Tennesse

Because of generous friends and the stars all aligning just right, Rob and I were able to take a quick trip for our 10 year anniversary last week. I kind of already explained why we ended up choosing TN in an earlier post, so I won't bore you with those details here.

We farmed our kids out to 5 different friends/neighbors houses and hoped that those people would all still be our friends when we returned. We are so grateful to have such wonderful, trusting and extremely capable friends who would take in our zoo animals for a few days so we could get away. We are anxious and ready to return the favors anytime they will take us up on it!

We flew out Thursday afternoon and arrived in Knoxville late that evening. It was a long day of traveling but imagine our excitement and surprise when my aunt and uncle were waiting outside the terminal to greet us looking like this...

A little background: When I was a teenager, I went to visit my aunt Debbie (dad's sister), uncle Richard and cousins a couple of times. Imagine the extreme culture shock after having grown up my entire life in CA. I absolutely loved it there! Yes, it was different, but that is what I loved about it. One of my fondest memories is driving around the back woods of TN with my cousin trying to find toothless people. It was total hillbilly country and I. Loved. It. When I told Debbie and Richard we were coming, my aunt Debbie asked if I wanted her to take us on a tour of the toothless, hillbilly communities. If we would have had time, I totally would have taken her up on her offer! They got a really good laugh out of us when they greeted us at the airport with their fake teeth. Our children are now the proud owners of 3 pair of hillbilly teeth. Actually, I think Sarah wore hers to school today because she's cool like that.

We have NEVER experienced hospitality like we did while we stayed at Debbie and Richards. The Ritz Carlton Tokyo has nothing on my aunt and uncle. Seriously. When we got to their house Thursday evening, they had set up their lovely guest room to resemble a hotel suite. Such thoughtfulness. We were treated like royalty the entire time we were there. They fed us, entertained us, gave us a car to drive, introduced us to some incredible people and just made our trip totally unforgettable.

Friday evening after a fun day of hanging out with Debbie and Richard and seeing the town, we headed up to their cabin for the evening. They packed us all kinds of food and treats and got us all settled in. They started the fire, got the heater going and made sure we were comfortable and then left us there to just enjoy some quiet time. It had been a while since we got to spend an evening alone, with zero distractions. It was lovely. The cabin was very cozy and comfortable. I wish I had taken pictures of the inside because it was decorated really nicely by my cousin JM. He did a great job! We had a really great time!

This is us just up the road from the cabin. You can see it in the background. Beautiful. Imagine it in the fall or spring!

I thought this picture was hilarious. I had set the camera on top of the car and put it on timer so we could get our picture together. It had started to slip, so I ran back to try to fix it before it went off. I realized quickly that it was about to go off, so I just stopped and did a stupid pose. What's so funny about this picture is Rob in the background being a total dork for the camera-like usual.

This is a view from looking out from the front of the cabin, up the road we were standing on in the last picture. Again, gorgeous.

This is the back porch of the cabin. I could have sat here for hours just swinging and enjoying the complete serenity. The cabin sits on 20+(?) acres so there wasn't a soul around.

I thought this was a really funny picture. We were driving back from the cabin the next day and saw these two cows by the side of the road. One of them was going to town on the hay and we stopped to take a picture. Just as we were rolling down the window, the cow stopped in mid-chew and just gave us the stinky eye. It was so funny.

The Clinch River

We did a lot of driving around just taking in the scenery around Knoxville. Apparently, it is their coldest and "ugliest" month. We thought it was beautiful!

Another view of the Clinch River. It was overcast and rainy that day.

I LOVED looking around at the houses there! They are all unique and beautiful. So very different than houses on the west coast. I took a ton of random pictures of houses because I was so fascinated with how beautiful and different they were. I'm really into architecture and house designs so I was in heaven!

I made Debbie and Richard take us down to the "Blue Hole." It is a pond across from where they live that is over 100 feet deep. My cousin took me there when I went to visit 15 years ago and I was fascinated by it. She convinced me that there were shark and two headed monsters that lived in it. She told me that scientists from all around the world come to study it. I'm pretty sure that isn't true, but I believed her at the time. Rob may not have been equally impressed with it but he humored me nonetheless.

This is the Wallace family cemetery which sits in my aunt and uncles backyard (literally). It used to be covered by brush but the family cleared it out and put a fence around it a little while back. I am obsessed with cemeteries and there are a ton of really old ones all over the place back east.

This is the view from Debbie and Richards driveway. Beautiful.

This is just a house we saw on our way to church on Sunday. It reminded me a little of the house I grew up in. A little spooky but really neat.

Here we are with two of my favorite people in the world! These guys are one of a kind and super fun to hang out with! We had an amazing time and it is all because of these two. I feel so blessed to be their niece and still like to convince myself that I'm their favorite. I happen to think I look a lot like my aunt Debbie. My dad is always commenting on how much I look like his sister and how I remind him of her so much. That is a compliment!

Thanks again Debbie and Richard for everything! We WILL be back!