Kole & Kale - July 16, 2010

You may remember Fain & Hannah from earlier posts. They have been some of our best friends for years. I posted about their wedding, about Hannah being pregnant with twins, and on July 16th Kole & Kale made their grand entrance. Hannah had a c-section, and everything from beginning to end played out beautifully. They boys were perfectly healthy, and only had to stay in the hospital for a week. Now they are home and doing great. Hannah is a little trooper. She & Fain are such good parents! Kole & Kale are two blessed little boys :) PICTURE!!

Boogity, Boogity, Boogity!

We spent July 4th weekend in Daytona with Brad's family & some friends. So basically as soon as I got home I unpacked, re-packed, and left again. We wasted a little time on the beach, ate some good seafood, played putt putt golf, and went to the Coke Zero 400 :) It rained on us for a while, but thank goodness we had ponchos. We stayed completely dry & right before the race the weather cleared up. My favorite part is when the jets fly over...it gives me chills every time. I love it! The race was thrilling as always except that Kevin Harvick won. He always wins when we go, and to be quite honest...I don't care much for him. I was always a Dale Earnhardt girl so you know I gotta pull for Junebug ;) I can't lie though....my money was on Kyle Busch. He isn't my favorite person, but that boy can drive a race car. Here are a couple pictures...

Day 15 - Bex is 21!

This morning we got up and started getting ready. Mrs. Donna made the best cinnamon raisin toast ever. After breakfast we said our goodbyes, loaded up the truck again, & took off. We did a little browsing in a few shops to waste some time. Check-in at our hotel wasn't until 3:00pm so we grabbed some lunch, browsed a little more, & then punched Hotel Palomar into the GPS. The Hotel was beautiful!

When we checked in there was a surprise for Beka at the front desk....Did I mention she has 2 amazing sisters? ;)

Then it was time to make ourselves beautiful for dinner and dancing....We also had a short photo session....

Katie & January arrived....late....as expected....and whisked us off to dinner. We had reservations at "Shout". They have any kind of food you could possibly want...sushi, seafood, steaks, and brick oven pizza. It was delicious, but weird. Our waiter..tress called everyone "Boo" which was entertaining, some huge manly looking guy told Katie her shorts were "presh" (which i'm assuming means precious), and some girl told us if we came back later it would be more "crowded-er". We decided we didn't want to be there when it got "crowded-er" so we left.

Later we went to Havana...which January kept calling "Havana Nights". She convinced me that was the name of the place, so when I said it to the front desk guy i'm sure he thought I was really dumb. Thanks for that January. Havana is a latin dance club, but they play regular music too. We danced until January & Jennifer thought their feet were gonna fall off, and then called it a night. It was an amazing weekend & the perfect end to our Wild West Tour!!

Days 12,13, & 14 - Hollywood with a Touch of Twang!

I left a piece of my heart in Nashville. I absolutely loved that town! I wanted to go home, get Brad, and immediately take another vacay back to Nashville! When we pulled into town I could hardly contain my excitement. Bek & Jenn aren't quite as "southern" as I am so of course I caught some crap ;), but i'm ok with that. We went down to Jack's BBQ to get some lunch....I've read some southern chick lit that talks about Jack's so I just had to go! It wasn't quite what I expected, but oh my word was it ever delicious!!

After lunch we went to hunt our campground. I loved our cabin in Nashville. It had a bathroom in it, and we didn't have to trudge to a bathhouse for every little thing. We checked in, and decided to be lazy :) We ordered out pizza for dinner, and then got our beauty sleep. There was a whole "country" town waiting for me so I had to rest up. The next morning we got up and found a Cracker Barrel. There's not a breakfast on this earth that beats their "Eggs-in-a-basket". It's heaven! Soooo it was breakfast then shopping. I picked up a few gifts for some friends, tried on insanely expensive cowboy boots, bought a little black dress, and then had an ice cream cone..What? It was really hot outside! After shopping we went back to the cabin to get ready for dinner. I was so excited :)

We had dinner at the Wildhorse Saloon. Beka & I shared fried pickles & BBQ..mmm...mmm...good! The Wildhorse has this HUGE wood dance floor, and if you know anything about me, you know I LOVE to dance. I had been teasing Beka all night about how if they play "Giddy on Up" (our clogging recital dance) I was dragging her up there. Secretly I had a pretty good idea that an all male band wouldn't play anything by Laura Bell Bundy ;) ....However,...when the band took a break, and they crunk up the juke box wouldn't you know the first song to come on was none other that "Giddy on Up"! Beka and I cleared the dance floor when we started puttin' on our little clogging show...It was so much fun!! After dinner it was bedtime.

