How our Vacation turned into a Staycation

This weekend was a lot of fun, even though parts of it didn't exactly go as originally planned. It's still sorta fun to roll with the punches!

Saturday one of Billy's childhood friends, Josh, got married! Their friendship actually spans back to before they were born, Billy's grandma and Josh's grandmother were very good friends.. I think is how that story goes. If you ask Billy how the friendship began he'd tell you, "We've just been friends forever." (sigh) Well, Josh's family moved to Tennessee when they were still young. Their families still remained close, as they would always spend part of the summer at the cabin, as many of their friends thankfully do. Josh brought Brooke, his then girlfriend, with him one summer about the first summeer Billy and I were together. She and I hit it off instantly! We had a lot of common ground, we were both the same year in college, dating baseball players, she was a ot major as was one of my best friends.. plus she was the only other female in the house close to my age! Thank the lord! I just love her. Sweetest girl I have ever met, hands down! Needless to say, this past New Years I was ecstatic when we got word that Josh had finally "begged" Brooke to spend forever with him! Even better, she said yes!!

Saturday, we set out to Brooke's little hometown in Western North Carolina right outside of Maggie Valley. It was a sweet, simple, Christ-centered ceremony surrounded by all of their friends and family. I was so happy to be there and to be with their sweet families as they said their vows and became Mr. and Mrs. Hullett! I even caught the bouquet!! ;) I could not stop talking about how gorgeous Brooke looked in her dress. Absolutely stunning! I could not have ever imagined a more perfect dress for anyone. Isn't it beautiful?

After the wedding, Billy and I had decided to make the best out of an already great trip spend the weekend, plus Monday in Smokies to go to Dollywood and do some hiking in Cades Cove! So we made the quick trip in some rough rain on into Tennessee to Gatlinburg, where we had planned to stay. Much to our displeasure, every single hotel was booked! I had never seen so many No Vacancy signs lit up before in my life!! We literally drove into or called every hotel in the 3 surrounding cities, and every one was sold out, or all they had left was a smoking room, with a heart shaped Jacuzzi tub for $170 a night.. Homie don't play that!

About 9:30 that night, we decided we'd just go back home to Atlanta, because we knew even if we found a room, the park lines would be miserable if there were that many people in town... Side note, the first available hotel we found, was over an hour and a half away back in Georgia!! Guess we learned our lesson in making hotel reservations in advance.

Instead, we could have a staycation! We could do everything we wanted but on an even better budget, and the room has already been paid for! This is exactly what we have been wanting to do in order to help me as I'm saving money for a hopefully upcoming uh.. wedding party.

Sunday, we enjoyed shopping on the cheap with some friends at the outlet mall for their new baby that should be making her appearance later in the fall! I'll tell you more about my new neice, Addy, when she gets here! Quickly followed by dinner, also on the cheap, with our coaching family. After dinner, we went to a movie, on my couch, with netflix.
Today, we still got to enjoy our theme park trip, but improvised with Six Flags instead of Dollywood. Billy has only been to six flags once, and it was very brief as the lines were so long we only got to ride 3 rides before the park closed that day! No joke! So it was also something somewhat new to him. We had a blast together. I've missed being able to spend time with him because of baseball season.

It was actually really nice to do this instead. We saved a good bit of money, and still got to enjoy the same things we would have done if our original plan would have unfolded right. I'm actually kind of glad it didn't, because I feel like we got in some better quality time doing things together and with those we would have much rather had been with anyway. Instead of wasting half of Monday in the car on the way back, we were able to have nap and cuddle time, which we all know I'm a huge fan of. Since we didn't get to eat at our favorite restaurant in the mill, we got the next best thing at Cracker Barrel for a fraction of the price. 

We should really have staycations more often. I could get pretty used to having Billy all to myself on the weekends.. or at least for the next 3 weeks before the next season kicks up.