SNAKE

Just another day full of working in the yard when what did we see peeking it's little head out by the front door?

Oh,
just a snake.

A snake.

We stared at it for a minute and then it slithered back into it's home, which was actually our home. It lived right inside the outside of the house.

A few minutes later after Jude and I watched Dan working on the roof, we happily headed back towards the house when

HALT!

The snake was back. This time peeking out a little too far and a little too close to Jude and I. Dan scurried off to roof and quickly devised a plan to protect his family from the little rascal. Jude and I kept our distance. Before I knew it Dan has the FISKARS HEDGE CLIPPERS in his hands and he had them right above the head of the snake, still peeping out from the house.

....
...
...

Yes, he would.
...
...
...
He said not to look but I couldn't. It was like Lot's wife looking at Babylon. Before I could turn away,

SLICE of the Fiskars.

OFF with the snake's head.

Traumatized is an understatement here. I let out a blood-curtailing squeel, grasped my sweet little child and ran up the hill far away.

The snake was slithering away, headless. I guess they do that. Dan got the whole body out of the house. And that's that. I think that was more details than anyone cared to know. It was more than I cared to share.

Check out that outfit...

There are a lot of creatures and creepy crawlies and who-knows-what-else around here. We kinda live in the country. It's the greatest.

Exhausted after a long day!

what we are doing riiight now.

Right now life is good.

Right now life is how it should always be.

Jude and I just finished making two batches of laundry detergent out on the deck. Then we danced and twirled all around to "Something in the Water" by Brooke Fraser. The weather is lovely. 77 degrees and it feels just perfect! (Dan may think otherwise...)

Dan is figuring out how to install the washer and dryer. I would put all the legistics but it's beyond me. Something about 4 inch pipe having to fit through the hole in the laundry room to get outside. So he's been running back and forth from Lowe's to home and then from the laundry room to the crawl space from the laundry room to the crawl space figuring it out. We think he did it. :) Having a house sure teaches you a lot of things you didn't know and helps you do things you've never done. We spent the morning trimming hedges with these super cool Edward Scissorhands hedge clippers and fearlessly facing spiders head on.

He works so hard. He doesn't stop. And he found some wild strawberries in our backyard... :)

Oh, not to mention, this little boy. He loves his three naps per day. He loves attacking Daddy's face with big wet slobbery kisses. He loves advancing to the size 3 diapers while we are waiting on a washer and dryer to wash his cloth ones. He loves playing with his feet and cuddling with Mom and Dad while we watch Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. And he gives me a little too much to work with when I pull out the camera...

"How's this pose Mama?"

movin in.

We have officially made residence in sweet ole' Boiling Springs. 

We are proud to say we are official Costco members! It was a big day for us.

The sunsets here are beautiful and breathtaking every night! 

Yep, another Lowe's trip. 

Here are a couple sneak peeks of our house!!

The side of the house with the driveway and the basketball hoop. So cute!

moved.

We have officially moved to Boiling Springs, South Carolina as of yesterday.

we

are

in

love.

It's a little ridiculous. We're the new kids in town. Loving it all and eating it up like two kids on Christmas. Our own house?! Really?! With the most gorgeous view of green as far as the eye can see outside the back windows? Or a perfectly placed wooden patio perfect for evening dinners? Or big, open windows that let all the light in? Or Jude's own room?! We are so happy and thankful and excited for all of these things and much more. Just in case we weren't thankful/humble enough...

After a long trip, we excitedly turned the corner onto our street. We drove down to the end of the cul-de-sac to find a man, a complete stranger even, mowing our lawn. Spending hours out of his day to mow the lawn, the extremely large, highly inclined lawn, of complete strangers in the humid heat of day... just to welcome us into the ward. Kind might be an understatement. Before long we had loads of men over who unpacked our ten-foot U-haul in a matter of minutes. We been welcomed so warmly already!

Now let the unpacking, appliance shopping, and Lowe's trips begin!

Jack Warner Pkwy

Here are a couple pictures from our little apartment at

1130 Jack Warner Pkwy NE #8B

Tuscaloosa, AL 35404

We loved that little place. It was the perfect little apartment for us to live in after the tornado until we moved. That little loveseat was given to us from one of Dan's old professors. We loved that little loveseat! Until it became Jude's changing table.

These chairs were given to us from the girl we subleased from over the summer. They are the nicest modern little chairs! We still have them.

Our little plant didn't make it through the move. But we love that little stool that we refinished! That TV stand we got off Craigslist too.

I made this bean bag chair for Dan for Christmas. It's full of down feathers!

The view from the kitchen. We loved how open it was.

Ashley made me that beautiful flower garland. I love it!

Our kitchen table that survived the tornado. It has personality.

The front hallway from the front door. Lots of walking Jude up and down those halls in the middle of the night!

We sure loved that apartment!

quick trip.

Remember how Dan took a quick one-day trip to the beach a couple weeks ago? The very next morning we packed up our bags and left for South Carolina in the wee hours to make it for the inspection on OUR HOUSE! We stopped by Zaxby's and had some delicious chicken, stretched our legs, then jetted to the house and met our funny little inspection man. He was so intense. We didn't know how to take him at first as he was darting around the house from one task to the next. We had to stop him to tell him we wanted to go along with him during the inspection to be advised from his expertise. We learned to love him in no time and he shared a wealth of knowledge with us on how to improve and care of our sweet little home. We met our neighbors, Dan explored the woods and creek in the backyard, and before four hours had passed we were back in the car for our six hour ride home.

struggling on the car ride. we wedged his occe next to his head to give himsupport. he's not a big fan of the road trips.

?hmm, dad, what do you think about that?'

"yeah, i think it should be okay..."

Loooong day! Especially for Dan, who drove 22 hours in a 32 hour period. He was a little loopy by the time we hit the Alabama border. Really loopy actually. I've never seen him like that. It was theee funniest. We made it home safely and sound!

on grandma.

More on mama. and grandma. what a joyful  bliss she is to have around. i had been so, so excited to have her here for 1.5 weeks. it met my expectations and surpassed them!

we went to South Carolina on a house hunt and made a new friend in Bill Still. (Dan couldn't come due to school, boo!)

we looked at lots of houses. some rickety, some new. some seventies, some blue!

lots of hotel breakfast, stashed away for lunch too. we also went to a mexican restaurant. the only mexican restaurant in boiling springs. how cute is that?

lots of navigating using the iPhone map and finding our way around new places. (3600 parris bridge rd?!) like ATL without one wrong turn! go us!

we had a photo shoot of jude in the hotel room. we were ecstatic about how cute he was in his new green outfit!

This one's for Grandpa...

Grandma did lots of laundry. she loves laundry. we even starting packing!

we watched some movies, &danced away to footloose.

a trip to TJ max, sam's club, and wal-mart.

Oh, and chipotle. and chick-fil-a, of COURSE! (my mom's favorite)

Jude just knew to smile. He didn't even have to look at the camera.

BEST. BLUE. EYES. EVER.

Conan O'brien anyone?! BEST.

His teeth were hurting... Poor boy.

We made a quick trip to Target to get some teething rings. He was laughing like crazy the whole time.

Spent our last evening together enjoying some real Southern ribs at Dreamland.

had a picnic on campus over dan's lunch break &dined on yogurt, tortilla chips &hummus, m&m's. so good!

we drove all the way from Spartanburg to Tuscaloosa with zero stops. i'd say that's pretty impressive with a baby on board.

Most importantly, she spent lots of time with her little grandson. giving him lots of hugs and kisses and rocking him in the rocking chair and playing with him. He loves his grandma!

VICTORIOUS!!!