Taylor's 10th Birthday

This past weekend we surprised Taylor by taking her away for her birthday. 10 is a big deal...it is double digits, never again would my baby be in the single digits! We had told her all week long that we had a surprise for her birthday but we would give her any clues...about drove her crazy! Oh, the joys of being a parent :)

We packed everyone's bags and loaded them in the car while everyone was at school. When the kids got off the bus we picked them up and told them we were going to "run some errands", we are so sneaky! All 3 kids fell asleep 15 minutes into the hour ride. When they woke up we were at a Walmart near our destination. We tried convincing her that was the surprise...she wasn't too excited. After picking up a few things we got back in the car and drove another 10 minutes. When we pulled into check-in Taylor's mouth dropped open and she was so excited to be staying there for the weekend.

Our friends, the Tomlinson's, were joining us but hadn't arrived yet so we didn't tell her they were coming. When they walked in the door an hour later Taylor was shocked again! We enjoyed just eating dinner, watching some tv and talking before going to bed early b/c we had another surprise the next day.

We woke up and got everyone dressed but wouldn't say where we were going. We drove about 10 minutes and pulled up to Dollywood and all 3 kids were so excited. We always have season passes but this was the first time we had been this season. We got there right as they were opening and since there was a chance of rain it wasn't crowded. We got to walk right up to the rides with no waiting :) We knew the rain was coming so we ducked into a Festival of Nations show and when we came out it was raining so we decided to go back to the resort and just swim before dinner and cake.

We had a great weekend celebrating our sweet girl's birthday. She is really becoming a young lady who has such a caring heart and deep love of the Lord already.

The cars are one of our favorite rides


Shooting star is also a favorite


Taylor and her daddy on the Ferris Wheel


Then they moved on to the swings!


Taylor's cake this year....she loves chocolate with butter creme frosting


Taylor blowing out her candles (and Caleb pouting in the back)