Seven things for Sunday

Okay, I am so backlogged on posts I will have to catch up this week. But here are seven things to share with you.

1. My anniversary was wonderful. Andrew and I stayed overnight in downtown Nashville at a beautiful hotel. We walked around downtown for a bit and then had dinner at The Melting Pot. Andrew then surprised me with tickets to the Gin Blossoms concert playing at the Wild Horse Saloon. I first heard their music on my trip to Russia 14 years ago and I have loved the music ever since. It was a really great concert and even Andrew enjoyed it considering it wasn't the Beatles. We got back to the hotel late and it was so nice not to have to put kids to bed. Andrew was a sweetheart and let me sleep in the next morning until I wanted to get up. We checked out of the hotel at about 10 and we had some time left to play before we had to go home and face reality. Andrew asked me what I wanted to do and I said "Let's go to Bass Pro Shop!" Andrew gave me such a shocked look, out of all the places I could go to, I picked that. Ha. It was a lot of fun and we managed to buy a fishing rod and reel for Andrew, lots of lures, and a case for my bow, as well as some targets for archery practice.

2. I am obsessed with fishing and archery. My mom purchased a boat a while ago, and on our first trip out, we did some fishing. I have been 'hooked' ever since, in fact, we all have. The kids love it just as much as I do and Andrew loves it almost as much. I will admit that I am the worst at it in the entire family. I have lost more lures than anyone, I hold the title for catching the smallest fish, and the second fish that I caught yesterday was totally not due to my own skill, since I hooked it by its fin. My mom gets a good chuckle every time she sees me fish.
My archery obsession is newer, since I only got my bow 2 weeks ago. It was a gift from Andrew. Brianna has been taking archery lessons off and on all year, and I was fascinated with it. I would have used her bow, but she shoots left handed and I need a right handed one. I was thrilled with Andrew's gift and I am having a great time learning. We freaked out our neighbors a bit, but they were fine when we told them we were not hunters. You can see the kind of bows we use here.

3. We spent 6 hours on the boat Saturday and had a great time. We caught 4 fish I think, but my favorite part was the tubing. Maren and Ty were particularly hilarious to watch and they had me laughing so hard. Good times.

4. My sister, Heather, and her 2 kids are here for 2 weeks. We have lots of fun stuff planned.

5. My brother, Marshall, and his family arrive tonight and will be here for the rest of this next week. They were just in Disneyworld for the very first time, and I so wish I could have seen Marshall enjoy it. Every year as kids are Dad would have us sit down and plan our trip to Disneyworld but we never actually went, so this is a dream come true for him.

6. My sil, Maren, arrived last Tuesday and will be staying with us through Christmas. On Wednesday she interviewed with the Nashville Symphony for a tech support position and was offered the job on Thursday. Yay! What a great start to her stay here. We are all adjusting well to having her here.

7. My new favorite cookie is a homemade coconut oatmeal cookie, delish!