I'm back!

I didn't intend to take a blogging hiatus, but I ended up doing so! Thanks for all of you who stuck with me (and commented/emailed asking if I was ok!), I really appreciate it. So, where have I been? Well if you follow me on instagram (imyewneek) or on facebook you saw I went to visit my parents and my brother and Western North Carolina for a week. Ryan was in the field and I have yet to find a job, so off the pup and I went on a road trip!

My parents moved to Western North Carolina last August. Even though we are living in the same state again they pretty much could not live any further from us, about seven hours. Luckily it is a straight drive but man is that a long time to be in the car by yourself. Twice in one week. I packed up the Rylie Girl and made my way to the mountains. Man was it gorgeous..

The view from upstairs



The stream in the backyard

The house

Rylie girl had to see what I was doing...

Down the street... aka mountain

House again

Pups lounging on the deck



Rylie meeting Buddy, my brother's bunny. She was cute for a few minutes then got overly curious and barked so we put him away.



She also bugged the crap out of Dippy. See the tongue sticking out!? Blatant!

 So just being in the house was great. The last time we were there was on our honeymoon. My parents had gotten the house and mostly furnished it, but they weren't moving down until my brother graduated from middle school. Ryan and I drove there and spent our honeymoon in the mountains, it was glorious. Needless to say it was strange being there without him, but I did love the time with my family. My mom and I went shopping (I got more Coca Cola stuff for our bathroom and other important things like... you know... shoes) and out to lunch a bit. We had family dinners and went hiking. One cool place we went was called Max Patch. It is part of the Appalachian Trail, so even though we were up there with a picnic there were some hardcore hikers moving through!

Max Patch

Pup and I at the bottom

Rylie had to be in front. Always.

Stefan and the Pup

First view

A little further to go

Stefan and Rylie near the top with super hikers

Looking back

Picnic time!

Love this picture of her! SO cute.

Dad wasn't thrilled with her cute begging skills, but he gave her strawberry tops anyway

Rylie, me, Mom and Stefan

Going back down



Hikers at the top

 After that we drove down into the Catloochee Valley to go into Pisgah National Forrest. We had a very important thing to see.... ELK! I was kind of overly excited. There was a chance of not seeing any, but luckily it is baby season, so there were tons! Plus... a baby! My brother's eagle eyes found it in the grass.

Shhh, he is sleeping!

He woke up!

Elk Kisses!

I zoomed in for these shots. You cannot get close (and HELLO, WILD animals!) without a major fine. Or getting attacked.

Baby Elk! Their mom's leave them in the tall grass but are never too far away.

See?

That is a lot of antlerage.

We also drove into Asheville a few times as it wasn't too far. Stefan took me on his ATV through the mountains (terrifying going 45 on a bumpy trail with a 15 year old driving) and I am convinced one of the meth trailers shot at us. We were WAY up there! There was lots of eating out, video games, more shopping and exploring and good family bonding time. One of my favorite dinners was my last night with my family. We drove up to the Blue Ridge Parkway (man are you high up!) and went to one of the two restaurants actually ON the Parkway, the Pisgah Inn.

Entrance to the Parkway

At the restaurant

The road we drove on to get to it!

As you can see the clouds rolled in. Most of dinner we had a great view and then BOOM. Inside a cloud.

In the cloud

In the cloud and not looking so ghostly.

All in all it was a great trip. There is a ton to do out where my parents live and I hope Ryan and I can go visit together soon. I was so done being in the car by the time I got back to Jacksonville! It was great to see Ryan and spend the next 72 hours with him (yay post field time off). Of course I had to ruin it and get a vicious stomach bug the night before his leave. Poor guy was holding my hair back until two am and up for work at five. Needless to say Friday was a low key day for me.

The weekend was spent getting our house situated (furniture arrived!) and finally moving in to our master bedroom. We also saw Snow White and the Hunstman (hated the ending, so blah), got some more furniture, and finished How I Met Your Mother on Netflix.We NEED season seven! Ugh! Can't find it anywhere (actually think it is still airing or just finished). We definitely need a new show to watch! I have been to the doctor, the dentist and all over the place so I am glad this is finally written. I will write soon with picture updates on the house and everything.

Thanks for sticking with me!

And Happy Birthday Mom (: Love ya!