....read about it.

As a busy mom of three boys, I often find it hard to set a side the time for things I enjoy. One of those things being reading. If and when I do have a few moments to spare I like books that are an easy read, and get me interested from the get go. If they don't get my attention right away I find it hard to devote time to reading them when I could find better things to do. I am sure many of you can relate.

I received the book "Living in Love" by James and Betty Robison. I have to say I picked up the book because the title intrigued me. Who wouldn't what to enrich the relationship with your spouse, even when you have a good marriage? I have to say I liked this book in several ways. For one, the authors are both speaking on each topic. So therefore you get both male and female perspective on each topic. Not only that, but it seemed much more personal. The couple both gave examples with their own married journey together. Secondly the book is broken up in 4 key parts: Beginnings, Commitment, Communication, & Challenges. The couple explained why each factor was important for the success of marriage. Thirdly, "Living in Love" had each chapter followed with a group of questions. This was a great place for reflection/discussion about the the topic of the chapter. Even though Ron did not read the book with me, I was able to give a summary about the chapter to him. We were able to ask the questions to each other. Many of the questions we would never have thought of on our own. I feel like they helped us know how we would respond to certain circumstances we have not experienced in our own married life as of yet. Finally, I feel this is a good read because the authors themselves have been married nearly 50 years, and talk about their own struggles within their marriage. It is inspiring to most married couples to hear advice from someone who has been married so long.


I received this book for free from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group, in exchange for writing an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. You can click the image below to rank the review.

....Go Higher

We had a great quick get away on President's Days weekend to Sevierville, TN.

Our boys love going on vacations, and it had been a long time since we had been to Pigeon Forge. Actually Holden has never been there, and Layne was too young to remember it. Since I had President's Day off we thought it be good time to go somewhere. So that Wednesday before the weekend, Tiff looked up several places and got a heck of a deal on this place for booking last minute. We found out that they were still having winter fest down there, which is their Christmas light display.

The first thing we knew we would be doing was putt-putt golfing, we found this one that had 3 different courses in one place, and you could play all three of them on different days if you would like. Plus it was interactive course which had the kids laughing at the displays. We of course went and raced go-karts at the Nascar park. The weather was great; it was nice going from 30 degree weather to 60-70 degree. Not so much fun coming back from it though.

On Saturday we went to the Titanic. They have artifacts from the titanic, stories about the people that were on board. When boarding you are given a person's name and history, and at the end you find out if they survived. It was very cool to check out.
Saturday night we were on our way back to the cabin and thought about breakfast. Of course Pigeon Forge has Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, and that was our choice for breakfast. We were sitting in traffic not moving I thought there must be an accident, because the other lanes were moving so I go out around. No accident, I found out it was just normal Sat. night when Krispy Kreme turns on the Hot Now sign on they have a line and usually takes 1/2 hour to get through. They even sell shirts that say I survive the "Hot Now" line.

Sunday we packed in some more putt-putt one in the morning and one in the evening. Made time for the Daytona 500 Sunday afternoon, with steaks on the grill. Every night enjoyed the hot tub on the deck, awesome way to relax. The boys thought it was a huge bathtub.

Below is the view from Shell Mountain sitting in the hot tub on the back deck. Underneath the fog is Sevierville. Just an amazing view of God's creation, it was worth the crazy drive up the mountain. Just sitting on that deck you could feel weightless, and the time just seemed to move slowly. Looking at the fog I could just picture the ones in they city having trouble seeing, when all they need is to be raised up a little higher and you could see for miles.


Fly away....

....Create, Contemplate and Celebrate

February was jammed packed. I will have to break up several post.

We started the month building the pinewood derby cars which I talked a little about in the last blog.Hunter designed his car, but I could tell he was unsure and second guessing his design. I figured it would run well, but I wanted him to think through if their was anything he could done different. He now has some ideas now for next year. Layne was torn between whether he wanted to do a Indy car or a skateboard. He chose the Indy car which made it easier for me to place the weights in it. Holden didn't care as long as it was something cars and he got to race. Race day finally came the little ones were excited. Layne and Holden were in the outlaw class(Dads or sibling cars). This class has to wait until last to run which makes for a long afternoon for the little ones, but they got a kick out of watching the races.
Hunter would run against his pack. His car was really fast, he had a couple close races in his pack and got first place. Then he ran against all the other pack winners for overall champion. Which came down to a very close finish, but Hunter's car finished in first a half a car ahead of the second place car. Now it came time to run the outlaw class. There were 10 cars in this class. I didn't think Holden's would run that well I just knew he enjoy watching it go. Layne's I thought would be decent. Holden took his up when his name was called and he told them he wanted to run it backwards like 'Mater'. Everyone laughed cause they thought this it was cute. It worked out, he won the race. Layne's rolled way better then I thought it would, and he won his race. They both ran another and won. Then I figured they would face each other. I knew Layne's was faster, but it still was a good race. Holden loved getting to just race against Layne. Then Layne went onto get second place in the class, and Holden finished 4th. After all the races where over Layne wanted to race against Hunter's, and it was a photo finish between the 2 with Hunter's just a wheel in front of Layne's. They had a blast and now they have new toys that they helped create to race at home. Although Hunter has his on display in his room. :-)

race on.....