Family Pictures

As we were leaving we decided to do some quick family pictures. We weren't really prepared. Obviously we're all in our "traveling" clothes. And I might have put on some make-up or fixed my hair or something. :-)

Left to Right: Ryan, Joel, Emily, Me, Aaron, Andrew. Not a bad lookin' bunch, eh?


Not the best timing to take a family picture. Micaiah wasn't feelin' it with his lip and Orin was just acting a little silly.


Aaron, Erin, and baby girl - who Aaron insists he is going to call Erin. :-)

Great one of mom and dad!

Not in the mood to take pictures. Oh, well.

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The *fun* part of Ober Gatlinburg

Even with the not-so-fun things that happened during our day in Ober Gatlinburg, we did have some really fun times.



Look at that smile! He was really loving his trip down the snow.




I love this picture. They totally look like they are saying, "Seriously mom, another picture? We just want to go ski!" I could probably find the same picture of them doing this 10 years ago. :-)

Both boys loved going on on the aerial tram.

I love how their two little heads are together.

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Christmas Morning

Some pictures from Christmas morning. I think the fact that we had done so many advent activities and that we weren't at home made me not have the energy to plan any Jesus' birthday activities. We did have a cake for Jesus (and Nina) later in the day. The kids are funny though because even now they don't refer to any of their gifts as "Christmas presents." They will say, "Look what I got for Jesus' birthday."

So many stockings! My mom made them for us when we were pretty little and adds a new one every time there is a new family member.

Emily helping Orin and Micaiah check out the gifts.

Orin practiced his reading by reading the names on the stocking and handing it out to the appropriate person. He did pretty good...especially considering they were written in script.

Orin handing Aunt Emily her stocking.




One of Orin's favorite gifts was his Star Wars Lego shirt.

I love this one of my two boys just hanging out.

Micaiah playing with his gift from Uncle Ryan. He LOVES it.

Orin showing me his new Nerf gun from Uncle Joel. These are a big hit around here.



I love this one...Orin explaining something to Micaiah.

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Who works out on Christmas?

Well, maybe most people don't think that's odd, but my Christmas usually consists of sitting around and eating too much. :-) My brothers really wanted to do a decent hike while we were in TN and Christmas day really was the only day it could happen. My dad graciously offered to watch the kids so I figured I needed to do the hike even if just for the free babysitting. :-)

I haven't worked out in a LONG time. Needless to say, I'm not in shape. We hiked Chimney Top which was a 4 mile hike...the distance wasn't what I was worried about. It was the 1,300ft. change in elevation (mostly the going UP part that concerned me). We went at a slow pace - mostly for my benefit. Still, half way through I was thinking "What am I doing here?" But it ended up not being too bad - meaning I wasn't miserable. The end the trail ended up being closed so we had to climb up this pretty steep rock face. It was a little nerve-wracking, but the view was beautiful.


The funny part about the hike was that I actually think the hiking scenery was just as cool - or cooler - than the view at the end. The Park had gotten that huge snow that had gone up through the Northeast right before Christmas. The day before we had driven through the park and there was snow everywhere and it was really really cold. That night it ended up raining and then getting really warm. TONs of snow melted. The water was coming down the mountain all over the place. It was beautiful. In many places the trail was like a stream...you could look around and see water coming down in little streams all over the place. Truly beautiful. The pictures don't do it justice at all.


I think I'm looking a little tired in this picture. :-)
Climbing to see the view at the end.
Andrew in front of the River! I am glad he brought his camera because that was the last thing I was worried about.
My beautiful sister!

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Smoky Mountain National Park

After our hike we decided to take a drive into the park. It was lovely just driving through and stopping some to look at the views. These pictures were from Newfound Gap (I think). Because of the snow we couldn't go up to the highest point. That's ok though, because we were freezing at the elevation we were at!

I love how both of them have their hands in their pockets. :-)

Me and my favorite little sister!




Aaron & Erin striking a pose. :-)

Nina & Pops at the top. I think they look COLD!

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Our mini family reunion

When you have 5 siblings, and you only have Christmas with your family every-other-year (the other year is the the in-laws), and you have a brother who has been to Iraq three times in the past 6 1/2 years and about to leave again in March, and two of your siblings are living on opposite coasts, it is an unusual thing to have the entire family together for Christmas. This was one of those unusual years so last summer we decided to reserve a cabin in Townsend, TN and all meet there for Christmas. We looked forward to it all year and it was as fun as we had hoped. The cabin worked perfectly for the 12 1/2 of us (my sis-in-law is pregnant). ;-)

I am still so behind. With moving this past week (I'll write more about that once I'm caught up) it's just been so hard to post. I'm going to have quite a few posts of our Christmas fun. This one is just some pictures of fun time hanging out at the cabin.

We stayed in the loft upstairs and the kids loved playing on the steps and at the upper landing. My brothers would throw things up to then and the boys would throw them back. Caiah is wearing his favorite PJs. Orin has one just like it. :-)


There was a downstairs den that was perfect for the boys who wanted to play lots of video games. The only bad part was that it was really really cold down there. Luckily I'm not a big fan of them so I only ventured down a few times. :-)

The beautiful view from one of the decks.

Orin LOVED the hot tub. He spent the most time of anyone out there and would have been in it 24/7 if we had let him.

Mom took a picture of me enjoying the view.


Dad and Aaron going out for a morning run.

Caiah enjoying his cereal.




The boys loved eating breakfast with Pops in the morning.

Some of the guys hanging out. Aaron was showing them pictures of one of the cool planes he flew in.

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