Friday, August 27, 2010

House Hunting

Last weekend Jeff and I traveled the 6 hour trip to beautiful Savannah! We got in late Friday night and was up early the next morning to begin our house hunting adventure. Before heading to Savannah I had selected around 20 houses for us to look at while we were there, thinking surely that would keep us busy all weekend. Boy was I wrong! We got through all of them, besides several that had gone under contract, on Saturday and the day ended in a big disappointment! There wasn't one on our list that we loved. They were either in bad areas, crappy neighborhoods, or didn't live up to the pictures we saw online. Go figure! So, by Saturday night we felt like this was going to be unsuccessful trip.

After house hunting all day on Saturday we decided to hit River Street for dinner. This place is AMAZING! You have to walk down a long steep alley, or go down really steap stairs to get down to River Street but when you get down there if feels like you have stepped into a different era. You step onto a Cobblestone street with a trolley and it is all picturesque. River Street consists of old buldings lining the river front full of restaurants, bars, and little shops. So anyways, Jeff and I went ate dinner and sat on this balcony overlooking the water while listening to live music, then we decided to walk around a bit. The cool thing about River Street is that you can walk around with an open container. So, we went into this bar that had all these frozen drinks lined against the wall where we got to taste a few and then pick one, and then proceeded to walk around River Street with cold drink in hand! It was awesome! Especially since it was extremely hot and humid outside. We decided not to stay out long because we had to start from ground zero the next morning in our house search!

So, the next morning we get up early and start house hunting once again. We had found a few more houses online the night before that we wanted to look at and our realtor had several more as well. So as the day progresses we are feeling more hopeful and found a couple of houses we liked but not really any that we just absolutely LOVED. We did find a builder that we LOVED and really wanted a house of his that fit in our price range. Well, we ended up going back to one neighborhood that he had several houses in and looking at a house that was currently occupied but the people were in the process of moving out and the house was soon to be available. Well, after looking at that house we noticed that the builder was building one next door and I love looking at houses so I begged Jeff to just walk through it with me because I was just curious of how that one was laid out. Well, we walked in and it was everything I had ever imagined. The layout was PERFECT! I loved it! Well, I loved what I saw so far. It is still under construction, only the dry wall is up. Well, since we weren't looking at the house in a serious manner we just ran through it within 5 mins and left. We thought, surely that house was out of our price range, we better keep truckin...

Well, after several more houses and me still feeling unsatisfied, my realtor asked me what my ideal house would be out of all the ones we had seen. I responded with, the one that wasn't finished and is probably out of our price range, go figure! Well, turns out Jeff agreed as well! So there we were both set on the same house! It was kinda one of those things where you walk into a house and automatically you just know it's the ONE! haha Somewhere you knew you would feel right at home! Well, we went and sat down with our realtor, crunched some numbers and determined that yes, we could indeed afford the house! With that being said, we called the builder and asked if we were to make an offer, was there still time to for us to make selections on the house in regards to floors, countertops, colors, etc. The builder so there was, so that made us really excited. So, after talking to the builder we decided to give him an offer. Let me remind you, we only saw this house for all of 5 seconds and we were making an offer! If you have never bought a home before, once they accept your offer it becomes a binding contract and there really aren't any second thoughts or guesses. lol So, us making an offer was a very bold move I must say. So, after we wrote up the contract, we headed over to the model home to meet with a lady to let us pick out our selections! Oh, and a little FYI, this was around 8pm on Sunday night! haha I think everyone was starving by then b/c we were so busy that day that we didn't even stop for lunch! So there we are making selections and within 10 mins of giving them our offer, they counter-offered, and then we counter-offered and by 9pm we had a deal! We were so excited...and starving! So, while we were waiting for the new contract to be faxed over for us to sign Jeff ran up to a little pizza joint to get us all pizza and celebrate! I was very excited about getting to have a part in what the house was going to look like. We got to pick the wood floors, the color of granite countertops, carpet, bathroom countertops, stainless steel appliances, tile, etc. We also asked them to do a coffered ceiling in the living room. If you don't know what that is here is a picture:





Well, by the time the contract was signed and we were on our way back to the hotel it was 10:30pm! What a long day! But definitely an accomplished one! After we left the model home, I talked Jeff into driving out to our new house to look at it one more time before we headed back to Alabama early in the morning! So, we pulled up to the house and it was pitch black outside and we took a tour of our house in the dark! haha All we had were our cell phones for flashlights! After walking through the house and paying close attention to all that it entailed, we were more in love with it! It was absolutely PERFECT! It was more than we had remembered and we were so stoked! We can't wait to move there in November! Our closing date is November 4th! Hip hip hooray!! :) Here are some pictures of our new home!

