:: we've landed...

well, we are slowly, but surely getting settled in here in williamsburg. it has been quite a week, so far. but nothing we can't handle without a little patience and prayer...oh yeah, and a little AC since the first 2 days we were here the "feels like" temperature was 115! wowsie! but all is well. i'll give the run-down with pictures so this post won't be so "wordy" and boring...haha! hope you are all doing well!!

mom and dad had a "going away shin-dig" for us with a few friends and family. thank you, mom and holly, for all you did in getting eveything together!!! and mom, thank you for helping us pack!! what a HUGE help it was! and dad, ralph, ben, and stephen...THANK YOU for helping with all the grunt work of loading the truck!! thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
so it was SO great to see everyone at the shin-dig before we headed out. we were planning to head out on the following day (monday), but we started thinking about it and decided to head out sunday evening and just make it part of the way. amy and russ were SO wonderful to drive the camry up for us and help us get moved in!! a MONGO thank you to you guys!!! we could NOT have done it without you!!!

:: matt and grayson at the shin-dig


:: friends and family! jamie came all the way from fort mill!! we were honored!! :)


:: david, jocelyn, and grayson


:: carters and smiths - one last family photo before we depart


:: lindsay and her buddy


:: getting ready to hit the road


:: the moving crew and the penske wid all our junk in it...haha


:: scout playing with amy instead of going to sleep (haha) at the hotel sunday night - we made it to kannapolis sunday night. matt was about to pass out, as in, go to sleep. so we figured we might better stop since the starbuck's caffeine overload wasn't working for him...haha!


:: up and ready to go monday morning...well, almost ready to go...scout needed a bath first! and amy did too!! heehee! just kidding thaya, gil! haha!


:: we made it! here's scout checkin' out her new crib...she looks a little puzzled


:: russssssssss!!! the camry captain! thanks, man!! you da bomb!!! poor russ had AC only part of the way up...the AC kept coming and going on the ol' camry...but russ...he's quite a trooper!


:: no time to unload boxes...it's bottle time!!



so most of you have heard about what we encountered when we got here. we took pictures to prove it. we were just in shock. when we toured the house 3 weeks ago, the power was out, so we couldn't see what was hiding until the lights came on. who knew??! the house is just so cute, that we were shocked to find the grit and grime that the previous tenants left behind. we have since worked all of these issues out with our landlord, who apparently didn't know how dirty the place was. but he is making it right with us, so that is good. the first 2 nights, we stayed with tim and rita (thanks, y'all!!) since we were scared for our health to stay in our own (haha). for those of you who don't know, tim is the owner/operator of the chick-fil-a here in williamsburg...so a.k.a., matt's boss-man. haha! they have just been WONDERFUL!! they have 2 kids, christine (14) and hunter (13), who are just really great kids. christine has really helped out in watching scout for me as i have been working on the house. thanks, girl! you da bomb, too! haha!

okay, on to the nastage! haha!

:: a little dust on the baseboard...nothing a broom and mop can't take care of...


:: mr clean cleaning the bathroom...he took his dremel tool to the grimey shower...yeeeeeah, it was that bad! haha!


:: i should take an after photo of this. matt took the dremel tool to this and it is sparkling now!! go matty!! now we can cook up some hamburger helper! whee! haha!


:: ah yes...the fridge. this is what was waiting for us. so we just wheeled it out and wheeled ours in. much easier than cleaning this nastage! YUK! although, our plan backfired on us when i was too much of a weakling to help matt get our fridge up the steps into the house. so he had to call for backup. thanks tim and toby!! :)



:: the morning after we stayed in the house for the first time, i thought i'd "let a little sunshine in"...weeellllll, i encountered a little problemo...lucky matt was close by with the camera to snag me in the moment.



:: in other news, scout has been introduced to lots of new things in the past week...

prunes...


daddy's drums...



and selsun blue!! (it can really get that nasty cradle crap outta her head! YAY!!)


so, that's what has been going on with us! i have been extremely busy with Fuzzy Bison, so that is a really great thing! it has just been a little hard with all that we encountered upon our arrival, but we are getting past all of that and getting things cleaned and in order. it's nice to be out of apartment living, so we are enjoying our own space and not having to worry about making too much noise (that's nice with the drums) or about our neighbors making too much noise! haha! matt is stoked to have his drums back with him and have them set up and ready to play at a moments notice. it has been a year since he has had them with him, so he is a happy boy! and he's happy that scout isn't afraid of them...she's actually mesmorized...it's pretty funny! haha! anyways, thanks for the prayers for us through the move and everything! God has just blessed us in so many ways and we are thankful.

until next time...

peace out! :)

