It's Snowing!!!

Irony: having a snow day the day after you finish student teaching. It's Sunday night, and we are receiving our 1-2 inches of snow. In fact, our stake Christmas program had to be canceled because people from Tennessee freak out whenever they see a snow flake, and end up going to every grocery store within a 100 mile radius to buy them out of all their french toast ingredients (eggs, milk, bread). I'm assuming that this is because no one in Tennessee actually has food in their house, they just eat at Cracker Barrel, Shoney's, or Waffle House every day. Anyhoo, this is actually what our house looks like right now. No, this was not photoshopped; the white dots are real snow flakes!

Thanksgiving Festivities

This Thanksgiving we were lucky to have some far away visitors come spend some time with us. It was nice that we didn't have to travel this year. My sister and her husband and little boy came to spend a couple of days with us.

Our Thanksgiving table. We thought it would be fun to break out the fine china. It was worth it!

Our Thanksgiving feast with our smoked turkey---complements of Rob and his smoker!

We took our visitors to see the Opryland Hotel which just opened up again after being shut down for 6 months since the flood. They had this awesome nativity scene set up.

It may be hard to see, but they had horse-drawn carriage rides around the grounds.

The lights outside the hotel were fun to see. I don't think there is one branch on these trees left unlit.

My sister, Nicole, and her husband, Jeff, in front of a huge poinsettia tree inside the hotel.

The hotel all lit up from the outside.

Chihuly at Cheekwood

This weekend we went to Cheekwood --- an estate owned by the rich Cheek family back in the day. They donated their mansion and all the grounds and turned it into a museum. The Chihuly exhibit has been there for the last few months. It's a glass blowing exhibit and it was nothing short of amazing. We watched a short video of the people in the process of glass blowing. It takes a lot of people to make even just one piece and the pieces in the video were small. Some of these pieces at Cheekwood were HUGE. I have no idea how they were put together let alone how they get them to stay together.

In Rob's defense, the sun was right in his eyes, but he sure looks cute anyway. Here he is playing hide-n-seek amid the "blue heron" glass.

The colorful balls are all blown glass on a bed of gravel. They looked like planets.

Close up of the planets.

The huge plate planet. How do you transport this thing?

These were some of my favorite. They are just so curly and fun! Plus they are in a fountain. I'll take one of these in my backyard please!

This one was called green and purple grass. I loved that it was placed right in the middle of a big patch of real purple-colored grass. (Do you like my hat?)

This is the biggest one we saw. It's like the Eiffel Tower of blown glass. How do they do this?

Rob in the bamboo garden. The Red pieces are all pieces of blown glass.

The squiggliest one of them all.

These ones were pretty cool just bobbing in the pond. I love all the bright colors. The waterfall was a cool effect too.

A boat full of glass.

He had pieces all over the place. Even in this fountain amidst statues. We were so glad we got a chance to go. Maybe I'll take up a new hobby soon :)

Leaves are Falling All Around

This weekend was perfect for hiking. We went to Percy Warner Park and there were leaves everywhere. It was great !

The weather was just right, the leaves were extra crunchy and even the air smelled like fall. Isn't Rob cute from behind!?!

Part of the road had collapsed. Rob is showing his stunning masculine self.

I found this "little" walking stick.

Rob had so much fun playing in the leaves.

I found this super big leaf. It made a nice fan. Too bad I didn't have any grapes.

At the end of the trail we found Thanksgiving dinner. Can't wait to gobble gobble up some of this soon :)

We had a Fair Time

I fondly remember going to the county fairs each year and looking at all the 4-H projects, seeing the farm animals, nervously getting on the newest, scariest carnival ride, and eating cotton candy. I'm not sure if I'm looking at fairs through different eyes now that I'm older, or if they really have changed that much, but the fair just isn't what it used to be. Since when did you have to pay a day's wages just to ride the ferris wheel and eat a corn dog? Despite my complaints of recent years' fairs, we decided to go (because we could get it for free) and also because I had a hankerin' for some greasy concoction that only the fair can provide.

We of course had to go to the petting zoo where they actually had this funny camel. He was so friendly and Rob instantly made a new friend. Here they are giving each other "kisses".

This guy couldn't get enough attention. He loved the pats on the head and it was my first time to pet a camel, so we both won.

At every fair I think they have the biggest whatever contest (biggest pig, biggest pumpkin, etc) These were the biggest watermelons and squashes ever. I think the biggest squash was over 1000 pounds.

I mean look at this thing.

I couldn't resist this shot. It was so cool with the carnival lights and the sunset. All in all our adventure turned out pretty good. We still couldn't fork over the $10 it would have taken just to go on 1 ride, but we did end up eating a funnel cake and a fried goo goo cluster that was to die for. (They are much better than fried snickers, fyi :))

A very un-laborious Labor Day

Apparently we have set a tradition here for Labor Day. We go shooting! Rob's family has some land north of us in White House, TN. So we bring some friends and our earplugs and have a grand ol' time with some guns.

