My big girl

1 year













2 years
3 years

I can't believe she is 3 already! Time has flown by. She has grown so much this past year.

We love you sweet angel!

Rachel's 3rd Birthday Party

I can't believe that I am posting pictures of my baby's 3rd Birthday party! She was so excited about her Strawberry Shortcake Birthday party. She talked about it for months before it was actually here. I think she had a great time and hope it was all she expected it to be.


Angel Cake Walk
AH! The Cake! The reason I was up until 5:00 AM Saturday morning. Thanks to all my friends who were there to share in these wonderful memories of the cake catastrophe!





Blowing out the candles
















Rachel & Madelyn letting the balloons go

Playing in the creek

We have family that live about 20 miles outside of Gatlinburg. They have a creek that runs through their backyard. Rachel loved playing in it. She was also helping catch crawdads. She didnt mind that the water was freezing cold.

Rachel in Cades Cove

I thought Cades Cove would be a good back drop for pictures for Rachel so I had Curt take several for her 3 year pictures. I thought they turned out great!

Cades Cove

We had a really good time in Cades Cove this year. It is much different going in the summer than the winter. We enjoyed being able to get out and walk around alot more. We saw several deer, turkey, and a couple of bear.

The Old Mill

The Old Mill is our favorite restaurant to go to when we go to Gatlinburg. When we finished eating we walked around some of the shops in the Old Mill area. In the summer time there are bands, bluegrass, gospel, and others that are set up on several corners. Rachel loved this. If she heard one she wanted to sit and listen. In the picture with Curt they were listening to an old gospel band and the one with Aaron they were listening to a 12 year old girl that sings gospel/country.

Newfound Gap

The second day of vacation we were going to go to Clingmon's Dome, one of the highest points in the mountain where you can overlook everything. We drove all the way there and it is about a half mile walk to the overlook. When we got to the trail there were people walking in with big coats on. We opened the door to the car and I didnt even get out. It was about 50 degrees and the wind was blowing really hard. It was so foggy you couldn't see anything so we drove back down to Newfound Gap and took a few pics. After that we had a picnic in the park and Rachel wanted to put her feet in the water. We ended up at my aunt Peggy's house where Rachel had a great time playing with Peyton and Lauren.

Grotto Falls

Our first day on vacation we went on a hike to Grotto Falls. It was a 2.4 mile hike round trip. On the way up we saw a mama bear (in the pic above) and we saw her cubs on the way back. Rachel hiked most of the way up but got tired and got on Curt's shoulders. She said "I'm on top of the world" She did walk the whole way back, of course it was down hill. It was a good start of the week.