Day 3 in North Carolina-Chimney Rock Visit

The first day we woke up in North Carolina, we decided to go to Chimney Rock Village. It was so much fun. We climbed the mountain to the tallest point and walked the trail to a 700 ft. waterfall. It was a beautiful day and NO HUMIDITY, YES! After the visit at Chimney Rock. We visited the village. We enjoyed lunch, shopping at general stores and homemade ice cream.

Daddy at the General Store

Taking pictures along the trail...


Daddy ventured with the girls to reach the waterfall


At the top



So peaceful and relaxing...

At the top of Chimney Rock...


Love the view!



One of my favorite pics (Lake Lure is in the background-this is the lake that Dirty Dancing was made at)


The Leaphart Crew!!

Taking in the views



At the streams along the roadside...

Fall Trip 08' Arriving at the Cabin House

Beautiful red leaves and kidos

On the trails behind the house

Our Fall Collection we made on the table...

We had to take a picture of this sign...very funny!

After all our pit stops, we finally arrived at the house. It was so cozy and had beautiful windows that overlooked mountains and trees changing colors. It was an amazing sight. Here are some pictures of when we first arrived and took a hike by the cabin.

Day 2 (on the road to North Carolina)

Favorite Pictures at the Pumpkin Patch
My Pumpkns'

We headed out to our destination but along the way, I have a brother living in Greenville, South Carolina so we stopped to say hello and have breakfast with him and my parents who were also visting. It was great to catch up!
After leaving Cracker Barrell, we began our final journey to the mountain house. Before reaching the cabin, we decided to stop at J.H. Stepp's Apple Orchard and pick some apples, pumpkins, etc. The girls had a blast. Maci says it was her favorite part of the trip.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Fall Trip to North Carolina (Day 1 & 2)

It has taken me so long to write about our trip because I have so much to say. We left town on a Thursday after school. We headed down the highway to stay half way at my sister Pam's house. My sister Pam moved to Georgia almost 3 years ago and we haven't had the chance to visit as much as we would like. So, we stopped in and enjoyed seeing the cousins play together. We enjoyed seeing their beautiful home and great scenery. The next morning we all woke up and went to breakfast at a good home cookin' country restaurant. The food was delicious. Here are some pictures from Day one and two of our trip.

Madi with the leave me alone eye patch (wonder who that is for?)

Maci snoozing...

Cousins-Maci and Kaitlyn

Cousins Taylor and Madi

The view from their back porch.

Their gorgeous home!

Kaitlyn, Mason, Taylor, Madi and Maci

Pam, me, Kaitlyn and Maci

Our first tree that was changing colors...

Oprah's Snapfish Giveaway

Decluttered, look at all the space?

Cluttered Garage (looks familiar)

Organized and beautiful!

Unorganized bedroom

This hits home with me! We use our dinning table for folding clothes and at times they stay there for a few days. This is their table filled with clutter (sorry I forgot to upload the cleaned up table).

Last night at Bible group, Jenn informed us to get online to Oprah's website within the next 48 hours and you can receive a FREE Snapfish photo album. These are great for gifts. Online, it gives an idea to take your child's art projects and take digital photos of their artwork, upload them to snapfish and you will get a bound book with the kids' artwork. I love this idea!

So, hurry and sign up today!

Also, Oprah is kicking off a series called "Oprah's clean up your messy home". Love it! I just started to get on a kick myself on getting organized. My issue, is where do I begin? One room at a time, one drawer, one cabinet, etc. The website is going to have detailed ideas on cleaning up clutter and organizing and put into phases for you to follow. Looking forward to following along and getting some tips. I uploaded some pictures to show how cluttered we can make our house and the end results.

My project right now is organizing my jewelry. My necklaces get tangled and I can't even see what I have to wear? So, I got on how to.. on You Tube. Great ideas! One was using a corkboard and covering with material and adding push pins to hold necklaces, braclets, etc. I went to Wally World and bought 4 small square corkboards and begin my organizing. I put the corkboards on the back of my closet door so that when I am choosing outfits I can also grab my jewelry. I will have a post soon with the finally product. I have bought trays from Bed Bath and Beyond and the jewelry still tangles. I will post pictures soon of my jewelry organizer boards.

