Celebrating, part 3

Sunday, October 14-Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Gatlinburg (Pigeon Forge)!  We decided to make a last-minute getaway and take advantage of my county Fall Break by traveling to one of the most beautiful and interesting locations our state has to offer!  (I said .one.of. for those of you who are thinking about all the places that are 100x better.)

First stop: Murder Mystery dinner show!  To be honest, I was a little hesitant when we walked in the doors.  It was smaller than I imagined, and the actors were walking around and mingling with the guests.  Their outfits and makeup looked like our low-budget high school productions.  However, once the show started, they were funny, and they were great at improv!  Oh man, this one guy played one of two super country brothers, and he had me cracking up!  I definitely encourage going to these shows!  Good food, good time!

This was our clue packet.  We were able to be involved by solving some puzzles inside that gave us clues to the murder!  (P.S. I totally, got it right. Duh.)



Upon entering, you had to pose with your party.  Celebrate anniversaries by killing each other.  Haha.

We had to make the most of our Monday, so we started out in Gatlinburg at the Pancake Pantry!  YUM.  I decided to be daring and go for something different... Sweet Potato Pancakes with cinnamon sugar syrup.


Waiting.  I don't know what he is doing.



Consensus... They were good, but next time I'm stickin with my always faithful chocolate chip.

And of course, you can't go to Gatlinburg without getting the musthave saltwater taffy(s)!



Peach is my favorite!  You?





How can you go to this beautiful place and not experience God's artistry??  You can't.  Not possible.  We went at the perfect time because Autumn is kicking in full force!  The trees!!!!!  How I will miss them...



Let's pretend that is me and the hubbs.



Oh here we are!



Thanks to the awkward lady who took this picture for us!  Why is it that the person you ask to take your picture always holds the camera like they've never seen one before?  I mean really, they are pretty much all the same.  Find the big circle button on the top and click. 




Hello beautiful view of the mountains!!! Sigh...



On our way through the mountains, we saw so many beautiful places to stop and view the stream, but we never did.  So, on our way back to Pigeon Forge, we made it our mission to find those places again....Unfortunately...  When we found the only stop going that direction, it was lack luster.  So I took these pictures instead.





My favorite of the whole trip.

We decided to eat dinner at the best of the best ribs restaurant: Tony Roma's.  This was a treat since they don't have them anywhere near us since the Nashville flood came through and hit Opry Mills.  Then, we went to see a magic show at WonderWorks.  Now let me tell you... I was unimpressed.  My daddy was a side magician for as long as I can remember.  HERSHEL THE GREAT!  (Don't ask.  I don't know why.)  He would do shows for my birthday parties and I was fascinated at his talent, and so angry when he wouldn't tell me the secrets!  (Being the daughter should mean I automatically get to know the secrets.  Duh.)  But this guy pretty much did every classic trick you've alreadyeverseen.  I mean, he did them WELL; I don't know the secrets.  But I've seen them before, ya know?  Wow me!  Show me the newest and latest!

However, he saved himself for a moment.  He came into the crowd to do some "mind-reading". D and I were getting bored as he started going through some schmucky spiel about how he knows we are all happy people who have friends and family and enough money because we came to this show.  I was like... oh good grief.  He's one of THOSE people.  BUT WAIT!  He then proceeded to share about how he is one of those people as well, but his success is solely because of God.  Amen, brotha!  I'll let you share about some Jesus to all of these people here.  But for the magic part?  Nah....

On our way home on Tuesday, some lady tried to get us to buy a time share come see a cabin where we can stay for free!  Too bad we don't own a credit card...  but we did end up with free tickets from Mountain Dew to go see their new sky bridge!



Okay, so it's higher than it looks from here.  That's a steep drop, people.  Stop your judging.





This is just a teaser.  It's about to get scary.




Okay, before the scary... read this... It'll tickle your innards!!!  Makes you want one, doesn't it?!




He was the brave one first.  Check out the wood where a piece of glass probably used to be.  Make you feel good?




Ahhh!!!!!  Once again, looks are deceiving.  That was a long way down below us!  I stayed on long enough for this picture and then I was done.





Thanks for the free Mountain Dew!  It definitely tickled my innards!



All in all... this was a great getaway.  Fun and relaxing.  Anniversary well-celebrated.

Celebrating, part 2

Oops, it's taken me a little bit of time to get back here, but I wanna put down all the rest of the fun that was had for our one year anniversary celebration, so here goes!

