Come Hail or High Water

What a week we just had. I hope I can remember everything that happened on our latest trip, and I have lots of pictures to share with you as well...time to settle in.

It all started when my work needed me to go to Atlanta for a week of meetings at our office out there. Myself and 2 co-workers flew out Sunday afternoon. Everything was good, we taxied out to the runway and the pilot hit the throttle. We were off...however, about 1/2 way down the runway (which is pretty fast but not fast enough to get in the air yet) all of the sudden the acceleration stopped and we were braking...hard. My first thought was we were on the wrong runway and some plane was landing on top of us. I had no idea what was going on but it certainly gets your heart pumping. We soon found out a door sensor came on and although they thought the door was fine, they were safe about it and aborted take off. Only problem was between finding a gate to go back to, fixing the sensor and filing paper work, we were delayed on the plane for 1 hour and 45 mins!! Not a great way to start a trip. We made it to Atlanta and by the time we got to our hotel it was very late and we were really tired.

Our meetings went great and we had a good week working. Wednesday night Shane flew out to meet me and we were going to spend the weekend down there. I had been to Atlanta several times before so we decided we would leave Atlanta and see another part neither of us had been to. We decided to go to Nashville.

We stopped by Stone Mountain Park on our way out of town Thursday. They claim to have the worlds largest piece of exposed granite. It also has a Confederate Memorial carving in the granite. There was a hike to the top that for some reason I thought we would be able to see the carving from the top. After sitting in an office all week if felt good to get outside and get a good hike in. However, it was a mile each way and the hike was straight up for the entire mile. I was pretty tired when we got to the top and was disappointed there was no carving to be seen. Although the view was pretty. After we made it down, we just drove over to the carving and took a picture. It was kind of cool to see.

On the way up:


The top:


The way down:


The confederate memorial carving...see the people (or small little dots) at the very top, that was us!


After that little adventure, we headed up to Chattanooga, Tennessee for the night. I just like saying the name of that city, say it, it's kind of fun. We ate dinner at my favorite dinner restaurant of the south...Steak n Shake. Yum. I was excited when we got to our hotel and I looked out the window and saw my favorite breakfast place...yes you guessed it, The Waffle House. Of course we ate there the next morning. I could live in the south because of those 2 places to eat!

Picture from our hotel room:


After breakfast we headed to Nashville, Tennessee. Those of you who have been watching the news know where this is headed but obviously driving into Nashville, we had no idea. We had a gorgeous drive up to Nashville and I still think it was one of my favorite drives I've ever been on. Just seeing something new, how green it was, the river and lakes we passed and up and through their mountains, it was gorgeous.

We got there Friday afternoon and knew it was supposed to rain on Saturday so we bought a pass that we could choose to do 5 different activities. Since it was hot and sunny we walked around downtown, walked across the pedestrian bridge over the Cumberland River, around Music city, got some ice cream and then went on a Duck boat tour. We've never done a Duck boat tour and I've heard good things about them but wasn't that impressed with ours. We did learn some interesting facts, like Tornadoes rarely go through a downtown area, Kentucky is only 45 mins away and we took a cruise down the Cumberland River (all relevant information a little later.)

Cumberland River and LP Stadium where the Tennessee Titans play (notice the tall banks of the river)




Then we headed over to Opryland resort, we got some tickets for a backstage tour of the Grand Ole Opry House for the next day and walked around the hotel and resort. It was gorgeous inside and so relaxing to see the grounds, they had a little water show to music, etc. Then we ate dinner at Opry Mills shopping center and went and checked into our hotel.



The next morning, sure enough we woke up to rain. Not really thinking that much about it, we went about our days activities. It rained and rained and rained! I thought, wow, I haven't seen it rain this hard for this long, ever. But I think we both just figured, well it's probably normal for Tennessee, I mean, it is really green here. So we just kept on going.

We saw The Hermitage, President Andrew Jackson's Mansion, 8000 square foot house on 1120 acres of land. The house was huge and really cool to see, especially after just being in Nauvoo and seeing their tiny houses compared to this one. Unfortunately we didn't get to see much of the grounds because we didn't have umbrellas and remember...it was POURING.





We then headed over the the Opry House and took a backstage tour. I loved the tour and found it all fascinating to hear the history, see the dressing rooms, we got to go on stage and even stand on the famous center stage wood circle that is so famous. I love the picture of Shane and I because as many of you know, Shane is not a country fan so I don't think he was as impressed as I was and it kind of shows in this picture. :)



By now we are soaking wet. I don't know why we didn't go buy umbrellas but I kept thinking, oh it will slow down, and oh, well we are doing all things indoors today. However just to get from the parking lot into anywhere we were getting drenched. It was hard to see where we were driving with how much water was coming down but we just kept going still not thinking that much about it.

