Photo A Day Challenge Day 28

Red

I know it's a bit orange, but I'm going to pretend it's red because I like it.

Photo A Day Challenge Day 15

From Above

Looking down from above at some beautiful flowers.

Today was really hard for some reason. So here are some of the other photos I took.

Above my lunch - a new recipe that turned out really well.

Above my sweet babies.

Environmental walk

My photo prompt for today was environment. So I gave each of the kids a camera and we headed out to shoot something. It's always fun to see the world through someone else's eyes.

I could have gone with this slant on my environment, but I would much rather showcase the beautiful.

Cue beautiful!

 The perfect ending to my day.

Check out my other blog for pictures of the kids.

NC flowers and things

As usual, I took millions (almost literally) of flower and scenery pictures here at camp meeting.

I'm not sure how to explain it, but I crave these mountains. It's a feast for my eyes that I find myself needing every year. And every year, I can't believe how fast the week went by.

This week is a spiritual, mental, and physical retreat that I NEED to function the rest of the year. 

And this week was the best week of camp meeting we've had yet.

It was quiet, calming, peaceful, and relaxing.

 Our house is directly across from this cross. So every morning we look out and see it reflecting on the lake. Then in the evening when the lights come on we can see it shimmering in the lake again.

So beautiful!

 This man rocks my world! 

So thankful he was able to be here the whole time this year.

Now that we have friends across the street and several people willing to house sit, it makes it easier to leave for a whole week and just let go.

 Lake Junaluska has been here for 100 years. My first camp meeting was here at Lake Junaluska when I was 10 weeks old . Maybe someday my kids will be able to say they've been coming here forever too.

This post is becoming ridiculously long, but I can't help myself.
This was the view from our deck one "smokey" morning. Wake up in the Smokey Mountains and you'll see where they got their name.

 The view from Inspiration Point.

 One of my favorite places on campus - the stone chapel.

Can't wait for next year!

Rose Walk

One of my favorite things about camp meeting as a child was the Rose Walk. The scenery and lake is beautiful. The flowers look and smell gorgeous. It's just a peaceful and serene walk.

Confession Time

I have a confession to make. I lied at a church function. And to make matters even worse - I told my daughter to lie too. I'm still not sure which is worse - the daughter part or the church part.

This week was our annual camp meeting adventure and they have once again changed the age that parents are allowed to leave their children unattended. I remember my mom leaving my brother in diapers. And now the age is 5 yrs old. Caitlin is quite use to being left alone for several hours and is fine with it. She is also in the Kindergarten program at church and would not be interested in the Preschooler program they have here for her age. She didn't want to go to the meetings last year and wanted to join the Kindergarteners. So I KNEW she would be bored this year.

So I told Caitlin that for one week she would be five. She would go back to being four when we got home. I explained why and told her that I don't normally condone lying. Pretty sure that she's going to be confused about the mixed message, but I've waited for 6 years to attend an adult meeting and I'm too afraid they'll change the age again next year. So I bit my tongue and went for it.

So now that I've made my confession - I'm having the time of my life. 

Jon and I are almost giddy with our freedom.  =)

Chattanooga Zoo

Just a few pictures from our zoo trip.

Photo Challenge Day 21

Calm

Not sure why, but it was very calming to plant these mums in my empty flower bed.

They were drying out so fast in those pots, so I thought I'd try to plant them and see what happened.