Friday, October 12, 2012

D and I decided to celebrate our anniversary by going back to the place where we stayed as a married couple for the first time: Opryland Hotel.  We had been blessed by a wonderful couple from our church who paid for our room last year and made that night so special for us.  When we planned on going back this year, we called a few months ahead and tried to request the same room.  "We can't do that," they said.  What?! That is lame.  I mean, it's not like somebody else has already requseted the same room for the same night.  "We can put it on a request list, and there is a good chance that you can get it when you check in," they said.  Okay.  I guess that will do.

WELL WE GOT IT PEOPLE!

Aww... there he is.... Mr. Handsome, himself.

So, we go to stay in the Cascades at the hotel, and it is my favorite because it has this beautiful waterfall that we could see from our room!  We kept the balcony doors open, and just pulled the curtains so we could hear the relaxing sound all night.  So peaceful!

We took time to walk around and enjoy the beautiful hotel.



How many times have I been to Opryland Hotel and not realized they have pools??  I mean, it makes sense...  but I've never seen them before...





I just like that plant there in the middle.  Like a firework, no?



We ate a CHEAP, but delicious, dinner at STAX.  (And that is hard to do at Opry!)







Those burgers were HUGE.  We should have shared.

P.S. I should share that we got a huge deal on this room.  If we had stayed there a week earlier, it would have been an additional $100.  PLUS, we got about a $100 discount because I'm a teacher.  God so worked this stay out in our favor!



We watched the waterfall show.  I had no idea when it started.  But when we sat down, the music came on.  Guess they were just waiting for us!





We ordered a waytooexpensive dessert from room service that completely undid the money we saved from dinner.



We slept in, woke up and played card games on the balcony, and soaked every paid-for minute of our stay!



Totally worth it.

Celebrating, part 1

Well, yesterday was the last day of a wonderful and fun-filled anniversary celebration.  Now, I can put all of the pieces together to share the story!

Monday, October 8, 2012

Leading up to the day, I tried to be blatant subtle and let D know that I wanted our first anniversary to be very special.  I told him so many times that it's not about what he gets me so much as what he does for me.  I wanted our day to truly be celebrated, ya know?  Well, maybe I have too many romantic bones in my body (or maybe I just watch WAY too many chick flicks) that I kept filling my mind with my own creation of things he could do on that day.  To be honest, I pretty much set him up for failure because there's no way he was going to live up to all of the romantic things I had already imagined him doing.  Well, I truly did just that.  I had already given up on him, and it was only 6:30am.  You see, if you recall, I have a post from a while back where I discussed my disdain for waking up every morning while he continues to sleep on and on... And I noted how I have suggested that he get up with me every once-in-awhile.  Well today was that day, I decided!  It was our anniversary after all!  But alas... there was his sleeping body as I was about to walk out the door.  So, I obnoxiously flipped on a light so that he would see that I was about to leave.  He got up and gave me a hug and an, "I love you," and a, "Happy Anniversary!"  Hmph.  I was upset, so I gave a half-hearted response and left for school.

Surely he'll come bring me lunch today, I thought.  Surely he'll bring me flowers!  Lunchtime passed.  Nada.  My little heart was just about checked out.  And then... about an hour before school was out...

TADA!

Delivery!  And when I texted him a giant Thank You, he told me he was hoping they would look like our wedding colors... awwwwwwwww!  Jerk of a wife over here has not even given my husband any chances to be amazing.  And guess what... he is.

But he wasn't done, folks.  Nope.  Because he's not just amazing... he is AMAZING.  I walk out of the school to head home and see this on my car:

Peek through to the front... Do you see?  Because I didn't yet...  But when I walked around the car and opened the door, I saw this:

Attached is a note that says something like, "A rose for every month I've been the happiest husband." (*insert awwwwwwwww*)  And do you see the little puppy?  That's my newest cuddle buddy for when my hubbs has to go out of town.

No people...  He still was not done.  Because I came home to this:

And then I got to open these:

That would be a pair of tennis shoes that I have been talking and talking about for like ever.  AND he created a scrapbook online to tell our story.  Bless.  Okay, hubbs, I'm sorry.  I shouldn't doubt you so. You are far more wonderful than I give you credit for.  Forgive?

Yeah, okay, so all of you right now are thinking... alright selfish... and did you even do anything for HIM?!  After all, it's an anniversary, which is for two people.  YES PEOPLE!  Are you kidding?!

