Week of Jacob, Angie, and Andrew

This last week had a special visit from Jacob, Angie, and Andrew. Because that many people under one roof could have been more than we could handle, Brendan and Carmen spent the week at Grandma and Grandpa Shipley's in the country.

We started out our visit with some catching up on Monday evening when they arrived. And then we just dove straight into things on Tuesday with a wonderful family trip to Dollywood. Benjamin is finally big enough to ride at least one roller coaster with adults. They have a new roller coaster there called the FireChaser Express. The fact that it's firefighter themed just makes it that much more awesome for Benjamin since he can enjoy the story and the ride at the same time. Also, it's pretty cool that it can go both forwards and backwards!

The whole Dollywood trip was a blast in general. Andrew is big enough to go on some of the small rides, and we managed to break things up so that everyone was able to ride everything that they wanted to ride and no one got stuck babysitting the whole day. And because it was a Tuesday during the school year, the park was pretty empty. About half of the rides we were able to just stay on the ride for another go around... or two! I'm pretty excited for next year when we buy season passes since Benjamin should be big enough to be able to ride even more things so we don't have to split up as a family.

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were considerably more laid back. We ate at a lot of fun places in the Kinsport area (i.e. Cookout, Bagel Exchange, Little Cake, Braeden's BBQ, Edo, and maybe some other places that I've forgotten about). And when we weren't eating out, we were cooking delicious food. Of course we made spicy beef, which is kind of our signature dish, but we also made some cinnamon pie to eat while we watched the "Dual Spires" episode of Psych. The episode prominently features cinnamon pie so we couldn't not.  Actually we did so much eating that I think I gained five pounds this last week. Hello gym!

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Saturday, the Washington Ewings headed out so we caught up on all of our errands and some family time. We took advantage of the last day of the outdoor aquatic center being open this year to have a great time at the pool. Unfortunately, the 80 degree whether still wasn't enough to compensate for the colder weather earlier in the week, and the water in the pool was freezing. We had to leave earlier than we would have liked so that Benjamin could stop shivering. Even though he told us, "B-b-but I'm not sh-sh-shivvvvvvering!"

Last night, I went to the second semi-annual Relief Society Broadcast with Carmen. We were able to socialize with members of both the Kingsport and Rotherwood Wards before moving into the chapel for the broadcast. Once again, it was wonderful and really lifted my spirits. I love the feeling that can come over me whenever an apostle comes to the stand. The Spirit testified to me last night in no uncertain terms that Pres. Uchtdorf is a special witness of Christ. And I loved his talk, too.

Looking forward to a wonderful week enjoying family, work, and the gospel.