The Sanborns

Cheekwood 2012

Becca — Wed, 16 May 2012 10:00:54 +0000

A week or two ago, I saw a coupon for National Garden Day. Since it was free, we decided to check it out. Thankfully, I checked on the coupon Friday morning and we realized the tickets were for that day and were able to go!

The only garden in Nashville participating was Cheekwood. We’ve been to Cheekwood once before, for the Chihuly exhibit so Friday was a much shorter visit.

I think the pictures speak for themselves.

I love finding free things to do, especially now that certainly can’t pay to go out on dates. I am looking forward to the summer because there are so many free things to do for fun in Nashville!

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Post tags: cheekwood, day date, free, gardens, Nashville, photos

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Project 365: Week 19

Becca — Mon, 14 May 2012 20:08:31 +0000

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May 2012 Goals

Becca — Sat, 12 May 2012 10:00:26 +0000

So, I completely forgot about my April goals… although I did read one book, I failed on the exercise and grocery spending limit.

My only goal this month is to read, I know, sort of lame… but I really want to catch up on all these library books so I can feel less like I’m drowning in books and enjoy them more. Hopefully June will prove to be more exciting in goal land, heh.

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4th Anniversary Vacation Recap: Day Two

Becca — Fri, 11 May 2012 10:00:05 +0000

Saturday the 5th of May, I awoke in our cabin after a pretty restless night of sleep. It turns out that a hot tub is a necessity when you mangle your body’s muscles on a hike. The light outside seemed darker than usual, so I checked the weather and sure enough, it was going to storm and looked pretty severe.

After some debate, we chose to go to Cades Cove that morning, figuring that maybe by the afternoon it would not be raining and we could proceed to Dollywood.

I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before, but Cades Cove is a pretty big deal for me because my relatives lived there. After some research, we found out that the Cables that lived in the Cove are my cousins, far removed. My great grandfather x 10 was Conrad Cable and his grand or great grand kids are the ones that lived in the Cove. We’re from different lines because I’m from a different kid. Anywho, the rain stopped and we were able to get some great pictures.

Right about here is where I realized the battery was dying and I had forgotten the extra at home. I was able to be very quick with taking the pictures I wanted. While we stopped at the mill they were having Old Timers Day. Basically, people come back to talk about their dead relatives. You are welcome to click through the above pictures and see a ton I took of the graveyard and some information setup. I’m going to do a third post about Dollywood because I want to give some tips and reviews.

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Post tags: anniversary, cades cove, gatlinburg, marriage, smoky mountains

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Happy 4th Anniversary

Becca — Fri, 11 May 2012 01:11:46 +0000

Four years ago, we got dressed in some fancy clothes to take picture.

We were surrounded by family and friends.

Some of my favorite people were there to support me on one of the happiest days of my life.

Gray was surrounded by his family and friends as well.

We loved every minute of our wedding.

Even those moments that didn’t go as well.

Like almost lighting the church on fire, oops.

Those moments make for the best stories.

Moments that I recall with tears, knowing I was bawling, I’m very emotional!

I enjoyed every minute.

I’m so lucky I was able to share this with my friends, family, and of course, him… love you Gray.

Happy 4th Anniversary to my partner for life, the man who knows me better than I know myself.

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Post tags: anniversary, marriage, Our Wedding

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4th Anniversary Vacation Recap: Day One

Becca — Wed, 09 May 2012 15:10:36 +0000

Back in January, I approached Gray with an idea for our anniversary. We knew that his family would probably go to the Smoky mountains in the summer (it’s an annual tradition!), but we had not been in two years and there really is no such thing as too many mountains, especially because we’d have the chance to do our own thing.

So I researched cabins, and we chose the same ones our family stays in because they had the best deal and were away from the main hub of traffic. If you know Townsend, TN at all, they are off Wears Valley road, about 4 miles from Townsend.

So I booked us the cabin and paid our deposit and then we waited a while. At some point, I realized Dollywood tickets would go up in price, and since we had already saved several hundred for vacation at that point, I just went ahead and purchased the season passes, I think this was back in March.

Fast forward to two weeks ago, Gray suddenly was without a job and we questioned going forward with the vacation. In the end, we knew we’d already spent about $500 in booking the cabin (fully paid for at this point) and paying for the season passes. I figured we’d need about $200 for the trip and we had over $500 in a vacation savings account, and decided we needed this vacation.

I’m so grateful we took this time for ourselves and it ended up being really great, so here’s some details.

Friday morning we got up and left the house by 8:00 central dst. After a quick stop for breakfast, we were on our way and I got the chance to capture this picture.