:: daaaaaaaaaaang! (chris t., that was for you! haha)

okay, i can really get behind again on the blogfest. we have been crazy busy. fuzzy bison biz is BOOMIN', so i have been up to my eyeballs in projects. so everytime i sit down at the powerbook, it is to work...and if i do anything BUT work, i get stressed out because i know i should be working. most people get stressed out when they do work, but i get stressed when i don't and i know i should be. hahaha! so, right now, i'm stressed because i should be working, but instead i am typing a bloggo post...but that's okay, because i really need to tell everyone that we're moving to williamsburg, va on MONDAY! yeeeeeeeeeeeah...so now you know that we're also up to our eyeballs in boxes, so that's a bit stressful too! haha! but it is all good!!!!! we are REALLY excited about getting up there and getting into a HOUSE instead of an apartment again...ugh...haha! we had a GREAT visit a few weeks ago when we went up to meet tim (the chick-fil-a operator) and his family. they were awesome. we prayed that God would just give us wisdom about this job opportunity and just throw red flags up if he had other plans for us. the weekend was wondeful...everything fell into place, including the rental house we found (which is a pretty neat story i will have to share later). we left williamsburg that evening with an amazing peace that we knew was from God. there wasn't anything about the weekend that we felt uneasy about. just a sweet peace. so now, we are excited and ready to get up there, get unpacked and get the ball rollin'. we're dreading leaving behind family and friends again, but it's a lot different than when we went to st louis since that was about a 13 hr drive, and this is only about 6 1/2 hrs. so a VERY doable weekend trip!! yay!!!!!

anyways, on with the pics...i gotta get to work!!! HAHA!

here's what matt will look like on his first day at his new job in williamsburg. this is the town attire. gotta getcha some knickers, baby!!!!


this is tim, rita, and christine...tim is the operator of the new chick-fil-a. it won't open until late-august, so they are anxiously awaiting the grand-opening!!! whoohoo!! so exciting!!


this is like 10 min from our house...


and this is the view right across from the field...simply gorgeous.


and here is scout with her new buddy, christine. scout's excited about getting to go back and see her new found friend! :)


here's the sweet crib that we were SO fortunate to find while we were up there. literally, a God-send! (the story i'll have to share later!) holy cowzola...is that a garage?? we will not know how to act!!! HAHA!


okay, well that's our big news. i really wanted to get this post out before we got to williamsburg and that post said, "hello from williamsburg", and i hadn't even told everyone that we were even going there...haha! although, i guess if you read this, then you probably already knew that we were going there...haha!

okay, WORK TO DO!!!! peace out...

next stop...land of wigs and knickers...

...stay tuned............

:: cow appreciation day!

i have SO much to post about our weekend in williamsburg, but i will get to all of that in another post...

...for now, we must recognize COW APPRECIATION DAY! if you went to your local chick-fil-a yesterday, and dressed up like a cow, you got a free meal! i'm SURE all of you did just that...hahaha! well, scout dressed up...so i got a free meal! haha! she was such a little trooper! i think we'll be in for a treat when halloween rolls around...she didn't fight with her cow suit at ALL! enjoy the pictures! :)

:: HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY TO HOLLY!!!

today is holly's 30th birthday! i can't give her too much of a hard time, because i'll be seeing it next year! haha!
have a good 'un, you crazy woman!! :) we love you!!
(oh, and if you haven't heard...holly is also PREGGO!!! whoohooey!!! congrats y'all!!!)

:: july already??!

where has this year gone?! i can't believe it is already july!! crazy junk! tomorrow is my most favorite holiday of the year! well, and christmas...but christmas is more of a season. so it's my favorite SEASON! haha!

last saturday, scout and i met up with my ol' high school girlfriends. it was great seeing them! i hadn't seen everybody since our reunion last october (other than jamie). it was so great seeing them! matt says that i am the only person he knows that keeps up with friends from high school...haha! they are a bunch of great girls and i'm glad we have all kept in touch after all these years! :) (we missed y'all...carol, melissa, jenni, jessica, and sarah!!)

here's laura and kellie (and scout)...


karen and jamie...


and dawn...


and here we are sittin' around the lunch table in high school! bwhahaha!
l to r: carol, jenni, karen, jamie, me, sarah, laura, kellie


okay...i HAVE to post more old school pics since i've started...

here we are again...i think this was on a choir tour trip...fun times! :)


here we are hangin' out at the go-cart track...haha! check out those duck head shorts that jamie and i are sportin'! oh LAW! HAHAHAHA!!! jamie, you look sleepy! HAHA!


those were some fun times! matt also says that he doesn't know anybody that had as much fun in high school as we did. i guess that goes hand in hand with wanting to keep up with the peeps that you had so much fun with! :)

okay, so let's bring it back to 2006! haha!
here are just some random pics of the week...

scout loves hangin' out with her daddy! :)





scout had 2 milestones this week! she moved up to size 2 diapers! and she no longer needs her "newborn sling" in her bathtub!! yay! go scout! lucky for you, i don't have a diaper pic, but here she is enjoying her new found tub freedom!


saturday was carey's birthday, so we made her a sign and took her a plant! happy birthday, carey! :)


i forgot my camera, but here's a pic of scout with her great-aunt carey a few weeks ago...



yesterday was drum day for matt! after not touching the drums for almost an entire year (except for visiting the drum store in st louey and charlotte), he got to play at church yesterday morning, and then again last night with Oracle 7! YAY! you would have never known it had been so long since he played! he amazes me! it was good to see him back in his "element". :) way to go, matteo!!!!!!! :)

here's alex, mark, and matt. alex and mark are the founders of Oracle 7. they are 2 amazing musicians and just amazing people. mark is a custom bass guitar maker...check out his works of art at eshenbaughguitars.com!! (amy took this awesome pics! i had to sit and protect scout's ears from daddy's loud drumming! haha! great pics, amy! thanks for braving the running kiddies!! hahaha!)



and here was scout after the concert...all pooped out! she seemed to really enjoy it while she was awake! she finally had to crash though after not having a good nap all day! :)


that's all for now! i'm sure i'll be back again this week with some july 4th festivities pics! YAY! :)