Our House!

The Kitchen!


Living room! (Where the coffered ceiling will be)
The Dining Room!


Well, that's all I have for this time around! I hope to be posting more pictures soon! :)








Monday, July 26, 2010

We are SAVANNAH Bound!!!


We finally found out today that we are moving to Savannah, GA! We are so excited! Savannah, was our top choice, so you must know how thrilled we are! We have heard so many great things about Savannah and can't wait to experience all that it has to offer! Things couldn't have worked out more perfectly! My best friend Sarah is moving there as well and my best friend Gabby lives only an hour and 45 mins away in Jacksonville! So, it's awesome knowing that I'll already have friends there and close by! We will also only be 4 hours away from Fort Bragg where our good friends, The Peterson's, are going! So, now the house hunt begins! I hope that we find an awesome house! We have 3 months till we move! Yay!!!

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Life at Fort Rucker

So, I haven't blogged since Jeff selected the Kiowa. I told y'all I am really bad at this! haha So, what has happened in the last 5 months or so? Let's see how good my memory is...haha! I want to say that March and April were pretty uneventful months for us!

In May, Jeff and I decided to go on a cruise to get away before he started up class. We went on the Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas (the largest ship on the waters) and it was a lot of fun! It definitely was a huge ship! The cruise left out of Fort Lauderdale, so we decided to drive down a day early and spend time w/ my cousin Vandi and her husband Justin. Our cruise went to the Bahamas, St. Maarten and was suppose to go to St. Thomas but that port got the ax when one of the dining room waiters decided to jump overboard one night and we had to spend the next 24hrs searching for him. He was never found. Despite that, our cruise was a lot of fun, I would have to say though that it wasn't the best one I have been on. I feel like the smaller ships are more intimate and fun. This one was just too big and overwhelming! I also feel like the food in the dining room wasn't up to its usual standard because they want you to pay extra money to eat at their "specialty restaurants." But overall, it was a nice and relaxing trip.

That following weekend was BamaJam, which is a huge 3-day outdoor Country Music Festival. I scored some free tickets because the company I work for does all the merchandise for BamaJam! This year the headliner was Kenny Chesney, who sucks, but we got to see Gretchen Wilson, Dierks Bentley, Miranda Lambert, and Zac Brown Band to name a few and they were AWESOME!

Jeff finally started class June 9th and is loving it! He had his family day a couple weeks ago and I got to go out and watch him fly! It was awesome! I love getting to see what he does every day! He is a natural when it comes to flying! I will post pictures later!

This summer has been extremely busy! We have about 6 friends getting married in the September/October time frame so our weekends have been filled with wedding showers! I am in 2 weddings in October that I am excited about. One is in Virginia and the other is in Massachusetts! We are also going to a wedding in Chicago and another one in Nashville, so we are going to be quite the travelers this fall!
We still haven't found out where we are going yet! :( Majority of our friends have already found out and some are even gone already! :( We have friends all over the state and internationally for that matter! Some are going to Fort Bragg, NC, Fort Lewis, WA, Fort Campbell, KY, Savannah, GA (where we hope to go), Fort Hood, TX, Hawaii, Alaska, Germany, and even Korea! Several of our friends have gotten Korea lately which is really exciting but kinda sad at the same time because they will be so far away! But, that just means we will have to take a trip out there to visit them! Darn! lol We will probably know where we are going in about a month...hopefully... I'm just so ready to start the planning process and find a house!

