Tennessee Road Trip

Our children have been Tennessee Titans fans since the day they were born. Some may call it brainwashing. I really can't think of any other word for it myself. To say David is a crazed Titans fan is a gross understatement.

At dinner one night when we presented them each with an envelope containing a ticket to their first Tennessee Titans game, they were very excited. And the fun began.

David likes to make our life, and I quote, "like a movie," by "keeping the soundtrack accurate." This means that when we drive through Jackson, we listen to Johnny Cash's "Jackson." When we are in Colorado, we have a lot of "Rocky Mountain High" goin' on. When we first moved to the country, we heard a lot of "Mud on the Tires" when we were driving home at night. You get the idea.

So naturally, when we drove past Memphis, he blared U2's "Pride (in the name of love)." This song gave us a spontaneous idea. "Hey, lets make our soundtrack even more authentic by actually driving by the site of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination if it doesn't inconvenience us too much!" So taptaptap on the phone and, what do ya know, we were 12 blocks away. So we pulled off the highway and boom, suddenly we were educating the youngins. Life is school, friends.

It was surreal to stand right next to the spot where he was assassinated. I am so glad we got to go.

Several hours later we arrived in Nashville and hit the streets. I LOVE downtown Nashville! The lights and music and people, it's so much fun. We took the kids to a place we had been before and knew they would love, The Wildhorse Saloon.

Because honestly, what good parents don't take their kids dancin' in the saloons? Exactly.

Downtown!
Riley gave a homeless man some money and he gave her this flower. She loved it so much. She put it in water and took care of it until we got home. She still has it.
Back to the hotel for very late night swimming!
And a testing of the mattresses...

We can seriously destroy a hotel room in minutes.
We woke up early on Sunday morning to get a start on our day! Tyler made this sign to try to get on TV.

Riley posing with some cheerleaders.
Riley had to get one last shot of the field before we left.
David is a veteran and knows all the cool spots. We went over to the players parking lot and got autographs.

One last night, then the hotel breakfast buffet, then the road home! It was one of my favorite family trips ever.
And we suspect that Tyler won't need to eat again for a while.

Oh the weather...

Christmas Eve is my favorite. We always have a celebration at our house with my parents and my sister's family and it never disappoints. We have so many traditions. We do a gift exchange, watch the kids perform their awesome Christmas talents, read the Christmas story and the Polar Express, make cookies for Santa and throw food on the roof for the reindeer. It's just all kinds of fun.

So today when this started...

I was in denial. Because I like my traditions. And I like my family. And I did not like what was about to happen. But it happened. No one could make it to our house.

It's the first time ever.


EVER.


Seriously.


What usually looks like this...
Turned into this.

There was much disappointment. But it was what it was, so we bucked up and decided to make the most of it. We ended up having a wonderful Christmas Eve together, laughing and enjoying each other. We played, ate, and listened to Christmas music. It was very different, and that's okay.

But just for one year.

One tradition that stayed was the drinking of hot apple cider. Yum.

We REALLY like it around here.

Told ya we like it.

We decided to head outside to play and look at our lights in the snow.

Well, most of us anyway...

Cole's got the dessert under control.

We called my sister's family when David read our Christmas books so they could listen on speaker phone.

I'm thankful my loved ones are safe. Hope everyone has a great day tomorrow. Merry Christmas!