safari land cruiser

You've ALL seen turtles before but when was the last time you've been to the zoo and pretty much EVERY reptile was awake and active???? It never happens to us!! Even the big nasty snakes were up eating mice......yes yuck BUT intriguing!!! 

Stopped at a store called Earth Fare on our way home and mom bought the girls these Fair Trade (I think they were made in Ethiopia) baskets for our almost weekly visits to our farmer's market!!! So FUN.....I thought!

Cardboard surfing

Ever heard of it??? It's become the "thing to do" in downtown Chattanooga! We've seen people in action but prior to last week had never partaken in the fun! So one day last week  Jon and I packed up the double stroller for an evening run followed by a park picnic and then some cardboard surfing!!! I highly recommend it.....you may have to come to Chattanooga though....free food and boarding at our house.

Bottom surfing....

Regular surfing...

Triple surfing....

Double surfing....

Weeeeee surfing....

Backwards surfing....

.....and sometimes just running down the hill to catch the cardboard that had decided it wanted to surf alone!!!

Call us for reservations......

Trip to Missouri....lake day!

On Sunday of our visit we headed out to the lake with Heather's parents who have a boat and sea d00! Let me preface this fun day with the fact that I am on the verge of an anxiety attack when I think of my kids being near the ocean or a lake. I don't know where this fear comes from. I am a good swimmer, we are not careless with kids around large bodies of water....on the opposite end if I don't back off a little they are going to be scared themselves and I definitely do NOT want that to happen. I do know this fear came along after I had the girls and it's just a motherly fear that, despite my mother thinking there is medication out there for this fear, is not going away anytime soon!!! We ALL (including the cutest little one for Lauren) had life jackets on the entire day. I asked if we could pray prior to heading out on the boat and once the day took off I tried to place the fear behind me and enjoy the day! It was a blast.....sea dooing, tubing, skiing, wake boarding, and smiling/laughing zipped the afternoon away! 

Chap and Kayden.....this poor sea doo did not take a rest until it was put up for the day!!

Nathan taking the girls for a spin

Addi, Emery, Jackson, Parker, and Ashton

My Em's and her daddy....it appears they are practicing how to snap fingers!

Snuggled up with Auntie Heather

What I know of water skiing I know from the countless summer days spent with the Chapman's and their patience in allowing me to learn this sport! The last time I went skiing was probably college....which has been a minute!!! I am proud to say I got up on my 2nd attempt!!! 

The girls having a blast tubing! 

Emy even went with me and thought it was funnish! 

Next 3 pictures are of me, Heather and Jon tubing and the point of this was to see how quick it took Phil to throw us off! Not so long for me and Heather but Jon was determined to hold on no matter what and his arms finally wore out so he had to give the old had to throat sign!!!

Me...so graceful! HA!!

Heather who said this was her best yoga move!!

Held out to the end....so proud of himself!!

We had a really fun day and I am definitely a bit more at ease....I WILL do this again!

Mexican feast and letter shirts

We had the opportunity to go and visit some of my high school friends in Missouri this last weekend and really had such a good time I can't even put the goodness into ONE word!!! So much fun that we thought Kayden was getting sick Saturday morning before church and as we got her some fluids and the day progressed she perked up.  So we self diagnosed her with complete fun exhaustion along with a little unintentional (aka forgetful mom) dehydration. We became friends with Heather years ago and instantly they (her parents and sister) became like our 2nd family. They are very easy, comfortable, and a BLAST to be around. Over the years we lost touch a little with marriages, getting settled in life, and having kids but recently reconnected and quickly remembered why it was we LOVED to be with each other! Even with kids mixed in it made the time even better! We really enjoyed sitting back and not only enjoying our time together as adults now but loving the fact that our kids mixed together soooo well!!! It was quite the memorable weekend and as you can imagine there were 4 camera's going off at any given moment so this will be a multi blogging weekend....

 

I wanted to take something fun for all the kids to remember the weekend with and so Jon and I did some crafting together last week prior to leaving! I purchased a rainbow of t-shirts in various sizes and thanks to Reynolds freezer paper, fabric paint, an iron, and paintbrush we made some fun "letter" shirts! 

Taylor, Emery, Ashton, Addison, Jackson, Parker, Kayden, and Lauren....to see these kids lined up straight as arrows you would never know that they had just been running around like wild indians minutes before!!! (not sure why the above 2 paragraph's are underlined)

It was really hard to even get them to act silly for 1 picture! 

Saturday evening we headed over to Heidi's (Heather's sister) for a home made Mexican FEAST!!! 

Both Heather and Heidi have beautiful homes surrounded by lots of trees....very private and I LOVED it! 

Old friends.....we haven't aged a bit! HA!!!

This sweet little girl was HILARIOUS ALL weekend long! That smile instantly appeared when the camera popped out!

THE cook!!!

Margarita's with sugar and lime zest rimmed glasses

Enchilada's, home made salsa, mushroom & cheese quesadilla's and bean/tomato/avocado dip....yep we rolled home!

Heidi and I

and to top off the meal....home made key lim pie....and mini pies for the kids!!

Phil (whom Jon lovingly calls Phil the Dill) took the kids on 4-wheeler rides which they LOVED

Parker and Kayden

Blow up slip-n-slide! It was a bit chilly that night or there may have been some adults partaking in this fun!!

Instant friends....Emery, Parks, and Ashton

My sweet Emery who really showed off her emotional skills this weekend!!!

It looks like Emery is about to take Addi out but really the kids ended the evening with some baseball and fire fly catching!!