Always hate saying goodbye...

There’s nothing like waking up to the smell of bacon, sausage, eggs, and toasted English muffins cooking in the kitchen nearby! Tell you what: These two do not disappoint in the kitchen!

After breakfast, Ali, Aaron and I loaded in the car and headed back up to Black Mountain. I packed up my things at the condo and then drove over to Mammy and Sherry Beth’s to visit for a few and say our goodbyes, and then over to Gran’s for the same. I love being in Black Mountain, but I hate saying goodbye – especially because I know it’ll probably be a year before we return.

We stopped by and ordered Taco Bell for lunch,

my FIRST taste of those delicious beef tacos in over a year…

… and had the pleasure of watching Pegg take her VERY FIRST BITE of Taco Bell food! That's right!  This woman has NEVER eaten Taco Bell!  I think she’s a fan!

Pegg and Aaron drove me to the Asheville airport where I bid farewell and headed for the gate. It wasn’t until then that I found out my flight had been delayed 3 hours! Boo! Good thing Asheville has these country rockers to sit and blog on!

I made it into Atlanta at 7:00pm and plopped down in a comfy chair, paid $6.95 for internet and did some blogging inbetween eating my delicious bag of corn nuts, which DO NOT exist in Korea… SAD!



Finally, at 10:00pm, I boarded my flight to Phoenix and arrived in AZ around 1:00am! My pregnant sister was there, on the curb, waiting for me with open arms! We may have actually squeeled a bit while hugging for a good 30 seconds in the street! A guy walked by as we were taking this picture and asked, “Are you guys sister?! You look just alike!” Our collective response was “YES!”

It’s so good to be back in AZ, even if it has only been a couple minutes!

Keeping busy... having fun!

First of all...

"HAPPY 35th BIRTHDAY AMY!"

That's right, my big sister turned 35 today!  She's half way to 70 now! :)

I woke up bright and early to meet Ali, Dave and Pegg at Morning Glory for breakfast.

This may have quite possibly been the most delicious breakfast I’ve eaten in years! MY GOSH!

After breakfast, Pegg, Aaron and I drove up to Asheville for a little shopping! Pegg and I both got lucky and found some good stuff at the 50% off sale in Urban Outfitters! Love that store!

Then we took a walk down the street to the Soda Fountain!

...and ordered their famous vanilla cokes! YUM!

A little window shopping in Asheville and Black Mountain never hurt anyone!

We headed over to my favorite store in Black Mountain;

The Town Hardware and General Store on Cherry St.

It’s like stepping back in time when you enter through it’s doors!  You can find the coolest things...

... like fun old school sodas and drinks! 

... sports team coaster for your car!

... College sports monopoly games!

... collector metal signs...

... a whole wall full of John Deer stuff! 

My mom probably would have loved this!  She's a die hard Auburn fan AND loves Jesus! :)

How cute are the Black Mountain newspaper stands?!

The three of us drove back over to stop by Grans to see Aaron’s aunt Terry, uncles Joe and cousin Jodi before the 3 of them drove back home for the holiday.

Then, it was off to the cabin on the lake to visit Kaye and Aaron’s dad.

They recently purchased large plot of land in a new development, to build their dream retirement home with a gorgeous lake view on the same lake where their cabin currently resides! It’ll be so fun to look back on this picture when the house is built on this mound of dirt!

We took a long walk around the borders of their property and as we were walking on the main street (which is currently just dirt), Ali spotted some deer tracks going right through their lot! While they haven’t seen any bears in the area, they have spotted their fair share of wild turkeys, and who doesn’t love deer?! Lol!

Their land is beautiful! The end of their lot backs up to a fishing pond which we hiked down to see!

Can’t wait to visit their new place and take walks on this path that winds through their property… heck, maybe even try a little off roading with the golf cart...

that is, when we’re not lounging by the fireplace, sipping tea on the front porch or fishing on the lake!

The sun began to go down so we all headed back up to the current cabin and opened Christmas presents! We got Aaron’s dad this Appalachian State Univ golf pull over, which he modeled on Kaye!

They are so sweet and gave me lots of shopping money and even bought me a pay by the minute phone so I can call Aaron when I’m in AZ and CA before he meets me in Orange County on the 2nd. Sooo sweet!

Poor Kaye! Aaron ordered her gift online, but it didn’t arrive in time!

She was a good sport though and is excited about having Christmas in January!

The two of them got to work on a delicious dinner!

Steaks, potatoes, salad, bread, bean dip, BBQ'd pineapple, cheese dip! YUM!

We were all very happy and full by the time we finished!

Ali came up with the idea to pour some yummy drinks and play a little card game called A$$hole, which brought everyone back to their college days! Can’t play a card? Take a sip! Those are basically the rules! There was lots of sarcasm going around, high fives, cheers, and of course lots and lots of laughter!

We all finished the game, watched a little football and then I headed up to the loft bed for an amazing night sleep with the rain hitting the tin roof outside!  Loved it! 

Santa Came!

"Merry Christmas everyone!"

I woke up this morning to a room full of beautiful presents...

