Camping at Little River Canyon

 We went camping in May at Little River Canyon.  It is about 1 1/2 hours or so away.  I had never heard of this place and I have lived here my whole life!  Jude went camping here with the young men from church last year and so we decided to take the family there this year.  It was an awesome weekend to go because the weather was perfect and we basically had the whole campsite to ourselves.  The girls did great, so we plan on more family campouts in the future.

 This was at an overlook of the canyon.  Sorry, you can't really see the canyon, but I promise it was beautiful!

 The above pictures were taken at a place called Cherokee Rock Village.  Tons of boulders and cliffs.  It is a popular place for rock climbing. 

 Little River Falls...the falls are beautiful...the trash, not so much. 

St. Patrick's Day Parade

Yesterday I took the girls to the St. Patrick's Day parade in Huntsville. For the past 9 months or so the girls have been taking Irish Dancing lessons with the Huntsville Irish Dancers. Unfortunately for this parade there was not enough room for the wee-ones on the float, so we got to watch from the sidelines. It was still a lot of fun.

I love the sound of bagpipes!

Darth Vader and a storm trooper

Huntsville Irish Dancers

My cuties.

Christmas

Christmas this year was exciting. Since it fell on Sunday this year we opened presents on Christmas Eve (we have church at 9 in the morning and it is sometimes hard enough getting everyone ready and out the door on a normal Sunday). Uncle Geoff came over and we had breakfast for dinner. Then we sat down and watched these together as a family. Then we opened stockings and presents! It was alot of fun this year because Evie and Lisi were old enough to make a list for "Santa". I think it is safe to say that every day Lisi asked "Is it Christmas tomorrow?...how about the day after that?...the day after that?" and so on. Sabrina I think was just happy to have some candy to eat.

Jude WAS there. He was the one behind the camera.

Evie's Birthday

Jude's family came over to celebrate Evie's birthday with us.
I typically make cookie cakes whenever we celebrate a birthday around here. This year I decided to experiment. I did an icecream cake using two layers of brownie, a layer of strawberry icecream in between and a yummy pudding/cool whip frosting. It actually tasted really good...although it may not have looked as good as it tasted!

After cake and icecream Evie opened her presents. Jude and I let her get her ears pierced this year for her birthday.

Then the dance party began. I think everyone had fun!

For Nana and Gramps

My wonderful parents are currently serving a mission for our church on the island of Tenerife. I have enjoyed keeping up with them on their blog. I wanted them to be able to keep up with us as well, so this post is dedicated them! I will do my best to keep you guys updated with more posts, Nana and Gramps! We love you!

Thanksgiving in Gatlinburg


We spent our Thanksgiving in Gatlinburg this year with some of my family. We rented one big cabin. At first I thought it might be disastrous with 7 kids for 4 days, but we ended up having a blast!

On our way we stopped by the Chattanooga aquarium. Awesome!





There is tons to do near Gatlinburg. However, we spent most of our time hiking in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. It was so beautiful and we had great weather. The pictures above with the view were taken at Clingman's Dome.



Here is our Thanksgiving feast. I pretty much put on 5 pounds in these 4 days alone. I ate way too much, but the food was too yummy to pass up.



Aunt Megan was a huge hit with the kids. She did all sorts of crafts with them.

Other things that happened on our trip:
Lisi and I got to go horseback riding. Lisi loves horses. Our horse's name was Texas.
Ammon sliced his foot on the recliner and had to get stitches. He was such a trooper.
Many movies were watched since our cabin had a theater room. Our favorite...Harry Potter 7P2.
Jude took the girls to MagiQuest. They got their own pink wands and loved it!

Next post: Evie's Birthday and Christmas

Snappy

[Evie nagging Ashley about what color she should color various parts of her MLP]
Ashley: I am going to color the tail pink.
Evie: Why?
Ashley: Because I am the one coloring.
Jude: Don't get snappy Ashley.
Evie: Sometimes you're as snappy as I am.

How to file a complaint to the FCC

Here is the link to file a complaint with the FCC
http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgb/fcc475B.cfm