Random Post

So since we have been back from Tennessee we still have had crazy weekends and this most recent one was no different. We had a crisis in our family with Chase's sister's 5 week old baby who had to have an emergency surgery, and Chase and I helped take care of their other two kids. It was fun to spend time with the kiddos (Sydney & Grant) on Friday and Saturday. They were such fun and thankfully for the family, the little baby Will was able to come home on Saturday. We feel so blessed that he is doing much better. On our way home Saturday evening we came across some crazy storm clouds. They were very foreboding. Here is a picture of some of them.

Scary huh?!?

On Sunday, Brady, Tasha, Ethan, Molly and Megan (Tasha's sister) came to visit. It was such fun meeting Ethan for the first time and also being able to catch up a little with them all! Here is a cute picture of Molly. She sure missed Chase and we missed her too!

Here is Ethan! Such a cutie!

Chase & Ethan

Us & Ethan.

So you may be wondering what we do the rest of the time (when it isn't a weekend!)...Well Chase is back at Purdue doing research and such and preparing for classes to start again and I am taking care of our friends' baby for now or at least until I figure out what I want to be when I grow up! Ha ha! He is fun little baby (now 8 months!) and we have a good time. Then I also spend time with lots and lots of projects I have piling up! Well thats our life for now...

THANK YOU!!

So now you are all probably thinking that we are crazy adventurists (I don't know if that is a word) and that we are always constantly doing things, well I guess that is true but we don't usually do it the way we did in Tennessee and hopefully we will have a small break from traveling so much or maybe not! We are crazy, what can I say!

On a more serious note I wanted to say THANK YOU to every one of you that has put in a plug for Chase and me in regards to adoption and added our button to your blogs. I can't fully say how much I have been touched by all of you and your tremendous support. I get emotional thinking about it. We are truly blessed to have friends and family like you. We love you and thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Back Home to Indiana!

This last weekend we traveled home to Indiana. It was nice to find our apartment was the same as we had left it! I always like to leave a clean home before leaving anywhere and then no matter what I seem to always be surprised to come home to a clean home! It is a lovely surprise! We were back in our ward for church and then later in the day on Sunday we headed to Indianapolis to see Chase's sister and her family and especially to meet their new little addition! I would like to introduce you to one of our new nephews. We just barely met him too! His name is William. He is about 5 weeks old now.

Here is Chase and William.

Me and William. We stayed the night with Janelle and Paul and then headed out the next morning to Santa Claus, IN~specifically to Holiday World.

Holiday World is a theme/water park. We met our friends Melissa, Jason and Jack there. It was so fun to see them again after 6 weeks of being gone. Fun times.

Jason is trying to run out of the picture...

So in the theme park they have different Holiday themes~ this is obviously the part of the park dedicated to Thanksgiving. Cute Idea!

Waiting for one of the rides...

Melissa, Jack, and Jason finishing a ride.

Chase and Jason are on this one...can you tell how dark it is outside? This was actually the last ride we did because it started storming like crazy all of the sudden and we had to seek shelter in a small gift shop with lots of other people. It was quite an adventure especially when the power went out. We kept wondering how long we would be there waiting for the storm to break....

Finally we left the gift shop and headed to a larger area to wait out the storm. We ended up waiting for an hour or two. Finally they told us that they were closing the park and giving everyone complimentary tickets...Great deal for us! So even though we had to leave a bit early we got to experience some of the park before hand. It was a pretty crazy day~but fun!

Leaving Tennessee~ Saying Goodbye Is Hard To Do...

Last week was our final week in Tennessee. We left this last Saturday. We love meeting people but the hardest part is saying goodbye. Chase and I really love and treasure the experiences we had in Tennessee and especially the wonderful people we met there. We are so thankful that we were able to go out there. Chase had a great internship and was able to come in contact with some great people. We are especially grateful that we were able to meet Eric and Christy and for their wonderful friendship! We loved getting to know their family too. They are wonderful people! The days leading up to our leaving were fun and enjoyable ones. Thanks Eric & Christy!

