Wilson Family Reunion

Over Memorial Day weekend, we headed for the Smokey Mountains for a reunion with David's mom's family. This included twenty-three adults and children under one roof for four days and three nights!! Here is Kay preparing a meal for all of us our first night in the cabin (we took turns cooking each night).

To keep our sanity, we would all head out of the cabin in the mornings. For our first venture, we decided to hike up to the Laurel Waterfalls. The kids enjoyed any area where they could climb up and down a few rocks.

We also were privileged to see a bear during our walk. The bear was actually walking on the trail until it turned off and went down through the trees. You can see the park ranger in the picture so all were safe!

Our second day we decided to do try out a classic Pigeon Forge outing....putt-putt golf and bumper boats. Our family was the only one to do the golfing but the boys thought it looked fun (at least for the first three holes..ha!). Thankfully, they were free!

One night we headed to a creek and the kids loved playing in the water, finding rocks and of course, throwing rocks in the water.

I think Jonas could have moved to the creek for how much he enjoyed it.

One of many attempts to get a picture of all the kids.

Before we headed out of town, we stopped at a kids ride park. Jonas decided he wanted to do this...

We had a great time in the mountains and enjoyed spending time with family we don't see very often!

david's cake

Okay, so I did not make this cake. It's from Whole Foods. After a busy week of making three cakes, David's birthday fell within this same week and I just couldn't bake any more.
We at least let him go get his favorite ice cream along with his cake...what a treat for the boys, too!


As you can see, Jonas is thoroughly enjoying David's birthday celebration.

cake three

This is the third of three different baking jobs I had within a week! Wheww!! (See other two in the next posts.) This was a second birthday party for my niece, Skylar. There wasn't a specific theme so we just made it fun and girly. I think she enjoyed it!

cake two

So, this isn't actually a cake. I made this for the groom's cake at a wedding. The groom requested a brownie pyramid. This was my first time to make anything for a wedding. Thankfully, the bride and groom were very low key and made this a much lower stress event. Thankfully, I also had two helpers that worked with me on the day of the wedding to bake 6 dozen brownies from scratch. Thanks, Katie and Danna, I couldn't have done it without you (or your kitchen, Katie!). I also helped coordinate the wedding ceremony and reception, which made this day even busier. David was recruited to be the "tech" guy and started/stopped the music for me. I think we just started our new family business! ha!!

cake one

I made this cake and cupcakes for a wedding shower a couple of weeks ago. I took the flower design from the napkin that we used and the invitation had the hummingbirds on it.

ethiopia

The Saturday before Mother's Day I went to the airport (and drug my mom along with me) to welcome home our friends, The Sandersons, who had returned from Ethiopia. They were there to finalize their adoption to this sweet little girl, Dinks!


Their family was welcomed home by many friends and many signs made by the children.

We look forward to welcoming this sweet little girl into our church community, while also helping her remember the culture of Ethiopia that she left behind.

trains!!

We had been hearing about the train display at Cheekwood for weeks and finally, we found a day that worked for our friends and the weather! This is a must see if you have children that love trains!!


This was when we first arrived and Crosby lasted about five seconds in the stroller before he wanted out with the rest of the boys.



All the kids waiting so patiently for their moms to get their lunches for them. We thought this was a perfect moment to try and capture a picture with all of them.

Sweet brothers!!

Waiting for the trains....(we kept trying to explain to them that if they just stay in one spot and wait, they will see the trains come around again instead of trying to chase them down.)


Since Asher was the oldest one there, I didn't know what his response to the younger boys would be. I soon found out that he took on the motherly role by helping Miss Danielle chase down Crosby. Asher grew very fond of Miss Danielle so I had to get their picture together to remember this sweet morning.