the angel oak.

can you believe how gorgeous this tree is?  they call it the angel oak.  Legend has it, ghosts of former slaves appear as angels around this tree.  it's estimated to be 500+ years old.  today, we went to visit the tree for the second time.  griffin loved touching the tree and really...just being here felt pretty special.

for my 30th birthday last week, chad surprised me with unique angel oak jewelry in mixed metal- which he had picked out himself before I had even seen this beautiful tree.  my hubby knows me well.  thank you for the extremely thoughtful gift, honey.  i love it.

love, us

more about the angel oak tree.

whose kid is this?

14 months old, already.  where is my baby and who is this toddler?  This kid is way too smart for his own good and he's learning to get just what he wants.  He's learned to shake his head no when mom or dad tell him not to do something.  He says cheese, baby, hi baby, say hi, baba, ball, daddy, mama, yah, bye-bye.  He points to everything he wants and is signing a few words (milk, all done, etc).  He has a major staring problem and refuses to wave, talk to or smile at strangers (apparently, I was the exact same way as a baby...extremely stubborn).  He's a pro at going down for his afternoon nap and has started weaning his way off of the second nap.  No walking on his own yet but we expect it anytime.  He loves to read books and can point to objects when quizzed.  I'll say,"where are the cars?  where are the bananas?"  Griff can point out his body parts- head, ears, nose and belly.  He loves to point out mommy's tummy or pull my hair- that one is hilarious for some reason.

Chad and I finally made it through our summer semesters, phew!  We did very well thank goodness and are enjoying the 2 week break before it all begins again.  It's been so nice having dad home all day, we'll sure miss him when Fall starts.  Friday we're off to holiday in Georgia for my birthday weekend celebration with Chad's brother's family.  I can't wait to get away and explore.

Love, us. 

Our chalkboard wall.

in our old house in Ogden, we had a chalkboard wall.  i'm pretty sure it was Chad's idea to do it- and i'm so glad we did.  on the north wall of our kitchen, visitors, family and friends would all leave their mark with messages, pictures and quotes.  it was where chad and I left each other love notes, where my mom's famous cookie recipe was (because i can't ever remember it, i think i have to call one of my sisters for help every time i make them), where we kept track of grad school craziness- shown here, and where we wrote dumb stuff like phone numbers or the last dose of tylenol i gave the baby the night he got sick.  One time, my sweet husband tried to clean the wall and make more space for new messages.  When i saw what he had done, i strangely burst into tears (oh, the drama).  Until that moment, i hadn't understood just what that wall meant to me.  These were our memories.  and i loved seeing them everyday when i fed Griff or when we would all gather in the kitchen to make dinner.  Needless to say, we made new memories...but i think my very favorite was the day that we brought Griff home from the hospital.  Above our doorway, in big blue cursivey letters were the words, "Welcome home baby Griffin!!".  My sister Rachel had secretly made cute things around the house so that we would  have a memorable homecoming with our new baby.  Woogie, i can't thank you enough for that memory.

i have thought about starting again and painting a wall in our new place here in Charleston to carry on the tradition.  i don't think i can bring myself to do it yet.  having to leave our wall behind back in May was hard.  I didn't watch as the wall was cleaned completely.  in fact, im not sure if anyone wiped it clean at all.  if Chad did, he never told me about it (afraid of my reaction from last time, no doubt).  Our last day in the house, after all of the furniture was loaded into the moving truck and the rooms had been cleaned, the wall still remained- bright and cheerful as we said goodbye.  The great thing about memories is that...you CAN take them with you.  and we did, thank goodness.