Still going strong

Is the weekend really over? We made it back from another App Family Homecoming weekend and had a BLAST!!

Robby & Kel picked me up from the Charlotte airport (honking in the travelall, of course) and we headed up the mountain. The party was in full swing when we arrived. We unloaded the car, grabbed a beverage of choice and jumped right in.

Yes, 4 twin beds pushed together-this is where me, Mike, Kel & Robby slept!

Saturday morning rolled around and everyone was ready to begin the fun. We loaded up the cars, packed 10 people into the travelall and headed to campus for a full day of tailgating. The weather was perfect, the leaves were gorgeous and it was a great day to spend with friends. After lots of pictures, drinks, food, cornhole, football and laughs, we packed up the tailgate and headed into the game. TBruce scored us fantastic seats and we all enjoyed the game (a little too much)...probably annoyed our neighbors too!After the game, we all headed back to the house for more QT and grilling out. It was a very relaxing evening filled with great conversations and yummy food!
The house crashed early on Saturday which of course warmed my grandma heart!

Sunday seemed to come a little too quickly and I wasn't ready to head back to the real world. After breakfast and a little clean-up, we loaded the car to head back to TN.

I walked away from this weekend with a full heart, lots of pictures, some wonderful memories and maybe a few extra pounds.

App Family, thank you for the sweet gift of friendship

That time again

Tomorrow is the day. I will catch a plane from NY to Charlotte, ride up the mountain and then the weekend will begin! Every year since graduation (minus 1), 16+ members of the App Family rent a house over homecoming weekend. I look forward to this weekend EVERY.SINGLE.YEAR! We begin early in the year emailing each other to decide on a house, then all buy tickets together, then the food planning emails begin!Blogs, emails, phone calls, texts and facebook just don't cut it sometimes. I need some real face to face time with my "family"! I might not get as much sleep as I like, men in diapers might appear, some folks think they can drink like they did in college, snuggling and catching up into the wee hours, and making more memories with some of your best friends. Memories, that is what it is all about. I love tradition, obviously, and this is one that I hope we keep until we are all tooting around in our electric scooters! The camera is charged and I'm ready to begin the weekend in my "happy place".

Obsessed

I admit, I'm a little obsessed with my niece and nephew. When we are all together, I cannot stop myself from taking pictures of their every move. When we found out they were going to be in Clemmons, we made sure we could make it for the day.
We made a VERY quick trip to Clemmons this weekend to see my whole family and attend a little friend/baby reunion.

Nate has grown up so much in the last few months and I couldn't handle it. He can write his name, say the pledge of allegiance, say the whole alphabet, and says very witty things. The next time I see him, he will probably be ready for college. AR has grown up so much too AND is talking up a storm...why does this happen?!?!

Like I said, we were home for less than 24 hours but it was well worth the trip. We had a great time playing with the kiddos, catching up with friends at the reunion and spending time with the family. I just love that family of mine...Christmas can't come soon enough!

Sweet Addison

Proof that hubs and I were there too
Dad loves to dance with the kids!reunion with all the babies

love my sisters!

Pooks Weekend

This past weekend, our pooks traveled to TN for a visit and a little UT football! Despite 3 out of the 4 of us having a cold, we had a great weekend together.

We had BLAST tailgating for 6+ hours, introduced Kel & Robby to some of our friends, and had great seats for the game. When I woke up on Sunday morning, I didn't have a voice. Seriously, I could not talk at all! After Kel & Robby left, I spent the rest of Sunday and Monday on the couch (praise the Lord for bank holidays). My life has been filled with lots of TV, tea, Kleenex and my sweet husband taking care of me. Hoping this laryngitis is gone tomorrow morning! I have a busy work week to tackle AND a weekend with the entire Gibbs family!

Cake Monster

When Mike and I were wedding planning, we took the cake very serious! We both LOVE our desserts and wanted to make sure the cake was good. Our "cake lady" really won us over when she said we didn't have to freeze our top tier. For all of her customers, she makes them a replica on their one year anniversary...score! Last weekend, "cake lady" made Kelly's birthday cake and also our anniversary cake. We stuck it in the freezer until we were ready to eat it. We finally got around to eating it this weekend and boy was it delicious!
I got out the serving set we used at our wedding and now use at all our special celebrations!
I'm tempted to put it in the freezer so we can enjoy it again for our 2nd anniversary. That's not weird, is it?










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Reason

Work is really busy for us right now (ok so maybe its been like that since we got married), and we usually only see each other on the weekend. Not ideal but like I keep saying, this is the season of life we are in so we will embrace it...and have a breakdown once in a while!

Mike and I use a google calendar (nerd alert) so we can know where the other will be during any particular week. When we found out that we might cross each other in the airport, we decided to make a date out of it!

So today, as I was getting off a plane and Mike was going through security to get on one. Convenient, huh??


As Mike was walking over to me, I noticed his suitcase looked a little odd. Being the loving and supportive wife that I am, I instantly started laughing. Mike's suitcase handle broke on our last trip and he "forgot" we had another one he could use. For some reason, he thought it was a good idea to bring the broken one! Bless my husband...he looked so funny trying to wheel that suitcase around.


After I got in some good laughs, we popped on over to Ruby Tuesday and had a nice lunch together! Now we are in different states again but will meet up in Charlotte for what looks like a friend filled weekend!

Happy travels!


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Hot and Dry

I spent all last week in sunny Arizona where the temperature was 105+ everyday! That doesn't really work well when you are wearing a business suit and have frizzy hair. I looked like a hot mess most of the week but managed to have a great time. We worked hard all week, but managed to work in some fun.

There is a resort there called the Sanctuary that has the perfect location on Camelback Mountain and an amazing restaurant called Elements. (if I knew how to add a link on my phone, I would).
We might have visited this spot a few times during our trip to enjoy dinner, drinks and the beautiful views.












All in all, the trip went really well. I got back to Knoxville at midnight on Friday and was so happy to see my husband (that's him if you forgot)!!


We got to spend the whole weekend together and didn't have any set plans...it was heaven! At church on Sunday, Mike spotted "Joe, the BBQ man " in the parking lot and made a beeline. Mike took a tour of his huge smoker/oven/trailer thing and talked his ear off. I didn't think we were ever going to leave. Joe and his dad built and welded this entire thing and mike is already drawing one he wants to have made. Yeah, keep dreaming husband!





Anyways, that's the update for now. I'm currently in Boston soaking up the gorgeous weather and trying to stay sane.

Have a fantastic week!!

Ps- thanks Emily M. for showing me how to blog on my iPhone!

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