Friday was Beka's birthday! We found the most amazing little artisan restaurant so we decided thats where birthday breakfast would take place. The name of it is Marche, and it was divine. i had croissant frech toast with bacon, and a blackberry panicotti. Beka had a breakfast sandwich that came with a salad....which was weird, but she said it was yummy. Jenn had french toast as well and loved it :) ...I can hardly wait to go back to Nashville!!

Aftter Nashville we were headed to Atlanta for Beka's 21st Birthday weekend. We arrived a little earlier than expected so we wasted some time at the mall, and then met Katie's parents (Darryl & Donna) at Marietta Square. I'll have to put Darryl & Donna in a post of their own because they deserve it :) Marietta Square was out of a movie! There was a band in the park, little shops all around, people dancing, pizza,...I loved it. After the park we went back to Darryl & Donna's house and met J, P, Jona-bear, & Melba! It was so good to see all of them, but there was a fluffy pillow calling my name ;)

Day 11 - Eastbound & Down, Loadin' up & Truckin'

Last night we stayed in Amarillo. We didn't really see much of anything because we got to our cabin, ordered take-out, and crashed. Today has been nothing but hours & hours of driving. We don't really mind that though. We were on a mission to get back so we could spend a few days in Nashville. We cleared Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, & stayed in Memphis, TN. I'm not a huge Elvis fan (although I do like that "Clambake" movie), but I guess those of you who are will appreciate the fact that we camped next door to Graceland :) ...Here are the highlights of our day ;)

OK, don't let this little picture below fool you..

Driving "friendly" is most certainly NOT the "Texas Way".

In fact, I'm pretty sure I know why cowboys ride horses...driving an actual vehicle makes them a litte testy apparently!

Open Range...That fence is keeping them out...not in

Carrie Underwood's home town :)

Day 10 - Santa Fe, New Meh-hi-co!

Today was soooo much fun!! We got up and headed into Santa Fe. It is the coolest little town! All of the buildings in town are the adobe style architecture, and they are beautiful. We found a place to park and went to find Loretto Chapel (our first stop). If you don't know the story behind Loretto Chapel you can find it here (www.lorettochapel.com/staircase.html). The staircase in the chapel is truly awesome. Here are some pictures...

After touring the chapel we were dying to get some shopping done, and of course EAT. Jennifer couldn't believe how Beka & I thought of nothing but food. It's crazy, but true! I'm always looking for new & different places to eat. We decided on the Blue Corn Cafe. We were in New Mexico so authentic Mexican seemed appropriate. It was so yummy....I'm pretty sure I ate my weight in guacamole. We also had salsa, queso, refried beans, rice, & calabacitas. After lunch we wandered around town a little while longer, and then hit the road...Next stop, Amarillo.

Day 9 - Breathtaking Moments

This morning we woke up, and sprinted out of that dang hotel room with no A/C. We dropped by the lodge for a quick bite before we went to catch the shuttle bus. Half of the South Rim is closed to private vehicles, so the bus is the only way we could tour that end. We only got in trouble by the bus driver one time, and I think that speaks well of our behavior ;) The only thing I can really say is....you have to see it to believe it!! So here are the pictures....

Don't worry guys....No Hunting ;) It's a National Park!

After we finished the tour of the Grand Canyon, we headed East across Arizona. We went through the Hopi Indian Reservation, and I could not believe what I saw. I'm not sure what these people choose for themselves or how important materialistic things are to them, but what I do know is that this place looks like a third world country. There were little shanty houses built with tarps and plywood. No nice vehicles....if there was a vehicle at all! There were no pretty yards with landscaping, no swimming pools, no swingsets, nothing!! We went for miles and miles before we saw a store, and it was a tiny gas station. It is the poorest place I have ever seen in the United States, and i've seen a lot.

Today was full of breathtaking moments...for completely opposite reasons. Funny how things happen...I will remember this day, and these people forever.