Normally the drive to East Tennessee feels like the longest drive ever (aside from the Southern Georgia drive), but this time it was super fast. It could be that we were going on our pace (we’ve never driven this way ourselves before) or perhaps that I was reading a book. Either way, the hours flew by and then we could see the mountains in the distance.

We had three hours before check-in, so the decision was made to go hiking and see Cades Cove, but first we stopped at Wings R Us, a favorite of ours from two summers ago.

After lunch, it was time to head into the park. I couldn’t remember where the Chimney Tops were and without cell phone reception, we decided to head to the visitor’s center near Gatlinburg. This turned out to be a good idea because the Chimney Tops were just a few more miles down a different road and so all was saved.

Gray inquired about the trail and we were told it would take about 3 hours round trip. AHA HA HA HA.

We found the trailhead pretty easily, and began to the journey. The first mile up wasn’t really rocky, but it was a hill and both of us were out of shape. Gray kept trying to convince me to turn back, but I pretty much refused. Ah, the Irish stubbornness…

By the time we were halfway up, we began to realize this trail was not at all mild.

At this point, the trail was very steep and there were rocks EVERYWHERE. Like, 3/4ths of the second mile looked like a very steep creek bed, it’s a wonder neither of us sprained an ankle.

At some point we reached a path where the rocks went away, but the steepness prevailed. After a few passerbys encouraged us, we finally began to see the trail leveling off, and then we got to this:

Some other hikers had told us to go past the sign that says don’t pass, and follow the trail around to the right side of the mountain. Well, we did that until we came to realize it would involve scaling the side of the mountain. So we went back to the previous rocks of doom, and began to climb.

Now, I’m not necessarily scared of heights, but I am terrified of falling, so you can imagine I got about halfway up and began to freak out. At one point Gray said, “You stubborn woman.” heh

I would have taken pictures with the cell phone, but I was too terrified to not cling to the mountain with all my strength. At some points, I literally crawled because I was terrified. Yet, we made it to the top.

I love this picture of me, because at this point I was so exhausted and we were out of water and all I could think of was why there isn’t a super magical slide to the bottom and why do I have to walk all the way back down?

For the trip down, we ended up going down that original path, and it turned out really easy and we began to question why we didn’t just stick with it the first time. Oh well.

It was about 1-1/2 hours to get back down again and we were so so so thrilled.

I drove us most of the way to the cabin, until the other cyclists began to get angry at me for driving slow around the cliffs.

Now, up until this point, I did not have a grade for med-surg yet. Once we reached Townsend, I checked my grades and discovered not only had I passed my paper, but kicked butt and made an A. I called my mom and told her right before we lost reception and then I called Gray’s mom when we were on our way to get groceries. Both of them I think were more thrilled than me!

It was close to midnight eastern dst before we settled into bed. We had to go back to Maryville to find an open grocery store and then we chose to eat pizza and relax a bit before bedtime. The cabin was splendid, but tired muscles require a hottub, which we skipped that first night, big mistake!

Stay tuned for day two… where I woke up to severe thunderstorms and a mad vengeance at the weatherman.

P.S. – If you want to see more pictures, click through above, there is a whole album!

© Becca for The Sanborns, 2012. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: anniversary, hiking, marriage, smoky mountains

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Goodbye 3rd semester, hello fourth!

Becca — Tue, 08 May 2012 10:00:47 +0000

Thank you for all your prayers, I’m extremely happy and proud to say that I passed my class and am now officially a 4th semester nursing student. This means in a little over a year I will be graduating from the MTSU school of nursing with a BSN! I will actually be pinned on our 5th anniversary and graduate the day after, how crazy is that?

Speaking of anniversaries, our 4th anniversary is this Thursday. We celebrated by visiting the Smokies this past weekend, and I will have a post up soon with details. I might actually do a few posts because otherwise it would be a really long post.

Please keep praying for Gray to find a job. He had several interviews last week so we’re hoping to hear back from some of those this week with good news. Most of all, we’re praying to find a good fit in the Nashville area as I still have another year of school.

Fourth semester shall be great and it just feels so much better knowing that there is only a year left. As far as my summer plans, I’m not yet sure what I will be doing. Originally the plan was for me to just be a housewife for the summer, but that might change if Gray doesn’t find a job soon. I’d love to have this summer off, seeing as how I’ve never really had a summer off since high school and it’s my last one before the real world (again).

In the meantime I’m catching up on the list of books I set aside when the semester was finishing and trying to run the household in an efficient manner.

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Project 365: Week 18

Becca — Mon, 07 May 2012 14:03:43 +0000

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Vlog: May 2012

Becca — Thu, 03 May 2012 03:08:35 +0000

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Project 365: Week 17

Becca — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 10:00:07 +0000

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The Sanborns

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