We headed over to the only full size replica of The Parthenon in the world. Kind of cool but we didn't stay that long...notice the pouring rain still.



Shane's favorite picture he took of the trip, he thinks he's the Incredible Hulk! Authors note: Shane just informed me he was being Samson not the hulk. Both are a good reference though.


Next we headed over to The Country Music Hall of Fame. Thinking again we could just park next door and run in, only to find out Jimmy Buffet had a concert nearby and the 'event' parking was $20 anywhere near the Hall of Fame. So we found some parking about 5 blocks away, took a short cut through the convention center and as we were walking over we heard this alarm going off. It wasn't super loud but we heard someone say 'oh that's the tornado siren.' No one else seemed alarmed by it and kept going like they didn't hear anything...so we did too. We got into the museum and had been there about 5 minutes when the alarm sounded inside, loudly and told us to get into the stairwell to wait out the tornado watch. At this point I'm thinking 'are you kidding me?' Then I remembered our duck boat tour saying that tornadoes rarely go through a downtown area and we were right in downtown. So I still really didn't feel that nervous about it. Finally they let us out and we enjoyed the rest of the museum.

Standing in the stairwell


See, it's fairly common if they have to post a sign about it in the stairwell:


Elvis' car and gold piano, notice how wet Shane's shirt is and we've been inside for a good 30 mins. by now.


When we got back to our car...even more soaking wet. My feet are wet, my little sweatshirt jacket it dripping wet, but it was only 5:00, so we thought, well we've never been to Kentucky before...let's go to Kentucky for dinner. So even though by now we're seeing signs everywhere that there is standing water, we keep going. We get to Kentucky eat dinner, drive by Kentucky Downs race track (bingo was just getting out so we didn't stay...and it was still raining!!) On our way home we stop at K-mart for a few treats and when we try to get back on the freeway we can't because the on ramp is flooded so much that they closed it. So we get out my iphone (so handy) and take side streets back to our hotel.

Only at this point do we realize we might have a serious situation on our hands. We get dressed into dry clothes and I'm so happy to have my wet clothes off of me, we turn on the TV to see what's on to watch. Only...every station in Nashville has the news on and weather tracking tornadoes and road closures due to flooding. The news kept telling everyone not to leave their homes, and just stay indoors. All of the sudden I thought, are we going to be able to get back to Atlanta to drop off our rental car and catch our flight home? Sure enough we find out, the freeway we took up from Atlanta to Nashville was closed. After most of the tornado watches had passed, we went to bed.

Our Saturday night in Nashville


I woke up about 7 the next morning to a tornado hitting our hotel and we were on the top floor of our hotel. I couldn't believe the hotel hadn't sounded their warning for us! Ok so I was pretty out of it and it was just wind and rain but I really kind of thought it was a tornado when I first woke up. When I was finally coherent we got up and as I turned on the TV the satellite was out, we had no TV. We got on the internet to see what our situation was. The storm was to the west so we couldn't go that way. The roads to the south were all closed. The storm was headed east but there was one freeway still open to the east that we could take. We had to act fast because I knew that if everywhere else was closed and the storm was headed that way then that freeway was sure to be closed soon as well. We threw all our clothes into our luggage and by this time I'm feeling a little panicked that we might get stuck in Nashville. We got to the lobby and walked past about 20 people sitting there not daring to go out. And we headed out.

I have to give props to Shane who did an amazing job driving. However, I was scared to death. It was still pouring rain so between the rain coming down, the water on the roads and the spray from other cars, we couldn't see the road all that well. At one point we were in the middle lane and we came down a hill where the right 2 lanes probably had a good foot or more of water covering them. I felt like the movie Twister where they're running from the storm and keep looking back to see how close the storm is coming. Luckily we out ran the storm and made it through just fine but I'm sure that part of the freeway was going to be completely covered in water shortly. We drove for about 30 mins and as we got out of Nashville, the rain slowed and then completely stopped and the rest of the drive was clear and fine. My heart was pounding for that time but I was sure happy to be out of Nashville.

Here are some pictures we took on Friday and Saturday and then a similar picture taken just a day or 2 later that I got off the internet. Very sad to see the devastation and having just been there in person makes it all the more real then just seeing it on TV. We really do feel fortunate we were so safe and able to get out of there on time and safe.

Notice the red rollercoaster looking thing and how far above the water it is...they called it a sculpture





Inside Orpyland Resort and Hotel


Inside Opryland resort after the floods:


Opry House and Opry Mills shopping center (the water is supposed to be the parking lots and grounds of the Orpy House)



So I took this picture because I thought the speed limit sign was so random:


Same picture taken a little further back


I-24, the freeway we drove into Nashville on:


Nashville received 13 inches of rain in 2 days, 9 inches of that fell on Saturday and we were running around thinking it was normal. The Cumberland River rose 12 feet above flood level. Apparently that kind of rain is NOT normal for Nashville...