A night to remember

Last week, one of my great friends Ashley called and asked if I wanted to go see the Michael W. Smith and Steven Curtis Chapman concert. I was like, are you kidding? YES!! Thanks to Darlene Cloud (our music teacher here at MEM)she had 3 tickets so we all went and had a very moving evening. Thanks to my wonderful hubby, he watched Ashely's two kids and ours while we could enjoy the night. Ryan would adopt Camden Culverhouse if Ashely and Clint would let us. He is the neatest kid. He fell asleep with Ryan on the couch, so sweet

Okay back to the concert. It was amazing! Steven Curtis Chapman has had trajedy in his life with the loss of a 5 year old daughter and through his music he has been able to grieve, connect and praise God as she is in heaven. He told a story about the night he wrote the song "Cinderella" (my favorite of the night). It brings back many memories at home with two girls of my own who dress up and are living in the moment.

Here is a little background on what drove him to write the song "Cinderella". The song was inspired by Maria and her sisters and is a message to all parents encouraging them to cherish every moment with their children. He was up one night trying to get the girls to settle down and get a bath but every moment they were dressing up (one as cinderella and one tinkerbell) and just didn't want to stop. So, like we have all experienced as parents, he got frustrated and told the girls to get in the bath and get to bed as he slammed the door and left to go work in the studio. While in the studio, it made him think about cherishing the moments of everyday and to be patient and not to get aggravated and enjoy them while they are young. He wrote this song very shortly before Maria's death. He also has a new book that is called: Cinderella: The Love of Daddy and his Princess. He says: "As the clock strikes midnight, remember each moment we have to spend with our children is a blessing from above. I am going to get the book for Ryan for Christmas and I ordered the Cinderella shirts for the girls.

I know I didn't say much about Michael W. Smith but he was amazing and lookin' pretty good at his age! HA!

Michael W. Smith and Steven Curtis Chapman

"A weekend for Him & Her"

Last weekend Ryan and I went to Orlando to the Hunter's Creek Garage Sale. We didn't have much like other than an awesome deal on two bikes for Madi and Maci. Maci's was only $5.00 and Madi's was $10.00. What a deal! Ryan and I have bikes and would love to start riding at the Hammock with the girls. So, now we are all equipped.
The reason I told you that story is because after the garage sale we had planned on going to IKEA, Target and more. Well, I have been sick and Ryan had started as well. After two hours at the Garage Sale, I was really sick. So, we came home.
This past Friday night, we were discussing what we were going to do on Sat. because Madi was staying the night with a friend and Maci went to the FSU game with Ryan's parents. So, we couldn't just stay home, we had to take advantage. We had already decided to go back to Orlando and do those things we didn't get to the weekend before.
As, I was searching the internet, I saw that the Florida Mall hotel is running a VERY good special of $99.00 per night. What a deal! So, we decided to go. Last year was our first visit to this hotel. It is a great hotel with all the ammenities. One of my favorite are the soft down comforter and pillows. The best part of the HIS/HER part of the blog is I could shop while Ryan stayed in the hotel room and watched football. We also could drop off bags, rest, etc. There is even a Starbuck's in the Lobby. It was great! I shopped without anyone on my heels and no one rushing me.
GREAT IDEA and my tip of the week! Ladies, book a room, do some Christmas shopping and your hubby can relax in the room.
After shopping at the Mall, Target and IKEA we headed to Cheesecake Factory for dinner. After dinner, we went to IKEA and then off to the Melting Pot for dessert. My next tip of the week. If you love dessert like me, then eat dinner somewhere reasonable then treat yourself to the delicious Melting Pot experience. It only cost us $18.00 plus tip for a delicious dessert with Smores Chocolate.
Well, with all the eating and fun we had, we did get some Chrstmas shopping done. I think I got presents for 5 people. YIPEE!!
Some of my favorite finds for myself was Origins Shampoo called Knot. It is a light shampoo with the best smell ever. Origins is a great store. It is all GREEN and has been around before the GREEN push. I love their products. I also visted my favorite makeup spot- Bare Escenutals and got a new brush and a new powder they just came out with a little glimmer in it. Their brushes are wonderful (made out of Peacock feathers). I love the makeup.

Dessert Tray

Ryan lovin' it

Dinner outside at Cheescake Factory

Ready for the night out


YUM!!

Chocolate Smores