Carver's Apple House Orchard and Restaurant

Visiting my mom in Dandridge, TN and we drove over to Carver's Apple House in Cosby today for lunch... for the BEST Apple Fritters, Apple Butter and Chicken Pot Pie Ever!! My daughter grabbed the Pickled Okra right away of course... My son loves the Apple Cider BBQ sandwich... They only had a few apple varieties available... we will come back in October to get our favorite variety -Stayman Winesap! But today, we bought fresh "Paula Red" apples (tart, turning sweet after a few bites)

I can see clearly now

Took Cole today to pick up his new glasses and they look so sharp on him!! And he said it made a huge difference, YAY! This time we decided to go with the transition lenses so we'll see how he likes them... Ain't my baby good looking??!!!!!!! :) We picked the frames without a rim on the bottom so it doesn't box his face in as much.... and we got the Crizal again so he won't get fingerprints, scratches, glare...

We ♥ REAL Mountain Water!

Today we made another trip about 7.4 miles from our house down a beautiful wooded curvy road to a place called "Potts Spring" where we fill our jugs with Cool and Real Mountain Water! Of course we had to take our dog Rusty for alittle ride in the back of the truck too...

This fresh sparkling water is flowing out of the mountain and very close to the road, so it is easy to find, but most people pass right by without noticing it.... The water is so cold that it makes the jug break out into a cold sweat with condensation

This is the BEST tasting water we've ever had!

Surprise Letter from Ghana

Last Christmas we participated in Operation Christmas Child, which is a program that brings joy and hope to children in desperate situations around the world through gift-filled shoe boxes and the Good News of God’s love.

As a family we filled three shoeboxes with items we thought the kids would need or want, such as bandaids, tissues, pencils, little toys, etc. We didn't know where the boxed gifts would go and/or who would get them. Judy wanted to include some stationary and her address just in case we were lucky enough to hear back from one of the children who received a shoebox.

This past week, when checking our mailbox, I pulled out a letter stamped By Air, and it was addressed to Judy!


The letter was from a little girl named Gifty that lived in Agogo, Ghana. Judy was soooo excited. In the letter, Gifty mentioned she liked reading and singing, so we plan on buying some books to send back to Ghana for her.

Right now, I am searching for Ghana stamps so we can send them to Gifty, so it will be easier for her to write back and not have to buy stamps herself.

It would be very cool if Judy and Gifty were pen pals and we could go on a mission trip to Ghana one day to meet Gifty!


I highly urge you to participate in Operation Christmas Child this year! We plan to fill about five boxes to send this Christmas.

My Big Fish is going to state!

It is customary for swimmers to have sharpie graffiti somewhere on the body for swim competitions... I had fun drawing the team logo on Cole's back!

Cole won first place at the District Swim Meet yesterday in the 50Fly! He was brilliant!
He also won 3 other medals for top spots inlcuding first place in the Team Medley Relay, second place in the Individual Relay, and third place in the Team Freestyle Relay.






It was a long day and it was hot, but we kept moving our chairs into the shade... but we had fun just hanging out waiting to watch him swim in those four events.

My brother Duane and Sis-in-law Ruthie were part of the on location cheering squad :) It meant alot to us that they were able to come and cheer him on!

We are excited about going in two weeks to see him compete in the STATE meet!!

Thanks to Duane for this awesome video...

Night Owl

First new blog entry......................

Nocturnal ... who give s hoot? LOL

Yes, I am a night owl. I am tired, my eyes are burning and bloodshot, I really need my beauty sleep, so why do I stay up so late? I have always been like this, even as a child. But now I am in a really horrible routine of staying up until 3 or 4 am!
I guess it's the quiet that I like, or being able to work on the computer without interruption, or catching up on all of the shows I have DVR'd...
Everyday, I tell myself that this is the day that I will go to bed at a decent hour!
I KNOW that I would feel great in the morning... ugh
maybe tomorrow I will buy a new pillow and that will help... so here goes... hoping I can get some sleep tonight!