Nashville was fun and a trip I'll never forget but I'm checking Nashville off my list for quite a while.

Our flight home was also delayed for almost 2 hours and they had to kick 2 people off our flight as well. One wouldn't put her seat up and started swearing at the flight attendant. The other guy wouldn't check his luggage when there was no room in the overhead for it and pushed a gate agent. Fun times, fun trip and I was oh so happy to be home, back in my own bed. Home sweet home!

Eight is Great

When my oldest niece was baptized I started a little tradition of taking each niece or nephew out to dinner to celebrate them choosing to be baptized. It was a special night out just for them. I don't know why I haven't posted about it before. Sorry Ashlee, Cameron and Kali and I don't even think I got pictures when I took them out.

This night was Ella's turn. Ella was baptized a couple months ago but with schedules and such, we finally got around to taking her out. And she picked a great place to go that I love...Olive Garden. We had such a fun night celebrating with her. And she ate her entire meal of Mac and Cheese with the extra cheese grated on top. We had a great time and loved celebrating her baptism with her.

Daughtry

The other night we went to a Daughtry concert and had so much fun. Interestingly enough, I didn't even watch American Idol when Daughtry was on it, but since then have enjoyed listening to his music on the radio. Shane and I went and my sister Michelle and her friend Marci.

Daughtry was really good and I was surprised I knew all the songs he sang except for about 3 of them. The concert was sold out and so the crowd was pretty into it as well.

Cavo and Lifehouse opened for them and I actuallly liked Lifehouse just as much as Daughtry. I knew a lot of their songs and the songs I didn't know I still enjoyed. They put on a good show, especially for being an opening number.

Something that I thought was pretty funny happened during the Lifehouse set. The lead singer of Lifehouse decided to jump off stage and walk up the outside aisle of the floor and into the stands for part of his song. So he goes walking up the side of the floor we are on in the stands. So I'm watching above where he is walking and can see this whole thing happening. He has body guards around him but only one in front of him. As he's quickly walking up the aisle, this middle age lady is walking down the aisle, carefully balancing her nachos and soda looking at her food and not where she is going. She is not aware at all that she is in the direct path of the lead singer coming right towards her. They're getting closer and all of the sudden she is in the spotlight right next to him. I don't think she still had even looked up and had any clue who this guy was that was in her way until she was right next to him and saw him singing into a microphone with the spotlight on him. Then all of the sudden you could tell she felt pretty dumb and stepped aside to let him go by. Disaster averted, nachos and drink still in tact. The concert moved on but for some reason I just found this funny as usually when this happens the body guards are in front clearing the aisle before he gets that close. Anyways, just a funny little side story.

I love going to concerts and had a great time.

I hope they call me on a mission

My parents are so excited...they're going on a mission. We've been talking about it for about a year now. They put they're papers in and we've all been anxiously awaiting to see where they would go. They are going for 12 months so we knew it would most likely be somewhere in the United States, but where!?! All of us put in a guess. The grandkids were the cutest as to where they would guess. Abby wanted them to go somewhere where there were a lot of horses...she picked Idaho. Eliza wanted them to go somewhere near her so they could visit...she picked Los Angeles. Others just pointed to random places on the map.

Here is a picture of some of the grandkids holding the map with the places marked that everyone picked.


So we all gathered and watched them open it...



They have been called to serve as Office Specialists in the California Arcadia mission! We were so shocked. Of all the places in the entire United States, they get called to serve in the mission where they and we all grew up. For those of you not familiar with the area let me show you what I mean.



It's about a 20 minute drive from Arcadia to our house (La Canada) we all grew up in.

Well come to find out, my parents knew there was going to be an opening there and through a friend down there, told the mission president they would love to go there and the mission president requested them. So my parents were still pretty surprised because although they knew about it, they didn't know that anything had really gone through.

So Eliza won our little contest as she guessed the closest, Los Angeles! My sister Christy is more then a little excited and plans to take some trips up there on their p-days to visit. As we usually all make it to California about once a year, we may just all get to see them at some point on their mission.

I am so excited and proud of my parents for making this decision. I'm sure it's not easy to give up their nice house, surrounded by friends, family and lots of grandkids and leave. I know they will do a great job and will love serving and being surrounded by all the missionaries. I can't wait to hear all their stories and things they will be doing.

I love you Mom and Dad!

Where are you Tim Tams?

Ok so I know I just posted about Easter candy and all but I have another post about treats. I feel so nutritious these days! :)

Remember when I told you how much I love Tim Tams. Well, Tim Tams are now being made by Pepperidge Farms for America. For a while I had heard Target was the only store carrying them. We had some at our last Tim Tam party over a year ago and then all of the sudden Target stopped carrying them. Well this last November they came back!! And not only did Target have them but many other stores/grocery stores did too. I was so excited. I bought some for me, I bought some for Christmas gifts and not really thinking about it, I just thought Tim Tams were just available all the time now.

