Our Summer Vacation - Tennessee Baby!

Friday, August 14
We leave home to travel to Indianapolis to sleep for the night and head out in the morning.
Once we get to Indianapolis, we realize that there is something special about the hotel that we are staying at. It is the first EVER Holiday Inn Express (any Holiday Inn??) to have 2 KING BEDS in EACH ROOM! It was glorious to have that much space in bed! =)

Favorite memories in Indy:
1. We ate dinner at FAZOLI'S... MMmmmm... haven't been able to have that in a LOOONG TIME!
2. We saw a man, doing a wonderful acrobatic routine on a bike with batons and peddling backwards. It brought a lot of laughter to us that night! (too bad I wasn't able to get a good picture of it! or at least a video! dang it!)

Saturday, August 15th
Left Indianapolis for Nashville, TN. On the way there, we stopped for lunch at SONIC!! YEAH!! My first ever time eating at SONIC. Although it was a very short stop there, we took the food on the road and enjoyed it on our way to Nashville. We arrived in Nashville in the afternoon, checked-in to our hotel and then went out on the town to see what all there was to see! We walked up and down Broadway Street. That is where all the bars/shops are. We sat in Cadillac Ranch for a little while and listening to 2 different guys sing (hoping to catch a break and become big stars probably!). They were good and it was nice to just sit there with a beer and nachos and listen to live music! In the evening we met up with our friend Mike Bergman and 2 of his friends! We went and heard live music up and down Broadway and had a great time! We went to a dueling piano bar, a 70's/80's dance club, sat and listened to some live country music.

Sunday, August 16th
Still in Nashville we decided to take another stroll around town on foot and then for a drive to see some more of the sights. Although we didn't actually spend too much time at these places, we did stop and see the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Parthenon, the Grand Ole Opry building, and the Ryman Theatre. Then at night we met up with Mike Bergman one last time and went and chilled to listen to some more live music, which, they were AWESOME!




Favorite memories in Nashville:
1. All the live bands playing great music! It was fun just to sit there and hear them sing.
2. Having the guys at THE BIG BANG (dueling piano bar) sing Jenny - 867-5309 for me and Mike's friend Jennie! YEAH!
3. Had my FIRST Pabst Blue Ribbon (PBR) beer.... ehhh... not too fond of it! But at least I can say that I tried it!

Monday, August 17th
After a quick stop to go buy some cowboy boots (MY 1st PAIR OF COW"GIRL" BOOTS!!!) and a souvenir or two, we left mid-morning and headed to Knoxville. We kinda just chilled once we got there until we could meet our friend Tom for dinner. We went out for some good beer and pizza and then to get ice cream!

Tuesday, August 18th
We got up early to go FISHING! Tom had taken the day off to take us out on the boat to go fishing. We drove up to Sevierville (sp? and i'm not really sure that is the town we were in, but it was in the neighborhood of the town!) to a lake I don't remember what it was called. It looked to be kinda a gloomy day, but it was actually quite nice to be out on the boat. The lake was calm, it wasn't busy with boats and it wasn't too hot! Although we didn't catch anything (ok, well, Tom caught two) it was still a nice day. And it was also nice b/c I actually got a nice suntan/burn, not even realizing it b/c it was cloudy out! (those are the best in my opinion!) Then after we packed up the boat, we went for lunch at Bass Pro Shop and then looked around there for awhile. Then it was time to head to our CHALET (cabin) in Gatlinburg. We checked in and drove up to our chalet. We were quite high on the mountain and almost to the top where the Ober Gatlinburg place was. So we lounged around in the chalet for a little bit, Matt went into the hot tub and then we got ready and went down the mountain to the quaint town of Gatlinburg for some dinner and just walking around checking out the cute little shops and such.








Wednesday, August 19th
Well, we ate at PANCAKE PANTRY, a place that Matt was told that had sweet potato pancakes. So, of course we had to go there and try 'em. Ok, well, Matt had to try them, I ended up trying their wheat pancakes.... which by the way were pretty good! And while we were eating breakfast, a decent sized storm came through the area, so we went to where else? THE OUTLET MALLS!!! Haha.... well, first we went to a winery on the way out of town and then we went to Sevierville/Pigeon Forge area to the outlet mall and 3 more wineries! And MAN DID WE BUY TOO MUCH WINE! Geesh... and spend way too much money at the OUTLET MALLS. Sheesh! Then in the evening we met up with Tom one last time and met at Johnny Carino's Italian place for dinner! It was delicious! Matt has been there a couple of times, when he would visit Tom, and that is another place that we had to go to. He swore that it was the best Italian food he's had... and man was he right. The pasta that I had was great! I dare say ALMOST if not BETTER THAN Tuscany's in Manteno. YUMMMY! (typing about it now is making me crave it... dang it!)



