the best.

of my very best friends and her husband and sweet baby came (from Canada !!!!!) to visit us this week! we had an amazing time together!

also, Audrey went on her very first boat ride

more later, i just couldn't contain my excitement and had to share :)

mother's day.

happy mother's day to all of the wonderful mothers and strong, incredible women in my life! i had an amazing mother's day weekend and was so blessed to be able to spend it with my family as well as my best friend, Laura, her son (my godson!), Evan, and her boyfriend, Phillip. the kiddos played, the mamas stuck their toes in the water and let the sun shine down, the boys chatted and did boy stuff in the background, and all was right in the world.

we laughed, we grilled out, Audrey cried when we finally made her leave her beloved pirate pool after playing in it for four hours. it was a perfect day.

Will and Audrey gave me a stunning Origami Owl locket, that i will treasure forever..

a vintage rose for our wedding
a teal gem for the ocean
an A for our sweet girl
a sparrow for my mama, who loved birds

all i really wanted was some extra hugs and snuggles today and i got tons of them from my daughter, my husband, my best friend, and  my godson! Laura told me last night that she wants to be as amazing of a mom as i am. what a wonderful and heartfelt compliment to hear! often times, i wonder if i'm doing the right things, making the right decisions, setting Audrey up to be kind, generous, loving, humbled, all of the things that were instilled in me when i was little. it was nice for someone to stop me and tell me that i'm doing a good job.

i am so, so awestruck and thankful that she is the soul God chose for me when he made me a mother.

storytime.

someone was so thrilled to go to church yesterday morning!!

NOT!! :)

we had a great visit with Grandma and Grandpa Gertz yesterday! while we were catching up, i realized how many crazy and fun things have happened in our day to day lives that i haven't been able to share on here since i've been so busy! so i am going to dedicate the next few entries to re-telling some of those stories :)


Grandma had her camera out and got some great shots yesterday -- we went out to the Dixon Memorial State Land where our favorite park resides and walked down by the lake and explored the playground. Audrey had a blast climbing stairs, sliding, and being adventurous! we changed for dinner and all went out to eat at Ruby Tuesday. we were wanting to take them to somewhere local but as Will says, "We're in the Bible Belt; unless the store or restaurant has company headquarters north of South Carolina, then it's closed on Sunday." :)

southern sunday dinners: big bows & biscuits

 After dinner, we came back to the house where Audrey got a new V-Tech book and two Beanie Babies. One of which was a bat, which leads me to my first story..

The Story of Earl:

Audrey and i were on our way home from dinner at Will's parent's house. once we were back in town, at the first stop light when i was taking a left, i noticed something....flapping...
I thought maybe i had hit a bird and had a sick feeling in my stomach....you know, the feeling when you know you hit an animal and the remains may or may not have coated your car. you're almost certain that when you get out of your car, it will come back to life and attack you (or maybe that's just me?). We pulled into the drive way and i got out of the car very slowly. I crept to the front of my car, keeping a good distance away from whatever "it" was and this is what i saw:

ewwwwww!!! definitely not a bird! he was definitely the biggest bat i've ever seen in real life! my friend Jenn later told me that she thought bats were "so cute" and i told her she was crazy. in my mind this is what was lodged in the hood of my car:

well when i rushed Audrey into the house, Earl (as he was named later that night) was still moving and trying to fly away. when Will got home to come and rescue me, he was not moving so much. we did try to save him, but... "Earl had to die" (Dixie Chicks, "Goodbye Earl," circa 1999). it's a dangerous world i live in down here!