So, all day long, starting at 10:08 (Get it?), he got to open a present every hour.  Each present was attached to a memory of a significant moment in our journey.  For example, this was the first gift....

On our first date, we went bowling (a "game"), so I got him a new game to play, where I would dominate, just like the bowling.  (hehe)  Well, we love to play Farkel (Funny name, GREAT GAME), so when I saw this game, I knew we had to have it. 

The rest of the day followed suit where he opened presents relating to those memorable events.  He bought his own wrapping paper... don't judge me.

Sorry, it's turned around.  I thought I fixed it.  Oh well. 

The last gift was meant to represent our future together. 

I got a map of the world so that we could pin the places we've been and the places we want to go.  I want to continue using this as we add kiddos to the family that might want to add pins of their own! 

All in all, I learned a huge lesson: "Don't underestimate your husband!"  He might show you that he actually does have a romantic mind, and then you'll feel like an idiot.



Loving on the man that keeps me on my toes!



365 Days Later

(Or 366 as D will correct me... Last year was a leap year, he says...)

As of October 8, 2012, I officially became an experienced wife with a wealth of knowledge about how to have a perfect marriage.  What?  Stop laughing.  I'm totally serious.


All pictures thanks to Caroline Herron!  LOVE YOU girl!



Okay, so maybe that's a slight exaggeration, but I DID officially become married for a whole year.  I can hardly believe that time has moved so quickly.  It's crazy to think that a year has already passed since my most favorite day of my life thus far.  I feel like it was just yesterday, but at the same time, I find it hard to picture myself as not married to this wonderful husband of mine! 

I thought I would take the time to list a few things that I have learned in this first year.  I can't wait to look back at this list a year (2 years, 10 years, 50 years) from now.  I'll probably laugh at myself, but that's the fun part of marriage, right?  You are both growing.  The culture around is changing.  Our household dynamic will be transformed.  The learning process will never stop! 

Here's a slice of our first year.  I'll probably think of more later and want to add to the list...

1. Being married is thebestever.

2. Being married is thehardestever.

3. D and I make cookies after almost every meal.  (He is grabbing some out of the oven as.I.type.) The 50-years-from-now me is going to read this and say, "SEE!  You did this to yourselves!!!!"

4. It is no longer scary to have a boy in the bed next to me every night.

5. I still wake up every morning to get ready by myself.  I've been doing that since middle school.  Why do I always have to be somewhere first?!  The 10-years-from-now me is going to read this and say, "He has his time coming, young one.  Just wait for the little Gibbys to be waking him up every morning!"

6. We are NOT planning on any little Gibbys any.time.soon. 

7. TV is our vice.  At any given time, we have at least 5-6 shows DVR'd every week.

8. Making time for Bible study together doesn't just come automatically.  Devotions do not just "happen" because we got married.  Devotions do not just "happen" because my husband is a pastor.  We have to be intentional.

9. We have tons of friends.  And non-tons of time to see them.

10. D is still a gentleman who opens the door for me every day.

11. D will watch all types of movies with me.  Most of you know that he has a weak spot for chick flicks.  BUT (*recent discovery*) I now know that he will also... WILLINGLY... watch Lifetime movies.  Yep.  Truestory.

12. It is the most wonderful feeling to have a permanent companion for any occasion.  I don't have to wonder... who will go with me?  I don't have to think... well, now I go home by myself.  NO!  He is there!  For all of those things!  YAY!

13. I do NOT like it when D goes out of town.  My house is creepy.  And things fall by themselves.  And my backdoor opens and slams.  And it's terrible.  So I sleep on the couch with the TV on ALL NIGHT.  Everything magically is okay again the moment he comes back.

14. We can be thrifty when we need to be, but otherwise, we are not very good at that.

15. If I don't put the new toilet paper roll on the holder.... it will never go on.

16. We are both lazy when it comes to keeping the house clean, so no one is ever allowed to come over unexpected! (Seriously.  Don't do it.  I won't let you in.)

17. D and I generally have the same taste in home decor, so that makes it very easy when we buy things for the home.  Unfortunately, we don't have much "home" to put all of the things we buy in...




We will always remember our first home!

 18. God does not let me go to bed with an angry heart.  If I am upset or frustrated or hurt or whatever, I cannot go to sleep until I tell D what I am feeling.