Our really great friends Laura and Dan Peterson just welcomed their first child into the world this past weekend! His name is Noah Michael and he is absolutely precious! Jeff and I went up to the hospital on Sunday and got to visit with them and Noah is just so cute! Laura did a great job! Her and Dan are going to be awesome parents! We are so excited for them! I'm just sad that we only get 6 weeks with him before they move to Bragg! :(

Lastly, Jeff and I have decided that I should quit my job! So, my last day is August 6th. I was originally planning on quitting in September to start getting things ready for our move, but work has been quite unbearable lately and has me upset all the time and we have decided that it just isn't worth it. This gives me more time to get other things done and to support Jeff more while he is in class. Also, I get to spend more time with my friends before we all move away. So, I'm really looking forward to that... I don't have any pictures right now for this post but I'll try and post some later!
Till next time......................

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Wife of a Kiowa Pilot!

Wow...it's been a long time since I last wrote! I told you guys I'm really bad about this!! haha! So much has happened!! Let's begin with Thanksgiving!
This Thanksgiving we went to Chattanooga, TN to spend the holiday with my Uncle Joh, Aunt Tracie, and my cousins Calvin and Connor! This also happened to be the weekend of the Auburn/Alabama game and my aunt, uncle, and cousins are NOT Alabama fans...they are Tennessee fans so of course they were rooting for Auburn, well we got a nice little welcome surprise/sabotage in our room when we got there...

This was our bed.... all lovely decorated in AUBURN colors!

This was our bathroom!!! I was laughing so hard..they were really dedicated!
This was Jeff and I's retalliation! The boys woke up to this the next morning!!! haha! As you can tell...we had lots of fun, oh and by the way in case you didn't know Alabama beat Auburn...and Florida...and Texas...and won the NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!! ROLL TIDE!!

Thanksgiving morning we went and ran the Grateful Gobbler 5k! We had a blast! Way to work off those calories that we were destined to consume later on in the day! :) Here is my wonderful family minus Connor!

Then, Christmas break finally came and we made the road trip back to Texas with Gabby in tow! Love her! It was a very long drive that we made through the night because we were trying to make it to Texas in time for my BROTHER'S WEDDING!!! Yep, that's right! My brother Philip got married! Philip and Autumn had a very nice backyard wedding at my Dad's new house and it was a blast! I'm so happy for him!!

Then, Christmas came! Yay! I love Christmas!! Jeff and I have the joy of 4 Christmases every year! Yeah, just like the movie! It's always pretty hectic for us but we are so blessed to have so much funny who love us and who we love! This was Jeff and I's first time back to Texas since we moved away in February, so we had a lot of people to see! Sorry, if we didn't get to see you! We tried our hardest to see everyone!

After Christmas break we had to return to Fort Rucker where Jeff started his BWS (Basic Warfighting Skills) training! This course is 4 weeks long and once you finish BWS you get to select your advanced aircraft! Well selection day came and my husband got OH-58 Kiowas!!! We are very excited! This is a very fun helicopter to fly! We also got to make a "dream sheet" of where we wanted to be stationed next and our choices were... 1. Hawaii, 2. Fort Campbell, KY (outside of Nashville), and 3. Fort Lewis, WA (outside of Seattle)! So, please be praying that we get one of our top 3 choices!! Hawaii would be a lot of fun and hey you'd have a free place to come stay!! :) Here is what Jeff will be flying!!

Yes those are big guns and missles!!! :)
Also, in January my mom got married!!!!!!!! Lots of weddings going on in my family! My mom and Mark eloped to Vegas and then they had a wedding reception back in Fort Worth! I am so happy for her and Mark! This wedding has been a long time coming and I'm glad they were finally able to tie the knot! Here is our new family! (Well, most of them!)January also brought us a new gift!! My niece was born!!! Philip and Autumn had a beautiful baby girl name Ashlyn Grace McCarthy! She is absolutley precious and looks just like her Daddy!!!


Ashlyn Grace McCarthy
January 24, 2010, 3:55am
6lbs. 3oz and 19 1/2 inches

Ashlyn and her daddy! Ashlyn looks JUST LIKE Philip's baby pictures!! She is so cute!
So, see a lot has definitely happened!! As for me, I'm still working and Jeff is currently on hold till his Kiowa class starts...which doesn't start till June 28th!!! That is a looonggg hold! We are expecting to be leaving Fort Rucker by November!
Well, that's all I've got for now! Sorry this was so long! Love ya! :)