Tennessee Trip

Part #1 - Gatlinburg

So Aaron has finally finished his busy season at work. We were so excited to have him home for a week and then he had to go out of town for 3 weeks to Knoxville. Since we have been missing him so much lately we decided to fly out there during his second week and visit him. Just 30 minutes outside of Knoxville is the Great Smoky National Park so we decided to spend the weekend in Gatlinburg at a cabin and check out the park. We had such a fabulous time, seriously, the cabin was perfect, the weather was perfect, and we loved doing all the walks and hikes. The park is so beautiful, I wish we could have spent more time there so we could have seen more. We had so much fun and took more pictures than we have in a very, long time. So be prepared for a very detailed account of our little trip. :)

Our cute, little cabin.

Carson and Aaron out on a morning walk by the cabin.

We had a huge bath tub and Carson loved it, it had jets but when we tried turning them on he wanted them off immediately.

On Friday night we walked through the downtown, which was so cute. People making fudge, taffy, and wood structures. Carson loved walking around everywhere and watching people. I really wanted coconut shrimp for dinner so we went to Bubba Gump for dinner. We ordered our food and then 10 minutes later I decided I wanted to have crab's legs too so we asked the waitress to switch out Aaron's food with crab's legs. The food was already ready but they went ahead and did it for us anyway. Not fun waiting on this pregnant woman but the food was so good I didn't even care that I had caused so much trouble for them.

Carson slept in a big boy bed while we were out of town and he did so good. He didn't try and get out one time and Aaron loved going in and laying with him at night since he had missed him so much.

On Saturday we started off our day with a short hike up to this beautiful waterfall. The path was very crowded but was stroller friendly. (Although Carson wasn't so interested in riding in his stroller) On the way up Carson was not in a great mood and acting very tired but he got very excited when he saw the small pools of water along the way. He really wanted to play inside of them, which we let him do but then he tried to get all the way in and got his shoes and socks all wet so we had to end the party.

The view from the top was really beautiful. (This is just the top of the waterfall, we couldn't manage the hike down to the view of the full waterfall with the Car Car Man. )

Carson finally wore out on the way back down and fell asleep on my shoulder. Now Carson has to be completely worn out to fall asleep anywhere but his bed and especially while I am holding him so we had worn the poor guy totally out.

After lunch we decided to try a little bit of a harder hike, well it lasted about .2 miles. The hike was too hard to carry Carson on and so we decided to turn around and head back down. Well Carson really wanted to play in the freezing river so we let him crawl down and we threw rocks in the river for a long time. We finally had to make him stop so we could move on or he would have happily thrown rocks for hours.

So we decided to do a nature walk instead and it was much more relaxing and beautiful. Carson lasted awhile in the stroller and then decided to walk the rest of the way. Carson LOVES to go on walks and had so much fun on this one. He wanted to keep going farther then Aaron and I wanted to so when we turned around he just kept reaching out his hand waiting for us to keep walking.

Then for dinner Aaron cooked steaks on the grill. He couldn't get over the beautiful view from our back porch. The steak was delicious and it was so fun to enjoy the fabulous weather while he grilled.

Then that night we warmed up the hot tub and Carson was in heaven. This kid could walk around the whole tub and the sides served as small slides for him to go down. He just loved playing in there and lasted a couple of hours inside. We finally had to make him get out to go to bed, kicking and screaming. After he went to sleep Aaron and I made cookies and relaxed together. I seriously can't remember a more perfect day/night together as our little family.

Sunday morning was Mother's Day so I wanted a picture with my little man on our way to church. I had a fabulous Mother's Day just relaxing with my family. We moved over to the hotel in Knoxville and so I was especially spoiled with a perfectly clean room and bed that I didn't have to make. :)

Mother's Day

(Aaron). I love that picture. Time for my yearly post. I realize this post is a few days late. I also realize that there is kind of a weird thing with blogging women where they hate reading posts from other people who make their lives sound too perfect. I've never understood that. I mean who wants to read depressing things? Anyways, if you are one of those people who hate those kinds of posts, feel free to stop reading. Because I am going to talk about my perfect wife.

Of course she's not actually perfect. She's just perfect for our family. To anyone who knows me I have always been the epitomy of a momma's boy. I don't have a single bad memory of growing up and I've always loved spending time with my mom. Now this can lead to some fairly high expectations when you get married. How grateful I am to see my sweet boy Carson be blessed with such a fun-loving, sweet and kind mother. No mother has ever loved a child more than Haley loves Carson. She spends countless hours reading to him, teaching him, and lots of wrestling. There was a brief moment in time when Carson preferred me. That time has come and gone. He will push me out of the way anytime he has a chance to hug his mom.

