Our Thanksgiving Trip!

We hope everyone had a safe and blessed Thanksgiving. We just arrived back from our traditional trip to TN to celebrate Thanksgiving. We had a great time with both sets of our parents. We left on Wednesday morning for a nice long weekend. We typically stay in a chalet in The Smoky Mountains, but this time opted for a new 3 bedroom, 3 bath condo in Sevierville, near the Apple Orchard. It was a VERY beautiful place with a great view of the river, which we got some pictures of. When we arrived on Wednesday, we hung out for awhile and headed to The Old Mill for dinner. It was wonderful, as always. We were all rather tired, due to the trip, so we were rather uneventful that evening. Tim's aunt, uncle, cousins and families came to TN too. They stayed separate from us, but were in the same condo complex. It was great to see them and spend a little time with them.

We woke up Thursday morning and lounged around watching the Thanksgiving Day parade and relaxing. Thanks to my Dad, we filled ourselves with Krispy Kreme donuts. YUMMY!!! We had SEVERAL boxes of Krispy Kreme's while there. After lounging around, we got ready and headed to Thanksgiving dinner. The last few years we have decided NOT to cook while there, but to go out for dinner. We always go to The Old Mill for their Thanksgiving feast. The wait is always 2-3 hours long, but it is well worth the wait. Plus, now we know what to expect so we plan on the wait! They serve everything family style and it is fabulous. The menu was - corn chowder, ambrosia salad, prime rib, turkey, ham, stuffing, green beans, mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. We all ate until we were nearly sick!

After the Thanksgiving feast, Mom and I headed to find someplace to shop. We went to Old Time Pottery, which was unbelievably packed!!! We were in there forever fighting crowds, but we had a blast. After that, we headed back to the room for a little R&R (and ice cream, as you will notice in the picture). Dad and Tim read in the newspaper that 80 shops at the outlet mall would be opening at midnight. We all laughed about it, but at 12:15 AM we all decided we wanted to go. None of us had ever shopped that late and we thought it would be fun to check out. So, Tim and I, along with all of our parents and Leighton, went to the mall. It was PACKED!!!! It was just as busy as it is at 8:00 AM on black Friday. It was so hilarious just to watch all of the people. Here is a picture of all of us arriving back to the condo at 3:00 AM... YES.... 3:00 AM (notice we are all holding up three fingers) Pregnancy can't hold me down when it comes to shopping.... (ok... maybe a little - I do have to take MANY breaks)

Since we didn't get to bed until extremely late, we got up late. Our black Friday shopping didn't start until around noon. Tim's Mom got out early with her sister, but Mom and I got a late start. We shopped and shopped at our favorite outlet mall all day, while taking several breaks to elevate my feet. We went to lunch at Conner's and sat and had a nice long lunch. We purchased several things for the baby and I can't wait for him to be here for next Thanksgiving. It will be so much fun! Although I am sure he won't want to shop as much as I do! The men all went and did their own type of shopping..... Bass Pro Shop, a Golf store, several places to look at electronics, etc.!!! (Check out my holiday shirt in the picture. I would never wear most of these maternity shirts that have sayings on them, but Tim and I found this shirt in a maternity/baby boutique in Chicago and I could not pass it up. It says... "Season's Breeding's")

Friday night, we headed to Gatlinburg to eat at The Peddler. It is a wonderful steakhouse that Mom and Dad had been to before. The atmosphere was incredible, as we sat by the window overlooking a creek and mountain. The food was wonderful too. They bring out the meat raw and you choose what you would like and they cut it to your liking. It was wonderful. After our meal, it was SO cold we decided to head back to the condo.

On Saturday, the Mom's and I went to several little stores that we had previously missed. A lot of speciality stores and things that we don't have at home. Although, we did hit the new TJ MAXX. There was no way any of us could have missed that. We are all TJ aholics!!! The men went out and did their own adventures again. I think they drove up in the mountains, etc. Of course, they watched football!

Saturday night we all went to The Christmas Place. Tim and I have a tradition of going there and getting personalized Christmas ornaments with the year on them. Phoebe always gets her own and this year we picked out an adorable one for her. We also got other cute ones for Tim and I. We will post a picture of those later. We dined at The Chop House, which is always one of our favorites. They have the best salads in the world! YUM YUM (is it bad that I talk about food all of the time) When we arrived back from dinner, we hung out with the family and Leighton came over for a little guitar hero match. We decided to bring our PlayStation along so we could play guitar hero. Leighton is fun to play with, although he plays on expert and beats me! He has turned in to a nice young man and it is hard to believe he is already 15 years old and in high school. Tim and I enjoyed spending time with him.

On Sunday it was time to head back. We had breakfast at the Applebarn, which is a family tradition. They have a special morning juice called julep that is wonderful. They also have applesauce muffins, which I can't get enough of!

After breakfast we said goodbye to the mountains and began our adventure home. The traffic was absolutely horrendous getting out of town. It ended up making our drive home much longer. Overall I felt great on the trip, other than a few backaches and swollen feet. We are just beginning third trimester, so I figure it will only get worse!

Thank you SO much to Laura for house sitting and taking care of Phoebe. We really appreciate it. It takes a big stress off knowing that Laura watches our girl. Laura is so responsible and it is nice not to worry about anything while we are gone because we know she will take good care of her!

Sorry for the long post. Remember, this is my pregnancy journal and this is being printed out and kept in Baby Stover's book, so I have to have all of the details. Hopefully I didn't bore you too much!!!!