Two weeks in Tennessee

We've had a busy few weeks! Mike, Jackson, and I met my family in VA for Abbey's graduation a couple of weeks ago. It was a short trip but fun to all be together. This was the first Mike and I had seen Galen since his deployment and the first time Jackson met his uncle. The two seemed to hit it off! Abbey's ceremony was changed due to weather and poor girl was one of the last names to be called, but it was worth the wait. She is now a graduate! Congrats sis!

Mother's day was the following day. We spent most of the day in the car; however, we got to have breakfast with Mike before we parted ways. I received a card, flowers, necklace, and a new diaper bag/clutch from him and Jackson. My Uncle Scott, Aunt Tina, cousin Mallory, and Grandma were all at the house when we arrived to TN. Uncle Scott made a delicious dinner for us to cap off the special day. Although the day was pretty uneventful, it was still incredibly special to me. I've enjoyed being a mother the passed 9 months and feel very blessed to have Jackson as my son. He is truly a gift from God and treasure I  it each and every day.

Jackson and I have been in TN for two weeks now. The first week was pretty low key for the most part. We mostly hung around the house with mom, dad, and grandma. During the second week I was able to visit with several old friends and many of them got to meet Jackson for the first time. I just love catching up with friends and am happy when we have the time to do so because we don't always have time to visit many people when we make a quick trip to TN. Jackson and I also spent one night in Clarksville with Abbs, Galen, and Kylie and then got to bring Kylie back to Murfreesboro with us. The two kiddos just LOVE each other. It melts my heart to see them interact. Kylie is such a great older cousin. Love that girl!

Jackson has had a fun time at grandma's and grandpa's house. They have great outdoor space so we tried to spend as much time outside as we can. He got in the pool for the first time and loves the water! He also got to swing in the baby swing, play in the grass, go on walks, and play out in the sun room. He has been napping pretty well since being here but night time is another story....for some reason he is waking up once at night. Some nights he goes right back to sleep and others he is up two plus hours! Mommy is exhausted. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that his sleep pattern returns to normal when he is back in his own room.

We are heading home in the morning (yay!). Daddy misses us and we miss him very much! Although we have enjoyed being with family and catching up with friends, we are ready to be home and back in our normal routine.

Here are some pics from our trip. Love to all!

Here are a few with Auntie Abbs in honor of her graduation!  

  

Abbey with her family right before the ceremony. 

More graduation pictures. 

Meeting Pistol for the first time! Don't mind his crazy face, just a new phase he is going through! ha

Visiting with Cowley! Again, crazy face.

Reading a book with cousin Kylie. He loves this girl! 

Morning snooze with gramps! 

Play time in grandma and grandpa's backyard!! 

More fun! And Galen fulfilling a life long dream of baby wearing. 

Baby Hayden visited us for a little pool time. Someone got jealous when mommy tried to hold Hayden so I ended up with both boys. 

In the pool with Jenny and Hayden!

Kyle and Kellie had us over for a play date. Jackson was not as friendly as Kyle....it was a little close to nap time and every time that Kyle made a noise Jackson let out a cry! 

Sweet Kyle trying to console Jackson. 

In honor of Mother's Day. Love this boy more than anything! 

Busy Busy Busy....

We are not letting a baby slow us down....we are right back to our old ways of having big plans nearly every weekend! It seems like if we aren't going somewhere we have visitors coming to us (which we love!). We got to visit with some sweet friends from Durham  last weekend, Patrick and Leigh Anne. They were in our small group and came to Charlotte for the golf tournament Sunday. They then joined us for dinner and stayed the night. It was fun to see them! It was Patrick's birthday, so we celebrated with a Cinco de Mayo theme consisting of chicken enchiladas, black bean salad, salsa, guacamole with feta, margaritas, and sopapilla cheesecake bars for dessert. They visited Mike's office Monday morning before heading out. We hope to catch up with these two again soon!

This weekend starts a busy time of travel for us - we are heading to Lynchburg on Friday for Abbey's graduation from Liberty University. From there, Jackson and I will be heading home with the rest of my family for 2 weeks (yikes!!). I'm excited but will miss Mike. He is already getting sad at the idea of us being gone for that long. He will keep himself busy though - he plans to go to Myrtle next weekend for a dental conference and then to the beach the following weekend to go fishing with his dad. I believe we will be home for a week or so before we take a trip with the Modlins to Myrtle Beach. This will be Jackson's first time to the beach! We can't wait to see how he reacts. July will also be a busy month with another trip back to TN for the fourth, a trip to Charleston for a wedding, and last but not least, 10 days in Switzerland!

I will do my best to update on our travels and continue to do Jackson's monthly updates at that time. We hope that everyone is having a nice spring so far. We wish everyone safe travels throughout the remainder of the spring and summer. Hope to get to visit with many of you soon!

I don't have any pictures for this post, but I do want to share this guacamole recipe. For any of you that like feta, this is absolutely delicious and always a big hit!

Guacamole and Feta Cheese:

2 large ripe avacados
2 large ripe tomatoes, diced
1/2 red onion, diced
2 T minced garlic
2 T olive oil
1 t fresh lime juice
1 t Tabasco sauce
4 ounces crumbled feta

Mash the avocados. Add the tomatoes, onion, garlic, oil, lime juice, and Tabasco sauce. Stir until blended. Add crumbled feta. Stir and serve immediately with tortilla chips.

*I always add extra avocados to make the dip go further.

Enjoy!

Lake Lure

Mike, Jackson, and I took our first trip as a family of three last weekend (technically, family of four because Cooper also came along). We've been home to TN and to Chapel Hill a few times and to Fayetteville to visit friends, but this was the first get away with just us. We had a wonderful time despite all of the rain. Lake Lure is a beautiful area - the lake is in a gorge and you are surrounded by mountains. We heard that it is gorgeous in the fall time and hope to get to visit again then!

We arrived to our cabin Friday evening just before dinner. We unloaded and then went over to La Strada, an Italian restaurant overlooking the lake. We ate outside on the patio so that we could enjoy the beautiful view and to soak up the nice weather while we could. We then headed back to the cabin for the little man's bedtime. Saturday morning we ventured out to breakfast and for a quick trip up to Chimney Rock. Thankfully, they had an elevator so that we did not have to climb 500 stairs holing a squirmy 8 month old! We went back to the cabin for Jacks to take his nap and then the rain started....it continued to rain all day Saturday and Sunday. We ate leftovers for lunch and only got out once more Saturday in order to grab dinner the. We then made a fire when we returned. Mike and I spent a lot of time watching the TV series Suits while Jackson slept. Unfortunately we did not get to do a ton on our short trip, but it was nice to just get away and relax. We braved the rain one more time for lunch Sunday before packing the car and heading back to Huntersville.

All in all, it was a fun weekend. I love spending time with my little family - just the three of us! Here are a few pics of the mountains and from the cabin we stayed in:

Jackson enjoying the beautiful scenery at dinner. 

View from dinner the first night.

Up at Chimney Rock. 

Someone was a little tired from our hike (ride on the elevator) up to Chimney Rock.

Fire :) 

Cooper making himself comfortable in Jackson's pile of toys. 

The cabin we stayed in.