:: a little more back trackin'...

okay, so i'm still trying to catch up and bring the blog up to date, so bear with me (remember, you are not only reading a blog, but a "journal" of sorts that i will one day print out and make a book or something like that, but not really...probably just a corner staple will do...

anyways...july 14 my aunt patsy and cousin ouita came down for a visit from raleigh. well, ouita has recently moved to roanoke, so she's not far from us now! it was SO great to see them...it had been several years. they met scout for the first time, so that was fun!

here's my mom and her sisters...l to r: patsy, carey, mom, jerry - sunny, kaylee, scout (mom hates this picture because she is sitting up so much higher than everyone else. no, she's not 7 ft tall...i guess her rock was just taller than everyone elses...haha)


da cuzzins - me and ouita


i really like this picture of jerry and scout...too cute!



so patsy and ouita headed out on sunday...then mom, scout, holly, stephen, kaylee, sunny, and i all headed off to the beach!! poor matt had to stay behind and work, but he insisted that i go since we would soon be moving and we wouldn't get to see our families as much then. it stunk to go without him, but we really had so much fun! i was so glad i went! it was good to get away and relax before the packing and fuzzy bison jobs hit the next week!

scout's very first visit to the beach! too bad it was hotter than HOT...she will probably NEVER want to go back! haha!


stephen either lost or forgot his sunglasses (i can't remember), so he had to swing by the quickie stop and pick up these sweet, ol' school shades. he wasn't a big fan of them, but it was either wear those or have his eyeballs fried out. so he opted for the dork shades. nice choice, bro! bwaha! oh, and check out the stud-muffins gracing the background. i'm thinking they may be playing for the other team...hmmmm? haha!


kaylee working on her sand-castle masterpiece...


someone has a MONGO wedge!! sunny!!! HAHA!


you can NOT go to the beach and not play putt-putt!! fun times, fun times!!





cooling off in the house after being out in the heat. kaylee opted for some artwork...scout wanted in on the action..."if only i could CRAWL!!"


chillin' wid da cuzzzins


sweet girlies...





it was great getting away at the beach, but it was good to get back home to matteo!! a few days after we got back, scout started something new at naptime...


so, i reverted back to her "secure sleeper" which is supposed to and USED to keep her "safe and secure" and on her back. well, not anymore...i found her this way at naptime the next day...



oh my...what a STINKER!!!! HAHAHA!! i laughed SO hard when i went in to check on her and found her like that!! HAHAHA! but ugh...i didn't know what to do...for those of you who don't have kids, you probably don't know that everything you hear and read says not to let your baby sleep on their stomach. the risk for SIDS is much greater when they're on their stomach. so i asked the pediatrician and he said that as long as she can get herself IN that position, then she'll have no problem getting herself OUT of it if she suddenly is not able to breathe. the risk for SIDS declines once the baby can roll over. soooo...whew! that was good to know!!

be back later with more catching up!! in other news...one week from today is the ribbon cutting at the CFA!! WHEEEEEE!!!!

:: catching up...

since i seem to have gotten behind and missed some "happenings" that are most definitely "blog-worthy", the following several posts will be tributes to those "happenings"! :)

we celebrated grandmama gina's birthday at carrabba's on july 11th! it was a lot of fun...the crew came out to sing, and she got a free dessert! whee!



ma and papa came so scout was stoked to be able to see her "greats"! ralph and angela left for mexico the next day on a mission's trip, so we had to say our "goodbyes" :(

:: 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............