whitlock family reunion in tennessee

last week we spent the week in
tennessee for a family reunion with my dad's
side of the family. heres a few posts of
all the fun things we did.

my dad and i

brady, me, matty, dad, and jen

having a laugh outside one of the cabins.

happy unbirthday party

all the grandchildren/cousins.

the great grandchildren with some
grandchildren mixed in.

here's oma and opa with their kids.
my dad, joyce, jamie, and jeanne.

we had an unbirthday party one night and got
some shots of all the peeps.

jumping off "the rock"

we went to this spot in the national park called
"the rock". as you can see you jump off a rock into
the water that was frigid cold. brady, matty and jamie
had a great time jumping. and here's oma and opa
dipping their toes in the chilly waters.

geocashing

one of the days in TN we went geocashing.
its this thing where you put coordinates into a
GPS and go to them and you find a treasure or something.
im not explaining it well, but it was really cool.

dad, matty, and jen

this was the second geocash we found.

brady loved it and jumped for joy!!

blake and garrett finding one of the last.

hiking in the smokies

we did a great hike in the smoky mountains.
it was really foggy and overcast at first, but
it started to clear up as the day went on.
it was really beautiful and one of my favorite
activities we did in tennessee.

our own fireworks show

brady, matty, and brent in
brade's firework making workshop.

we had friends and family over
on the 4th for a BBQ and our
own fireworks show.

matty and jess looking like
cute little lovebirds.

me and elissa enjoying the show.

that one was loud.

the ludwig hoodlums ventured on down to admire
the fireworks. we gave them each a sparkler to play
with and they seemed pretty happy about it.

happy 4th of july!!

new kitchen floor

the old ugly floor

brady ripping off the ugliness.

after all the ugliness is gone.

the new floor. the pic doesn't do it justice,
but trust me its awesome.

lately we have been in the home repair mood, if you haven't already noticed. today we took on the task of replacing our kitchen floor. the people who lived here before us put in this AWFUL grayish linoleum. they did a terrible job and didn't even cover the entire floor. whatever. we have been unhappy with ever since we moved in, but didn't do anything until now. we ripped out the old 2 layers and put down a new fresh, better looking one. we love it and find ourselves in the kitchen staring at the floor. (no joke)

bull

so, ive been known not to be the most graceful sort of person. i run into things, drops things, knock things over, and fall down quite a bit. my friend brent has been diagnosed with the same symptoms; probably not as severe as myself, but in any case, we've been compared to bulls by our significant others. its a title i wear loud and proud and i hope brent does too. so here i am embracing my role as a "bull".

what the...

we found this treat in our backyard a couple days ago. i don't have anymore words for the things that like to haunt me. one thing i do know is that i'm over it.

new bath tub??

when we moved into this house the bath tub was
a bit undesirable. i chalked it up to it being old and
that the stains and "brownness" was due to its age.
gross i know, but it could live with it. i just didn't
want people seeing it so i always made sure the shower curtain
remained closed. well, one day last week i came home to this wonderful
surprise. brady had spent all day scrubbing and scrubbing
and i seriously thought that bath fitter had come and
put in a new shower/tub, but really brady had just
gave it it's beautiful sparkle. i LOVE it. and now i don't
have to worry about keeping the curtain closed all
the time. it's ok if someone sees it now. it looks so new.

before

after
(that's a bath tub mat on the floor, not grime.)

camping in VA beach

matty in his tent

eating our awesome hobo dinners

brady, trying not to get any sun.

we went to VA beach this weekend with matty and jess to
have fun and do some camping. we hung out on the
beach the first day and got really burned so the
next day was short lived on the beach unfortunately, but
we had fun none-the-less.

run like a girl

so i did it. i finished my first race ever. it was an 8K in pocahantas state park in richmond. i really enjoyed myself. i ran it with my friend from work, amy. we stayed together the whole time and finished together. it was fun and im now thinking i want to do another one. this was quite an accomplishment for me. i dont fancy myself to be a runner, but i might have to change that.

here we come.

crossing the finish line

yay!! i was so excited.

amy and i after it was all said and done.

oh yea, and i fell down a little after half way through.
not too surprising if you know me very well. i tripped
on a root coming out of the ground and was known
by some as "stump girl". i guess some people thought that
i tripped over a stump. im not sure, but this thing
is going to be a doozy in a couple days. ill
post its progress in color change.

my first race

that's what i'm going to be doing in about 10 hours.
its my first race. time to get a good night's sleep.
pictures to come, after the race, of course.