...and personalized stockings stuffed with yummy treats!
I always dreamed of being 30 years old and Santa still coming to visit!  Thanks again Pegg, Dave and Ali! :)

Ali and Dave came over around 7:45am and the 5 of us all sat around opening gifts all morning!

It never gets old!

Even Cash and Lina got involved in a little bit of the action!

At 9:00am, we headed over to Mammy’s house down the street for breakfast!

I look forward to this breakfast all year! It is the perfect southern breakfast if you ask me! Grits, sausage, cheese potatoes, biscuits, eggs, fruit, yummmm!!

Then it was on to the ornament opening! Aaron’s aunt Vicki shops all year round for personalized ornaments for all 15 people in the family (including Dave and I)! Each person opens one and we all guess who it’s for! So fun!

Aaron opened Sherry’s ornament…

I opened Ali’s ornament…

Mammy opened Andrea’s…

Dave and Ali…

Kaye and Keith (Aaron’s dad and beauiful bride)

Adalyah (Aaron’s darling 2nd cousin)…

Mammy is seriously the techiest (sp?) grandma around! She has a card maker on her computer and makes everyone’s cards from scratch! Check out the envelope for her Christmas present to A and I.

And since Aaron’s birthday is near Christmas, Mammy just saved his gift for today.
How amazing is the card she made for him?! Haha

The Osteen side of the family with our new ornaments!

(Dave, Ali. Keith, Kaye, Jed, Sherry Beth, Mammy, Daniel, Vicki, Adalyah, Andrea,
Me, Sherry and Aaron)

After leaving Mammy’s, we headed over to Aaron’s mom’s cottage to spend a couple hours hanging and giving her lessons on her new camera that she got for Christmas!

Then Aaron and I drove around Black Mountain checking out the area!
I am absolutely in love with Black Mountain’s charisma! It oozes with history and charm!

These are just a few of the examples of why I love it so much!

The following houses are all in walking distance to each other and are known to be real life haunted houses! EEEkkkk! This is an old home turned bed and breakfast. They no longer rent out the 3rd story bedroom because it’s so haunted that people never stayed more than one night before asking to switch rooms!

This is The Red Rocker which is also an old house turned bed and breakfast. It was actually built in the 1930s and was built as a wedding gift for the man's son! Must be nice, eh? Unfortunately now it’s haunted and guests often see ghosts and hear strange noises through the night.

This is Gran’s house, which was built in the 1930’s. While she’s never seen a ghost, she said she’s definitely heard voices in her chimney a few times. Eeek!

This is Aaron’s friend Burke’s childhood home which was built in the last 1800's. Aaron spent a lot of his childhood playing here and this is known to be the most haunted house in Black Mountain! Aaron entire family has said that whenever they would be in the house they always felt like there were ghosts all around them. Eire, eire, eire! Rocking chairs have rocked, baby voices have been heard in the hallways, lights have randomly come one… etc.

NO THANK YOU!

This is Aaron’s aunt Carol and uncle Joe’s house, which was built back in 1912 by Joe’s grandfather. It is the most gorgeously renovated home, but definitely haunted by Joe’s aunt Janet! When Pegg was pregnant with Ali, she heard someone walking up the hallway in the middle of the night and then saw aunt Janet’s ghost in the doorway of “the blue room” upstairs. Years later, Aaron’s aunt Carol saw aunt Janet’s ghost in the mirror of “the blue room” and screamed at her to leave, which thankfully she did. Then Olivia, who is Joe and Carol’s daughter, saw aunt Janet’s ghost a couple years ago too!

Ali has been staying in “the blue room” this Christmas. Last night she left her silver hoop earrings in the bathroom and when she woke up one had been totally bent. No one had touched them!!
AUNT JANET!!! Haha

After touring the town, Aaron and I headed over to Gran’s for the yearly Christmas party with his mom’s side of the family. There was delicious food…

… lots of family to hang with (15 total!)

… and a fun game of White Elephant Gift Exchange (not the goofy gift style though)!

Dave and Ali ended up with the 2 gifts Aaron and I had brought!

Me, Aaron, Pegg, Dave and Ali with our gift exchange prezzies!

Sweet Gran!

After the party, Aaron and I drove his mom and aunt Terry to see the Christmas lights show that we had seen last night in the neighborhood!


After the party, Ali, Dave, Aaron, Jody, Olivia and I all headed back over to Carol and Joe’s to hang in the basement, which is filled with any and every game a kid would ever want, including a ping pong table which we definitely took advantage of!

Carol loves Halloween and stocks up on costumes for the kids! This was Aaron’s Justin Beiber look!

But this was the costume that stole the show!
I almost peed my pants laughing so hard seeing Aaron with all that hair!

The 6 of us hung in the basement till about midnight before going our separate ways for some sleep, but not before Aaron snuck up to “the blue room” and planted a freaky looking doll under the covers of Ali’s bed! We were hoping she’d think Aunt Janet gave her a gift! Merry Christmas Ali!!

I couldn’t have asked for a better day, filled with amazing family, yummy food, deliciously sweet cookies, fun presents, belting laughter and lots and lots of Diet Coke (a staple in the Rozell / Tyson / Osteen family!)

Merry 2011 Christmas!