Larger Than Life

There are two people in Pigeon Forge that are celebrated for being larger than life - Dolly Parton and Elvis Presley. I happen to adore both of these musicians and celebrities. I made the trek to Graceland while in college to be near The King and made a special effort to be near the Queen (Dolly) while on this trip.

The Elvis Museum in Gatlinburg is a private collection of clothing, jewelry, cars and other personal items owned by none other than the man himself. MaMa Anne and I carefully made our way to each exhibit, reading every word. I loved sharing the experience with another Elvis fanatic. What attracts me to Elvis, besides his dashing looks and charisma, was his devotion to his daughter and his passion for life.

Dolly, too, holds a lot of those same characteristics. She has come back to her Tennessee mountain home and built a huge enterprise, Dollywood, that employees hundreds of folks in the impoverished community where she grew up. Although she has all the wealth & fame in the world, she is so humble about her roots. And she loves her family and cherishes their traditions. That is admirable. Being in Dollywood and walking through the museum of all things Dolly inspires you to be more and do more. And her clothing and shoes were beyond description. The glitz, glamour and tiny waistlines are not exaggerated in film and TV! MaMa Anne and I had a great time exploring this museum as well.

Statue of Ms. Dolly at the County Courthouse.

PaPa Ed purchased Eli this hat and corncob pipe. Hilarious!!!

Enjoying the rides.

And finally, there was one more person larger than life in Pigeon Forge this past week. MaMa Anne herself. MaMa Anne is a force to be reckoned with and not many people meet her and forget her. She leaves an impression. Anne Barker from Conway, SC (as she likes to say) is always right (seriously, even when I want to think she is wrong) and she is not afraid to tell people exactly how she feels. If the food isn't hot enough, she sends it back. If the bed isn't comfortable, she lets you know. If she promises you will she do something, she does it. She is a woman of her word and I admire her honesty, candidness, and feisty attitude. It was great spending time with her during our trip!

Cherokee, Great Smoky Mountains & Newfound Gap

The first leg of our trip consisted of driving to the Cherokee, NC and spending the night at Harrah's Casino. We arrived way past bedtime so we basically fed the kids and went to the room. Brett went down to the casino to try his luck, but was back in an hour and a half and had not won the tuition or mortgage payments I was hoping he would return with. I took my turn and checked out the casino next (believe it or not there are signs about not leaving your kids in rooms unattended - who would do that??), but not being the gambling type, I just walked around and took in the sights, and oh boy where there some late night sights. I decided to spend my money on pizza to take back to the room. The next morning we explored this Native American themed hotel before heading down the road.

Our next stop was the Oconaluftee Visitor Center in the Great Smoky Mountains. What was cool about this stop was the Mountain Farm Museum located on the grounds. The kids loved running around the farmhouse, barn and smokehouse. A great stop to stretch their legs and take in the scenery!

Final stop before we hit the Gatlingburg/Pigeon Forge area - The Newfound Gap. This stop offers amazing views of the mountains and valleys and is a popular destination because it has the Rockefeller memorial. The Appalachian Trail also crosses this site. This was a heavily populated stop but well worth the time for the kids to see the natural beauty. All 4 kids also hiked a little up the AT - maybe one day they will remember the little hike and be inspired to tackle the 2,179 mile trail.

She Works Hard for the Money

On Saturday, Chapel took to the streets to sell homemade lemonade in her sweet little lemonade stand (a birthday present) with lemons from our very own lemon tree. She hoped to make a little money to buy souvenirs on our trip this week. She was quite the sales lady, waving and shaking her little booty when people walked, biked or drove by. The end result - $17. Not too shabby for a six year old working for an hour.

Satisfied customer.

Dad being silly - he loaned Chapel his special lemonade recipe.

Thanksgiving Comes Early

Today we celebrated Thanksgiving at our home early with Papa Ed and Uncle Robert. We will be traveling to Gatlinburg this week to meet up with the Barker Family and eating at a restaurant on Thanksgiving day so my hubby decided to cook his usual fantastic turkey day meal before we left on our trip. And of course, our traditional meal always include the much-better-than-you-would ever-believe Tofurkey.

The kids did a little decorating (with supervision from Mom) while Dad cooked.