19. D is a great listener.  Sometimes he reacts quickly, but he never lets an argument be left unfinished.  And he doesn't let me shut down.  He works so hard to make sure we are okay.

20. D handles the finances because he is good at it.  Praise the Lord he actually understands all that stuff!!!

21. Marrying the man that I did also meant marrying into a family name.  That means that all the little boys we have one day are supposed to have "Wayne" in their name somehow.  Idunlikeit.  BUT I think we are finally starting to come to terms with working around it.  (Fingers crossed, people!)

22. We are good at making meals together.  D cooks the meat.  I make the sides.  And it is always yummy.  (Except sometimes when I try a Pampered Chef recipe and it's not as tasty as the recipe would lead you to believe...)

23. D will never stop trading cars.  He says he will one day when he finally gets "that one great car".  Yeah right.  I'll believe it when it happens.

24. Sex is not like the movies.  There.  I said it.

25. I am married to my absolute best of the best friend.  He has my back every day and I know it.  I have his back and he knows it.  I trust in him as the head (lowercase "h") of the household as he follows the lead of Christ, the Head (capital "H") of the household.  Even if that means moving to Florida.  (AHH! I typed it!  The words are on the world wide web!) Yes, that means moving to Florida.  For those of you who are seeing those words for the first time... I will post more about it later.  It's been in the works for awhile, but I've kept it close and personal until it was time for everyone to know.  All I know is that I couldn't do this, and I believe that I wouldn't be doing this, if I wasn't with this man.  How blessed am I to be able to follow the path designed by our Creator with such a wonderful and loving husband.




We will begin a tradition of taking a photo with a picture from the year before.


Happy 1st Anniversary, love!
I love you Fluffykins.
Boop!

Blenders are the funnest.

This week my kiddos are learning to read beginning blends (i.e. st, sp, br, fl, gl, etc...).  I do not claim the following lesson idea as my own, but I can just tell you how much I LOVE it.  (AND how much my kids are in awe of my magic skills!)  Let me set up the background before I tell you a funny story about my childrenssss. 

So, you take a blender, not plugged in of course.  You throw in a little card that says "s".... and then you throw in a card that says "n".  You hold up the blender and make the appropriate blender noise (brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr) while swirling the blender around.  (It's not plugged in, remember??  You gotta make the magic happen!)  And then "DING"!  It's done!  You reach in the blender and tah-dah!!!!!  There's a card that says "sn"! 

Magic.

Here's how the magic happens (because I'm not a real magician, and I do reveal my secrets to special parties such as yourself):  You line the inside of the blender with construction paper so they can't see inside.  You put the whole cards in there before the lesson so the kids don't see it, and you have the individual letter cards stacked in the order of the cards already in the blender!  Magic, people.

Okay, so yesterday I introduced the first set of blends... the "s" blends... and I totally forgot how in awe my students were last year when we did this, so it was extremely exciting to see my kids react this year.  Once I pulled out the first blend put together on a card and showed them the card... there was silence.

*Insert cricket chirping*

Seriously.  It kinda threw me for a loop because I'm looking for a response.  Wait for it.... wait for it.... wait for it... About 10 seconds later there was a giant woaahhhhhhhhhhh across the classroom.  Then I heard a couple of "HOW did that happen?!?!?!" statements.  I'm magic, people.  What did I tell you??  Entranced they were!  What a spectacular teacher am I! 

And then there's that kid.  You know... the one who ALWAYS figures out the magic and proceeds to feel obligated to inform the rest of the class of how unmagical  the act really was.  Funny thing is that I CALLED IT the day before the lesson.  I knew it would happen.  I knew who it would be.  And she didn't leave me hanging.  "IT'S JUST ANOTHER CARD!" she said.  "She just has another card!" she said again.  Like 1,289,578,389 times.  Literally.

But the best part is... as she is proclaiming this across the room (and I proceed to acknowledge completely ignore her)... one of my GENIUS children shouts out quite obnoxiously, "WOAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOWWWWWW DID SHE DOOOOOOOO THAT?!?!!?!??!!??!?!?!?!?"

Miss Knowitall turns to Mr. Icantcontrolthevolumeofmyvoice and says (again), "She just has another card in there already!"

He looks at her and thinks for a moment.... then says the statement that should show you exactly why I'm going to be put into an institution by the end of this year,
"Man!  I just don't know HOW she did that!  Mrs. Gibbs, you are the magickest!!!"

Welcome to my class.