Haley is so patient and kind with Carson and me (especially me). Just one story to illustrate. This past weekend we let Carson get in his first hot tub (calm down mothers, the water was lukewarm at best). After about 15 minutes both Haley and I were cold and ready to get out. But not Carson. He was having the time of his life in there. Well me being the selfish person I am, I got out. But sweet Haley sat in that hot tub, with teeth chattering, for 2 hours because she loved seeing Carson having so much fun.

Her family is her highest priority and her greatest joy, and I love her for that. I've loved her more every Mother's day we've shared together.

You should move to Texas

And I can tell you why....here are just a few reasons why you would love living here, by us, of course.

This was what we were doing in March. That's right, March people, it was so nice out we were already playing in the water outside.

Now in addition to our small playset, we have a big, fancy playset. Thank you to my family for all the help putting it together! And also we are grateful to our friends who gave it to us!

I could cut your hair. Don't I do a great job?? Ha, ha it was so hard to try and cut this kid's hair. He would not hold still for two seconds. But I do cut Aaron's hair and do a decent job.

My husband works a lot, which means, we get to have a lot of fun around here. Sometimes we eat dinner upstairs while we watch movies....sometimes I let Carson finish off the brownie batter....sometimes we eat cream with our strawberries. :)

We throw fun BBQs and the weather lately has been fabulous!

And, last but not least, Aaron has been so handy lately fixing things on Saturdays, which means he can help you if your fence blows over in this crazy wind! And when he comes he will bring his very best helper with him. Carson is very good at fixing things. He goes around our house "fixing" his toys, our drawers, everything.

Doesn't life look great? :) I keep telling myself that I have to suck up all this great weather while I can because I think it is going to be a HOT summer.

Easter

So holidays are seriously getting more and more fun the older Carson gets. And maybe you don't know but I love holidays!! I have been stashing away little gifts here and there for the Easter basket since March and I loved stuffing eggs with chocolate the night before. My parents also got excited for little Carson and contributed to his basket with more than one little boy needed but I loved it!

Sunday morning we got up and tried the Easter egg hunt first thing, before breakfast, but Carson is too much like his mama and wasn't interested and just wanted to go inside and eat. So we feasted on a big, yummy breakfast and he played with his Easter basket toys.

Then we started the egg hunt. It took Carson a few minutes to figure it out but once he did he was all over it, running around, throwing the eggs in the basket, and then congratulating himself after each egg. Then he wanted to organize the eggs and play with them and then finally realized there was delicious chocolate inside.

After that we got all ready for church and Carson wore just the cutest outfit ever.

I teach the 5-6 year old kids at our church and loved being able to share the true meaning of Easter with them. I loved seeing their little eyes light up when we looked at pictures of Jesus and talked about how important this special day is. Then we made books about the life of Jesus for them to color and take home.

Then, as if that wasn't an exciting day by itself, we went over to our friend's house to have a fabulous dinner with fabulous food and people that we love. All together there were 7 families and 19 kids and we had a blast. The kids just played and played. We had a big easter egg hunt and the kids under 3 got to start and Carson didn't waste any of his head start. He was off and filled his basket before the big kids even started.

Then I quietly gave away most of his eggs to the kids that didn't have very many but one of his sweet friends, Cecily, shared some of her eggs with him. Really Carson just wanted to play with the eggs and the basket fillers.

Then it was time for dessert! Carson, of course, asked for ice cream and we just enjoyed the great weather before it was time to go home. It was such a fun evening and we love spending time with all our great friends here. A big THANKS to the Downen's for hosting such a fabulous gathering! Especially since Emily planned, organized, and did a ton of cooking, while being 8 months pregnant.

Girl's Weekend

A few weeks ago we had girl's trip for all the Pierson women and everyone came to Dallas! It was so much fun to see everyone and have so much girl time. Aaron and Carson stayed at my parent's house and all the girls stayed with me at our house. I know it was a tight fit for some of the ladies but I loved having us all together in one house. That way we could stay up late and eat chocolate all together instead of in separate hotel rooms and we could all still hang out even when the babies were sleeping. (We had 3 babies with us this year) Outside of all the time spent talking, we also went to the temple, did yoga in our backyard, went shopping, did pedicures, and ate out. It was a quick trip and went by really fast but I was uplifted and so happy that everyone put in the effort to be there. My mother-in-law puts a lot of hard work and effort into these trips and it sure makes for a good time!

Here are a few of us doing yoga. (I cut myself out of this picture because lets be honest, my pregnant self does not look as good as these ladies do in yoga poses :) And of course, Josie was included in the girl's trip and wanted to be a part of everything.

