loving my life

Wow! It's been such a crazy, busy, fun summer - so much so that I haven't blogged a whole lot. Sorry! Here's a look at what we've been doing.


The porta potty (our half bath) was removed from the front yard!!!!




We spent out first night in our house - with no furniture but our bed:)




We cut down a tree - well Jason & George cut down our tree.




We got our first gift for our house from Monica & Wade!

And after all of our hard work, we decided we needed a break so we went to North Myrtle for a five day vacation.



We stayed at Lala's grandmas house....



we relaxed a lot on the beach....



Johnathon & Whitney were there to hang out with us too!




We went to dinner...



watched fireworks....




and just enjoyed the tremendous beauty of it all.




We spent our last day on the beach getting some sun writing our names in the sand.
This time however, the end of the vacation was different. I was excited about coming home to the beautiful house that my wonderful husband built for me.




We went to Ashley & Hector's wedding. (Yes the picture is off centered, but that's what happens when you use the self timer with the camera on the mantel.)
Congrats to the newlyweds!!! The wedding was wonderful!




And I finally got my rocking chairs! This is one of my new favorite places to be:)


I am so very happy with my life right now, and not only because of the 'things' that I have. Now don't get me wrong, I love my new house, but I have been blessed with so much more that that -
a strong relationship with a loving and forgiving God,
a marriage that's not perfect, but wonderful and strong,
supportive and loving family and friends,
and a church family that is faithful and encouraging.

Thank you to everyone who has helped and supported us through our house building journey. We still can't believe that we're finally done!

Vacation Snippets

JP and I are having a wonderful time at the beach. Here are a few pictures of what we've been up to so far this week.

riding some waves

catching up on some reading - while getting some much needed sun:)

cat naps

loving on him:)

even cutting some grass

I hope everyone has a fantastic 4th of July! See you when we get back!

but the greatest of these is love

It's hard to believe that 3 years ago today...



I was a blubbering mess glowing bride walking down the aisle...

to my handsome, soon-to-be husband.

We said our vows,

had our first kiss,

signed our marriage license,

and were officially Mr. and Mrs. Jeremy Pyle.

We had our first dance,

a champagne toast,

we smeared cake in each others face fed each other cake,

danced some more,

and finally left to go home as husband and wife.


I can't begin to describe how wonderful the past three years have been. I am so blessed to have such an amazing husband who loves me unconditionally.

Jeremy,

Thank you for the past three years. My life with you is more than I ever dreamed possible. I prayed for someone to love and to spend the rest of my life with, but God had other plans for me. He gave me you! You, who are so much more than I deserve. You are the love of my life, my best friend, my partner, my soulmate. I love you so much more than I'll ever be able to show you. We have so many great memories we have made over the past three years, and I can't wait to see what our future holds. Thank you for choosing me, for marrying me, but most of all for loving me.
Love,
me

'My beloved is mine, and I am his.'

Song of Solomon 2:16

Guess where I am????

We are currently laying in our bed in the new house! Yes, we are spending our first official night here and I am beyond excited:) I promise that I'll try to get some new pictures up in the next few days.

A long road

Remember this?





Or this?





Well, here is the newest picture to add to our collection.
JP & I with our final inspection paper.





And just to clarify since it's too small to read in the above picture...



WE PASSED!!!!

Just say NO!

This post is going to be a little different - in fact, very different from my normal happy, upbeat, picture-yielding posts.

I won't spend the next 5 paragraphs complaining, but if I'm being honest, I must say that the thought of 'Why in the world did we think it would be a good idea to build our own house?' has crossed my mind more than oh, 100 times in the past few days. It seems like the light at the end of the tunnel that I've been seeing for the past month, keeps getting farther and farther away. Just when we think we're almost done, something else pops up.

And if I'm continuing to be honest, I hate that my wonderful laundry-doing, dinner cooking, project manager husband is totally stressed out, but never complains because he doesn't want me to worry. And just so you know - I'm well aware that I don't even come close to deserving such a wonderful man.

Now that I've got that off my chest, I'll end on a good note - if everything goes right, Lord willing, we will be moving into our stress causing dream home next weekend.

Stay tuned for updated pictures tomorrow of our almost completed home:)

Not much longer

Here's a quick update about what's been going on the past month or so:
* we have lights
* we have countertops
* we have a banister
* we have the railings on the front and back porch
* we are very tired because all we do is work on the house

Haha! So, please don't take that last point as a complaint. I am very excited about our house, however, I am ready for it to be done/completed/ready to be moved in to! We got a lot done this weekend, and HOPEFULLY will be ready for the final inspection next week sometime. The hardwoods are being sanded & stained as we speak, and carpet is scheduled to be installed this Saturday.
Thanks to everyone who has kept up with this whole process. We are so appreciative of your excitement for us. Please forgive us for being unsocial. We promise this will change as soon as we move in catch up on a months worth of sleep.
Here are some pictures from the weekend. We had lots of visitors - one very special visitor:)

my foyer chandelier

another view



dining room chandelier

fireplace

kitchen with countertops

another view of the kitchen

master bathroom

Jack helping out on Saturday

JP working

me working - yes I know how to use power tools

Johnny finishing the banister

Johnny - a lifesaver:) He helped JP with all of the trim.

Heather, Travis, and Morgan Kate came by for their 1st visit:)
Not pictured: Travis

More visitors - Lindsay, Callahan, & Candler

Lindsay & Candler
Not pictured: Callahan
Not really sure why none of the husbands ended up in the pictures.

Candler helping AA

My WONDERFUL husband working hard on the front porch

Yes, I even have my own toolbelt:)

working hard....

hardly working:)
just kidding!

My 3 loves

The front porch - almost done.
We will paint the railing, but we have to wait for the treated wood to dry out some.




AND FINALLY, FOR THE BEST PART OF THE WHOLE WEEKEND.....

I got to hold Morgan Kate for the very first time:) She is such a sweet baby. So happy! I am absolutely in love. (And JP thinks she's the cutest thing ever)
If you're not familiar with Morgan Kate, she is the daughter of our friends Travis and Heather. Morgan Kate was born at just over twenty-five weeks gestation, weighing in at a tiny one pound, twelve ounces. Although she was in the hospital for several months and has had to overcome many obstacles in her short life, she is a happy, healthy 9 month old now. She is nothing short of a miracle. Because of her prematurity she has not been able to be around others until recently. Obviously that is no longer the case, and I was absolutely overjoyed that I FINALLY got to love on her. What a blessing.
Thank you Travis and Heather AND Lindsay and Callahan for stopping by and giving me the chance to love on your sweet babies:)