These are the days.

I never imagined how difficult it would be to move so far away from everything I have always known. First of all,  I want to say that in light of some of the unimaginable trials many girls in my same stage of life face (loss of husband, loss of child, infertility, sickness, etc.), this move is certainly not earth shattering. It is a change, not a trial. Changes can be great and difficult all at the same time.  I tried to prepare myself for this big change and make expectations of what things would be like. But, I really didn't know necessarily how my everyday life would look. Plus, becoming a military family is a whole lifestyle change in itself! More on that later because I have never felt so appreciative toward those who serve our country in the military as I do now. 

I will be honest and say that while I have spent many an afternoon in tears since our move here, these are truly the best days of my life. Someone who is much farther along in life reminded me of that just the other day. She is 77 and her children are grown and have their own children and her husband has left this earth. She said she would give anything to just be able to spend a few hours with her kids as little ones again. From that conversation on my perspective about where we are physically right now has changed. I don't feel like it really matters as much where we are. We are together and that is all I really want anyway.

I am so enjoying that we live in such a sunny, warm spot for our first duty station. Although, most places you go with the Navy are on the coast so you get to enjoy the gorgeous view that comes with the job :) But, in case you cannot tell, we are a very fair skinned family. It's just the way we were made! Sunscreen is part of SJ and I's daily routine anyway (Mitch, now that's a different story!). We go to the pool almost everyday. It's just too hard to resist. Who knows, we could end up somewhere like the Great Lakes next and we would always regret not soaking up the vitamin D while we were here.

I am a little late on my recap... but never-the-less, we enjoyed our 3-day-weekend with Mitch over Labor Day weekend. So much so that I am wondering who I need to talk to make every weekend 3 days?! Just kidding. 

Here I am with my girl. Mitch and I were wearing our BLUE for the Wildcats last Sunday. Boo, they lost :(  You definitely know you are far away from home when no one even knows what you are talking about when you tell them UK and UofL are playing today. People just looked at us like, "So?" Ha! Oh my. 

This little miss sassy is changing all the time! She says the most hilarious things to us and Mitch and I literally cannot even breath sometimes because we are laughing so hard at her. 

And boy does she love her Daddy. I don't know what this little grimace is supposed to mean... 

Mitch and I haven't gotten used to the trees here yet. They are so pretty. So southern and charming.

I am certain we will look back at these pictures someday and cherish these moments. 

I wanted to give a shout out to Nonni (my mama) who sent a care package to us this week... it included SJ's rhino float and a new kick-board for the pool! 

Thank you Nonni!!!! 

Scarlett is working on her swimming. Currently she can blow bubbles with her mouth in the water, put her hair totally in and she kicks pretty well with Mitch or I holding her up. I think the next big step will be going under :)

Who doesn't love sipping on a little sweet -tea in the pool? 

On another note... T-minus 17 days and counting until my sister gets married!!! AH!! I am so excited. Scarlett helped me pick out my shoes for the wedding.... Here she is modeling a pair. 

... she thought a paci would be a nice accessory. Oh dear. I have started just thinking about tackling the paci issue and my blood pressure rises. Ha! She only uses it for sleeping, so that is good, right?! Eek. 

Living among the lizards.

This little guy was on our window yesterday. You cannot tell from this picture but he is actually missing a foot. These little boogers are resilient. There was a huge one on the playground the other day that had no tail at all. We are just not used to having lizards everywhere. Where we live kind of reminds me of a rainforest...there are critters everywhere. Something I cannot get used to -- palmetto bugs. I'm sorry but let's call a spade a spade... they are roaches, that can fly none the less! Eek. 

This very sweet girl is growing up right before our very eyes. She is so much fun. 

  A few of her most recent happenings:

- She is going peepee and poopoo in the potty! Not every time, but she is getting close. Yeah SJ! 

- She talks so clearly and in sentences. She still jumbles words up a little and it makes us smile. A few of her favorites... "You come with a me?"  "I help mommy."  "I miss you really much." "God is able. Jesus loves (yuvs) me." "I big girl, mommy." "You a nut." Oh and she loves so say her full name when we ask her... "Scarlett Jean Owen."

Just today I heard her telling her little monkey pull toy that rolls on the floor, "God is able, Jesus "yuvs" you, monk-ney." I had a moment in the kitchen as I was loading the dishwasher... Melt my heart. 

- She lacks nothing in the department of expressiveness. The girl has no future in the game of poker, that is for sure :) 

 - She plays so well just on her own. I try very hard to make sure she can help me with whatever I am doing either in the kitchen or laundry room, but I do think it is a learned skill to play on your own. I am so thankful she can do that. 

 - She is my little shadow these days. Mommy must be present and accounted for at all times. That's why I was so proud of her for going to Sunday School at church. I recognize that our move was a very big adjustment for her and it may take a couple months before things start to feel normal. I feel the same way sometimes! 

