oh so great

The Great Smokies were so great,

in fact,

that we're going back...

...today.

Stay tuned

for the best pictures

from both trips.

The above photo is one of six zillion from the first trip. Just a little taste of the greatness that is to come. :)

happy day

And what could Annabelle possibly be so excited about?

Macroeconomics, of course!!! WOO HOO!

our lake

When we first moved to North Carolina and discovered that you could see the sunset at Jordan Lake, we began making regular trips. We love that it's a little piece of quiet, a breath of fresh air. We took Belle for her first trip tonight. We know she won't remember it, but it's a place we want to remember sharing with her. 

  

cracks. me. up.

So we've been hanging out in the Great Smokies this week. It is oh-so-beautiful (and of course a plethora of photos are forthcoming). However, it is also oh-so-cold. When the snow started sprinkling (seriously), we said, "Hey Annabelle, it's your first snow! Now enjoy these socks on your hands!"

She felt really awesome about it.

a lot can happen

smoke on a froggy day*

So the first year we lived here, we hit the Blue Ridge Parkway at exactly the right moment - the leaves were exploding in vibrant shades of orange, red, and yellow. Everywhere you looked, there was something you needed to take a picture of. Last year, we hit it one week too late. It was still beautiful, but many of the leaves had fallen and the trees were making their way into winter hibernation.

This year, our last year, Jess is determined to catch them. We made the trek out this week (again, about two hours away, don't even get me started on the two hour to everything rant), and while we figured we'd be a bit early to catch much color change, we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into.

This is what we found.

And it was amazing.

So surreal. Jess would be thirty feet away taking pictures, and the only way we could find him was by finding the lights on his camera.

For years, I've wanted this photo from Target. It's huge and beautiful, and costs way more than I'm willing to pay.

I would've never guessed I could find it in my own backyard.

*The title of this post will mean the most to one of my sisters. When she was little, one foggy day, we must've gone and picked up a Coke, for my dad I imagine (although he has since converted to Coke Zero). She announced that we had gotten a smoke (Coke) on a froggy day. :)

buzz off

On Sunday morning, before General Conference started, we paid a visit to Duke Gardens. Jess went with a mission: capture a bee. On film. He spent considerable time extending a lens, plus all its accouterments, into flowering bushes. And let's be honest - it paid off. There were dozens of amazing shots, and looking at them made me feel like I had fat, furry bumble bees all over my body. Yuck.

So I thought I'd share the love.

(If you have issues with bees, um, look away now.)

i'm going to count to three...

one month

two months

three months

back to bennett

So we went and visited Bennett Place. We've visited the historic Civil War Trail site before, so this wasn't exactly anything new (except this time I didn't feel like vomiting and the Belle was riding on the outside instead of in). Mostly, we just like it there, the sense of history, the feeling that something important happened there. Plus, we have this new little girl in our lives that has only a few hobbies: eating, sleeping, sucking on her hands and/or blankets, pooping, and looking at trees. She loves that baby backpack, and she loves being outside.

And as it is par for the course in our world, the camera accompanied us as well. Jess tried out his super wide angle lens, and got some pretty fun shots. (Yes, I'm really that long and skinny.)

hanging at hanging rock

So we made a trip out to Hanging Rock State Park to see if we could find ourselves some waterfalls. It's about two hours from Durham (what isn't?) and has several little hikes, perfect for our new little hiker. Because her legs are only good at kicking really hard, we let her ride.

And while I admit I was nervous about taking her, I think if you were to ask, she'd tell you it was pretty much the best day of her life (so far). She kept those big blue/brown eyes (pretty sure they're never going to choose a color) wide open for several hours. She only took a little power nap, and she would barely pause to eat. It was like she couldn't bare to close her eyes.

And who can blame her. Check it out.