Honoring Emily in Tennessee

I thought this deserved a post all of its own. The whole reason we went to Tennessee was to escape, heal, be together, lift each other up. Each of us had our turn being sad. And there were 15 people around to hold us while we cried, speak of a memory and make us laugh. That made the sadness bearable. This week was so sad without Emily. The four month anniversary of her death, her 17th birthday, and Christmas all in one week. Can you blame us for going to Tennessee? It wasn't a miracle place. We aren't instantly fixed. But it was a little bit of a band aid. We will never forget our four story lakeside house in the hills.

Our last night there, after all the cleaning and packing, we payed tribute to our sweet Emily. She was in Tennessee with us...we took her there in our hearts. We whispered to her when we were sad. We laughed and smiled when we felt her presence as we talked and played. She was right there with us. Each of us took a rock and wrote a message to Emily. Then we made the trek down to the pier. On the count of three, all 14 of us yelled We love you Emily and threw our messages into the water. They will forever be there, the same way Emily will forever be in our hearts.

Tennessee, Day 6

Since we were so close, Daniel and I drove to Knoxville to see his grandmother, aunt, uncle and cousins. It was a short visit, but we enjoyed getting to see and talk to everyone. Sorry, we were lazy and didn't take any photos! So silly of me. We drove by the University of Tennessee and then met up with everyone at Bass Pro.

Tennessee, Day 5

Christmas morning we all woke up early to watch Maddox open Santa's gifts. I think I would have been intimidated if 15 other people were staring at me right after I'd woken up. At first he wasn't too interested in the gifts under the tree.

Then he suddenly ran to the tree. I think it was the train.

Yes! It was a hit.

Roller blades.

A new tricycle.

He was so excited about this dog bone! Crazy, I know.

A new electric toothbrush!

I use to love these things!

The rest of the day we spent playing and hanging out together.

These two touched a vacuum! Oh my. It was worth documenting.

Learning a thing or two.





Christmas night, we went to the movies and saw Marley & Me. It was precious. It felt good to cry over a dog.

Tennessee, Day 4

*Edited to Add: I have no idea why this shows up 2x. It's not actually post twice. Forgive me!

Christmas Eve. We spent most of the day around the house. It was great to relax! Maddox made cookies for Santa and geared up for Christmas morning.

Every time I ask him to smile, this is what I get.

Working hard. All he wanted to do was eat the sugar cookie dough.

Yes, that is a cookie in the shape of a dog bone. For whatever reason, this kid has been asking for dog bones for Christmas for the past month.

It took Santa forever to put this train track together. Hopefully Maddox loves it.

Presents for the two year old.

My sweet sisters.

Dan and one of his fave little cousins.

Eli & Baba.

This makes me happy and sad. Em was always the cheesy one. Eli doesn't so much like photos, but on this day...he smiled and hugged his Mama. Sweet boy.

Tennessee, Day 3

Emily's 17th birthday. We should have made a cake, placed 18 candles on top [one for luck] and sang loudly as Emily smiled and reveled in the attention we showered her with.

Instead, we were in the hills of Tennessee with Emily only present in our hearts. We intentionally planned on doing something that day. Keeping our bodies busy would help keep our minds busy, and this would hopefully make our hearts feel less sad. We saddled up the vehicles and made our way to Nashville. The drive was long, but we made it. Our first stop was The Hermitage, President Andrew Jackson's estate. It was raining so we had to make our trip a quick one. I think that the grounds would have been beautiful to spend time on if the weather were better.

Here's the house. I would love to go back someday.

Next up, The Country Music Hall of Fame. We were so excited about seeing everything this place holds.


Somehow 16 of us fit in an elevator! Meet some of the group: from front left 1/2 of Daniel, Jesse, Maegan, Baba, Dad, Berto and in the back: Shannion, Norma, Maddox, Tony, Mom and Brian.

One of the Gold Record Walls

And on the other side...this one was twice as large!

As a little girl, I loved Elvis.

Tim was there and it made his day when I held his hand!

Bekah found Lamb Chops in the gift shop!

Before dinner, we swung by the Gaylord Opryland Hotel. It was beautiful and amazing! I could have spent the day there.







The Nativity scene was incredible. Mine doesn't have this many characters. Beautiful!

Dinner at Cracker Barrel. Yum! Tennessee had more of these than we'd ever seen.
They were about every 20 miles!

Tennessee, Day 2

After sleeping for what felt like the fewest number of hours EVER, we all awoke and were somehow hungry. Not having any groceries meant that a trip to town was in store. Sixteen of us bundled up and headed off in search of a meal. We couldn't make it through grocery shopping without eating so lunch plans had to be made. Being so close to Kentucky, Bekah joked that KFC HAD to be good. It was a go! Following lunch, sixteen of us ventured to Super WalMart to grab ingredients for the meals we were responsible for cooking. It was so funny to see all of us standing around debating whether we had too much or not enough food. I'm certain we ticked someone off, but I had to take a picture of the chaos! I'll probably never shop with so many people again.

On the way to lunch!

Headed to WalMart!

Bek and Maegan

Who asked this goofy looking guy to come?

Much better!

This is only 9 of us. There were more of us wandering around WalMart. A local lady popped in the photo to make things fun.

I seriously can't tell you how hard we laughed at this pic. We slid out of the backseat!


Our first night in the house the fridge was full, the drinks were cold, and the Wii was hooked up! Thanks to JonO for letting us borrow it...we played round after round. Who knew our family was so competitive? We laughed super hard and had blast.

Everyone is standing around trying to figure out what the Wii is all about.

Bekah was a boxing champ! She played so long and so hard that she was sore for days!

Daddy beat people sitting down!

The boys in their new toboggans from Baba.

Cousins

Baba and her girls


We're the tattooed girls!

This pose was all Maddox's idea!

I think Eli loves me.

Sisters


Mom and Han

This kid has the BEST eating habits...he walked around munching on a bell pepper!

Me and my sweet Jesse. I love this new cousin.



*Somehow my logo got covered up in a few of these. I'm a ditz...not going back to fix it though. Sorry!
**This is my Christmas and I want to share all of it so the posts will be picture heavy.