Tennessee Trip continued

Part #2 - Knoxville

So after Gatlinburg we went back to Aaron's hotel in Knoxville and we spent a few days there while Aaron worked. It was nice because Aaron's client was a block away from the hotel and he got to leave work every day around 6:30 so we felt spoiled rotten. It was weird to have just Carson all day and no errands or household tasks to perform. Weird in a good way, very relaxing to have someone else clean the room every day. Carson and I spent our days going to the places we could walk to: the pool, the splash park, the library, the park, and the downtown square for lunch. I guess it was all the walking but Carson was soooo hungry on this trip. I guess it could also be all the way yummy food we got, eating out all our meals. :) One day I walked 1.5 miles to the grocery store to get him a few things, I was worn out, only to find out there was a grocery store in downtown...you live you learn. :) I really loved Knoxville, it is such a cute city. I was very glad that we decided to make the trip up to visit Aaron, thanks for spoiling us Aaron!

Our favorite dining spot, we met Aaron here for lunch:

Yummy cupcakes from the bakery:

Downtown park and splash park:

Meeting Dad for lunch at the park:

Dinner at the square:

Introduction to Italian Ice...yummy!

Small splash park in downtown:

The cute library downtown:

So Carson loves watching people play the guitar, he just wanted to stay with these two guys for forever. They were playing him up, giving him high 5s, introducing him to girls, letting him touch the guitar. It was pretty funny.

Sushi Night, who knew Carson would love sushi??

I will save the flight home for its own post, ha ha, it was the worst ever, my fault, not Carson's but a nightmare (Imagine sleeping baby and me with a barf bag)! But I don't want that one, small part of the trip to be in the same posts as all our fabulous fun.

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.