Trip to Gatlinburg

This weekend we drove up to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. We left around 1PM and traveled through South Carolina, North Carolina, and straight up into the Smokey Mountains. It was beautiful! We were barely into the mountains when we decided we wanted to visit again =) We made a couple of stops on the way - one to eat at a McDonald's on I-26 in South Carolina and then another at a rest stop in North Carolina. We had no clue we would be going through North Carolina and thought we might have made a mistake in directions. Luckily the map at the rest area/welcome center showed we were right on track! I drove through to the welcome center and John drove the rest of the adventure. The rest of the way was through mountains and curvy roads - not to be driven on while drinking that is for sure! Once off the interstate we were mesmerized with all of the gorgeous scenery we were passing. The look of fall was just beginning to show its face. There were a few lookout places to stop and enjoy the view, but decided to wait until our drive home - we were ready to see our friends!

The entire weekend was so much fun. After the stress John and I had been under with jobs and such it was nice to just get away and relax. The purpose for this trip was for a bachelor/bachelorette party for Lance and Stacy. During the weekend we went to downtown Gatlinburg, the Hard Rock Cafe, the boys played putt-putt, we hung out at the amazing cabin and all in all had a great time with our friends. I think the best was the "man hunt" for Lance and Ross - no clue how all of this happened, but it ended with everyone back at the cabin.


As usual John and I did not want to leave - we never want to go back home from vacations...

Phillips Family Reunion

This weekend we went to Colquitt, GA for a Phillips' family reunion. This is family on my maternal grandmother's side of the family. We stayed in Bainbridge with my Great Aunt Sara. She lives on a little row of houses where my Great Aunt Wilkin lives as well as Great Aunt Jeanne and Great Uncle Eugene. My Aunt Babs, cousins Paul, Jenifer, and Charlotte stayed with Aunt Wilkin and we also got to see my cousins Chip, Rhonda and their children (my age) Jennifer and Edward.

Each family that came to reunion had to bring a dish that would be large enough to feed their family. Mom made a HUGE pot of delicious green beans. There were so many wonderful things to eat there!!

This weekend we had one of the many "Danny-isms"* :

"with all those women bringing in their home-cooked recipes we're gonna have some good groceries"

The term "good groceries" was heard over and over....

*Danny is my dad and he has some of the most "country sayings" you will ever hear...and he will repeat them over and over and over for all of eternity.

Haircut!

I got a haircut today - and donated the hair to locks for love. This is my second time donating.

A BIG Change

Today we moved away from Valdosta to my hometown. The day after we got back from our honeymoon we had the worst wedding present ever - John lost his job. Seriously - what the?? Anyways, this is definitely going to be a blessing for us. I wasn't very happy with my job so I quit my job and we are moving in with my parents - yep, my parents. Now of course this isn't the most ideal situation, but its what we are going to do and its going to be a great way for us to save money to buy our own house. We had always talked about moving to where one of us was from after a year or so, but instead our plans just got bumped up a bit.

We rented a truck from Budget and then packed up our 2-bedroom apartment. Hunter was going crazy because we were moving everything. I had to turn in all of my stuff to my old job, laptops, car, etc. so now we only have John's truck here. I took my car back home a couple of years ago when I got a company car. We had a little tift over who was going to drive the Budget truck because it had A/C - John's truck has none. He won so John and Hunter had the nice cool air while I sweated to death. We met my parents where their cottage is and we're storing the majority of our stuff there. Hunter loved running around in the grass and having so much freedom while we moved all of our stuff (read: my junk) into the cottage.

We hope to hurry and both find new jobs so that we can be out on our own within a year!

Honeymoon - Day 7 "going back home"

These faces say it all....too depressed to write a post because we are leaving paradise and going back to the real world - work, bills, but at least we get to see Hunter! We miss that little guy!

Honeymoon - Day 6 "our last day"

Today was our very last full day in St. Lucia. We spent our day by the pool, relaxing, playing volleyball and just hanging out. Rachel and Danny left today so we said our goodbyes to them. Its never fun to say goodbye to anyone...especially when you know you'll be leaving too. Here is our final night picture...

Honeymoon - Day 5 "Kimonos and sandals!"

Today was a fun in the sun day. We spent most of the day laying by the pool and hanging out with our new friends. John and I worked on earning the coveted sandals and enjoyed drinking by the swim up pool bar. Its going to be such a shock when we get back home - we'll probably order a meal or drink and just walk away without paying because we're become so accustomed to everything being all inclusive and not having to wait on the check.

After a fun day we headed to Kimonos - a Japanese steak house - for dinner. IT WAS SO YUMMY! I wish we could have gone there every night. It was pretty much a low key day. Afterward they had the Sandals presentation and we got ours!! Yay! We also earned a key chain =)