Well after Christmas I didn't really think that much about it until a couple of weeks ago. Then I all of the sudden had a big craving for Tim Tams, so one night I drove to Smith's and low and behold, they had NONE. Not only were they out, there wasn't even a space for them to be re-stocked. So the next day at lunch I drove over to the Target closest to work...surely they would still have some...they had NONE...nothing in site. I was so sad! After complaining to Shane about my ordeal, that weekend we were out to dinner and we decided to try the Target by where we were. I knew they wouldn't have any but thought we should just check. Sure enough, NONE. Then I was determined to find out what happened to them. So standing in the cookie aisle of Target, I whipped out my iphone and spoke 'Tim Tams in America' (side note: I love the search feature of the Google app on my iphone.) This is what came up:

"In the fall of 2009, Pepperidge Farm announced that Tim Tam cookies will be made available each year between October and March."
From Wikipedia...click here for more information on Tim Tams

Are you kidding me? I just missed it by about 2 weeks??? October through March! Now I was really sad and resigned to my fate....I couldn't believe I was going to have to wait until October! Very depressed I turned and left the aisle. As I walked to the front of the store....low and behold there at the end of one of the aisles was a whole section of Tim Tams!!!!!!!!!!!! And...to make matters even better, they were on sale! This was the last of the Tim Tams left and I felt like I had hit the jackpot. I ran over to them and just stared. How many to buy??? I checked the freshness date...they're good until December. Hallelujah. So I decided to buy one for each month left until I can get them again in October. So I loaded my arms up with Tim Tams and bought 8!! There was another lady looking at the Tim Tams so I had to go and tell her to stock up because this is it until October. She looked at me funny and said 'oh are they good?' She didn't even know what they were! I told her yes but really I wanted to say if you don't know what they are save them for others that will be excited.



So here's my almost years supply of Tim Tams...food storage at it's best. So I've already eaten my package for April and am waiting most anxiously for May to pull out the next one. I hope I can really keep it to one package per month until October!

Candy

Those of you that know me pretty well know that I LOVE candy. In fact I think I would rather have candy over ice cream...yep, I'm positive of that actually.

I have a favorite kind of candy for almost every holiday. And when the stores get in the next holiday's candy, I get very excited. My 2 favorite holidays that have my favorite candy: Halloween and Easter.

Halloween brings out the best and only kind of candy corns I eat...Brachs. It makes my mouth water just writing about it. They're soft and fresh and just plain yummy.

So the purpose of this post is to talk about my love of Easter candy. It's actually evolved and changed over time.

Growing up Easter candy to me was the regular types of candy and jelly beans. But the Easter Bunny used to always leave a chocolate Sees egg (you know with the pastel flower on top of it) and some Sees sucker sticks (my favorite was the yellow ones...I need to go get one of those, I haven't had one in years!)

Then the last few years, my favorite candy has been the Mini Robin Eggs, Whoppers with a cool, cruncy, shell. Ask Brigitte, she knows...I ate bags and bags of those while we were roommates. I still like them, in fact I think I have 2 bags sitting on my counter right now.



Then a couple years ago I started eating the Cadbury chocolate eggs. Pure, delicious, milk chocolate with the same fun, crunchy shell as Robin Eggs. Just finished my bag of those yesterday. I might need one more bag before Sunday.



However, the last 2 years I have been completely and totally addicted to Sweettart Jelly Beans. Not just jelly beans, the Sweettart jelly beans. You can't find them at every store (try Smiths and K-Mart around here) and you can only get them at Easter time. I can't even begin to tell you the amount of Sweettart jelly beans I have had since February 15 (the day they put out the Easter candy after Valentines.) In fact it would be embarrassing to tell you how many bags I have bought. They are soooo good. My favorite flavors are the green and purple ones and I eat all those out of the bag first.



Some people think I'm weird and crazy...which I realize I kind of am. The good news is Shane likes all the candy I like so he helps me eat it too, and he lets me have all the green ones to myself (what a guy!)

I need to go to the store now and stock up...in 3 days time, all the Sweettart jelly beans will be gone for a whole year (well 10 1/2 months.)

So let me hear from you...What is your favorite kind of candy?

Backyard, part II

Last weekend we had our Gazebo put up in our backyard. Spring is here and the heat is just around the corner (I hope) and I wanted to make sure we had some shade to enjoy our backyard. We still have more work to do in our backyard but I just wanted to post a few pictures of the small progress we made. Now I need some patio furniture to enjoy it with.

Those of you who live around here will know that I took these pictures last weekend. Right now the Gazebo is not brown, it's white, covered in snow!!! SNOW....go away. I want to enjoy the outdoors again very soon!