Historic Rugby Tennessee continued

Enjoying the great outdoors

explore, Explore, EXPLORE!!!

Beautiful Tennessee sunsets

Thank you Lord for all that you do for me. I praise you for the sun rising and seting and for throwing in such amazing colors to enjoy along with them each day.
-Amen

An old family owned log cabin

Team jersey day at work-what a group!

It's a good thing we are all friends at work because we are strong fans of different teams-GO COLTS!!

Time fLiEs when you're heading toward the HoLiDaYs

Sorry for the delay in posts lately. Things are really in high speed and Jon and I are looking forward to the holidays. We have had a lot of fun these last two months since our Labor Day weekend at the Bowman's house. We have gone to Raleigh North Carolina to visit Stephen, Erin and the OH SO LOVEABLE Ethan and went to the State Fair. A very dear friend of mine celebrated her 30th birthday (still can't believe that one!) so we had all the girls over for a fun-filled night of making pizzas and OH YEAH the other day I went grocery shopping at Wal-Mart and they have a "Super Style" hair salon inside (yeah, I don't have a "hair person" I just go with whoever is working at the nearest salon location to me at the exact moment I decide to get a haircut ha ha) and I got a trim...well okay, more like I went in for the trim and instead opted for the short pixie cut showcased on the girl hanging on the wall instead. Needless to say, I have cut my hair AGAIN and this time it is super short and I like to think somewhat sassy :) I've always loved the pixie cuts on girls so I thought, "Why not me??" I wasn't too worried about it being too short and not liking it because it's hair and it grows back and when in doubt I can use a headband or bobby pins and pull it back TA DA! Unfortunately, I have no pictures of my new style as of yet but there will be plenty to come once the holidays get here and the cameras start flashing 101 pictures!
In the meantime, I've attached a ton of pictures of what we've been doing these past couple of months.
NOTE: You will notice there are a lot of pictures of food from our trip to the State Fair. I could NOT get over how much FOOD there was and the MANY types of food choices available. Fried alligator on a stick anyone?? Yummy! Enjoy :)

***More to come as we celebrate Thanksgiving in Tennessee and Christmas at the Biltmore!***

Happy Birthday Amy Lou

A birthday made great with homemade pizzas!

Thank you!

Thanks so much Stephen and Erin for inviting us to North Carolina! We had a great time and can't wait to see you all very soon. mwwwwwwah!

Got Milk? Straight from the cow that is....

Erin and I had a great time milking the cow and they even gave us some milk when we left to enjoy-yummy! P.S. If any of you know my mom please do not tell her I paid $2 to milk a cow....she grew up in Iowa on a farm ha ha. Love you mom! Aren't you proud?!

Nephew Love

We love our nephew so much and are so grateful for the awesome blessing of having him in our lives.

Farmer's Market Fun

I loved looking at all the fresh and award winning HUGE produce! The animals were sweet too and apparently exhausted from all the attention. I added the picture of Ethan in there because its just a great shot of the innocence of being two years old.

What about Bob?

I wonder who comes up with the "prize" choices at the fair. I mean, I can't imagine who would say to themselves, "I hope after I spend this $50 trying to win a prize worth less than $5 I can pick whatever I want and get the Bob Marley looking banana!" Apparently, someone did.
However, the best part of these pictures isn't the banana but the awesome mullet on the guy to the right of the banana in the group shot. Didn't notice that until I got home and saw the picture on my computer...that is priceless! Way to go buddy! That is one sweet business in the front and party in the back style-rock on!

Fair = Food (enough said)

A picture is worth a 1,000 words...or in this case calories! The trick is to get one of everything you want and split it with at least three other people and one two year-old who can hold his own with food. This will lead to less guilt later.

Root Beer Floats

This was the cutest booth at the fair so I couldn't help but buy a root beer float and support the two sweetest people who owned the booth. They even agreed to take a picture with me...somewhat strange I know but I had to get a picture with my two new friends.

My favorite picture of them ALL!!!

This is by far my favorite picture that we took this weekend :) I got the idea to do this "posed" picture after looking through some old pictures of when Ethan was just a baby and Stephen would toss him up into the air over and over again. It is so silly but so appropriate for the family and I think it's a perfect representation of us.

The triumphant battle!

I think it says somewhere in the Bible not to exasperate your nephew...or maybe that was children or wives or something like that, I'll be sure to look that one up! Regardless, I sure did have a lot of fun messing with Ethan and taking control of the couch! I used the finest weapons around a.k.a fingers and tickled my way to victory until the brave-hearted Ethan came back time and time again to reclaim his land and sacred napping place. He repeatedly fell to his defeat and yet bounced right back up and starred at me with all of his cuteness until he made his attack! There was even a time when he called in for back-up from grandpa but still no luck! When it came down to it...he was NO MATCH for my quick tickling fingers, not to mention I out weigh him by at least one hundred and blah blah pounds. You are a brave one little Ethan and I challenge you to another dual the next time you"re in town!!

More Bowman Family pics...

These are a couple of Jon and I and our "immediate" family (gotta love our puppies!) and of course as you can see in the picture of Ethan and Jack....Ethan felt the need to point out that Jack (our modest beagle) was in fact going potty in the yard. hahahaha It was too funny and a perfect picture moment to say the least. Jack has since decided to "relieve" himself in the backyard where there aren't as many spectators watching.

Labor Day weekend Bowman family pics!

Labor Day weekend was an awesome time spent with family at the Bowman B&B. Stephen, Erin and Ethan came into town and Mike is now home for good from overseas-YAY! The whole family was able to be together to celebrate Labor Day and also Judy's birthday and since the Bowman's have an awesome house-we all stayed there which made the weekend that much more memorable. There is a lot of variety in these pics-some formal, some casual but all equally great and I am so thankful for the opportunity to get together with family.