We also went around the table and asked everyone what they were thankful for:

Chapel: My family (She is posing here with her homemade cranberry sauce she made).

Eli: Halloween

Conor: Princesses

Jude: Big trucks

Happy Thanksgiving to all! Hope you have a wonderful week with family and friends!

My Baby Can Read

For the past week, Chapel has been taking over story time with Conor and Jude. Can I tell you how much help this?? And while Chapel is busy entertaining the twins with "Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See" and "Goodnight Moon, I am busy putting laundry away or cleaning up dirty dishes or doing homework with Eli. Having this extra 15 minutes during a hectic evening really gives me a break. I love that she is so grown up and helpful, and I love that Conor and Jude are at an age where they are actually interested in having a book read to them. When little milestones like this are achieved, I can't help but believe it really does get easier!

Lovesong

Before there was the Barker Four, there was just Brett & Jodi. At times, it is hard to remember our lives when it was just the two of us and everything was a little slower paced - when we dated, our wedding, our honeymoon. But today, November 16th, is our 8th anniversary and I took the opportunity to sit down and pull out our wedding photo's and so many memories came rushing back! Getting married and having a huge reception was awesome. Getting married to Brett was even more memorable. I am lucky that the man I married is still the coolest, most entertaining and fun guy I have ever met. Not to mention he is smart, kind and patient. As our lives have grown and our responsibilities increased, I know how blessed I am to have him as my life partner. Happy Anniversary, Brett! I love you more today than ever.

This picture was taken around the time we got engaged. Look how young we look. And my hair - goodness!

My official bridal portrait.

November 16, 2002. We were married in Conway with all of our family and friends surrounding us.

We have always been a bit untraditional. My sister stood with me and my best friend Robert also stood on my side. Brett's brother stood with him and his BFF Andrea stood by his side as well. We had 11 honorary bridesmaids that were great friends to both of us.

The cake!

I truly treasure this picture as it is the only photograph I have of the two of us together on our honeymoon in Key West.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Reese

Officially, Reese will turn 2 on December 2nd. But since she will be back in Germany on her actual bday, Meredith threw her a party at my parent's house this past weekend. Reese turned 1 in Germany and had a small celebration with her mom and dad. So this was a big change, all the cousins, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and even family friends attended. Chapel had suggested Meredith go with a dog theme considering Reese's love of all things canine, and it turned out to be so cute. What was even cuter and more heartwarming was seeing Reese have fun with all the little ones in our family. My parents live way out in the country so the adults just pulled up chairs in the driveway and watched the kiddos play. And while they played, mom and dad cooked some delicious down home BBQ chicken!

The pink corvette - a main source of entertainment.

A little game of basketball.

Dad took all the kids, and even me, on a 4 wheeler ride. This was the first time I have ever been on a 4 wheeler (can you believe I'm from Conway and had never been on 4 wheeler?) He was brave enough to let me drive!

Chapel stayed busy catching lizards.

The kids played a game of stick the paw on the puppy.

Jude was oh-so-serious about this game. He actually did really well.

The dog pinata.

Ah, the rewards of the pinata.

Opening the presents.

And the cake. A lady who works with mom made it based on a picture Meredith found.

And this is the cutest picture of all. We sang Happy Birthday to Reese and it was like a lightbulb went off, she finally realized that all this hoop-la was just for her. I love you baby girl, and think you get cuter and more fun every time we get to see you.

Sweet & Sour

It is that time of year again, when the fruit from our yard is ready to pick. This year we had fewer lemons but our pomegranate tree was beyond gracious. It it always a genius way to get the kids excited and involved in a simple activity. My mom and dad were there to help and take a few pictures for me (seems I have been forgetting my camera a lot lately).

Daddy and Brett starting with the lemons.

Jude is always my biggest helper. He is eager to please and oh-so-sweet!

Conor, however, sassy little thing that she is has no qualms

telling you exactly how she feels. She is definitely my sour!

Chapel and Eli are old pro's at this by now.

Eli was amazed to find this cluster of pomegranates.

The abundant pomegranate tree in our front yard. I had neighbors stop me every week to ask what they were, remark on how many were on the tree, and request one when they were ready!