Estill

Sunday I had another shower to attend in Chattanooga for Tot and afterward we forge ahead to Estill Springs, the home of Davis! Tammy had planned a shindig so that the entire family could see us in 1 night instead of us having to travel different places to see them. This was a blessing, thanks Tammy! We had good food with good people and ended in the pool, a great way to end an exhausting day! The next day I had an HOUR long massage, thanks to Tammy and Dwayne, and it was amazing :) Davis was able to stay in Estill longer than me and I am sure his parents loved him being home, I hope you all had a good time!

Soccer Taco

As always we try to plan a night with the Friday night crew while we are in town and usually try to make it to Soccer Taco, our favorite Mexican joint in Knoxville. They have the best margaritas out of everywhere we have been! This time only Buddy and Mary could make it which was a disappointment, but we still had a blast! We definitely missed Jim and Debbie, but we could talk for hours with Buddy and Mary and that's what we did. We can't wait to have some Friday night members visit us in Seattle!!! hint hint!

Tata Roo's

Nolan and Jonas turned 3 while I was home and not only did we go to Chuck E Cheese, the Aquarium, Discovery Museum, BUT there birthday party was at Tatarus, a huge warehouse type building with all the gymnastic equipment you can imagine. Davis and I had a blast which was expected. We played a lot by ourselves, sorry Mandy. We do love your kids, but we haven't fully grown up yet.

my goal of the day, accomplished

Davis doing a handstand on the balance beam

Chuck E Cheese

Sorry about all the posts in one or two days depending on when I get through them all, but I have been super busy and am just now catching up!

Two weeks ago...Tuesday night was Chuck E Cheese night! It was GREAT fun. We celebrated the boys 3rd birthday by eating pizza, playing games, and cotton candy. I love spoiling them when I am in town, it’s my job! I helped the boys play a lot of games and then I got hooked on a game myself well not myself…..Greg and I started competing in the basketball game and I think we could have played all night.
HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY to Nolan and Jonas! You boys are little lights to my life and I love spending time with you when I am in town!

I don't have any pictures of Chuck E Cheese or their actual birthday party because I was playing the whole time.....maybe this will convince my sister to actually send some to me!!!!

A day with Dad

Last Thursday was a dad day and a much needed one at that. I feel like it has been forever since dad and I had a day just us and it was fantastic! We went to lunch with Barb and then to the resort’s pool to soak up some rays and chat. After that dad had an errand so Barb and I worked on my dress for Tot’s wedding, it needed to be taken up about 3 inches. We accomplished our goal and it looked great. Then to RT’s for dinner and the store for groceries for Mandy’s shower the next night….can someone say busy?!? Thanks for a great day Dad and Barb! I miss seeing you guys and hope to see you in Seattle one day soon! Thank you for all that you do! You are one of a kind, Dad and I love you for many reasons, but this one tops the list! I am thankful to be your daughter :)

Mother's Day

This mother's day I was in Seattle and once again didn't get to see my mother, but I knew I would be home soon so I saved a day just for mom and me when I was in town. It was a very special day because it rarely happens that we get to spend time together just us and by rarely I mean never! We went to see the movie, Killers, while enjoying a HUGE tub of popcorn, had lunch at McAlister's (we love their chicken salad), shopped a little bit (just enough for me and mom).

It was a great mother daughter day and I loved being able to spend the day just with her. She is an amazing mom and I miss her daily. I am so thankful to have such a wonderful mom and best friend. Thank you mom for all you do and for being you! I hope you know how much you mean to me. I love you!

Baggage Returns

After arriving in Nashville and realizing that carry-on/checked because there wasn't enough room because we were the last ones on the plane, was delayed in Atlanta and the flight we were on was the last one for the night soooo the luggage wouldn't show up in Nashville until the next day and it was the luggage with all the dog stuff including food and we were leaving the dogs with Davis' brother, Daniel that night because we were heading to the beach in 28 hours.....we decided to have it sent to Knoxville by plane and to our house by van because it had Davis' flip-flops, my computer and phone charger and a random assortment of other things that seemed more important for us to have at the beach than the dogs to have (we did buy them food, we are decent parents). It never showed up at home so we called and called and by we I mean Davis (he is a really good husband)! And by called and called, I mean at least 100 times and I mean Nashville, Knoxville, and Myrtle Beach airports because when it didn't show up at home, we decided to have it flown to Myrtle Beach and delivered to the resort. So after many flights and many airports it was finally delivered to the resort on Sunday, I think....I have slept since then. And all but spilt dog food everywhere it was in tact with everything we needed including my toothbrush although there was dog food in my toothbrush case so luckily Greg had loaned my one because that is and was gross!

But really......this luggage has to be hard to lose!

Beast turns 4 or 28!

Gets a hair cut and gets Belle in heat, what a week! Happy Birthday Beast!

The Beach

I absolutely love vacations! I love the sun although I am not one to lay out in it, but I do appreciate seeing it early in the mornings especially when it is overlooking the waves of the ocean. Life just doesn't get much better than coffee on the patio overlooking the ocean without a care in the world!