Thursday, August 20th
This probably by far was MY favorite day... and I'm not really sure why. It involved speeding down on a rope tied to trees and getting a good workout hiking. But maybe it was because it was two things that I never really had done (hiking i've done a little bit, but not like that) and kinda have always wanted to. So, to go into details about this day. We signed up the day before for a ZIPLINING "Tour" right in Gatlinburg. So it was supposed to be early morning, but we got bumped back because there was no one else signed up in that time slot. But it turned out great. We didn't go up too far in the mountains (ok, hardly at all, kinda a bummer, but that's ok). But we learned to zipline the correct way and slide from one tree to the next. It was fun and I would totally do it again! Then after that, Matt was a good support and said he'd go hiking with me. Ever since we planned this trip, I'd always said (to myself most of the time, to Matt closer to when we left for the vacation!) that I wanted to take a hike and if it was to a waterfall, that would be even sweeter! =) So, we stopped at the Smoky Mountains National Park Welcome Center and found out where a good hiking trail to a waterfall was and then we were off. We decided to do hike to the Rainbow Falls. When we started out, we knew that it was supposed to be 2.7 miles, but that is a LOT longer when you are hiking up hill verses on a street and can go faster. But we passed a couple beautiful waterfalls/creeks along the way, but after awhile we finally came to the waterfall that made it worth it. It wasn't HUGE, but it was beautiful. We spent a little time there, taking some photos and just relaxing a little bit before we took the trek back. And let me tell you... that trek back was a lot longer than I thought it would be and a little more painful (especially for Matt's knee) than we had thought too. We thought the worst would be going up, but not so much, it was definitely a little harder on the body on the way down and back to the car! Once back to the car, I felt a good sense of accomplishment and it was well worth it (especially since we had been eating LIKE PIGS the whole vacation so far! and we needed some form of exercise to make us not feel like complete blimps!) I was happy that Matt actually enjoyed it (aside from the part of his knees hurting really bad!) and we had fun together. After we got back to the chalet, we had a nice hot tub waiting for our aching bodies, so we sat in there for a little while and then went out for a nice dinner at a place that our friends recommended to us.... The Peddler.... like a meat/steak peddler! And MAN OH MAN... was that steak probably the BEST WE HAVE EVER HAD! YUMMMMMY!!!!! =)















Friday, August 21st
TIME TO HEAD TO BRISTOL...... (what Matt says is the whole reason for this trip... which it was..... but not for me totally!) This was one of the presents that I gave Matt for a wedding gift and he had to wait almost a whole year to use it! Haha... but i knew that he would love to go to Bristol and experience what he has heard from so many people to be an awesome race and a sweet track to be at. So we left early in the morning to head to Bristol, find the church with the camping that we were told about, set up our tent and head over to the track to see all the fun that was going on. We were able to take a free shuttle from the church to the track during the day. So we did that, stayed there a little while and then came back to take a little nap and then go back for the Nationwide Race that night. It is definitely an experience going to Bristol. Not just being inside the "stadium/track" but just the area around it. There are just people EVERYWHERE!!! After the race, they close down the main street right in front of the track and people just fill the streets!

Saturday, August 22nd
THE BIG DAY! THE SHARPIE 500/NASCAR RACE WAS FINALLY HERE!!!
Didn't do too much during the day, visited the track, got some free stuff and then went back to the campsite for a little bit to rest, then it was off to the race. The race itself was kinda uneventful. Bristol is usually known for being a short track and many wrecks, but of course the race that we go to, there actually weren't really many races. OH well, it was actually a good race between the racers. It was Mark Martin's 1000 race and he was in 1st position. So we were kinda hoping that he would win first, b/c how cool would that be for him. But unfortunately, dumb KYLE BUSCH won the stinkin' race. Matt didn't really want to talk for a minute. He wasn't too happy to say the least.








Sunday, August 23rd
All good things must come to an end. =(
We packed up our campsite (our tent) and we headed back 10 hours to home.

and that's our vacation in a nutshell.... (i really thought it was going to be shorter, but you know how i just ramble on and on....)

Seeing the GLORY OF GOD!

the Lord provides...

Well, i think it's about time that I update you all on what's going on with us.

As you know, we have sold our house and have been very busy packing. It seems like I just packed up at my parents house and unpacked at our house, now 9 months later, I'm packing it all up again! But it will all be worth it! I am super excited!

So what has been happening on our home front? Well, if you asked us a week ago, we probably would have told you that we were going to be homeless as of Aug. 5, but were still hopeful that something would come about. For a couple of weeks, we really didn't know what we were going to do for a place to live while we are building our house. We had options.... family and friends all offered their home, but we really needed a place of our own, especially if it's going to be 9 months, give or take a little bit. We were always hoping and holding out that one of Matt's dad's apartments would open, but that kinda looked like it wasn't going to happen. So when Matt was out of town 2 weeks ago, I checked out a duplex in town and an apartment in town. Both weren't ideal places to live, but with a little work in the duplex, that could work for us. So, the next week, Matt and I went back to check out the duplex together and talk about a lease with the people. Well, they wanted us to sign a 12-month lease. Now, if our house gets done in 9 months like we are hoping, we were NOT going to pay an extra $1800 in rent for nothing when we could put that towards a new appliance or something. So while we were waiting to hear back from the duplex owners if they would do a 9-month lease, the Lord made His plan for us known! SOMEONE WAS MOVING OUT OF MATT'S DAD'S APARTMENTS at the end of JULY! HALLELUJAH! The Lord is always providing for us.