Here we are with Eric and Christy the day before we left for Indiana.

Eric & Chase playing Mario~ a favorite activity!

Christy making cookies!

Eating awesome southern BBQ. It was amazing!

Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet in Market Square, downtown Knoxville. We went there last Thursday evening after a great dinner at the French Market.

Eric & Christy hanging out!

We had yummy dinner crepes here.

I thought I would throw in a picture of their cute little dog, Sammy. She is such fun!

New Additions to Our Family!

Over the last month or so we have had 3 new additions to our families! 2 Nephews and 1 niece! We are so excited to have these new little ones in our families and can't wait to meet them in person!

Will was born June 10th to Janelle & Paul (Chase's sister).

Cami was born July 11th to Liz & JD (my sister).

And Ethan was born July 12th to Brady & Tasha (Chase's brother)! Yay for babies! Congratulations you all!

Chattanooga & Us

Our adventure this last weekend took us to Athens and Chattanooga, Tennessee. We stopped in Athens to tour the Mayfield Dairy Farm. They are famous for their milk and ice cream. We got to see how they make the milk jugs and fill them. Chase really enjoyed the technical aspect of it all! After our jaunt in Athens we headed to Chattanooga and had a nice picnic lunch and tour around the Coolidge Park and then went and saw Oceans in 3D at the Imax Theater and then toured the Chicamauga Battlefield that was where one of the bloodiest battles of the civil war took place, second to the battle at Gettysburg. We got a little education, nature, fun and history all in one day! Then we headed back home to Oak Ridge.

Here is the Dairy Farm.

Me and a big cow!

Eating the famous Mayfield Ice Cream.

Chase in his cute hair cover net~ ready for a tour!

Here were some cool sites at Coolidge Park. It was right along the water and was quite pretty there!

Here is Chase on the walking bridge across the river from Coolidge Park.

Us in our cool 3D glasses!

After the movie we walked around a bit and there was this cool little area where lots of people were just hanging out. I am on top of the bridge thing.

Here we are on top of a lookout tower in the National Military Park

When we got out of the movie there was this awesome band playing in the little center area. Chase wanted me to prance about while he videoed them...well at least I tried! I really loved this band and the music it made me happy!

Happy Independence Day!

We hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July Weekend! It was a great reminder to me of the wonderful country we live in and the freedoms we enjoy. I am truly grateful to be a part of it! Here we are on the 4th watching fireworks. We enjoyed a BBQ with Eric and Christy and some of their family earlier in the evening and then visiting and hanging out until the fireworks.

The next day (Monday) we went river rafting!! It was outside of a town called Bryson City in North Carolina. We rafted the Nantahala River.

The rafts and buses that took us to the river...And the following are of us braving the river and the rapids!

After the rafting we hit up a local BBQ place and ate a nice lunch before heading back to the house. What an eventful weekend!!

Camping in The Smokies!

This last Friday we finally made it into the Great Smoky Mountains to do some camping!! We went to Cades Cove which is part of the Smokies! Once we got into the park we checked into our campsite and set up camp. Then we ate dinner, explored the campground, went on a nature hike, relaxed by the fire, played games, roasted marshmallows and just had a good time being together! On Saturday we headed into the Cades Cove Loop which is a combination of natural wildlife, beautiful nature and some of Tennessee's history. There had been a small community of people living in Cades Cove prior to it becoming a National Park so in an effort to preserve some of the history they have kept some of the original houses, barns, churches and other buildings. It was pretty neat to learn about the history of the place and experience the lovely nature as well.

Here is Chase setting up the blow up mattress! Those are also his legs sticking out of the tent!

I helped start the fire! Yay!

Eating hot dogs!

Roasting Marshmallows!

Heading down a trail.

Here are some of the historical buildings in the park.

Also in the park we went on a 5 mile hike so we could see this lovely waterfall.

The Smokies as our backdrop...It was so pretty there and we thoroughly enjoyed it!