Hi everyone and happy Monday! I have returned home from my beautiful Asheville, North Carolina family vacation and am ready to bring you the latest and greatest in my world. I have to admit, I’m not thrilled to be home since Asheville was so gorgeous! It was such a nice change to be surrounded by all of the art and nature that NC had to offer as opposed to the flat and boring Ohio. But before we begin this post, a round of applause is in order for all of my fantastic vacation guest bloggers! Thank you so much for all of your help in maintaining lifewithlilred while I was away. Great job! Now, let’s take a look at some vacation pics, shall we?

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^^^ Can I go back now, or?

My family had the best time exploring Asheville and we left with so many great memories. One of my favorites was going horseback riding for the morning through a ranch that provides trail rides on their vast 550 acre property. My horse was named Sassy and we were obviously a perfect match! Despite getting super sun burned thanks to our three hour trek, it was definitely a lot of fun!

You might notice some random pictures in the slide show like the snap of a flashlight in its packaging. That happens to be a birthday gift given to me from the Blue Mountain Pizza Company. Lol, I got a glass of wine and when they asked for my ID my dad mentioned that it was my birthday on that very day. The meal was delicious and at the end, our waiter came back with a super special birthday flashlight for yours truly because the restaurant gives presents to those who are celebrating. I can’t say that I’ll make very good use out of the flashlight so I regifted it to my dad who can at least do something with it!

One of our days was spent exploring all of the downtown shops in Asheville so make sure you check back for a post on my vaca purchases. As you can see, my mom and I proudly posed in front of a sign for Appalachian Naturals – the most amazing little homemade soap store that Asheville has to offer. We must have spent close to an hour browsing the store, selecting soaps, and chatting with the knowledgeable and helpful employees.

We left with an enormous selection of handcrafted soap, chapstick, shampoo, dog soap, bath bombs, and…a meatball? Haha, yes. One of the products that the store had to offer was a one pound ball of soap that was made from the excess shavings from the soap making process. It’s admittedly the most ridiculous thing ever but we couldn’t not get it. One of the employees told us a story about how a husband had startled his wife while she was in the shower and she ended up throwing the soap ball at him which resulted in two black eyes and a broken nose. Yikes!

The final picture of the slideshow is a family photo at El Poncho, a Mexican restaurant in Atlanta, Georgia when we went to visit my brother and his wife to start our vacation. The food was SO good and we had such a great time. I got serenaded by the mariachi band for my birthday and throughout the meal they continued to come back and play for us. At one point my parents got up to practice their Rumba and ChaCha while the band performed. They were a hit!

At the end of the meal we decided to take a family photo and everything looked awesome except for one thing. The man on the farthest right has no relation to our family. Lol, we got photobombed so hard by this guy sitting at the bar and none of us can get over how good of a job he did. He seriously looks like he belongs in the picture. When we caught the culprit after we took a look at the picture we invited him into our family as an adopted son and brother. He has yet to accept or decline this offer.

So there you have it, this week’s Monday Update which displays some of the many Vacation Photos that were taken during our week in Asheville! Who is going on vaca soon? Where is your favorite spot to travel to? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah