It's finally spring!

Finally, after a long, and in my opinion, cold winter, SPRING is finally here!

Having looked at and bought the house in the fall, we didn't really know what to expect for the yard. We knew we had flower beds, but we really didn't know what was in them, or how they would look come spring time.

The grass was in total disarray and mostly weeds. So the first order of business was weed killing, aerating, seeding, and a lot of fertilizing. The yard and grass look 100 times better than before, and Paul has really enjoyed taking good care of it all! He even fixed a leak in the sprinklers! He's a true yard man!! :)

The flowers have turned out to be beautiful, but we've decided to move them around this fall, and decrease the size of some of the beds. It'll be a big project, and will take a couple of years to really get the yard how we would like it, but we're starting now, and will do a little bit at a time.

Here are some flowers we have.

Azaleas lining the drive way

I planted these around the mailbox. The colors chosen purposefully. :)

More azaleas on the back of the house - these are white. And on the left corner, standing by itself, is one of two hydrangea bushes. The flowers are just starting to coming in! I can't wait to have fresh hydrangeas! 

Some beautiful irises 

And not only do we have fresh, new flowers, we also have new "friends"!

This is a bird's nest in one of the ferns hanging on the front porch! The eggs have since hatched, and we have some really cute baby birds!

We actually watched this nest being built by Mama Robin! It's too high to see if any eggs are in there yet, though. 

This is our turkey friend. He has come around twice now! The second Vance might have scared him off, though.

You can barely see this little guy, but it's a guinea pig! Vance was out one day, and focused so intently on something, I had to go look. And here was this little fellow! We don't know where he came from, but he's shown up a couple of times too. Fortunately, he was outside of Vance's range, otherwise he could have been gone! 

Other than the pollen, I'm SO glad spring is here!!

God Bless

Celebrating 5 years together

Our anniversary isn't until June, but we decided to celebrate a little early before I become "grounded".

Paul and I are celebrating five years of marriage this year! It's been five wonderful, amazing, adventurous years, and now we are happily, and excitedly, preparing for the next chapter to begin. Many people have told us to enjoy the time we have as just the "two of us" before the baby comes, so we thought we'd do just that.

Each year to celebrate our anniversary we've chosen a different state and found a bed and breakfast. Our goal is to visit every state - 50 states, 50 years.

So far we've been to:

1st - Savannah, Georgia



Second - Georgetown, South Carolina



Third - Amelia Island, Florida



Fourth - Mobile, Alabama

And, now our Fifth - Newport, Tennessee

Paul found Christopher Place, in eastern TN, and it was wonderful. It sat on the top of a mountain, and overlooked the Smokey Mountains. 

A view of the front, pulling up to the Inn. 

A view of the back of the Inn. It had wonderful porches with gorgeous views of the mountains. 

This is the breakfast room. Breakfasts were so good! The first morning we had a small cup of yogurt with fresh fruit to start, and pancakes with cooked apples on top. The second morning we started with a small lemon poppy seed muffin, and then an egg casserole souffle, and cheese grits. Yum!

With fresh coffee (decaf for me) in these cute mugs (which we brought home with us).

Friday we got in late, checked into the Inn, and then went to find some place to eat. We found this Southern home cooking place, and had a good meal.

These were the appetizers - cheese logs. They were huge and so good!!

Saturday we spent the morning in Sevierville visiting antique stores. Then we came back, rested for the afternoon, and then went to Carver's Orchard Restaurant for dinner. Apples aren't really in season right now, but they still had a variety of apple treats for to taste - apple fritters with apple butter, and fresh apple cider (the best Paul had ever tasted according to him).

Then we enjoyed the evening playing pool. I can't say I'm best pool player, but I was actually able to hold my own. 

Overall, it was a wonderful weekend. Life has been very busy recently for the both of us, so just spending some quality together was very special for us. We only have 13 more weeks before baby boy joins us, and we needed this weekend away for ourselves.

We are so excited to see what the Lord has planned for us, and for our family, this next year together. He has always been right there with us, guiding us each step of the way. And this upcoming year will be no exception. We're ready to see what He has planned for us.

God Bless