So, this weekend we will be moving a LOT of stuff out of the house! Our friend Nathan has been so kind to let us borrow his car haul trailer to put most of our stuff that we don't need and can put in storage! It's amazing how much stuff we can actually fit in there. Sunday Matt and a friend or two will be moving all the heavy stuff I am not able to help him move and our last day sleeping in the house will probably be Monday night!

As this weekend comes, I'm looking forward to the exciting things that will be happening in the coming months, but it's hard not to get emotional and remember all the memories we have had in/with that house. I know it's only been 9 months since I've lived there with Matt, but it's been a year and a half since I first went over there. A lot of memories I will take away from that house (Matt I'm sure has a lot more, from before when was there):

- 1st time I went over to his house, Matt made me an awesome steak meal! Snuggling on his couch and I'm pretty sure we watched a movie!

- Our 1st Christmas season together (almost engaged/engaged) - setting the tree up together, me making a big dutch dinner with candlelight and exchanging gifts

- Being snowed in & rained in - being "forced" to stay at his house overnight when we were dating!

- Well, you know.... the "thing" that married couples do...... the memories of all that good stuff, coming back from the honeymoon to our HOME!

- Remodeling the bathroom together

- The toilet gurgling and tree almost falling on the house when Matt was out of town

- The utensil drawer that you were always forced to close twice, because after the first time you realize it never actually closed and it would hang out of the opening a little bit!

- ALL THE LADYBUGS and DEAD LADYBUGS everywhere!

- Painting with my momma!

- Decorating my very 1st & own home! Making it a home and not just a place with all off-white walls with NOTHING ON THE WALLS!! haha.... (love ya babe! - thanks for knowing that a woman would come into your life and want to have a blank slate! i am very thankful for that!)

- and MANY MANY MORE that i just can't think of right now!!

Aside from all the house stuff, work has been very busy for Matt. There have been a LOT of changes for his company. Letting people go, restructuring the way things work, and having more responsibility! We thank the Lord that Matt still has his job, but also we are praying that everything goes okay with things changing slowly and drastically in the next year and a half.

Packaging Tape, Pink Duct Tape & a Sharpie

Before I talk about the major things that are happening our lives, I thought I'd share some of the holiday fun we had this past weekend! Friday night we had a surprise 30th b'day party for our friend from church, Sheri Elzinga! We met at a restaurant and then went out for drinks/dancing/karaoke after that. Let's just say the night got interesting, some wigs and some costume outfits came out and we had a blast, laughing a lot! Here is one photo to give you an idea of the night we had.... and there wasn't even that much drinking going on..... just good clean fun! Then for the 4th, my friend Amanda and I did our 3rd annual Beecher 5K Walk, running 1/2 and walking 1/2 (we still have to be able to talk to one another!) Haha! And for the rest of the day/night we spent over at The Wheeler's house (the husband is on the fire department with Matt). Thank goodness it at least stopped raining before the guys blew off some fireworks!! Nathan and Leah were there with their 5 girls... so I just had to get in some cuddle time with Brietta and Dehlia too!!!

(My hubby will make a great dad someday)













(me and brietta... nathan and leah's 2nd to youngest girl! she's such a sweetheart!)

Now on to the big news that is happening in our life! We have a contract made up and the buyer has signed, we are getting things checkout with house inspection and termites and all that fun stuff and as of right now, the closing date on our house is August 5. So, to say the least, I need to do a lot of packing!! I have started a system of organizing and packing (trying to make it as easy as possible for everyone involved for moving/unpacking. So my 3 new best friends are PACKAGING TAPE, PINK DUCT TAPE (for labeling - very eye catching!) and a black Sharpie!!
And to throw a little extra FUN to our excitement already, we need to find a place to live before we go on vacation to TN, August 14!! Haha.....

As for buying the lot for our NEW HOUSE .... we are getting stuff done for that too! We have a contract that we will be signing that soon and the closing is supposed to be on July 31st! We have met with an architect and hopefully in 3 weeks or so we should have those back so that we can start getting bids! Here is a preview of the IDEA behind our house:

It will be close to the same layout with some minor changes!

Matt is planning on being the General Contractor on the whole project. With that I am super excited, but also nervous! He will do a great job, I know that for sure, but I know that he will get very stressed and that will add a little strain to everything. I just know that I need to be the most prepared I can for everything that he is going to ask me to pick out and just roll with the punches! So many people have told me.... if your marriage can survive building a house together, there isn't anything you can't do together! So, here's our test... haha... just kidding! I have total confidence that we will work very good together. We have the same taste in most stuff and we are both pretty easy going people! But I guess only time will tell!

HOLY CRAP!

Holy Crap!

WOW!

In a WEEK & 2 days! Wow, not something that we planned on at all!