First Family Vacation

A couple of weeks ago, we went on our first vacation as a family. Though I'm pretty late with the write up, I figure late is better than never. Besides, my friend recently lovingly told me that she was tired of looking at the umbrella.

For a couple of reasons, we ended up only taking a two day trip (well, we drove home the third day). We went to Pigeon Forge, TN, because the boys had never been to Dollywood, and they love amusement parks. So we set out the Wednesday of their spring break probably after 10:30. We stopped at a neat little restaurant in Hendersonville, NC called Harry & Piggy's. It's one of those mom and pop restaurants that has memorabilia literally everywhere. Nothing is better to kids.

As you can see, they even had memorabilia outside the restaurant. And rides inside (well, one ride).

We got to Dollywood a little after 3 p.m. Just a little tip, if you buy a day's ticket to Dollywood and don't enter the park until 3 p.m., you get to come back the entire next day. So, ultimately, you get a day and a half. Kenn and Josh took off ahead of Caleb and me because the first two rides we would hit, Caleb couldn't ride. So we caught up with each other after Josh & Kenn had riden the Thunderhead and Timber Tower. Caleb got to play on a little playground while we waited for the big boys to get off the Mystery Mine roller coaster.

After the boys pulled their body weight up a big pole (Lumberjack Lifts), we all finally rode something together. River Battle is a water attraction where you ride on a boat. Each passenger has a water gun of sorts to shoot at bystanders. Catch is, they also have water guns, and theirs reach farther. Also, it is a law of human nature that attacking perfect strangers with copious amounts of water is delightful and irresistible. We came off the ride soaked. Luckily, Dollywood had a family sized dryer closet that you could use for $3. It was like being surrounded with hair dryers, and it was a cool day, so the heat was quite welcome.

Kenn took the boys on the roller coaster that Caleb could actually ride (well, that wasn't a kiddie coaster). It was 6 or a little after at this point, so we headed to exit the park because we had something other plans for the evening. On the way, we stopped to watch an employee make some pottery. She was really sweet to the boys, and they walked away with a lump of clay each other. Josh made a candle holder out of his.

We grabbed a quick dinner and headed down the main strip to see Terry Evanswood, a magician, perform. He has his own theater, and for my magician husband, it was like paradise to see posters of Houdini, Blackstone, Thurston, & Kellar. The show was wonderful, and there wasn't anything I felt was inappropriate for the boys. You could take pictures during the show, and later Evanswood sat down front for everyone to go take a picture with him.

After the great show (seriously, I recommend it), we finally checked into the hotel. It was after 11 by this point, and I knew there was a Krispy Kreme right down the road. I thought the boys would be delighted with doughnuts after 11. Alas, they were closed, so we just got some snacks at a gas station, which actually had doughnuts. Even then, Josh was really excited. He said, "We went to Dollywood, saw a magic show, and now we're eating doughnuts at 11 at night!" Later, he said it was one of the best days of his life.

We went back to the hotel and slept on the HARDEST beds ever. Sincerely, I have never felt a harder mattress. Kenn and I woke up to this sweet sight though.

Even though Dollywood didn't open until 10, we ate breakfast and were in the park by 9:45. We went to see Imagine, a special show running during their Festival of Nations, which was like Cirque du Soleil. After that, we basically rode everything in the park that we wanted to ride. We even saw another little show, and both Josh & Caleb were in it!

We stayed until closing, eating lunch in the park. We rested for a bit at the hotel then ate dinner at Wendy's. Everyone was tired, so we didn't have a really late night. Next morning, we packed up, ate our free continental breakfast, checked out, and headed home.

Of course, this was the weather on the way home. The entire way home.

A Peek at My Stuff #2 (Not Dirty!)

So, these are the invitations to my wedding. I love them -- not completely untraditional, but with enough variance to make them feel like something I would choose. I love the lettering; I've always been a fan of the all lowercase. What do you think?

A Peek at My Stuff

Inspired by Dooce's Daily Style photos and Mindy Kaling's blog (Things I've Bought That I Love), I have decided to start posting pictures of things I've bought that I love. Hopefully, this is will help me get out of the blogging valley. And for those of you going, "Who's Mindy Kaling?" she is Kelly from The Office.

Here is my first offering.

I found this silver bird salt/pepper shaker at a Goodwill in town. Originally, I purchased it for my mom's guest bathroom, but then she didn't want it anymore, so I snatched it back. I think it's charming, and I love that I got it for less than a dollar. Right now, it sits on a tray on my nightstand with a photo and some lotion. What do you think? What's one of your best Goodwill purchases?

Budapest (Why I Want to Go Back)

Recent Purchases

Up first are these lovely earrings on sale at Amazon. They are just long enough for me, and they are really, really lightweight. I have this weird fear that, as I get older and skin starts to sag, my holes will sag too, and I'll get those scary earring holes where it looks like the earring might fall through the bottom of the ear any moment. But these are lighter than some studs I've had, so I feel confident wearing them all the time.




I wish more and more people loved Joseph Arthur. Probably lots of you know one or two of his songs, like "Honey and the Moon" or "In The Sun." But, let me just tell you-- he is really good. Sometimes, guys with guitars who do a lot of mid to slow tempo music bore me, unless I'm resting in my room or something. Not Joseph Arthur. Heather, I feel confident in telling you that you're going to like him. I'll be sending you some stuff in the mail soon to soonish. Anyway, this album is called Come To Where I'm From, and I highly recommend it. Also, check out Arthur's website over there on the sidebar.




As you may or may not have seen on TV or in the mail that they send you, like LOOK AT US PLEASE, Pier 1 is having a large summer sale. A lot of the stuff I went for was gone when I got to the store near Haywood Mall, but I'm sure that there will be more items for sale when I go back. I picked up 3 of these votive holders, which were not on sale. That is okay, however, since their everyday price is $1. ONE dollar. You probably have a hundred and six or seven (what is the sales tax now?) pennies in your house somewhere. These are good quality candle holders too. Thick enough glass, and the votives I purchased from Pier 1 didn't stick to the sides after they were all used up. I let the wax harden back up, and it just kind of popped up from the holder. That probably has more to do with the actual candles, though.


So, that's what I'm loving. You? What products do we all need to know about?

My Boys

Josh.

Caleb.

Kenn.

Love.

I have something new!

It's best to tell this in a short series of photos (ok, 2 photos).

First,

Forgive the crazy look in my eyes. Fake smile hazard.

Later...

Pretty!

The Egg Hunt Slideshow

Ok, my readers, I found a slideshow that would work on Blogger (crosses fingers). Here we go.






I'll probably only leave this up for a few days, a week at the most, since it makes the loading time more significant. So enjoy while you can!

And I'm Back in the Game...

Here are a couple of pictures from Easter Sunday morning, where Heather, Angela, and I are looking [cue Teen Girl Squad Voice] so good!





I have a bunch of pictures from the Easter Egg Hunt from Saturday, but...well it's a lot of pictures. I'm going to try to get a slide show up on Myspace. We'll see how that goes.

Two in as many days?

Yes, it's true. It's another blog from me. This one is also mostly pictures, but take what you can get, you know? These are from Laura Beth and Joe's wedding on April 9th. Before you see the photos, though, do know that they got engaged, planned and pulled off a wedding in 3 weeks. Three. And no, it wasn't a shotgun wedding. His father is in the armed forces and is being sent overseas for a good while, so they went ahead and got married so his father could be there. So yes, this is the absolutely gorgeous three week wedding, in pictorial form.

I also got to see some old college friends, most importantly my senior year girls. It was really good to see everybody, even though we didn't really get to chat and catch up a lot.

And there's one of me and the bride for good measure. I think we look cute. Anyway, the Burfitt is no longer the Burfitt. She is now the Cuyar. Yay!

At least it hasn't been a month...

Again, sorry about that lack of updating. But! I have recently have some event filled weekends, and, as such, some pictures and blogs for you to enjoy! First up is my trip to Charleston for Heather's birthday. I went down with her from Thursday to Saturday, which wasn't long enough, but you make do with what you have. Friday was Ms. Hizzle's birthday, so we got up and ready and, after a quick stop at the Target, we were off to the beach.

I cannot begin to describe how good it felt to be on the beach. I hadn't been in a long time, and though the water was a little cold for swimming, we got to stand in it, jumping waves and kicking up water and generally having WAY too much fun (if there is such a thing). Perfect weather too, with a lovely little breeze. We almost fell asleep there, but there was more fun to be had (shopping, Jack's Cosmic Dogs, Ms. Pac-Man, and cute Citadel boys doing their parade for Heather's birthday). Sadly, I do not have pictures of those, but I will leave you with this really cute picture of the birthday girl.

Actually, I won't because Blogger won't upload it for me. Anyway, it was lovely and fun, and we basically looked so good, and you're totally jealous you weren't there. Or something.

Him's A Big Boy! Yes, Him Is!

My dog likes to be carried like a baby. A 45 lb. baby. Who licks your face. Sometimes that's cute and endearing.

Sometimes it's really not.

But look at his face!

Let's Hear It for the Boy!

Happy Birthday to the coolest brother I have, Drew. He is 17 today, folks. 17.

That's him with my dad last Christmas. He's grown a bit since then even.

Heh.

Last night, we discovered that Tater does not like for anything to be sprayed at others, in the air, or especially at him. For reals, he barked like crazy at my dad after he'd sprayed Lysol at my brother. He was really upset about it. So, being the compassionate people we are, continued to spray the Lysol. He was crazed about it. So, note to self, Tater does not enjoy Lysol.

Seriously, Who Came Up With That?

This is my friend Heather. We're going to Clemson to spend the day with our friend Tray. But that's not what I'm posting about. No. It's this.



That's right. A CABOOSE garden. Never mind that there is indeed a train caboose in said garden. Caboose garden! This is priceless. Heather illustrates.

Bad dog!

Ok, he's not really. It may be that I love my dog far more than I have loved any previous pet. He's so fun....not well-trained and obedient yet, but we're working on it. His name is Tater, which he came with from the Humane Society where we adopted him. He was used to it, so we just kept it (though it's definitely not what I would have chosen). He's a mix between a labrador and a Boston terrier bulldog, so he looks...well, I think he's cute, but I'm biased. He's got really big ears though. I love him muchly, and so he shall be showing up in blogs, I'm sure.