Hiking Springer Mountain

On Saturday morning we woke up early to get our things packed for another day hike. This time we chose, Springer Mountain, which was only about 2 hours from our house in North Georgia. We found a 'site' (pulled over on the road and found a flat spot in the woods right by the river!) and set up our tent and chairs. Then we started hiking... first to Long Creek Falls, a beautiful waterfall which was only 2 miles there and back. Then across the road was the trail up Springer Mountain, which is the southern starting point of the Appalachian Trail-- we went 7 miles on it. All in all we went about 9 miles, and finished up around 5:00.
We went back to our campsite and got the fire going, which helped get some of the bugs off of us. We just bought a new pot set that only weighs 20 ounces and were able to try that out. We figure we'll have a lot of rice and spaghetti on our trip, so why not start practicing? The spaghetti turned out great, and we even brought some bread with butter & garlic salt to toast on another pan... yum! We washed our dishes in the river, played with Tyson and toasted some marshmallows!
We went to bed around 8:45 pm (ha), packing most of our stuff up since it was supposed to rain in the morning. It only drizzled which was nice, and by the time we woke up it had stopped. Unfortunately I had a monster migraine and we had to head home, but I'm so thankful we had a great Saturday together. And I'll leave you with this one of my handsome hubby :)

Girls Night Out with Bare Minerals

This week we had a GIRLS NIGHT OUT with a bunch of ladies from work to go get make overs done for free! It was hosted by Bare Minerals in the Mall of Georgia, and we all had an absolute blast. It was so fun getting our own personal consultant and leaving with all of our makeup done up! All of us caved and bought lots of stuff, but it's really exciting to have good quality makeup that looks so natural for everyday. We also got 20% off of our totals for being there, had free drinks and appetizers and received lots of free makeup goodies!

Here is all my stuff, including bought and free!

My boss Donna and Julie our HR:

Afterwards, Andrea, Lacey, Jen and I all went over to O'Charleys to get our favorite loaded potato soup for dinner! It was a very fun night spent with ALL GIRLS!

Easter Sunday!

Happy Easter Everyone! It was a wonderful day celebrating with my family in Raleigh. The festivities actually started the night before as mom & I decorated the cross cake (a Baker tradition). My mom always wanted us to associate Easter with the cross, and it is a fun memory to have!

The church held an Easter Egg hunt for all the kiddos, which was hilarious to watch. Natalie and Nathan had so much fun picking up all the eggs.

And had a blast throwing them all back in the tree haha

We all went to church together, which meant a lot to mom & dad to have all their kids there with them on Easter Sunday.... brings back memories of when we all had matching outfits haha

After church we went over to Tara & Jamies for a delicious lunch before we headed back home to GA! What a great weekend we had spent with family and friends!

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you."

So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me." Matthew 28:1-10

Natalie & Nathan turn 2!

This year Kyle and I were able to be in town for the twins 2nd birthday party! We woke up early and went to Daylight Donuts as this is becoming a Saturday morning tradition for the Dews. It was so cute watching the twins eat their "nonuts". The birthday party started at 3, and it was a Safari/Jungle Theme. I designed the invitations for it as you can see here, and Tara carried the theme out in all the food and cake decorations as well! Tara and I decorated the cake the night before keeping this a tradition as well! (molly don't laugh at our feeble attempt to decorate a cake)

Mom, Grandma and I did the cute little monkey cupcakes too!

Tara's so creative with all the names for the food as well, you might have to click on the picture to see it close up!
Tara even had the twins dressed in matching gear! See the giraffe on Nat's dress?

And Nathan's Lion shirt & cropped pants:
Kyle helped them play t-ball and they loved it:

We also got to celebrate Nick's birthday a little late and give him our presents! We helped mom order a snowboarding helmet for him as their present, so we finally brought that for him to try on! We ended up getting speaker pads to put in his helmet so he can listen to his iphone while ridin'!

