Wonderful Weekends: Visit From Friends & Homecoming

(Written Monday, posted late)

First of all, this weekend was just not long enough! Am I the only one that felt like it flew by? Even though it was a quick weekend, it sure was a good one. Friday at 4:30, I left work and got the weekend started. I stopped by our house and then Preston and I went to the field for my brothers’ homecoming football game. We were glad to watch the game and not need an umbrella this time (we’ve been getting soaked at games). Just before the game started, our friends Eric and Jade made it to the school. After meeting up with them, the game started. The game was fun (we won) and then Preston, Eric, Jade, and I were headed back to our house. Jade and I have been friends for years and I am so thankful that despite the miles between us, we continue to stay good friends. I am grateful that we live closer now and they were able to make the trip to come visit us! After showing them our house and a little while of chit chat and catching up, we all decided it was time for bed.

 Saturday morning, we got started with breakfast around 9:00… biscuits and gravy, eggs, and bacon- Yum! We hadn’t made a big breakfast in a really long time and it was enjoyed by all. After getting ready and taking a few pictures, we went and got our supplies for a little crafting. Instead of carving pumpkins, we decided to paint them. My pumpkin has a black “R” with black and silver polka dots, which now sits on our front porch near our mums. After clean up, it was time to tell Eric and Jade bye. After they headed home, Preston and I left to go see my siblings before their homecoming dance. This was the first high school dance that all three of my younger siblings were at together. They all looked so great, see for yourself! Preston and I decided to have dinner out and chose a local Mexican restaurant, then headed home to watch “Blended” that we rented from Redbox. Have you seen this movie? We thought it was a really good one! After the dance, Brinley and a couple of friends stayed at our house. I thought they would be pretty rowdy, but they watched Pitch Perfect and I didn't hear another peep.

Sunday we went to church and then the afternoon was spent assisting with bible bowl. If you haven't heard of it, it's a program where kids study a certain part of the Bible and then have a competition about it.  We stopped for some frozen yogurt afterwards before going back to church.  Sunday night at home was pretty low key.  It was a good day... but a long day.

Here are some pictures from the weekend:

Brice, Popaw, Bradley, Grandmama, & Brinley

Wonderful Weekends: Pigeon Forge

Hello there, readers! I'm glad you have stopped back by my little spot in the blog world. This past weekend was the much awaited trip to Pigeon Forge, TN. While it was a quick trip, it was still wonderful and was some much needed time spent with friends.
On Friday, after work, Preston and I put our bags in the car and we were on the road to Pigeon Forge.  We had about a 3 hour drive, not too bad.  We met our friends, Adam and Renee at Mel's Diner for a quick dinner.  Being a diner, we all insisted on trying their delicious looking desserts, I had a chocolate malt and it was so good.  After dinner it was getting late (we didn't even arrive until around 9) so then we headed to our hotel.  We went to sleep around midnight and we had a full day planned for the next day.
On Saturday, we woke up early to get the day started.  We didn't want to waste our day asleep when we aren't in PF often and we don't get to see each other much.  After getting ready, we all headed to a place called Mama's Farmhouse for breakfast. If you can imagine endless pancakes, biscuits and gravy, eggs, bacon, sausage, breaded chicken, cheesy grits, cooked apples, and fruit coming in large bowls and served family style and constantly being replenished, you can get an idea of what this place was like.  It was a delicious breakfast and we had the sweetest waitress ever.  After breakfast we headed to the Dixie Stampede box office to pick up or pre ordered tickets so that we wouldn't have to wait in line later in the day.  At Dixie, there was a huge Christmas tree outside that I knew about so I took my SLR camera so that Preston and I could take pictures for our Christmas cards.  After multiple shots, we got some pictures that I loved and then we were back in the car.  We headed to Tanger outlets for a little bit of shopping.  We purchased a few Christmas gifts as well as P some new tennis shoes.  We stopped for some Starbucks and Dunkin' for drinks and then shopped a bit more at another location.  We finished up our shopping and headed to Dixie Stampede for our dinner and Christmas show.  We were early but didn't really have anything else we wanted to do, so we went by the horse stalls and looked at/talked to some of the beautiful horses that were out before getting ready for the show.  We also took advantage of the gift shop being empty because I wanted some of the soup mix, I loved being able to get what I wanted without having to fight a crowd (we'll save that for black Friday).
When 6:00 hit, it was time for the show to start.  The pre show was good, like usual, but I was ready for the much anticipated Christmas show... and the soup that I love.  We got to our seats, which were great might I add, and met our wonderful server/elf, Danielle. The battle was between the north and the south poles, we were on the south.  From the soup, to the Cornish hen, potato, pork, corn, and apple turn over, the dinner was fantastic.  The show had the stunt horse riding and competition races like normal, which is always entertaining....but I loved the nativity scene, it was just amazing.  I am not sure why, but those camels were just so awesome to me.  I don't want to share too much in case there are readers who haven't been to the show, I don't want to spoil it.  But, I will say, if you ever get the chance to go to the Dixie Stampede Christmas show, go... I believe it is totally worth it!
After the show we headed to the car and then dropped Renee and Adam off at the hotel so that we could get on the road back home.  We got home at midnight and went straight to bed.
After church Sunday morning, we went to get Chloe, she had been staying at our friends' house who were so kind to watch and take care of her. We did some laundry and made a grocery trip and that wrapped up our weekend.
Now, for a few pictures:

