Nashville July 23, 2013 (morning)

Emily and Jeremy out side of the Grand Ole Opry

Rob and I waiting for our tour. Wait, what?  I'm actually in a picture!

On the tour you can see: A plug for the t.v. show Nashville.

The members mailboxes that they still use today.

A couple of the dressing rooms.

Sometime in the past 2 years Nashville had a major flood and the hotel I posted about and many other historical sites were damaged.  This painting is one thing that they were able to restore.

On the Opry stage looking out into the ummm....crowd.

This circle is another thing they were able to salvage and it is one of the most important.  The floor boards that make that circle were brought over from the Ryman where the Opry used to be.  When the new state of the art Opry was built it just seemed right to continue in the tradition of singing/standing where so many other famous country stars got their start.  At the end of our tour all of us stood in around the circle and sang "You Are My Sunshine" and clapped at the end so we can honestly say we got a standing ovation singing at the Grand Ole Opry!

A look from the back of the Opry.

This is just an odd sign in the mall parking lot.  We have never seen a 24 speed limit.

Nashville July 22, 2013

After spending some time with our friends we headed to Nashville Monday night.  It was early and we were looking for something easy to do so we went to explore the Opryland Hotel.  Can you tell how happy Jeremy is to be touring a hotel?

This hotel is BEAUTIFUL!  The center of the hotel is an atrium with plants, waterfalls and a boat tour!

Rob and I have been here before we had kids and stayed one night as a birthday present to me.  It is big, beautiful and expensive.

We explored almost every nook and crannie of the place with out any one trying to stop us.  We never did find the front desk.

We were looking for a place to have dinner here but everything was over priced so we went to the food court in the mall behind the hotel.

Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge July 21-22, 2013

We decided to take a trip south this year and since Tennessee is only 10 hours from home we headed there.  There are few reasons we spent the night in Pigeon Forge. #1 our favorite Bubba Gumps is there and seeing that they totally screwed up in New York, dinner in Tennessee was on them!

After dinner we walk around Gatlinburg and saw this sign. I guess they must have a problem with this.

#2 On Monday morning we went to one of Jeremy's favorite places, the Aquarium.  We spent most of the morning here.  I took lots of pictures but I am only posting a few.

Shark!!

Jellyfish

Octopus

Rob's not scared of the dinosaur.

Sting Ray. Click on the pic and see their smiles :)

In case you didn't know Jeremy wants to be a Marine Biologist.  He was half balancing on step up for little kids and stretching his chin out to make this photo work.  The things this boy does for his mom.

We found a tank of Dori's and Nemo's.

#3 These fine folks are our friends Dave and Judy.  We met them when we lived in our first home in Lincoln Park, Michigan.  They have known Emily since the day she was born.  They retired a few years ago in Tennessee and we try to see them as often as we can.  They are like grandparents to our kids.

Minor changes...Major happiness

So, we bought our dining room set the year I was pregnant with Emily.  These chairs have been through a lot over the past 18 1/2 years and I finally put my foot down and put them on my "must fix" list.  I found some really nice upholstery fabric on sale, 50% off.

Last night Rob was home and said "Let's get this done."  He pulled out the staples of the old fabric.

We covered the seats with more batting to make them fluffy again.  I forgot to take a picture of us putting the new fabric on but it really took both of us to get it on there right.

This is the end result.  For some reason the camera didn't pick up the very light green color of the new fabric but it is beautiful.  Stop by and check them out.

Since Rob was on a roll with the chairs he also put up the new lights outside of the house.  I did a happy dance to be rid of the old gold ones that were there since we built the house in 1998.  I am super excited that both of these projects are done.  Now on to re-doing our bedroom.

44! Shut the front door!

Yup, I turned 44 this year.  I asked Jeremy to take a picture of me and Rob and this is the best one he got.  I knew it was time to retire the quilt my grandmother made me for our wedding.  The blanket was one of our families favorites but after 21 years it had seen better days.  So I washed it and put it in my cedar chest.  Seeing the lack of a great blanket in the living room Rob and the kids went and picked this one out for my birthday.  It is just as warm and I'm sure it will be a family favorite before long.

Sweet idea

I must say that I stole this idea from a truly amazing woman at church named Ellen.  She gave Emily one of these for graduation and I made 8 of them to give to Emily's friends.

Super easy to make: the sundae cup,shredded paper, and plastic spoon are from the dollar store.  I had to buy the paper because my shredder is a cross cut so it just gives you confetti.  The gift card is for $10.00 to the Dairy Queen.  You wrap it up in a clear gift bag that you can get just about any where.  The total per gift is under $12.00.

Wrap up

Our trip to Pennsylvania was really fun.  We got to see some historical things in Philadelphia and amazing things in New York City.  The purpose of the trip was to visit with my rockin awesome cousin Carolyn and her family.  Her husband Eric got us out of a pickle on the way there when Rob was so very sick.  Her three daughters were so fun and made the trip all that much more fun.  We were able to drive my aunt Jeanette, who is from Utah, from Detroit to visit with her daughter and grand kids.  I was enjoying myself so much that I forgot to snap a bunch of pictures while we stayed with them.  This is Rob and Eva watching cartoons early one morning while they waited for the rest of us to get moving.  She called him grandpa all week.  We sure love them all and can't wait to see them next summer in Utah when their oldest is baptized.