This barn is just part of the farm and very decrepit. It's actually looks pretty cool on the outside, but it's way too creepy and crawly for me on the inside.

Even the kiddos got in on the action.

Rob loves his guns and has been kinda sad that we haven't been shooting much since he got his new hand gun for Christmas. He was good enough to pull the clay pigeons for others for a while though.

Finally he got in some action.

It depends on the year if I am a "good shot" or not. This year I hit the first clay pigeon thrown. After that......let's just say I didn't do so well. I was however, very brave handled the hand gun. There's just something about a hand gun that's scarier than holding a rifle. But I blew the crap out of a tin can and felt pretty good about it. Intruders beware....I now know how to use this thing!

Summer of hottness

This summer has been pretty crazy. First of all, Nashville is crazy hot. It's been consistently in the 90's since June. And now that we are in the hottest month of the year, we have been blessed with temps in the 100s with super high humidity. Basically we're melting here.
Plus, the air conditioner in our house is too small to keep up with the heat so we come home from work to be greeted by an 85 degree reading on the thermometer (and that's the inside!) Hopefully the heat decides to break soon, but I'm afraid we're still in for quite a bit more.


Rob and I have traded off and on being out of work this summer. I quit my job at Vanderbilt in May and was doing some temporary work through Vanderbilt until about a month ago. I got a call out of the blue from a company that found my resume on Career Builder. (Finally after 2 years of having my resume posted on there, it paid off!) I decided to interview with them even though it sounded like a job that I had never really done before. Right away at the interview I felt like it would be a great company to work for. I felt like they liked me, but wasn't sure if it would come through. They called me back for a second interview after the 4th of July and that same day called me to offer me the job! I was nervous waiting to start because the job is more technical than anything I've ever done before, but my first day on the job I was calm and confident. It was one of those rare experiences of knowing that I'm in the right place at the right time.

By the way, the company's name is Sentry. It's a sister company of HMS (Health Management Systems). They are basically a company that helps hospitals take their medical records and make them electronic.

It's a big blessing right now because it pays WAY better than any job I could have gotten at Vanderbilt and just in time because Rob will be student teaching this fall and not bringing in an income at all. They have some pretty good benefits and I have room to grow in this company. A lot of people work from home too so I'm hoping that I'll be able to eventually do that. We'll see I guess.

So, perhaps a boring post because there aren't any pictures, but I'll post something soon of some of the fun things we've been able to fit into the summer.

Happy Birthday to Me!

June is a great time to have a birthday. It's not too hot yet, unless you live in Tennessee. Things are still blooming and pretty instead of turning brown and wilting from the heat. And you get presents every 6 months! Can't beat that :)

Here I am digging into my stack of presents.

Rob is learning that I have an unquenchable thirst for cheese. He bought me a HUGE block of smoked gouda from Sam's Club and I've been enjoying it immensely!

This is my stash this year!

The weekend after my birthday we took a ride up to Kentucky to the Lost River Caves. I thought we would be in the woods somewhere, but it's right in the middle of the city of Bowling Green.

They have a small butterfly reserve there with a few different varieties.

Rob trying to ruffle up some butterflies.

This was inside the cave. It really was too dark to get any kind of picture in there, but supposedly Jesse James hid out in this cave evading the authorities for quite some time until they found him, thought they had him trapped, and then realized too late he had escaped out a back entrance.

They have a hiking trail you can walk while waiting to go on the cave tour. Rob found this cool spot that he wants to use as inspiration in a story he's writing. Unfortunately while exploring his foot hit some moss and his rump and his knee paid the price on a huge boulder.

Out on the town

A couple of weeks ago my parents came to Nashville for the first time! We tried not to wear them out too much. I think they had a good time :)

This ol' fella welcomed them to downtown Nashville.

We got to go to The Hermitage--President Andrew Jackson's home. This is the back of the mansion house.

This is my mom and dad outside the front of the house. There is some renovation going on right now.

This was the original house until he decided he needed to have a more "presidential" residence.

We took them to see the Nashville temple.

Apparently I looked pretty good in this blue cowboy hat. (I don't see it.)

We had tickets to see the Grand Ole Opry, but the week before the Opry house flooded. So instead they did the show at the original Opry house--The Ryman.

It was a fun show and we got to see Alan Jackson!!!

Downtown Nashville on Broadway and of course, the telltale sign you are in Nashville--the Batman building.

We went to Portland, TN and bought some fresh picked strawberries and made a strawberry pie. Delicious!!

We had a great time mom and dad! Come back soon :)