Back in the Saddle

It's been almost a year since I've posted anything. Honestly, I was just going to let it go and then felt a burst of inspiration recently and decided that an updated page was what I needed.

So here it is. My youngest is away this week at his grandparents and so I have a few things I plan on writing about...now that I have uninterrupted time on my hands.

Stay tuned...

A few things I did this summer..2012

I finally painted my bathroom. I have painted this room 3 times. When we moved in, it was floor to ceiling red striped wallpaper. In the WHOLE room. I would look at the walls while taking a bath and I swear they were moving!

We then went with an orangey color..WAY too much orange. Then a pale yellow. You see that brown stripe around the bath tub? It used to be pink { just like the vanity, countertop and most of the walls in our  house..} Then one day

I decided to paint it brown. I used countertop paint.

This is the color I painted our countertops in our bathroom. This is my sons bathroom, 

but the only picture I had..it's called Giani Granite and it's amazing!

Anyway...This is just a random picture of our beagle. 

I love that her head is actually under her bed and that she has a cheese stick wrapper next to her paw.

Something else we did this summer was move our oldest 

out of the house! 

He moved further in town and is much closer to work and school.

This is the way my mind works..

all night I would wake up and add to this list.

This is his room. It's probably 20x25. We attached a cable to each side of his wall and then clipped up black sheets. The room is divided into 4 sections. Sleeping, writing, dining, and t.v.

It was a lot of fun to surprise hime when he got home from work.

I have been trying to get the school year off strong and 

have neglected uploading pictures...I'll try to be better!

Nashville Part 3

Did I wait long enough to finally publish these pictures?

Things have been BUSY! 

More on that later...

The last leg of our trip we went to 

The Gaylord Palms resort Center. 

BEAUTIFUL.

That's really the only word needed to describe it. 

I absolutely love the fact that you feel like you're outdoors....

{with no humidity}

I would love to stay here sometime, but that will never happen.

I so wish I could get my backyard this beautiful.

Always posing.

We also went on a river boat cruise in Lebanon, TN. 

It took place on Hickory Lake, home to Johnny Cash's 

original place.

This is an old boat..

and that's about all I can remember 6 weeks later..

I promise though, It had a great story :-/.

This is a shot of Reba McEntires home. Is it pathetic that I can remember everything he said about her, her property and the drunk guy who tried to dock on her dock and walk up the yard...but I can't remember anything important about that old boat? Ugh..

The boat you see in the picture is full of coal. Approximately 6 or 7 "tug" boats deliver coal to this machine. An arm picks up the coal and drops it on a conveyor belt that then transfers it 2 miles to the plant. I was absolutely fascinated by this..

Here's the plant that the coal is delivered to..you could see the conveyor built going into the building..

O.K., I'm not really sure why I think it's so amazing.

...but I just imagine all the cool movies that could be made using that conveyor belt. 

Perhaps instead of the top of a train, they could have people fighting on this belt and have a 

narrow escape as it enters the building...

Anybody with me?

Of course, I have forgotten the number of people that this building services and the amount of electricity it provides...

Total loser I tell you!

We ended the cruise parked in front of this bat cave. We waited until it was just about dark and then all the bats slowly started to fly out. It wasn't like the pictures from the Austin, Tx. bat cave, but it was really fun. I tried to get pictures, but it was just too dark...

The beautiful sunset on our way back.

Nashville Trip Pt. 2

This is what Clay wanted to do every single day! Unfortunately, there were a lot of storms this year...But we still got in a few days.

 The first year we went to Nashville, the mall, The Grand Ole Opry, and even the place that we stay at now were all closed due to the horrible flooding in 2010.

This year is was open! It was so nice to be able to stay within a 3 mile radius for most of our trip. It's not a vacation for me if we spend hours in the car.

I do that at home..

They have an amazing sports store in the mall. Clay wanted to try the rock climbing wall..usually I'm like, "Five dollars! no way!"..But we were on vacation and I caved.

He is so strong from all his karate, and water sports.

He made it look absolutely effortless.

Beast

At one point he was just hanging by his hands 

and pulled himself up like a pull up.

He even tried to lean back like the pros.

He was proud of himself..and rightfully so.

These are his latest obsession.

Not gonna happen

They do look cute together.

Downtown Nashville has an awesome park called Centennial Park. 

It has a life sized Parthenon..Not really sure why, but I guess it's cool.

We tried to get a half way descent photo..

I clearly don't use a good camera, or photo shop...We'll just go with that...

We probably should have tried NOT to take a good picture and they may have turned out better.

Clay always looks great.

It's such an artsy place. We watched this group of jugglers for awhile...

 and then Clay noticed the guy on the slack line...

He was fascinated with this guy..

He kept talking about how he wanted to be a slacker when he got older. :-)

He wants to ride on this swing every year..it's the little things.

Nashville Trip Pt.1

For the 3rd year in a row my two older kids have attended a music camp in Nashville. My parents are awesome and give us a free week at one of their timeshares. One of the places we went this year was  this cute little place called "A Cowboy Town".

The family that operates it also lives on the grounds. What a neat experience for their children.

This building is called the saloon...

It has swinging doors, checker boards, a stage and just the most awesome decor.

Love this sign

They are sitting this close to the fan because 

we went during Nashville's record breaking heat wave. 

Great. It was 103 degrees. Not kidding.

Look at the fun barstools at the bar.

The doors to the right are the bathrooms.

Terrible picture, but this was the most addicitng game ever! Clay is holding the round ring on the end of the string and the object is to get it on the hook protruding out of the wall. Honestly, they didn't pull their ipods out of their pockets once. Love that.

We couldn't get enough water that day.

Random photos of their property

I want one of these in my yard.

The family also has a small pond on their property.

They started way out and paddled like crazy to get the boat up on shore..

rather comical to watch.

The view from the pond..beautiful.

They had a little stream that you could "pan" for "gold". 

This was his very favorite thing..

He found so many painted rocks that I actually made him turn some back in :-/. 

I was afraid the other kids wouldn't find any..

One of their beautiful horses.

I love the old outhouse.

And the barn.

I couldn't get a good picture of the guy playing the washboard..

they were very talented. 

Then this guys walks out and he and his friend put on the cutest shoot out comedy routine.

This guy rode into town on his "horse".

Gearing up 

If you're ever in Nashville, check this place out..

We had a great time.