2-20-2011 Week in Review…

So, to start, here’s pics from the bbshower for my sis last week.

She kept getting caught making silly faces in pictures so in order to make her look more normal in all of them I made crazier faces on the side.  See? Doesn’t she look more normal??

Sunday morning Ryan and I headed out on our little get-a-way.  Ryan planned it all and wouldn’t tell me anything!  We headed west to a beautiful little bed and breakfast in the mountains!! Best part? We had it ALL to ourselves!…literally.  The owners only popped in every once in a while to check on us.  Ah…peace and quiet!  (and a fireplace in our room!)

In the mean time, back at home everyone was working hard to keep our home running.  My mom came Sunday, took the kids to church, and stayed through the morning at which point my sister took the girls to preschool at my SIL’s and after than Grandpa S. came and took over!  He picked up kids from school, spent the night, got everyone to school, and had a wonderful day playing with the girls outside in the beautiful weather. Then, my FABULOUS sister came and took over the routine of picking kids up, etc. etc.  She spent the night with her super cute kids and kept everyone through until we got home Wednesday evening when my mom showed up to take the boys to scouts and we finally got home.  I can not even begin to tell you how thankful I am for my family and all they did so I could have some needed time away.  You guys are A-MAZ-ING!!…and I love you lots!

So, while they were all working hard at my house, Ryan and I were…

Exploring caves…

 

Ryan hates taking pictures like this…can you tell??

He prefers to take pictures like this….

I did get one nice one of him and his white legs…

Frozen falls all along the highway…

Ryan and I stopped to take a hike on Valentine’s Day and passed this cute couple who had just gotten engaged!  So…I took their picture. 

Then we went on the most beautiful hike!

Here’s Ryan trying to make it over the top…in the second pic, a tiny rocket fell from the sky and bounced off of his head…weird…or maybe it’s just a strange cloud.

THEN, we went and found a frozen lake and decided to try our luck at walking on water!

We started the evening with a blackout at our Bed & Breakfast (a tree toppled in the CRAZY wind and took out power lines).  Our gracious hosts gave us extra fire logs, candles, and extra blankets.  The lights did come back on a few hours later but we were out to dinner at a local Steak restaurant that tried to kill Ryan by feeding him RAW steak.  Okay, I’m sure they weren’t trying to KILL him but when you have to send it back TWICE because it’s RAW…there’s something wrong.  However, once cooked thoroughly it was delicious!

We then took our mega telescope to the top of the mountain for a better view of the sky…we hoped.  BUT before we even went we knew it wasn’t going to go well.  The moon was bright in the sky directly above and the winds were so high that sometimes it was hard to stand.  We strategically parked the car to block the wind and made a few attempts but it was just too bright and too windy.  The view of the moon, however, was Glorious!!

For my birthday we headed up to Grandfather Mountain.  I have several memories of this location from my childhood.  One is crossing the very rickety wooden swinging bridge scared to death and seeing my mom and siblings at the other end and noting how afraid she looked.  I do remember the view, though, as being AMAZING.  So, when we went up I was very happy to find they’d replaced the wooden swinging bridge with a very sturdy metal bridge!!  And, yes, the view is just as amazing.

Here is Half of the amazing view.  The other half was full of buildings and such…not as pretty.  (Please excuse Ryan’s distortion in this pic, that’s what happens when you move during a panoramic shot…) – click on it to see it bigger…I hope…

My second memory of Grandfather Mountain is looking over a stone wall into the habitat of the local Cougar.  I remember it pacing back and forth at the wall below us and looking rather menacing.  My dad had us leave because the cougar looked dangerous and I seem to remember him saying that that cougar was going to get out.  Well about 3 weeks later that cougar did get out and it mauled someone.  Luckily they don’t have that cougar anymore!!

We then wandered mountain roads, visited a few little spots, had supper and just drove until the sun began to set.  Oh, what a beautiful day!

 

We finally headed home Wednesday with a few stops along the way to Old Salem and Cracker Barrel.  It was a much needed, much loved vacation!

It was so nice to be home.  Thanks again to everyone who gave so much so we could go!

Here’s Sylvie with her gift from our trip!

When we’d left on our trip I was pretty sure Ella was recovering but when we got home she’d developed a cough.  That night she was up crying about her ear so we headed out early Thursday to find out that she had an ear infection and sinus infection (that was causing her nose to bleed).  When I picked Corben up from school he was ghost white and sure enough running a high fever!  AAHHH!!  (My apologies to those who were exposed…sorry…really…)

Luckily the weather is Gorgeous so Friday I opened up every door to air out the house!  I spent the morning at the high school getting Food Drive things in gear then came home and babied all my sick babies.  Dade headed out to a sleep over at my mom’s and then I realized I was supposed to be at a baby shower for my SIL…so sad I couldn’t go!

Saturday was just as gorgeous out so while some of the kids went to play at friends’ houses, Ella and I played outside.  I wish it could stay like this year round!

And now it’s a beautiful Sabbath day and I’m headed outside with the kids!