light up my life.

better late, than never - i say.

***

there are many things that light up my life.
faith. my husband. my puppy. my family.my friends. my job (thankful to have one) laughing.

my favorite song at just the right time. playing. dancing. running. water.quiet time. adventures. new people. warmth. fall. hugs. genuine smiles.outdoors. you get the idea....

a few weekends ago - something else lit up my world. the FIREFLIES. and, good quality family time.

if you'd like to read more about the history of my experience with the fireflies, click here.

leslie and i had a great trip over to the smokies visiting and catching up, as she lives in dallas and we don't get to see each other all that often. despite the rain all the way to the smokies, we were hopeful that it would clear off and we'd be able to feel liberated and tough and set up camp all by ourselves. no mens. we could do this on our own, right?

done and done. the rain held off and we were able to put up our tents, fix our beds, and secure our little spot in the woods. then, the downpour visited us. like, can't see out the windshield downpour. since there would be no cooking on the fire, we opted for dinner in town and came back and had happy hour in the truck with our headlamps until time for bed.

another married antic. who else has a hard time sleeping when your spouse is gone? i do. ugh. j had planned to meet us at the campsite after his class. i knew it would be more early in the AM than late in the PM for him to grace us with this presence. but, never dreamed that i'd wake up at his ETA and stay away until he arrived, 3 hours later. sheesh. i tossed and turned and checked my watch every 3 minutes, as if i was late for a job interview. the weather was bad and it took him much longer to get to the campsite than he'd expected. thankfully, he made it safe and sound - and i was able to finally fall sound asleep. but, he wasn't.



he was a trooper. he's always a trooper.



after driving all night and drinking several sugary, caffeine loaded beverages to assure that he had no trouble driving - he wasn't able to sleep when he got there. he stayed up, set up a few extra things, and waited on leslie and i to get ready to hike. no sleep. he's a trooper.


and, i didn't do quite as well at setting up the tent as i had so confidently reported to j via text message earlier in the evening. apparently, his side of the sleeping area had gotten a little damp {wet} during the night. who knew that the rainfly could 1/2 way fit on backwards? not me. oops. other than the rainfly incident which led to drying bedding at the laundrymat - there were no mishaps in our tent-setting-up skills.


we hiked ramsey cascades on friday. it was amazing!




i'm beginning to think that j and i are destined for hiking in the rain. we haven't had a dry hike since last fall. neat. that's what rain coats are for, right?

but, had it not been for the rain - we wouldn't have had the experience we had at the cascades. there was so much water that they were gushing over the top. the roar of the falls was so loud we could hardly hear each other. but, we didn't talk much as we took in the roar, the rain on our raincoat covered heads, the spray in our face, and the chill in the air.

it was truly one of the most beautiful cascades i have ever seen.



meggan joined us on friday night for her first camping weekend! she joined us on our last trip, but she had a hotel so that doesn't count.

saturday morning, leslie and i loaded up and headed to hartford, tn for a little bit of raging rafting adventure on the upper portion of the little pigeon river. the sun decided to show up on saturday, thankfully. that river water is freeeezing!


since j was up for nearly 40 hours - he stayed behind to hang out with meggan and relax. leslie and i found them flailing about like school children at a hotel pool - and no, we didn't have hotel reservations. busted.

but, how could you resist the slide?

to top of a wonderful and adventurous weekend, the fireflies were there! these little guys put on quite a show for us on saturday night. we {j} cooked a mouthwatering dinner early so we had time to make our way to find the perfect spot to watch the flies.



posted up in our spot, waiting on the fireflies.

since i'm always cold, i prepared a backpack full of clothing to assure that i would be able to enjoy the scenery without shivering and shaking. because according to j, "mauri isn't very fun when she's not having fun." haha

meggan thought it would be entertaining to take my picture while i adorned each layer. {there were 4-5 total. no joke.}

what would be a camping trip without some braids, hammock time, campfire, and s'mores?!

my hard work. haha

justin's "big mac"

group shot! :D

in case you didn't know, i love this rugged, thoughtful, hardworkin', sweet, smart, and thankfully outdoorsy man.

too bad we couldn't capture the fireflies on film - they were amazing! the entire trip was fantastic and, of course - the mountains are already calling my name again.

until next time....