Busy Week Behind Us

Well, I finally was able to sleep in and catch up on my rest after a week of being up and at 'em early. Dh went on a short trip to FL, and brought the bro-ham with him, so it was a good motivation to get caught up on cleaning, wax the floors, and so forth.

My wonderful 15 year old sis-in-law came and stayed with me to help. We scrubbed and polished and buffed about all day...and then she'd work on her school for the next day to get a head start! So a big "thank you" goes to her. =-)

So we enjoyed my bro-in-laws visit...made us realize how much we've missed having him around. Stinks to be so far away. He loves the Smokies, so on Sat. we drove down towards Gatlinburg and hiked a short trail to Grotto Falls. It's a great hike...not too long, and you get to cross over several small streams before you get to the big one...it kind of builds up to the best. Here's a few pics.

Here's my dh and I at the falls.

Afterwards we decided to drive over to Cade's Cove, since I had never been there. Wow. You have to go if you're ever in the area. An 11 mile loop goes through the cove, and you can stop and walk through some of the orginal buildings. There are cabins, barns, and churches...as well as big fields to tromp through or take a nap in. I wanted to live there.

This cabin had a beautiful view. We're going to tease friends back in FL and tell them this is the house we bought.

Here's the four of us in one of the little churches.

We stopped at a field with grass rippling in waves towards the opposite ridge. The weather was perfect, with big puffy clouds blowing through and deepening the colors they passed over.

Here are the bearded brothers. They've never had one both at the same time, so it was kinda funny.

And lastly, here's a pic of the wonderful, crazy family I married into!