This tree was SO tall

friend time!

during pre show of DS, sorry for bad quality

during pre show of DS, sorry for bad quality

loved these Christmas lights

Wonderful Weekends: Labor Day 2013

This past weekend really was wonderful, not only was it a long weekend thanks to Labor day, Preston and I went on a road trip to Indiana.... why Indiana? To see one of my best friends, and you may read her blog, we spent the weekend with Emily and her sweet family!
Let me give you a little back ground on our friendship, I think it is one of the coolest friendship stories!  In 2008, I went on a cruise for my high school graduation present from my parents.  I went with my mom and my aunt.  Carnival happened to seat us at the same dinner table as Emily, her mom, and her grandma.  We started hanging out on the ship, other than at dinner.  We had such a fun time.  After the cruise was over, we continued to stay in touch through facebook/email (I lived in KY, Emily was in FL).  We've managed to develop a wonderful friendship, Emily & her hubby came to our wedding, I went to her baby shower, we went to the vera bradley outlet sale together...even though we don't see each other often, we talk just about every day and I value our friendship.... so now you know why this past weekend was extra special! Anyways, on with the weekend!

 Here's a break down of our truly wonderful weekend:
Friday I left work at 11:30, ran home to get Preston and Chloe girl and load up the car and then we were Indiana bound.  We were on the road the rest of the day, it was a 9 hour drive.  We did good, only stopped twice, but hit construction about an hour from there house where we only moved 3 miles in 30 minutes, after driving all day and being so close to our destination, this was NOT fun.... but, thankfully it wasn't longer than it was.

We were happy to see this sign!

 We made it to Emily's and since it was late, we just went to bed.
Saturday Our plan was to go to lunch at Cerulean's and then head to the Blueberry Festival which is the largest festival in the mid-west.  We had lunch at Cerulean's and I'm so glad Emily suggested that we try it because it was SO good, Preston and I both loved it... especially Asian noodles! After lunch we went to the festival, we thought it had stopped raining, but sure enough, the rain came and we were drenched (not Emily and Miss Lilly, thank goodness).  We went back to the car and opted for plan B: outlet shopping!  I was completely fine with this plan as I love shopping.... but even more so at outlets.  This was great because we don't have an outlet mall.  We all found some great buys, since it was Labor day weekend, there were tons of sales, I think every store I went in was 50% off everything. After shopping a while, we headed back to the house (2 hrs away).  We stopped on the way for dinner at Culver's, another place I'd never been.  It was good! We ended Saturday shortly after getting back to the Donaldson's.
Sunday We got up and all got ready for church, went to church and then had lunch at a Mexican place.  After lunch we changed clothes and decided to try the blueberry festival again.  We stayed a little while, but this time it was so hot and we didn't want Miss Lilly to get over heated, so we left.... I think we were all burning up! We stopped at the grocery store on the way home and got ingredients for different dips for dinner.  Once back at the house, we had dinner and watched some Duck Dynasty before bed.
Monday we needed to get going pretty early so that we could make the trip back to VA.

View of IN wind mills on the drive home

We did pretty decent time wise and had a good trip, we stopped in KY at my grandparents house for a quick visit and then went to my parents house for a visit there, too.  We made it back to our home safely and without any problems or construction, I call that a good day!

Our Labor day weekend spent in Indiana really was such a fun time and I am so glad we were able to make the trip North.  It is always a blessing to spend time with Emily and Stephen, this time was even sweeter because I finally got to meet baby Lilly who is a complete doll that I just love!  Emily is one of my greatest friends and I am thankful for our friendship, we don't get to see each other often, so I am thankful that we spent a long weekend together, it truly was a wonderful weekend!