Gosh when did I start shrinking and only come up to his shoulder?

We also got to meet Sara & Joe and eat with them before the party. This will be the last picture I take with her before little Ethan comes! So great seeing you guys, can't wait to meet Ethan next time we're in town!!

Shelby, NC & King Mountain Hike

On Thursday we drove to Shelby, NC to visit with my best friend, Lauren and her husband Matt. We arrived around 9:00 that night and they had homemade lasagna all ready for us... yum! Lauren even called Kyle earlier that week and made one of my favorite drinks (that I usually get at the melting pot) Strawberry Basil Lemonade... that really blew me away that she had taken the time to make it!

Our yummy meal!

Tyson and Chaco loved eachother... very funny

On Saturday morning we woke up and had delicious waffles with homemade whip cream! We sure did eat some delicious meals while we were there! Thank you so much for letting us come stay and crash at your place Lauren & Matt-- we had a great time!

Next Kyle and I headed to Kings Mountain to do one of our first practice hikes for our trip. We hiked about 8 miles in 2 hours, keeping a pretty good pace the whole time. It started raining 1/4 of the way through, but we didn't try to turn around until the lightning came! Fortunately it all worked out and we found our way back to the car-- going the long way by accident. Tyson enjoyed it-- we even bought him a cute little backpack to wear so he can carry his own water (and some of our stuff-- raincoats!)... he loved it!

Here is the view from the top. Kyle and I also just ordered some Dakine camel backs for ourselves, and we'll use the sleeve for our trip in our bigger packs.

And here is one just in the woods somewhere:

Once we got back to the car all soaking wet:

On our way home to Raleigh we picked up a CJ7 that Mr. Guenther just bought. Kyle drove it home the whole way and I followed to make sure it wouldn't break down.

He also got to drive it a lot this past weekend... I think he's completely hooked now and it's on our list to get one of these someday

Charlotte Guenther Family Weekend

This weekend we headed to Charlotte for a busy but fun-event filled time! Friday night we arrived to Rach and Mike's just intime to give everyone hugs and head to bed. Kyle's whole family traveled in as well for the weekend. Saturday morning we all woke up early to go support Kerry, Brad, Rach & Mike in their Muddy Buddy Race.

And this is how they looked afterwards!

We were all calling it the Muddy Buddy RUN because there was a lot more running then we all had imagined! They ran to certain areas, had to perform certain tasks then run again to the next station. Here is one task they did... star jumps!

And here is another one... the Mud Pit!

Of course we brought Tyson and Raven to watch!

Kyle and I left early so he could make it to his ASU Alumni Hockey Game which was being held this year in the Checkers Stadium!! They had a great time, and the Alumni only lost 13-9... not too bad!! Here is Kyle all ready to go!
Half way through the game Molly & Marshal showed up, which was an awesome surprise! We all went to lunch at Brixx Pizza afterwards and stuffed ourselves till we couldn't move!!
We went home that afternoon, sat out in the sun for hours (how relaxing!) and then celebrated Kerry's 30th Birthday!! We all grilled out, and Rach made her some yummy strawberry & cream cheese icing cup cakes!
Sunday we all woke up and spent some more time together outside since it was so pretty! Even Pop enjoyed the warm weather!
Kyle and I met Molly & Marshal to go on a short hike before I cleaned up to head out for Tiffin's shower at 3. After mapquesting directions (being unprepared!) and seeing how far away it was I had to cancel on her last minute. I would have had to drive 8 hours total (2 hours there, 2 back, and 4 to ATL) that day, and not been able to get home to ATL till 1:00 am so it just didn't seem logical. I'm sad I missed it though. We met M&M for a quick lunch before we headed home, where we saw Cassidy & Renee-- small world!!

It was so nice to get back to ATL around 6:00, when it was still light outside!! We both have busy weeks this week, so it was nice to rest up! Hope you all had great weekends as well!