I am blessed to have a momma that also loves vacations and therefore we take a family vacation yearly and have ever since I can remember. This year we were fortunate to have mamaw join us. We (Davis and I) were also fortunate to have our own room and bed, we usually get the couch BUT we upgraded this year and LOVED it, not that we mind the couch though!

Vacations have changed dramatically over the past 3 years as we have increased our family by 2 with the nephews. Next year it will change again as we will have a little niece. These changes are great in their own way, but have definitely changed our vacations from relaxing to never stopping (except for naptime). This vacation was no different. There was always something going on, someone to entertain, or someone upset, but at the end of the day Aunt Cinny was able to read to them, put them to bed, and kiss them good night! I love being an aunt mostly because I can spoil them and then hand them back....that's what it's all about!

As always this vacation included a lot of pool time, a lot of delicious food, and a little game playing!

mom and me after sharing a banana split, we were happy!

all the boys

we caught something, 2 somethings

litte Ava will be with us next year

the girls, we are very outnumbered

hubby and I

mom and Greg

cuties!

I love that I got this one

my cutie

spoiled much? not at all

reading

rough life

woke up from nap

fort time

Lion faces

mom, the lion

Davis, the lion

the whole crew

Thanks mom and Greg for another wonderful vacation! We had a great time! Love you all!

Birthday Dinner

The second night we were in Tennessee we had what I am going to call my birthday dinner with dad. It was a great time as always! I love having the whole family together for any occasion, but my being my birthday makes it even better!

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all!

Especially to my father who is the greatest dad in the world. I cannot express how much he means to me and how lucky I am to be his daughter. I am very grateful to have been able to spend this Father's day with him as I was not able to last year because of the great distance between us geographically. Thank you dad for always being there and doing your best! I love you and miss you bunches :)
I also want to say Happy Father's Day to my stepdad who has amazed me daily since the day I met him. He treats us as if we were his own and that is the greatest gift a stepdad could give in my opinion! Thanks Greg for being you and for all that you do. I love you. I didn't get to spend any time with you today but we had a great week at the beach and 2 more weeks in TN to enjoy.
Happy Father's Day to Dwanye, my father-in-law. I couldn't have asked for a better husband and that all goes back to you and your wife, thank you for him and being a great dad to him!

A World Without the Internet

Last week in Myrtle Beach we did NOT have internet in our room, I know what day and age do we live in??? Sooooo Davis and I would trot down to the lobby every night to check our email and make sure the world was still ok in cyber world BUT since we were on vacation and we did have to leave the family to connect to the outside world I refrained from blogging to spend more time with the family. Now that we are home or back in TN, I will start blogging again and hopefully clue you in on what you have missed out on for the past week! BUT not tonight for it is LATE, I will start tomorrow!

Update

This update kinda stinks because it is going to be a quick ramble!

Since June 6th, we have spent many nights with friends because we were going to be gone for 3 weeks! I had dinner with Carly as she is going to spend the summer on the East coast so we will not see each other again until September. We had another birthday dinner with Sushi, Nisha, and Freddo because Freddo missed the previous one and it was a BLAST!!! Although I did NOT feel lie getting up on Thursday and packing, I had to and it was worth it once we were down on the ground in Nashville minus 1 bag BUT with family! <~That's a long story for another post. We had dinner Friday with Dad, Barb, Russ, Pooh, Mandy, Chris, and the boys at Connor's and it was delish! Thanks Dad and Barb! After a 10 hour drive today, we are HERE at the beach and I am going to enjoy every and I mean every minute of it! The sun, relaxing, family time, and great food....sounds like a great week :)

AND BECAUSE I HAVE NO PICTURES OF THE ABOVE MENTIONED ITEMS on my computer yet....

here is a cute dog

and Davis' henna tat from the Gupta's wedding

more more more Birthday

Yesterday was a great day because once again we celebrated my birthday! We had decided the night before that we were going to sleep in and our sleeping in became 9am (not cool at all) so we had the traditionally birthday breakfast of pancakes because I LOVE pancakes and then we went back to sleep and slept until 1pm (this was awesome)! I then took Belle for a run while Davis gave Beast a much needed bath. I didn't want to be stuck on a airplane for 6 hours on Thursday with a stinky dog and I am sure my mother-in-law will appreciate clean dogs for the week they are spending with her.

my handsome hubby cooking

perfect pancakes every time

Davis somewhat surprised me (I found out on my birthday) that we were going to see the Rat City Rollergirls that night! I have been wanting to see them for what seems like forever and it was there last match of the season AND IT WAS AWESOME! Sushil and Nisha joined us and I think we all thoroughly enjoyed watching especially the championship game in which the underdogs, Sockit Wenches, won. Thanks Dave for taking me, it was a blast! I could totally be a season ticket holder next year :)

After the derby was over, we went to a Thai place in Queen Anne and indulged in delicious food!

my gift from Vivian, she is soo talented

only in Seattle

the crew

again only in Seattle, the dressed up skeleton is at least 50 years old and is wearing a fishnet shirt

underdogs win

my present from the Gupta's because they had never heard of "earthquake" before

as always a birthday shot