Thanksgiving and a Birthday

Wayne and I have a favorite place. Well, one of many actually. This year, he decided to "surprise" (if you know Wayne, you know he can't keep a secret long enough for anything to actually make it to the "surprise" part!) me for my birthday with a trip to Gatlinburg....just the two of us!!!

We have not been anywhere just the two of us since I was pregnant with Jacob. In fact, we went to Gatlinburg then too. And I was crazy enough to ride a horse while preggers! Don't worry, we walked the entire time. It was actually quite boring!

Back to the more recent past... Our first night there, Wayne attempted to build a fire.

He tried, and he tried. He worked persistently for us to have a romantic fire going. It never would catch. In his defense, the wood was wet. I have seen this man build a fire on countless occasions, and I know he is more than capable of building a fire. After about an hour of trying, my very frustrated hubby found a kids puzzle. :) Yep, we did a kiddy puzzle our first night at the cabin! After about thirty minutes, we finished only to realize a piece was missing!

Don't you just hate when that happens???

Before our trip, if you heard me talk about it at all, all I would say was how excited I was to sleep! At 14 months old, my baby still is not sleeping through the night! So, I stayed up waaaaay past my normal bedtime, knowing I would be able to sleep as long as I would like the next day. Unfortunately, my sister had other plans. She and my mom were staying at our house with Jacob, and she decides to call me when lil man woke up. I have yet to figure out what caused her to do this, but such is life. I should be used to no sleep by now!

It was just as well. I probably would not have been able to sleep late anyway, and we had big plans for Cade's Cove and Christmas shops for the day. Even though it's almost an hour to Cade's Cove, it's totally worth it! The view itself is amazing on the way....

There are many parking places on the way to stop and see the stream. And here, I was able to see the best view of them all....

When we finally arrived at Cade's Cove, we were awestruck with it's beauty and animals! It was absolutely gorgeous, and I can only imagine what it was like about two weeks before when the fall colors were still on display!

Every time we would stop to enjoy the wildlife, these crazy people were running through the pastures scaring it off!

By this time, these people were not on Wayne's list of favorite people!

We were able to get someone to snap a quick pic though!

On one of our stops to view some wildlife, a man came up and asked us if we were looking at "another bear." I said, "ANOTHER bear????" He told us where it was, so we decided to go through the entire park again to see if we could come across it. This guy was waiting for us at the stop sign at the end of our first round.

We saw several massive ones while we were there, but the above people were always in the way for a picture. Wayne kept saying, "If I ever kill one like that, it's going on the wall!" I was quick to remind him that wall was in the garage where all his other dead animals stay! :)

When we started the tour again, this guy popped out at me. If you'll notice, he's the horse I road a year ago. I'll never forget it because we talked about how "ugly" my horse was our entire ride!

We finally came across the old church where the bear was before.

As could be guessed, there was no bear in site! Of course, my crazy husband starts going through the woods trying to find it!

After all the fun of Cade's Cove, we headed back to eat and go shopping at the Apple Barn and The Christmas Place. I love going Christmas shopping at Christmas time! Everything was so beautiful!

This was a good chance for me to show Wayne some decorations I liked that we didn't have. I love the more contemporary tree toppers, instead of the traditionally star or angel. Wayne quickly vetoed most of them, but here are a couple I really liked!

There was this adorable train set that went across the top of the store. Wayne and I loved the idea for Jacob when he gets a big boy room! There is even a bedding set from Pottery Barn that would go just perfect with it! ;)

We finally made our way outside. We were watching another train they had set up, and just enjoying the Christmas beauty!

We noticed all around this train set, there were these little bird houses with all the SEC teams on the top of them. We looked and looked. We found every. single. one. But no BAMA. Highly offended, we were not leaving until we knew there for sure was not one there. Finally, Wayne found it on top of the mountain, above all the others. We thought that was quite appropriate. Even the people in TN know where BAMA should be!

Every time we went to and from our cabin, we passed this adorable little wedding chapel. Hind sight is 20/20. I wish Wayne and I could have married in a place like this. We will definitely do the vow renewal in a quaint little chapel one day!

When we got back, for the second night in a row, my poor husband tried vigorously to start a fire. I'm telling you, he knows how to start one! I kept telling him he was doing way better than me just for trying! He insisted the wood must have still been wet. ;) We settled for a relaxing night in the hot tub!

The next morning was bitter sweet! We were so ready to see our booger man, but sad to leave at the same time! We will definitely be going back to this "Getaway Chalet" again!

We got home Tuesday, just to unpack and repack and leave again! We were heading to Opp to see my fam! It is sooooo rare for all of us to be together. It was really nice. Please, don't take it for granted if your family is able to get together often!

We went out for a joint birthday celebration on Tuesday night.....mine and my Dad's (whose birthday was in August). Jacob kept reaching for my brother. So, I hand him over, Josh's chair comes out from under him, and Jacob's head hits the CONCRETE floor!!!! Tell me this kid doesn't have bad luck with that head of his! My poor brother felt horrible, and nothing we could say would make it better for him. I must admit, I was scared. Jacob had a golf ball sized purple goose egg on his forehead, and he was screaming. We got some ice and headed to the ER. Thankfully, everything was just fine.

By Thursday, or really the next day, you couldn't even tell he had hit his head. He was able to enjoy some yummy Thanksgiving ham!

And was even up for a little irritation from Pappy. He couldn't catch his finger to save his life!

Then, on Saturday, I spent the majority of the afternoon sewing up this little creation!

Lil man heard his Dada and Pappy saying the word "spa" and now he says it constantly. His version is, "pa"!!! It is adorable!

All of the talk about the "pa" made Mama really want to go to one! Ahhhhhhh! Maybe one day life will slow down just enough! :)

As usual, it was entirely refreshing hearing Dad preach on Sunday! I was reminded this Thanksgiving of everything I have to be thankful for: my wonderful....seriously, wonderful....husband, there is no greater man! He works so unselfishly to support Jacob and I and loves us with a love only he can show! He is the most generous, loving, kind, and patient person I know! I thank God for giving me such a Godly man to lead our family! Jacob is the absolute joy of our lives. Nothing compares to the love of a parent for his or her child. Everything about this kid absolutely amazes me! I love seeing the world for the first time ever through his eyes! Although he can be one of the wildest kids I've ever seen, he has the most tender heart and will love on you at almost any time! Wayne and I both have wonderful families that we could not live without. They have molded us into who we are today. I'm thankful for our church, our friends, our health, our home....how I love our first little home! The list could go on and on. Most of all, I'm thankful for Jesus! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!