Thanksgiving in TN

We just spent five fabulous days with my whole family in the mountains of Gatlinburg, TN.  We all agreed that this was the best way we've spent Thanksgiving.  We stayed in a huge cabin (called Party Hut) complete with game room, pool table, arcade games, theater room, two kitchens, five bedrooms, two hot tubs, two wrap-around decks, and a gorgeous view of the Smokey Mountains.  My parents took us out for a Thanksgiving meal which meant no one had to slave away in the kitchen preparing, cooking, and cleaning.  Score!!  Each family took turns cooking a meal, we hiked, relaxed, played games, went to Dollywood, explored the town, and had so much fun just being together.  New tradition?? ;)

Claire was in heaven surrounded by her cousins all week! 




Since no one had to cook on Thanksgiving, we headed to the Smokies for a morning hike to Clingman's Dome, which is the second highest point in the Appalachian Mountains.  The views were breathtaking... God's creation never ceases to amaze and overwhelm me.  But this girl is still scarred from a high school missions trip van accident in the mountains... so let's just say I was a little tense on those curvy mountain roads!  Yikes!


Emma was ready to go!


Before hiking up, Jason & Roxi shared some sweet Psalms for us to reflect on before we started our trek. 







Claire and Evy were little hiking buddies.






We made it to the top!









Ready to head back down.











Beautiful.








Babu and Silas being daredevils.






Sissies.

After lunch and relaxing at the cabin, we headed to Mama's Farmhouse for our Thanksgiving dinner.   It was PACKED with other smarties who decided to let someone else cook and clean this Thanksgiving.  They had bag toss (aka cornhole) and hula hoops out for people to pass the time while they waited.


Turns out my dad, Jorie, and Anni are serious hula hoopers!





Beautiful sunrise.

The next day we went to Dollywood and despite a little rain and cooler temps, we all had a blast.  We were there from 11 am- 9 pm!  Yes, my in-bed-at--7-pm-girls were riding rides and partying for 10 hours straight!  Emma had a few meltdowns but other than that, it was fab-u-lous! 









I even reverted back to my high school ways and went crazy riding all the roller coasters.  Justin snapped this picture while Roxi and I were riding!



They were impressed!




The last day was spent relaxing at the cabin and ended with an intense game of eating nasty Jelly Bellies!  We played this game several years ago with Bertie Botts Beans and this year we found a new assortment of disgusting-ness.  Think skunk, barf, booger, rotten egg, baby wipes, centipede, toothpaste, canned dog food... yes, we are very strange and we do this for fun. 



It was an amazing week and we are so thankful for my parents' generosity!!  Lots of sweet memories were made.