 

Wonderful Weekends (a trip to Lexington)

Hey friends! Hope you all are off to a great week, our weekend went by fast, but it sure was a good one. I'm a day late posting my weekend recap, but that's okay, right? Better late than never... anyways here is glimpse of our past weekend.
On Friday, I was crazy busy at work all day, but I still managed to leave on time at 4:30 which I was happy about. I went and got our friends Gabby and Hannah after work and then we were on the road and Lexington bound. On our way to Lexington, we dropped my Chloe girl off at my parents' house so that they could dog sit while we were away for the weekend. We arrived in Lexington safely and chit-chatted for a bit before hubby and I went to my brother's house for the night.
On Saturday morning after getting ready, Preston and I headed over to the rehabilitation center that my grandpa has been in since his knee replacement. He is know able to get out of the facility, so Preston, my brother and sister-in-law, and my grandparents left there, got to-go at chic-fil-a and headed to Jacobson Park for a picnic lunch. The weather was nice and having a picnic by the lake was great.... except for the annoying flies that drove us crazy!

After visiting, I hit a couple stores that I wanted to go to including Homegoods and the wonderful Hobby Lobby, I love that place!

I also got my nails done.... I love shellac polish!

After shopping a little while, Preston and I enjoyed dinner at Chili's and then headed to see our buddy Scott and his family. We played "Catch Phrase" and we were all laughing so hard, it was such a fun game! For those that have prayed for Scott and his transplant, thank you! He is doing great and he should hopefully come home next week.
On Sunday, we went to church and then had lunch at Olive Garden. We had another quick visit with my grandparents and then it was back on the road to Virginia....well, after we made a pit stop at Krispy Kreme. It was good, but not as good as when the hot light is on!

Of course, we stopped at my parents' house on the way home for a little visit and to get Chloe. My sister was playing with the dogs outside and it seems that they were the ones in charge, ha!

sorry the pic is so dark!

We made it home just fine and I was in the bed shortly after getting home.... it was yet another great weekend. This weekend we are back on the road and Indiana bound!!

A Crafty, Relaxing, Weekend

Hello!  I hope you enjoyed your weekend, I know we did. We had plans with friends on Saturday, but our plans were canceled, however, we still enjoyed a fun Saturday.  After sleeping in, we spent the day with Rachel, John and their boys, Owen and Camden, and Adam and Meghan.  We started by going out to the playground by our apartment where Owen was enjoying himself on the swings, slides, and ropes.  Soon after, the guys headed in and us girls and Owen and Camden went on an adventure.  We wanted to do something crafty and Meghan had a great idea she found on Pinerest.  Have you heard of Pinterest?  If not, check it out here. There are so many wonderful ideas all on one website!  We went to Hobby Lobby for our supplies, of course.  Afterwards, Owen and I went into the fish store where he was mesmerized by all of the "Nemo" fish!  Anyways, we got home and started our project, which took longer than we thought.  Project of the day: Crayon letters.  These are great for kids' rooms, teachers, and such, but mine is simply going on a wall in our craft/office room.  Sorry I did not take pictures through the whole project, didn't even think about it until after!

Supplies needed:

• 1 shadow box or scrapbook frame (we used 12x12 scrapbook frames, either is fine)
• 1 piece of cardstock  
• crayons (amount depends on letters, I used 3 boxes of 24, Crayola)
• Sharp knife
• Running hot water
• paper towel
• Glue gun/glue

First of all, put all of your crayons in the freezer.  Weird, yes... but it helps! Next, we opened a word document to create the outline we would trace onto the paper.  By inserting word art, stretching the letter is easier.  After printing the outline we liked, we cut them and traced them on to the paper.  Now comes the longest part of the project, cutting the crayons.  Get one pack of crayons out of the freezer.  By measuring  eyeballing the right size needed, the cutting begins.  First, hold the knife under the hot water and then wipe it off with the paper towel, find where to cut the crayon and begin.  Do this for the entire letter.  It is fun to use tips of the crayons and pieces without tips.  I used a whole crayon once or twice.  Take out boxes of crayons as needed.  After getting all of the crayons cut and you have enough to cover your letter, arrange them how you like, don't be afraid to mix and match the colors.  Next transfer them onto to paper they will be glued on.  Now, pick up two or three crayons at a time, put hot glue on the paper and glue them in place.  Do this for the entire letter. After all crayons are glued and the entire letter is covered, simply put your creation into your frame and you're finished!  It is fun to put a name beside or under the letter, but I just did the letter in case I want to add something later.  Here is my finished product:

I think it turned out quite nicely... hope you enjoyed it! 

On a totally different note, I absolutely love fall decorations and I made a simple centerpiece for our table...

Hope you have a great week, check back for my wreath making project!

Brooke