Labor Day Weekend

We had such a great time in Gatlinburg, TN! Byron described it best as one of those places that no matter how long you stay you are ready to come back the next day. I think because it is such a busy place and there is so much to do that you can never get it all accomplished in the time you are there. There was an insane amount of people there this weekend (whose idea was it to go there for Labor Day?? (oh yea ME!). Our chalet (fancy word for cabin) was fabulous - not that I really took any pics of it but it was definitely the best one I have stayed in. I kept saying how I could totally live in this place. The decor was totally my style - shaker - and the wood on the walls and the rock fireplace were to die for. This is basically the only pic I purposely took of the place... I really did love this light though. We did some Rook (nothing says KY hillbilly like Rook) playing and some lounging and just hanging with the family. Sometimes when we go with the whole fam it makes decisions difficult but this time it didn't seem to be all that bad. There were 9 of us in all and I believe we all were able to do what we wanted for the most part. I, of course, managed to hit the scrapbook store and Cade of course managed to visit the arcade. My highlight of the arcade night was winning 400 tickets -YES 400!!! on one game AND the best part was that I only put in 3 coins. Talk about excitement -I am one of those people who never wins anything... so this was huge for me. My sis in law has a pic of me with all my tickets and the super toothy grin on her camera unfortunately. When all 7 of us cashed in our tickets for Cade he had over 1500! We about died - that kid raked it in - well... as much as you can at an arcade that is full of junk. His favorite was a Spiderman bag that he loaded down with toys all weekend.

My scrappy goodness. I think I did pretty good for myself considering how long I was in there. I wasn't allowed to buy paper, well, I broke that rule a bit, but nothing in comparison to what I normally buy - I've been dubbed Paper Slut and I really need to prove people wrong. I made it out of there for under $50 - yahoo.

We also hit an easy trail in the Smoky Mountains and I got a little moss obsessed.

Cade's favorite part was the ski lift ride that takes you to the top of the mountain to overlook Gburg. I wasn't sure how he would do but he loved it and didn't even hold on for the ride down. AND my sis in law tried to get a pic of us all on it but it was getting dark and the workers put an empty seat in between us so it just wasn't going to happen. Sometimes I think people who work with tourists totally don't understand the NEED for pictures - HA... I know blah blah blah .. it's not all about me and my stinkin scrapbook pages.. LOL! I was really hoping for this picture - when Byron and I came to Gburg together for the first time it was 6 years ago and we rode this very ride and I love the picture we have and wanted to show it now with a bigger belly and cute little guy too. NEXT TIME - since we know there will be one for sure.

OH and in really fantastic news I FINISHED the book (For One More Day by Mitch Albom) I took with me - TANIA I know you will be so proud - ok now Heather I need that other one back - HA just kidding. No more books so there isn't any pressure. In good ole book review format this book really did make me think about my relationships with people and how I need to have those conversations about how much I love them and appreciate them WHILE they are still with us. You don't get that chance to go back and have that conversation once they are gone. It was an easy and fast read - which was right up my alley - and I only fell asleep a few times... I think starting and finishing a book in one weekend is really good for ME....

let's see the other thing I had hoped to accomplish while we were away was sleeping in - which I guess if you consider 7am every morning vs 6am sleeping in then I did ok. Cade (my human alarm clock) never failed to sleep much past 7am or 7:30am so there was that constant jabbering in my ear every morning even with the Disney channel on... uggg where did he ever learn to talk non stop??? I really do NOT know where he gets it from. lol! Anyway... we are home and back to the grind yet again. When are we going back?? We already discussed it but of course with the holidays and the new little one coming it's looking like next summer - uggg too far away for me.