My BIG girl. She and I have this little song that we sing that just says "baby girl...baby girl...." Today I was singing it to her and she stopped me and said, "No mommy, I not baby girl anymore." Well! That is another one of her favorite phrases -- "I anything she normally does doing dat anymore." Ha! 

Every evening we take a walk to "see the crabbies." It's a little tradition we have already set. Scarlett loves it. She has not held one on her own yet, but it took me a couple days to work up the courage too! 

 Here are the cute, tiny, brown crabs we hunt for each evening. Daddy is now a pro at finding them and holding them. They are quick! But at first glance they look like spiders... that's why I had to work up the nerve to hold one. But I did it... Mitch said I should so Scarlett wouldn't be afraid. Ah, what motherhood will make you do :) 

Here is the sunset over the marsh in our neighborhood. 

We went down to the boat dock at sunset and it was breathtaking. 

Gorgeous Carolina sky over the river....

The outer-part of the marsh. 

Scarlett is so right...God is able... just look at His creation. 

wonderful weekend.

We have had a wonderful weekend here and I hope you have had the same too! 

Friday night is always pizza night at our house. I am especially loving it lately because there is a little spot in town where you can buy whole wheat pizza dough for $2. You cannot beat that! So, we have been making homemade pizza and I will be honest, I don't think we will ever be able to go back to store bought. 

Miss Scarlett is quite the pizza chef... Here she is rolling out the dough...

Giving it a little pat...

And spreading around the tomato sauce....

Finally our pizza was done and she was ready for a little taste of the crust...

Magnifico!!! 

Saturday morning we were up early to work in the yard. SJ said she needed her sun hat. 

Daddy and Scarlett :) 

We had to invest in an electric hedge trimmer because there is so much vegetation around our house. It took Mitch close to 3 hours to get it all trimmed! Whew. 

SJ needed a shady spot to do some reading with Bitty baby... she was a little bummed that her picnic table, which is what this umbrella is supposed to go with, did not make the trip. There were several items that unfortunately just didn't make the cut. Oh well.

Here is our pretty girl before church this morning. She was so excited to wear her backpack and go to "Bible School." 

 She did so well! I totally balled my way through the first 30 minutes of the service because I was worried about her. It was like everything hit me at once... we are in a new place, we don't know anyone in the church yet, SJ was in a new room where she knew no one.... all of that to music, you know what I mean? Sometimes worship time at church just causes my tears to flow! But God continues to be so near to us during this transition. I am so thankful. 

Now everyone is napping and the house is quiet... sweet Sunday afternoon :) 

Callie ate a bug. A big one.

I wasn't kidding when I said the bugs here in SC are BIG. Even Scarlett says they are :) 

And apparently we have our own little resident Pumba... don't you see the resemblance? 

From my front porch looking in...

Welcome to our new "South Carolina house" as Scarlett calls it. We are now accepting visitors (by application only, ha!). We already have our first bookings for October and November...yeah!! 

Here is our new home on the range... We are just stationed here for a year (as far as we know) so we are renting this house for the amount of time we call SC home. We really like this house. There is only one thing that we are not happy about and that is that they started building right next door to us the week after we moved in. It's not a huge deal, but it is pretty loud. Hopefully it will only last a few months. (Please excuse any boxes and or general messiness you might notice. As Mitch always says, our house is very lived in and there is nothing wrong with that!) 

Front porch 

(one side, the other side is awaiting our porch swing to be hung and had some construction guys standing right by it so I left out the shirtless, very tattooed men :) 

From looking out front door...

Just a nice empty "park" area in front of us. 

Foyer. 

 From foyer looking into kitchen. 

Laundry room off kitchen. (It is SO nice to have something with cabinets that is bigger than a coat closet!!) 

Dining. 

From dining looking into kitchen. 

From dining looking into family room. 

Family room. 

From bottom of stairs looking into dining and kitchen. 

Front hallway. 

Half bath in front hallway. 

Our bedroom. (We splurged and bought a new bed frame and bedding. Same mattress we had before. Our 1980's metal bedframe which was a hand-me-down from my parents was just not cutting it anymore. We are loving our new sleigh bed! Thank you, Mitch!)

This bolster pillow was a labor of love... made by my own 2 hands out of a pottery barn monogrammed shower curtain we were no longer using. Ha! It was a fun project to complete while Mitch was away, but I am glad it is complete. 

Our closet... I think a window in a closet is genius! Clearly I need to do some organizing though...

Master bath (please excuse the messiness...) 

 ----- UPSTAIRS -----

The landing at the top of the stairs.

Scarlett's bathroom (shared in hallway with guest room)

Guest bedroom.

Back porch (which wraps around house). Potting shed and patio in backyard. 

 One side of back porch (other side looks similar).

Screened in porch off of dining room... looking forward to enjoying this little spot 

in the cooler months :) 

Scarlett's room is not included in these pics.... She was napping so I will have to post those another time... never wake a sleeping babe, you know what I am saying?!?

Have a wonderful weekend!