This is when we went to La Madeline for lunch, deliciousness.

Christmas comes late for some people

And those people are the Piersons. For Christmas last year I kept telling everyone I wanted to get Carson a playset for the backyard. Nothing fancy, just a small playset with something to climb and a slide. I had the plan to buy a used one on Craigslist and it was going to be his Christmas present from us and my parents. So I started looking back in the end of October mind you. Well Craigslist drove me crazy. People wanted WAY too much for like 5 year old playsets but apparently I am the only one unwilling to pay their prices because they all sold, like hot cakes. When one would come around that was a decent price it was always sold when I called. (I was checking 3 times a day mind you) It was really frustrating. I had Aaron checking them out too. Then in December I got a ticket for not signaling while I changed lanes. Lame, I know, but a ticket I still had to pay for....postponing any purchases for the month of December. (Not that I was up for any kind of shopping or much of anything the month of December and Aaron was already working crazy hours) I got back on track for Jan., Feb., and March - same story, different verse. Finally I woke up one Saturday morning early, called 2 people about playsets and when they said both were sold, I hung up, went to Walmart.com, and bought a brand new one. Finally Carson would have a Christmas present, better late than never right?? :)

Oh wait, the story doesn't end there... I did site to store delivery because delivery was $100. Playset arrives and the pick up hours are 10 AM to 10PM. Great just great, wouldn't it be nice if I had a husband who was home one night during the week before 10PM to pick up this playset? What am I gonna do? So I go to get it myself and have the workers help me, and it doesn't fit in the 4 Runner, too big. I should've just called someone to come and help me but instead I call Aaron, full of frustration, demanding that he take care of this and spouting off how ridiculous it is that he can't come home one night before 10 and load up a playset for his pregnant wife. I'm sure you can imagine how much patience and love I showed during this conversation considering what an undramatic person I am. :) So my sweet husband, who is a much better person than I am, called Walmart, asks them if someone from another department will come over and check him out if he shows up past the pick up time for the playset. They agreed and that very night Aaron went and picked it up after working who knows how many hours, used bungee cords to tie it to the top of our car and brought it home to a wife already in bed. Isn't it beautiful?

Now, just to toot my own horn, I put this baby together all by myself. I had to use a wrench, a drill, and a few screwdrivers. It took me 2 whole hours but I must admit it was one of my proudest moments. Aaron made sure to tighten everything after he got home but I did a very good job. :) And the best part is, Carson loves it and we play on it everyday. Even though it was a lot of drama and a very late Christmas present...it was worth it.

Sometimes you forget to blog that you are pregnant!

Seriously time flies when you aren't very good at keeping up with your blog. :) And yes, its true, we are expecting a baby girl in July. We are so excited and feel very blessed to be adding this little girl to our family. We totally had our minds set for another boy so we were really shocked when they said girl. I had to change my mindset some but after the girl clothes, socks, tights, and bows started coming in, I had a serious change of heart. I am in pink heave and loving every second of it. I haven't taken any pictures of my belly this time around and I felt really bad about it so yesterday I made Aaron come outside with me and snap a few pictures of the growing belly. Its mostly just big, I feel so much bigger this time around. Carson loves to grab my belly and say, "baby!" but sometimes he gets confused and grabs my chest instead. Its easy to see how he would get confused....

I am nesting like crazy this pregnancy. Not so much with Carson, I mean he was born and we were like hm... where are we going to put him. This time I'm like drawing sketches, moving furniture, and getting estimates from painters because I have to have the nursery done! Aaron is in a never-ending busy season and so he can't help very much, well not really at all poor guy. So you may be hearing me say the phrase, "I hired someone to do that," much more often this pregnancy.

I'm losing my mind this pregnancy. I forget everything. I have really started having to write things down more, I mean I show up places and forget what I needed to get. Aaron has never been known for his fabulous memory so between the two of us we are forgetting a lot. :) I am still sick...which is not fun but what can you do? Its not like the horrible, awful, no good, very bad sick I was for the first 18 weeks or so where no one ever saw me but I still feel nauseas after meals and at night. Sweets make me the most sick but does that keep me from eating them? Of course not, I wish I had more self control and I think I would feel better. I am happy to be better than I was though, to quote my pregnant friend Rebecca, " I certainly wasn't winning any Mom of the Year awards." I hated being that sick, I seriously can't even talk about it because it makes me feel so terrible. I know lots of moms go through it but I did not like the person that I was.

And that pretty much sums it up. I feel like its so far away, yet there is so much to do before she gets here. Oh and no, we don't have a name but we both feel like naming a girl is much easier than naming a boy!