Final weeks in NC

Our final weeks in NC were wonderful and thanks to internet that we literally got 2 hours ago I can finally share it with all of my 2 readers in the blogger world.  We moved back to GA on the 22nd so we packed as much as we could into our final weeks.  Here's a glimpse at what we were up to.  

Our neighboring city, Dillsboro, had a Christmas festival the first two weekends in December so we ventured out there to enjoy the festivities.  All of the stores in town were open and many had cookies and treats as well as a few freebies for the holidays.  Everything was decorated with lights and luminaries and we had a great time.  Because it was too dark and I don't have a fancy camera I was only able to get a few shots.  One of my favorites is this one of the kids looking at the manger scene.  

We have spent every opportunity in NC exploring our surroundings.   We went and saw these last two waterfalls before we left.  The picture above does not do any justice for the view.  If you look closely in the bottom picture you'll see Aaron and the kids behind the waterfall.  The kids thought it was so cool that you could walk behind it.

The children at church put on a play for us one Wednesday night.  They had practiced at the birthday party for Jesus, but because we had all been sick the week before we weren't able to the party with Levi so we had no idea that Levi was a wiseman.  So we were super excited when we saw him walk out all dressed up. Before they started the little boy who was supposed to be the sheep got tired of waiting for them to start and decided to quit before it got started so they quickly asked in Naomi would step in a sure enough she was up for it.  I could barely handle the cuteness of it all.  While on stage they insisted on being together and when someone would move Levi, Naomi would follow.  He was the protective big brother, holding her hand and constantly kissing her throughout the performance.  I loved every minute of it.

I know this one is a little grainy, but Aaron took it from his phone and it has to be my favorite of them all.

Our final weekend we went to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville.  The kids were spending the weekend with my parents so it was the perfect time for us to go.  The highlight of the trip was that we were able to go during the Christmas season and the entire place was decorated for Christmas.  The house was beautiful as well as the grounds.  We walked and walked and walked some more around the property.  My feet were killing me when we left at the end of the day.  The property was amazing and beautiful and you could see for miles.  Aaron & I had a great time and it was the perfect way to end our stay in NC.

 

Last but not least the Sylva square.   It was beautifully decorated for the holidays and I tried capturing it with my point and click camera, but it doesn't it do it justice so just take my word for it.  I promise it was beautiful.

We are now back in GA.  Celebrated Christmas with our families, visited TX with Aaron's family, celebrated Naomi's birthday, and have been unpacking ever since.  There is still lots of update post to come and one day soon I'll be caught up.

The Elusive Bear

Ever since we have moved to NC we have wanted to see a bear.  People come up here to hunt all the time for them, and supposedly some good hunting is on the mountain right behind our house.  Several times I have seen hunting dogs roaming in our yard and the field next door.  However we haven't seen any since we moved here.  We have been to the national park more times than I can count and still nothing.  Well of course as soon as we got word that we were moving back we struck gold.  On a spur of the moment trip to Cades Cove we saw not 1 but 3 bears!  It was really cool and a great way to say goodbye to the park.  Below are some pictures we snapped that day.  Enjoy!

 The bear is the black dot by the tree right in front of Levi.

 The bear is in the bottom right corner.

 This was just a beautiful view from the day.  

There's No Place Like Home

We received official notice yesterday that we would be returning to GA at the end of the year.  While we have mixed feelings about the move we are excited to get back to our home as well as our family and friends.  We should be there by Dec. 31st, but may try to move back before Christmas.  Just last week Aaron & I were praying that God would give us some answers for how long we would be in NC.  We were both expecting to be here for several more months, so the news was a little surprising.  I hesitated to even post because I don't really believe it just yet.  However, God is good and gave us answers where we were asking.  He is faithful!!  While we don't know how long we will be in GA, we are going to be back for the foreseeable future, but something tells me our adventures are just beginning.

We will definitely miss NC and all it has offered us over that last 8 months.  Here is just a few things we will be sad to say good-bye to:

• Great Smokey Mountain National Park.
• Cataloochee and the elk.
• East LaPorte park (across the street)
• Webster Baptist Church.  Small group and friends.
• Blue Ridge Parkway
• NOC
• The mountains.  I'll definitely miss the mountain beauty each and every day.
• Family Saturday adventures.
• The gym and park being 5 minutes away.
• Wal-Mart being 10 minutes away.
• Aaron's job being close by and eating lunch with him everyday.
• All the punch bugs.
• Catamount Gap

What we are looking forward to in GA:

• Babysitters!!!
• Family!!!
• Friends!!!
• A house with normal size shower and lots of closet space.
• BSF
• Grandparents!!!
• TV so we can actually watch football.
• Being able to decorate, paint, hang pictures, etc.  

We'll see you all soon!  

Changing Colors

 Living the the mountains has had its perks, but the changing of the leaves has been one of the best.  The leaves have been absolutely beautiful in all shades of red, green, yellow, orange, and brown.  While we have had a pretty good view of them from our home and town, we've taken a few drives on the parkway and through the park to enjoy them a little more.  My pictures do no justice to the beauty we've been seeing.

While driving the parkway we hiked up Devil's Courthouse.  The hike was quite steep, but we all made it!  The view was beautiful when we reached the top!

 Devil's Courthouse from the bottom.

 We also hiked up to Clingman's Dome in the GSM Nat'l Park.  The kids loved all the rocks along the pathway.  It was overcast and cloudy that day so we didn't have a great view from the top, but it was fun anyway.

 One more trip to Cataloochee proved to be awesome as always.  We saw several elk, lots of full grown bulls, and a few young bulls.  The highlight this visit was two young bulls sparring.

Just Pictures.

I guess the title says it all.  Here are just a few pictures from our life from the past few weeks.  The first one speaks for itself.

 I tried catching this beautiful sunset on our way home from the national park one night.  Not perfect, but you can at least imagine how beautiful it was.

 Playing with early 1900 century toys at the festival at the farm in the park.

 A little hike to this waterfall.  Worth it.

 Smiles.

 Backyard cookout.

 Cataloochee during the elk rut.