Splash Country

The girls and I went to Splash Country by ourselves on Monday. All in all, it was a great success! I wasn't sure how hard it would be with both of them by myself, but they did great. It wasn't very crowded, but I did see one girl from church and two girls I knew in high school. Needless to say, we'll be splitting our time this summer between SC and the Karns community pool.

Here we are before leaving. We all had our princess shirts on that I ordered when Tinsley was born---too cute!


This is what 3 1/2 hours at SC, some sunscreen in your hair and not enough nap time looks like-ha!

Why I love my church

This is what we talked about today in Sunday school. Since I'm not one to speak up in class, I wanted to list my reasons for loving Sevier Heights Baptist Church here on my blog. It really has been a wonderful blessing to be a part of this church for the past 7 years, and I look forward to being here for many years to come. If you live in the Knoxville area and don't have a home church or are looking for a new one, I encourage you to visit SHBC. It is wonderful! Click here to go to their website.

1) Pastor Hollie Miller preaches the Word in an open, honest and clear way. He gives you the truth even if it's not politically correct and what the world wants to hear.

2) The music is AWESOME! I am already worshipping every Sunday before the sermon even starts. I love music and am blessed by it. Our choir and orchestra are truly touched by God.

3) The children's ministry not only cares about the physical well being of our children, but they truly care about helping to make them followers of Christ. The teachers love our kids! I look forward to my girls growing up in this church.

4) Sevier Heights is committed to following the Great Commission, Matthew 28:19-20: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

There are so many other great things that I could talk about, but these are the top 4 that came to mind. Have a wonderful week!

For the record

1) We spent a week at the beach and didn't have one single sunburn on anyone. We get back Saturday night and go to Splash Country with friends after church on Sunday ... that night everyone is burnt! It was cloudy and sprinkling most of the day so we didn't put on sunscreen. However, the sun did come out for about an hour and thus the sunburns. I should have known better!

2) Here are the swimsuits that I picked for the summer. I know most of you don't really care, but I did have a couple of people ask about it. I'm happy to report that they were both $15 or less-I love bargains (aka Marshall's and TJ Maxx)!

3) If you haven't seen the beach post, keep scrolling down.

No shoes, no shirt, no problem

We were in Gulf Shores, AL all last week, and we had a fabulous time! Tinsley wasn't too sure about the sand and ocean at first, but she warmed up to the sand by the end of the week (still didn't like the ocean but loves the pool). Briley had a great time building sand castles, picking up shells and digging holes. Chad's mom and dad came down for a couple of nights, and Uncle Kevin and his family were there for part of the time as well. It was a wonderful trip! I'll let the pictures do the talking ...

A mother's day to remember

My thoughtful husband gave me a gift certificate for Christmas to the spa at Grove Park Inn in Asheville, NC (if you haven't ever been there, it is GORGEOUS!). I have been trying to find a time to go, but I had to wait until I could leave the baby and find a cheap room rate. Shenoa and I had been looking online and discovered that Mother's Day night was available at an internet special rate of $99. We decided that it would be fun to take mom and spend the day/night together getting pampered---our treat! She does everything for us so it was the least we could do for her. We left first thing Sunday morning and drove over the mountain on a gorgeous, sunny day. Pedicures, massages, lunch by the pool ... perfect!!! On Monday we HAD to do a little shopping before heading home---Asheville has a TJ Maxx and a Marshall's after all.

It was a very memorable mother's day, and I must say thanks. Thank you to my wonderful husband for taking Monday off so I could go (and for the gift card that started it all). Thanks to my precious girls for letting mommy go and have a day for herself (and for being angels for daddy, of course). Thank you to my mom for being the wonderful Christian woman that she is and for being a great example of the kind of person I want to be to my children. “Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: ‘Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.’ Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. Give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.” Proverbs 31:28-31(NIV).

Thank you most of all to God for all the blessings that HE continues to bestow upon us even though we don't deserve them.

I hope all of the moms out there had a wonderful Mother's Day!!! I will never forget how special it was to spend the day with my mom and sister.

Here are my beautiful girls ready for church on Sunday morning.

A view of the inn ... I felt a little like I was on the set of Dirty Dancing. I kept waiting for Johnny and Baby to come out for the "final dance of the season."

Mom waiting for her next appointment.

The view from the pool ... so relaxing!!!!!!!!

The next Miley Cyrus???

We really aren't big Miley fans in our house, but the older neighborhood girls that she plays with love her (they went to the premier of the movie here in town, and Miley and her dad made a surprise appearance--too cool!). One day they all listened to the movie soundtrack over and over, and of course, Briley learned the words to "The Climb." Here is her song and dance :-) You can hear me question the removal of clothes as the song goes on ... evidently, Miley does something similar with her jacket in the video??? You'll have to mute the music at the bottom of the blog in order to hear our video. Enjoy!!!!!!!! It's kind of long--she sings the whole song.

Weekend recap

Briley left on Friday to spend the weekend with Granny. Papaw was in Alabama at a motorcycle race (he is in the pit crew), and Briley loves staying with Granny when he's gone because she gets to sleep in their bed ... and she gets to eat all the french fries she wants! They had a great time together making biscuits, painting and playing with her cousins.

Chad got a last minute invite to play golf on Saturday so Tinsley and I were left to man our neighborhood garage sale on our own. It had been planned for awhile so we decided to proceed with the sale despite the rainy weather (it has been beautiful for the past 2 weekends) and the fact that daddy would be gone (I have to do math quickly in my head with people watching--yikes!). Anyway, Tinsley was a great helper, and we had a good day together. We only made about $100 bucks, but it was fun hanging out and talking to people (our sweet neighbor girls included).

Here is my little helper playing in the rain ... so much fun!

Chilling out waiting for customers!

Not really sure what she was doing here. Checking out the dirty garage floor?


On Sunday, Briley and I got a last minute invitation to a mother/daughter tea at the home of one of Briley's Sunday school classmates who just happens to live in the neighborhood behind us. We missed it last year because we had family in town, and we almost missed it this year because Briley was at Granny's! However, she got home just in time to get cleaned up a little and walk over. The girls had so much fun dressing up and pretending to drink tea. Thanks, Cindy for a wonderful time of fun and fellowship!

Briley had to get mommy in on the action too!