Happy Birthday Mike and Reeves (it is kinda crazy my parents 2 son-in-laws have the same bday)

Well because of Sat and Sun nights being busy with RUF things, Mike and I have his bday dinner on friday night. Mike grilled out steak and I made rolls, twice baked potatoes, brocolli, and dirt cake (Mikes fav). I also gave him his bday gifts. He knew what one of them was (a grill kit) but I suprised him with another grill tool that he wanted. It is a thing you stick in the meat and it tells you what temp that meat is and how long you have been cooking it and beeps when it is done. Because our grill is 3 stories down from us I thought this would be great as it also has a pager that you can take with you and so Mike can come inside with me and know what is going on with the meat downstairs. He seemed really excited about it so I was glad.

Saturday night we had an RUF movie night at our apt and borrowed the projector from the church to put the movie on the wall. We completely rearranged the den so that all the sofas were on one side. Checkers was quite fascinated with the projector and looked at it for about 30 minutes not know whether to attack it or not.

The whole RUF group

Erica, Tori, me, and Claire
Mike, Eric, and Jeremy at lunch

Mike and I at the aquarium (sorry its a little blury)
The real live black bear

This past weekend we were in Gatlinburg for the church's college retreat. There were about 60 students from UK, EKU, Asbury, and Georgetown. It was a perfect weekend as the leaves were gorgeous and the weather was perfect. We got in around 8:30 on friday night and had a short meeting and then went to our cabins. The cabins were great as they had a bed for each person, a living area, a kitchen, and then a porch with a hot tub. There were only 5 to 8 people in a cabin so it was really nice. Saturday we had a big breakfast and then our first meeting. The meetings were neat because each campus ministry represented (campus outreach, RUF, and campus crusade) spoke at one meeting on how to reach our campus for Christ (each took a different topic- prayer, holiness, and love).

After the first meeting we went to lunch at Applewood farm and has some good homecooking and apple butter. We then had free time to go to the Auarium or the mirrer maze and then just walk around Gatlinburg. I have decided that Gatlinburg is the Myrtle Beach of the mountians. It wasn't quite as bad but it had all the tackiness and tourist attractions that Myrtle has. It was still fun to walk around though. Later that night we had another meeting and then dinner and group time (seperating into our different campuses). This was a great time of fellowship and good time to hear the students thoughts on what they saw as problems on the campus and in their own lives and how to address these things. After this we went back to our own cabins and just hung out. I got a phone call at about 10 from Mike though that there was a big bear behind their cabin. Me and 3 girls went running over to see it. It was awesome to be that close to a bear but very safe. Needless to say many other people came over to see it and it was a very exciting night.

Sunday we had a meeting and then basically left. Mike and I stayed around for a little while longer to go to the outlets because they have my formal and everyday china outlets up there. We ended up getting 2 more settings of our everyday because I was running out of plates when students have been coming over for dinner. It was a long a weekend but overall it was a great trip.