Christmas

Sara and I were lucky enough to get to spend our Christmas break back in Tennessee with family and friends.  We both were able to take a full week off from work, so we got to spend 9 days back in Johnson City.

We flew home on Saturday the 21st.  Abe had his 'Classy Christmas Party' that night so we hung out at his party for a while before going out to celebrate the engagement of our friends Antonio and Jaymie.

Christmas Eve morning I had the itch to get out and do a bit of running in the East TN mountains.  I decided to go run up to the Pinnacle Mountain Fire Tower in Unicoi.  It is about an 8 mile round trip up to the fire tower and back down.  It was a cold, snowy run but great to be able to run in the mountains.

That evening, we went to the Christmas Eve service at Grace Fellowship.  It was good to be able to go to a service back at my home church.  After the service, we went over to Grandmommy Lois' house to spend Christmas Eve with the Greenwell family.  It was great to be able to get to see family that we haven't seen in a long time.  We had a nice night with great food, fellowship, and gift unwrapping.  

 Christmas morning we woke up at the Greenwell's and opened presents and enjoyed some breakfast bars and coffee before heading to mom and dad's house.  Grandma, Aunt Dolly and Uncle Bruce came in town from the Knoxville area for Christmas day.  We had a nice brunch of swedish pancakes made by dad.  After doing gifts we headed back to the Greenwell's for Christmas dinner with a combination of the Jacobson and Greenwell families.  It was a wonderful Christmas day filled with family, gifts, and food.

 The day after Christmas, Abe, Dad and I braved the cold for a day on the golf course at the Johnson City Country Club...

Saturday morning, Mom, dad and I went hiking at Spivey Gap near Erwin.  We hiked from Spivey Gap up to High Rocks along the Appalachian Trail.  From High Rocks there were 360 degree views of the surrounding mountains.

As usual, time flew by while we were at home.  It never fails that the trips are over in a blink of an eye.  It was great to be able to see family and friends that we rarely get to see anymore being in Texas.  Thanks to everyone who made it such a special trip for us.

Thanksgiving

Sara and I had the pleasure of hosting my family in Dallas for Thanksgiving this year.  Mom, Dad and Abe flew in Thanksgiving morning from Atlanta.  As soon as they arrived, we jumped straight into Thanksgiving meal cooking.  This was our first time hosting a Thanksgiving meal so a lot of preparation went into it.  I decided to grill our turkey and Sara did most of the other cooking.  She prepared mashed potatoes, corn casserole, green bean casserole, cranberries, and stuffing.  Mom helped with the sweet potato casserole.  The McAuleys were in town visiting Matt as well so they came over to our place to partake in the meal.  Everything went off without a hitch and all of us Tennessee transplants enjoyed a fantastic meal together.  Thanks to Sara, Mom, and Susan for all the incredible food.

Friday night, Sara, Dad, Abe and I went to the Stars vs. Blackhawks game at the American Airlines Center.  Another win for our Blackhawks over the Stars...

Saturday morning, we went to play some golf at Stevens Parks Golf Course and spend the rest of the day visiting relatives and friends...

Sunday morning we went to church at Watermark and then went to the Bishop Arts District to enjoy some Texas BBQ at Lockhart's.  Abe had to head back to Atlanta Sunday evening to go back to work on Monday.

After Sara and I had to go back to work on Monday, Mom and Pop continued their exploration of Dallas visiting Klyde Warren Park, White Rock Lake, the Dallas Arboretum, and friends all of the place.  We got lucky with almost perfect North Texas weather while they were in town with temperatures in the 60's and 70's.

We were very blessed to have family come to town and spend Thanksgiving with us.  We will welcome any and all visitors with open arms...we have plenty of space!

Ice-pocalypse

We got some interesting weather here in Dallas this weekend.  After temperatures were in the mid to upper 70's on Wednesday, a massive cold front came through on Thursday bringing with it lots of freezing rain and ice.  The ice storm started Thursday evening and lasted until mid-day on Friday.   With it came a lot of downed trees (one of which almost went through our front door) and treacherous driving conditions.  Temperatures have stayed below freezing until this afternoon so much of the ice has stayed around.

This kind of weather doesn't come around very often in the Dallas area so people aren't quite sure how to respond.  Dallas has no salt trucks so cleaning the streets has been very slow.  The ice/slush has slowly disappeared because of people driving on them rather than road crews cleaning them off.  The city has essentially been shut down for the past three days.  I was supposed to run on a relay team for the Dallas Marathon this morning but it was cancelled.  Church was cancelled this morning due to icy sidewalks and parking lots, etc, etc, etc.

While the weather has been pretty miserable, the ice has created a lot of beauty that we typically wouldn't see.  Here are some images that Sara and I captured:

Hemphill Wedding

Last weekend, we traveled back to Knoxville to attend the wedding of Michael and Kathryn (Robertson) Hemphill.  We had a blast reunited with friends and family.  Some pictures from the festivities...

Photo by Brendan Kenny

Caney Creek Wilderness

Sara and I took our final camping trip of the year last weekend.  We went to the Caney Creek Wilderness in the Ouachita National Forest of Arkansas in hopes of catching the tail end of the fall color...and luckily enough that is exactly what we got.  We did a 10 miles backpacking loop on the Buckeye Trail-Caney Creek Trail that reminded us a lot of hiking in the Smoky Mountains.  

