Chattanooga Date...

Yesterday Greg and I spent our beautiful Saturday in Chattanooga, TN. We've had this date planned for a while, but the original date planned got rained out, but yesterday's weather was incredible so it was worth the wait! Our first stop was to drop the pups off at the grandparents house, then we hit the road to our first destination...
Rock City! It was a BEAUTIFUL day to spend outside and walk around the rock gardens. We had fun walking all of the trails, but were super creeped out by the glow-in-the-dark gnomes in Fairytale Land...
Here are a few more pics of us at Rock City before moving on to our next stop...

Greg, going through the Needle's Eye

The top of Lover's Leap

Our next place to go...
The Incline Railway! We didn't spend much time here, just enough to ride it down and back up, but it was neat all the same! I hadn't been here in YEARS!!
Our final stop before dinner was...
Ruby Falls! This was a lot of fun, after the initial panic attack brought on by claustrophobia...who would've thought being 1120 feet below ground, in rather short tunnels would make me freak out? I eventually got over it and had a great time looking at all the neat natural creations and actually making it to the waterfall. However, I was happy to be above ground too =)
Our final destination for the evening was out delicious dinner at...
This is an Italian restaurant that my family used to eat at when we lived in Chattanooga. The pasta is all homemade and OH SO YUMMY!! I seriously could have licked my plate of eggplant parm clean! Greg got the Spaghetti Carbonara which looked so good too! I love the area the restaurant is in, the Bluff Art District, because it is just so quaint and cute! It was a fantastic way to end a wonderful day with my sweet hubby =) After stuffing ourselves, we headed back to to pick up our puppies and go to bed! It was a fun, busy day!

Bear with me...

The blog is under construction...also I have nothing too exciting to report so I don't have a ton to blog about, however I will try to write up a few posts here soon!


I know you've been waiting...

Ten on Tuesday...

I will participate this week because this happens to be one of my all time favorite subjects...NAMES!



1. How did your parents decide on your name?
They were watching a movie saw the name Jillian in the credits


2. Do your initials (First, Middle, Last) spell out anything fun/funny?
No...thank goodness

3. Did you take your middle name from childhood or did you take your maiden name as your middle name? (If unmarried, what do you plan to do?)
I dropped my middle name because I will pass it to my kids.

4. Are you or will you name your children thematically (ie. same first letter, all of same origin…)
I love the idea of Owen and Olivia....so perhaps if I have twins then yes.

5. Did you decide on baby names as a little girl? Did you stick to them or change your mind?
HAH. You know how girls plan weddings? I planned what I was going to name my kids. Seriously. I would sit in class (starting as early as 2nd or 3rd grade) and just write down a list of names...sick. Anyhoo...my name choices are much more common and classic than when I was younger. I used to love the names G: Sloan, Amber, Jade (yuck), Sage, and other random crazy names B: Lawson (that one's out...), Saylor, Caleb, Connor, and more

6. Does your family have any names that have been passed down through generations?
My middle name, Gray and my dad is a 3rd

7. Do you look at the meaning of the name or just the name itself?
I don't really know. My name means young....so I guess I still fit the profile.

8. Do you name pets with human names (Sally, Henry) or with pet names (Fluffy, Mr. Bo Bo)?
Yes and we gave the good name to Jackson. Although, I wouldn't name a child Chance.

9. Are there any names that you have an affinity or dislike for based on a childhood experience/someone you once knew?
Jorden, Jason, Jeremy, Tiffany, Beth (however, I love the name Elizabeth...plenty more.

10. What are some of your favorite names? Why?
Well...since you asked...
Girls: Norah, Olivia, Caroline, Eliza, Anna Gray, Camille, Loralei, Sophia, Kennedy, Elizabeth, Allison
Boys: Owen, Alexander, Maddox, Houston, Henry, Noah, Elijah, Nicholas (but I do not like Nick)

Oh and Greg only likes two of these boy names and two girl names but not enough to actually name a daughter that...awesome. lol

Katie Anne's wild imagination...

This is HILARIOUS! Katie just posted this of Katie Anne telling a wild story from her crazy imagination...toooo funny! I love this kid!

New car!!!

HOORAY!!! I got the new car I've been wanting for so long!! I've gone back and forth over what I wanted, but I knew I wanted an SUV. The Murano has always been one of my favorite cars and I am SO glad that I got this one! I love it! I will miss the Civic and it's wonderful gas mileage, but certainly will not miss putting two car seats in and out of it EVERY.DAY!!! That was such a pain and I am glad those days are over! Here are a few more pics of the Silver Comet..lol=)

(BTW...I am caught up on blogging now...check out the new posts on the right)

A day with the girls...

The 3 Girls =)

Last Saturday after a morning with Katie Anne, Karis and Laurel joined the fun late afternoon. When they got to our house, they brought along some fun dress-up clothes, so we played for a few minutes before packing up and heading to the park for a picnic and some play time. To say the park was crowded is an understatement. It.Was. PACKED. It was a little difficult keeping up with the girls all going in different directions and it being so crowded, but we made it and decided to eat a bit early to let some of the crowd leave before heading back to the playground. After our yummy picnic, we played Duck, Duck, Goose and Greg had a few races with KA and Karis before we went back to play for a few minutes on the playground. After everyone was worn out, we went for a after dinner treat, frozen yogurt at Menchies, my favorite! Karis and Katie Anne had some interesting topping choices...but I let them go for it! Laurel, the purist, had vanilla with sprinkles...bless her heart. We enjoyed the last hour or so with the girls before parting and Greg taking KA home and me taking the girls home. What a day!! It was so much fun and I think the girls had a great time playing together! I love them all so very much! Hopefully it won't be the last time they're all together!

Being an aunt...

Last Saturday I had the day that I have been waiting YEARS for...to REALLY feel like an aunt! I got the awesome opportunity to pick up my niece Katie Anne and have a fun morning out with her just the two of us, then take her to our house to hang out with me and Greg. This day was so special to me because I have wanted this for so long! I was exceptionally close to my aunt Karen and ever since the day I found out I was going to be an aunt, I have looked forward to having days like this. I love each of my nieces and nephews, but KA is at an age where she really wants to spend time with us and I love it. We had a great time going to see Gnomeo and Juliet at the theater in the morning. The movie was in 3D and KA kept say "WOAH! Things are coming at my face!" haha. After the movie, we picked up some lunch and headed home. We took a little afternoon rest together because the Barton girls were coming over in the evening and we had a fun evening planned. My favorite part of the day was when we were laying down and KA said, "Jillian, this is a special day and I love you"...OMG...she probably could've asked for anything on the planet and I would've said yes. Later in the afternoon, Karis and Laurel joined the fun (which will be my next post) and we had a wonderful night with 3 crazy girls. At bed time, we went separate ways and Greg took KA home while I took the girls home. What a fun day, full of wonderful memories!

Katie Anne with her 3D glasses on =)

KA and her uncle Greg...so cute!