Gatlinburg

We made a quick trip to Gatlinburg this weekend for Daniel's family vacation. We arrived late Friday night because Will had just come home from camp and Daniel was finishing up some work stuff. We left the cabin Sunday because Daniel had to fly out Monday for TAM week. 

Setup for the kids. Will slept in the basement with the big kids.

On Saturday we went to Old Mill, the Aquarium and then stopped to explore a stream. This is always Daniel's favorite part. The kids love it too. I mean, I like it as well, but that water is co-old.

 Maggie met a mermaid! She was quite excited about this. The other kids did come over eventually but Maggie was definitely the most captivated. 

 The kids decided to simplify this whole process: why stand up on the moving walkway, when you can just lay down and enjoy the show? ...

 That penguin is named Maggie. Now it's time to explore! 

 Weird I know, but I got this picture, because I wanted a comparison of a similar pic I remembered from 9 years ago... then I had to get one with both boys. :)

We had a really fun day. Then headed back to the cabin for dinner and hanging out with everyone. We left by lunch on Sunday. It was a nice, quick trip!

Master Bath

I've sorta wanted to re-do my master bath for awhile. It wasn't super-high on the to-do list but a someday it would be nice kinda thing. When we moved into the house, I was fine with all the colors and knew nothing had to be done immediately, one of the reasons we loved it. We did, however, paint Maggie's room pink pretty soon after moving in. Anyway, I always knew I wanted some blue in there and my bedroom, especially after doing my craft room.

Short story long: In April, I ran to Bed Bath & Beyond to replace a few kitchen items and strolled around the store. I saw some blue rugs, cup, soap dish, etc. and really liked them. I'm not a big shopper and have a pretty strong case of buyer's remorse that leads me to putting back most things before hitting the register. The bad thing about this, is I'll often wait and think and budget too long and the stuff I want is gone. So this day, I bought them. In that moment. And I loved them in my bathroom (before & after above). Once I swapped out these items, I knew it was time to paint. Finally, I got around to painting this month. And made a few other changes as well.

I loooooove it!! Especially the framed mirror- really makes that whole-wall mirror look much nicer. I read a blog that said it was super easy to install, but for me, it was not. I tried to do it myself, but had to enlist Daniel's help. Still, love how it turned out! Few more things to do, but such an improvement so far.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to my wonderful husband! You're a great husband, daddy and our leader. We love you very much and hope you had an awesome day. The kids had some homemade gifts for you and I got you a little something as well.

This weekend we also upgraded your entertainment stand, which you've wanted to do for awhile. I found a console table I thought would work nice at Home Goods and you liked it too. So we made the switch. Happy Father's Day!