We started our hike on the Buckeye Trail which follows the ridge of Buckeye Mountain.  The trail follows along the ridge for about 5 miles providing fantastic views in all directions.  The fall colors were just past peak but still pretty incredible.  Lots of reds, yellows, and oranges still on the trees.  We descended down off of Buckeye Mountain towards Caney Creek just as dusk was starting to set in.  We set up the tent right along Caney Creek right as the final light for the day disappeared.  We had a nice dinner cooked on the stove and then retreated to the tent for the night.  Conditions were almost perfect for camping...a cool, crisp fall night cold enough to keep you snuggly in your sleeping bag all night. 

Sunday morning we woke up, cooked breakfast, and lounged around camp for a little while enjoying the nearby creek and wonderful weather.  The hike back to the car was only about four miles so we weren't in a big rush.  The Caney Creek Trail back to the car followed mostly along the Caney Creek with three or four rock-hopping creek crossings. The leaves in the drainage were just as beautiful as they were from Buckeye Trail above.  It only took us a couple hours to leisurely hike back to the car.  It was great to be able to spend a couple days and a night out in the mountains enjoying the tail end of fall.  Just wish those mountains were closer....

Texas Adventures

Here's the scoop... Since living here in Texas, I have not explored any cities other than Dallas! Side note: I have almost lived here for a year?! Also meaning that Kyle and I have almost been married a year. Mark your calendars. Where in the world has the time gone?

Ok, back to the scoop. That being said, we decided that it was time for me to go exploring a bit. Our friends down here were up for a mini road trip as well so one Friday evening, Kyle, Daniel, Chelsey, and I hopped in the car and headed south. We headed to Lockhart, Texas where Daniel's uncle so graciously let us crash at his pad. We got in pretty late, but took advantage of his sweet pad in downtown Lockhart and went on the roof to enjoy the perfect evening and some wine. Yes, we are fancy, we know. (Did I mention we drank it straight from the bottle). Classy.

Here is one of the hidden (except not so hidden) gems of Daniel's uncle's place. Meet Noel. There is actually a really sweet story behind her.

We woke up the next day and did some exploring for a local coffee shop, where we enjoyed coffee and lattes and some good conversation. At about 10:30 - 11:00ish we decided it was time for what we really came to Lockhart for... BBQ!! We hit up one of Texas' top rated BBQ restaurants, Black's. We had smoked turkey, brisket, sausage, macaroni and cheese, and don't forget the sweet tea. Let me just say, I am a turkey and mac 'n cheese pro. Both of these passed the test. The brisket was also delicious. Chelsey and I were not huge fans of the sausage, but I think it was more of a texture issue. This sausage was very "gamey", whatever that means? After lunch we strolled downtown and went in and out of antique stores. We sound so old. After strolling aka rolling around because we were so stuffed with BBQ we prepared ourselves and headed... some direction towards Gruene, TX. Gruene is home of the oldest dance hall in Texas. George Straight and Willie Nelson have both been through there and the movie, Michael was also filmed there!

Anyways, our first intent was to head there for a wine and music festival, but we spent a little too much time exploring Lockhart and also realized the tickets were a little pricier than we had originally thought. But we were just going where the wind took us this weekend so we decided to head there anyways. Upon arrival, we were heading up this big hill (big for Texas) and noticed a cute little winery and decided to just have a little looksy. Turns out, they were having samples as well...so in the long run, we won. We got to taste wine at a much cheaper price and after we got to walk around Gruene and enjoy music. We spent much of the afternoon walking in and out of stores and exploring everything this unique little town had to offer. Even though none of us were super hungry, we had to eat at the Gristmill. Let me just say, looks can be deceiving... this place looked like your average size restaurant... but it goes on FOREVER! Seriously, so huge. It's nestled right on the bluff of the Guadalupe river and has a great view! We stuffed our faces again (sort of a theme for this trip) and rolled ourselves out of there.

We continued to explore and made our way to the actual Gruene Hall. Music was playing and there was a large crowd. This was the first time where I really felt "Texan". I loved the atmosphere of the hall and the music that was being played. Chelsey and Daniel so kindly offered to teach us the Texas Two Step (I think that's what it was called), but we declined. We will blame it on being too full (cough cough, Kyle). We weren't ready for that yet!

After enjoying some music and people watching we decided to head out of Gruene and catch the Aggie game with some of Chelsey's friends that live in that area... we hit up a fun outdoor bar that had live music and way better people atmosphere than any here in Dallas. Whoops, yes I said it.

We stayed the night in Lockhart again and woke up and decided to eat.... yup, you guessed it... BBQ! We decided to try another one of Texas' top rated BBQ places, Smitty's.. also located in Lockhart. This time we had brisket, sausage, cole slaw, and of course the sweet tea. I preferred this brisket over Black's but I am not sure everyone agreed.  None the less, it was amazing and once again we over ate. Whoops. Our original plan was to hit up Austin before heading back to Dallas but the weather was less than ideal and Austin City Limits was going on so we figured it would be a mad house. Therefore, we headed back to Dallas a bit earlier.

Side note: everything IS bigger in Texas. Here is a flask from one of the small shops. No, we did not buy it. This is for example only!

In conclusion, we had a "couples retreat" to Lockhart, where we did some exploring and a lot of eating with great friends. It was nice to get out of Dallas for the weekend and see a little more of Texas. If we are being honest, I really enjoyed the Gruene/ New Braunfels area! The whole town felt way more laid back and easy going compared to Dallas. My type of place. Over and out.