Tennessee

Jared's grandparents live in Tennessee on a beautiful piece of land.  Papa is a cattle rancher.  Grandma is one of the best southern cooks.  Jared has fond memories of spending time at his grandparents home.  When he was three years old, his aspiration in life was to live on Papa's farm.  This summer, Jared's family decided to go back for a visit.  They invited us to tag along so... we hopped in their 12 passenger van with 10 other passengers and drove for 30 straight hours to east Tennessee.  Boy, was that an adventure of it's own!  But, we made it, despite stiff backs and swollen ankles!

Tennessee is BEAUTIFUL!!  They have had incredible amounts of rain this year (6 inches of which we saw fall with our own eyes while we were there!).  All that rain made it very, very green as you will see!  It also curtailed a few of our plans, but we didn't let it take away from all the fun we had!

Highlights of the trip included:

• This view from our porch at the condo we stayed at!  The water really was teal and this area was filled with noisy bullfrogs and an incredible view of the stars!  

• Daily games of Ultimate Frisbee and Corn Hole.  We spent nearly every possible minute outside!  The temperatures were actually quite mild due to the rain and it wasn't even that humid.  We really lucked out!

• Pickin' wild berries!  Because of the rain, there were TONS of berries all over Papa's property.  I only ended up with one tick during our adventures (it hadn't even made me it's home yet so I was very lucky we found it when we did!).  I think I could pick (and eat) berries all day, every day!  It was so fun and absolutely delicious.  

• Every evening and any time it was pouring rain, we ended up sitting out on the porch and enjoyed the view and the company!  The second I saw this porch swing, I fell in love!  I spent many hours on this over the course of the week there! 

• While there, we drove to the Nashville Temple.  It is a very small temple, but absolutely beautiful!  I am so glad that I went.  Going meant a lot more time in the van, but it was worth it!  I love to see and be in different temples! 

• One afternoon, we went to Fall Creek Falls National Park.  It was beautiful!  Usually you can play out on the falls because there isn't too much water, but as you can see, there was a good few FEET of water flowing through the falls when we went!  It was really fun to walk over this bridge!  What an amazing part of the world! 

• We got to go out and ride the 4-wheelers a few times.  We rode around Papa's fields and went out and saw his cattle.  Jared helped out around the property fixing things up and clearing things out.  He makes quite the handsome cowboy!  It was so fun to see him out there LOVING life!  I have found few things he likes more that being on the farm (maybe snow skiing... maybe).

• We spent the the 4th of July out there.  We saw the best firework show, got to hear some live country music, and we celebrated with lots of yummy food.  Ok, ok, we ate yummy food every day!  Grandma spoiled us with Banana Pudding, Biscuits and Gravy, Fried Chicken, Apple Dumplings, Cake and Fresh Berries, and Homemade Fresh Berry Ice Cream (just to name a few).  I am positive that I gained a few, like 5 pounds while I was there just from all the irresistible food and I don't regret it one bit!  It was worth every.single.bite! 

• The views there are wonderful and pictures don't even do them justice.  I loved every minute of our 8 days there and I was incredibly sad to leave.  I did not want to go!  I now know why Jared loves it there so much!  It's a place I hope we can get back to many more times over the years! 

• Thanks so much Grandma and Papa for letting us come visit!  We had a wonderful time!  We love you both so much!  Love, Jared and Kourtney