Hello Tennessee

I ended up with quite a few pictures from our travels to the east, mainly because it was such a long trip. Instead of going straight to Tennessee, we decided to split up our drive time and stop in Houston first. So about 18 hours for the first trip, stay a couple days in Houston, then about 15 hours to Harrogate. Everything went pretty well. We decided to invest in a DVD player for Ivy and it was a life-saver. I didn't have it playing the whole time but whenever she got sick of her seat, or super tired, we'd turn it on and she would calm down almost immediately. Yay for modern technology!

All bundled up but refusing to take a nap, she was exhausted, haha. stubborn girl:

Found the kleenex's in the hotel room we stayed in on the way to Houston. It puzzled her how another one would keep appearing, lol:

Bat mobile! Some promo for the movie we guessed:

Finally in Houston... Spending time at Aunt Kelli's while Sam plays disc golf with his bro:

Lauren and Maddie stopped by Kel's for a visit! Pregnant with her second girl! Doesn't she look amazing?? Lot's of love to you, girl! And good luck with that new baby:

Gotta squeeze in some Gringo's with Jeff and company:

So glad we were in town for Alexa's 7th birthday. Happy Birthday Alexa! We had a yummy dinner at Texas Roadhouse to celebrate. There was a balloon artist there that evening. She made Ivy a lady bug and Ivy thought it was the greatest thing in the world. She wouldn't let it go:

Back on the road! Into unknown territory.. We've traveled all over the west so many times so traveling east was very new to us. Going through Utah? I mean Eutaw, Alabama. ha:

Finally through Knoxville and almost to Harrogate. What's all that green stuff? lol:

So after an hour's drive north of Knoxville, we finally come around a bend on the hwy and the first thing we spotted was Sam's school on a hill in the distance. It was the coolest thing! The perfect welcoming to our new little town we are living in. It is simply gorgeous! It has been taking some adjusting to our new area.. There isn't much around but at least we have a Walmart and some fast food places in the next town over. The people here are very different than the west. Not much diversity, and everyone talks very differently than we are used to. Go figure, hehe. We've noticed the Tennessee accent is a little different than in Mississippi or Alabama, not as twangy but still has very distinct vowels. I probably couldn't even mimic it if I tried. Give me a few months and maybe that will change. The people are soo nice though. So far we have really enjoyed being in a small town. It's so beautiful and very quiet. 

Finally to our new home! The man next door to us owns it and is renting it out to us. It couldn't be more perfect! I'll have to do a post just on the house sometime..

Sam talking with Pat(owner) and Eileen(Pat's friend) in our backyard with the rolling hills in the distance:

We have the best view of the whole town from up on our hill... From our front yard, we can see Sam's school in the distance. It's awesome:

Sam had just 1 free day with us before he started school so we did a couple fun things.. Here we drove up a road to the Pinnacle Overlook. SOO cool.. it is on the Virginia side of the mountains and you can see the hill country on one side and the mountain ranges on the other. plus you can pinpoint where the 3 states meet. We do our grocery shopping in Kentucky but are also right next to Virginia as well. It's cool:

Our best attempt at a group shot, haha:

Sam's school in the distance:

Here we are on Lincoln Memorial University campus... Sam is actually apart of DCOM-Debusk College of Osteopathic Medicine for their post-bac program. He will hopefully start in their med program next year. The right picture is their brand new Math and Science building. Sam didn't even know they were building it until he got here, but most of his classes are here. It is a neat building, pretty high tech:

View from from one of the study rooms.. 

And last but not least, here is Ivy already enjoying our backyard. We were outside for a couple minutes and she just bolted. I think we moved to the right place because she just looves to be outside and explore: