A visit from Jake and Sawnee Mountain.

A few weeks ago Brad & I had the privilege of watching Chris & Marie Thum's little boy, Jacob, for the weekend.  What a fun time we had!  Jake is incredibly full of energy and ALWAYS wants to be outside.  While he wasn't too happy when he woke up from his nap only to realize that mommy and daddy were gone - [that was an interesting 2 hours of screaming for mommy and daddy] - after he got used to the idea he really started to have fun.  We went on a walk on the local greenway, played around the house, took some good naps, and spent most of our time in the backyard while he mowed the lawn for us with his toy mower.  All in all it was a blast and we hope to have him visit again soon!  Here are a few pictures of his visit with us.

 

Bath time!

 

 

Cheeeeeeeeeeeeese!

 

 

I went to check in on him during his nap and apparently he had read himself to sleep.

What a little goof ball :)

 

 

 Yes, someone (I won't mention any names) was politely handing me my cell phone when they decided to throw it at my face.  I will say that I'm proud to have gotten my first black eye!!

 

He's a total hipster.

 

Davy Crockett, is that you?

 

 

Not long after Jake left we went on a hike at Sawnee Mountain, which is only about 10 minutes away from where we live right now.  We love being so close to the mountains - it makes for beautiful drives, even to the grocery store!  We didn't take too many pictures since we we worn out from hiking, but here are the few we took from the lookout at the top:

 

Yes - I'm snacking on some goldfish to keep the nausea at bay :)

 



 

All are welcome to come visit us and go for a hike - you need to see for yourself just how beautiful this place is!

 

I'd post some pictures of the belly, but I'm going to go ahead and wait on that since they'd be very boring pictures at this point.  Once there's something to show, I'll post them all :)  'Til next time!!





A little announcement...

Welcome back!  To be honest I'm not sure if that is directed at y'all or me, since I haven't posted in a little bit - my bad.  I just wanted to stop by really quickly to let you in on an exciting piece of news:  we're pregnant!  I don't think it comes as a shock to most people since we've been married a couple of years, just moved to a new place and are starting a new chapter in our lives, but let me tell you - we are excited!!  Our due date is officially November 28th, which is Thanksgiving Day and also happens to be Aunt Kristy (Brad's sister)'s birthday!  Thankfully only about 10% of babies are actually born on their due date, so I doubt there will be any birthday competition :)  Christmas will be lots of fun this year since Kristy will have a 6 month old (sweet Spencer - so looking forward to meeting her this July!!) and we'll have an almost-one month old.  It's a very exciting time in the Gigi and Papa Armstrong and Nanna and Pop White households!

I would post a picture of baby Armstrong (who I have affectionately nicknamed "Blob" since thats kinda what he/she looked like on the first sonogram), but you really can't tell what it is, so I'll wait for our next ultrasound to post a picture that hopefully will more closely resemble a little growing baby.

If anyone is wondering, I've been so blessed thus far in the pregnancy.  I haven't been terribly sick or exhausted, and I'm hoping we'll be in the clear soon as we move further into the 2nd trimester.  This past week has been a little rougher, so pray it's just a quick phase baby A is going through and that it won't last long! 

We love all of y'all and thanks for sharing in this exciting and special moment with us! :)

Norf Carolina

Whenever anyone asks how long we have been in Georgia, they get the awkward, kinda complicated answer:  "Well, we moved a little over a month ago, but were here for 2 weeks and then back in North Carolina for 2 weeks, and we've been back here for like a week, so really 3 weeks but we moved here in mid-March."  By then they've either zoned out, I've lost their attention (and probably yours) or they just politely nod and walk away.  I kid - everyone is very nice and always acts interested, but it'll be nice when we've been here long enough to just give people a simple answer and move on.  All that to remind you guys that we did, in fact, go back to North Carolina for a couple of weeks and I am here to tell you all about it!!

The very first thing I did in Raleigh (literally, like 3 minutes after I got into town) was go meet my friend Brynn for her final wedding dress fitting!  Moving right before her wedding kinda stunk, because I had to miss showers and fun get-togethers to fold and mail wedding invitations and all those fun things we girls get to do :)  So I made sure I was at least back in town for the fitting, and it was so worth it - she was absolutely beautiful!!  I also got to see the lady bustle her dress, and if any of you out there have ever bustled a wedding dress - that's not something you want to try to figure out on your own, trust me.  That weekend also included Brynn's bachelorette night in downtown Raleigh, which was so much stinkin' fun!  We went to dinner at 518 West and had a night on the town.  Probably my favorite part was the props each of us had to wear all night - including at our dinner at the fancy restaurant.  These included a hula skirt, a shower cap, massive glasses, colorful hair extensions, and lots of other fun things.  Needless to say, we got quite a few stares.

 

The beautiful Brynn in her bunny ears, muumuu dress and toilet paper sash!

 

We spent the next week in Winston-Salem with my family, just relaxing and not doing too much.  Brad had to work (grr, it's like they expect him to work EVERY single weekday. what is the deal?!) so I just relaxed and enjoyed the week.  My super fun and smart and awesome cousins Brittany and Andrew were in town as well, so we grabbed dinner one night, went to a Wake Forest baseball game one night, and just had some good ol' fun. 

 

 

See? Don't they look like so much fun?!

 

Britt and I also got to walk around Reynolda Gardens, and if you've never been in the Spring, please promise me you'll go - it is absolutely gorgeous!  Here's a picture I stole from Britt's instagram - I don't think she'll mind :)

 

 

See what I mean?  Gorgeous.  It was tons of fun walking around and chatting for hours - something we really haven't been able to do since living together in college.  Britt is about to move to Nashville to start her residency at Vanderbilt, and I couldn't be more excited for or proud of her!!

 

We spent the next week in Raleigh and got to catch up with so many friends - there is never enough time, but it was great to see lots of people that week.  We started off with my former coworker/current friend Vanessa's wedding, which was absolutely beautiful.  We also had a going-away party (I guess it was technically a "gone-away" party) hosted by the marvelous David & Sarah (& Cameron & Chewy) Lewis.  I loved having so many friends under one roof - we are truly blessed.  I also got to hang out with old coworkers (again, former coworkers but current friends), old neighbors (miss you Betsy!), Brad's family, and other good friends like Kaitlin, Pri, William & Catherine, Rebecca, and Naila.  All in all it was a great, but all-too-quick week in Raleigh. 

 

We finished off the weekend with Brynn and Andrew's wedding.  Sadly I didn't take any pictures of my own, but I'll be sure to post some when her photographer finishes with them.  Brynn was the most beautiful bride I'd ever seen, and she got married outside on a PERFECT day.  Everything about the day was so sweet and her father-in-law (who performed the ceremony) did a wonderful job.  We danced the night away (after finally remembering to bustle her dress - AFTER their first dances - MOH fail!!) and had an absolute blast.  Brynn was such a calm bride and I don't think it could have been more perfect.  Also, this may or may not have happened:  Brynn's Wedding Video  Brynny - I had such a fun time celebrating with you :)

We headed back to Winston-Salem for the weekend and celebrated my parents' birthdays (since we weren't there for either of them).  My sister and the kiddos came into town - poor Seth had to work over the weekend.  We had lots of fun hanging out with them since we don't get to see them extremely often.  We also discovered that it only takes a little over 4 hours to get home from my parents' house, which was a nice surprise since I thought it'd be closer to 6! 

As you can see, we had a fun but busy time in North Carolina, which is why I didn't have time to write about it until we got back home :)  But of course, we wouldn't have had it any other way!!  We're looking forward to our next visit soon.  In the meantime, I expect y'all to come on down and visit us!!!

Rach, Hotlanta & Hiking in the mountains!

Well folks, I must start off with an apology for my recent absence.  I know that most of you check the blog every single day for a new post about what is going on with the Armstrongs, and to leave you with nothing to read is just unkind.  For that, friends, I am truly sorry. 

The reason for my absence was a fantastic trip to North Carolina for a couple of weeks.  We did so many fun things and were able to see so many friends and family and I just didn't have the time to write about it while we were there.  I will most definitely post soon about all the fun times in NC.  But first things first:  I promised you a post on my visit with the one and only Rachel Montgomery, as well as our hike and trip to downtown Atlanta.  So it's probably best if I just get down to business.

Many of you may not know Rachel Montgomery, her husband Ryan, her sweet almost-one-year-old boy Silas, or their dog Grover, and that is a cryin' shame.  Rachel and I lived together for a spell in college, and have been [emotionally and mentally, though sadly not physically] inseparable since.  See, here we are in each other's weddings. Aren't we cute?

 Now for the sad news:  Rachel packed up and moved to Denver, Colorado.  RUDE.  I guess I can't be too angry since we packed up and moved to Georgia, but I wanna pretend to be mad so I am :)  Also, I know all children are beautiful but she has the cutest stinkin' kid I've seen in a long time:

Rach - sorry for randomly posting a picture of your kid, but I can't help it, I NEED to squeeze those little cheeks!!  ANYWAYS, all of this to show you whom I got to hang out with the couple of days before we moved.  Rachel was in town visiting family and friends and I made sure the timing worked out so that I'd still be there :)  We went on fun walks around the neighborhood, got Cook Out since they don't have it in Colorado (also a cryin' shame), and just spent time hanging out with Silas and catching up on life.  Hanging out with Rach is always a blast, and I thoroughly enjoyed her time in NC. 

Now on to life in the ATL.  We've taken a couple of trips to downtown Atlanta - one Saturday to walk around, and one weekday when Brad had a conference there.  It's so convenient living close to the city because we can just hop on MARTA and head down for the day.  On our most recent trip I met Brad downtown for dinner at a cute southern-comfort-food-but-still-fancy restaurant.  We both had the fried chicken and it was to. die. for.  We somehow managed to get a picture of it before we scarfed it all down:

I look forward to posting a lot more fun date nights from our times in hotlanta.  The other fun thing we've been able to do here is go hiking in Cleveland, Georgia.  It's about an hour away from our house, and thankfully Brad has customers close by so we get to go on hikes when he has meetings in the area.  The trail we went on is called Raven Cliffs, and it's about a two hour "round trip" hike.  The best part is the waterfall at the end - absolutely incredible!  Pictures don't do it justice, of course, but if you come visit we will most definitely take you out there to see.  There are campsites all around the trails so we hope to do that as it gets warmer.  I'll leave you with some pictures, because that's what people like on blogs :)

 'Til next time!



The daily grind.

"So now that you guys are there, what are you doing with your time?" - Great question! Brad has been working from home mostly, but as of this past Monday he has started calling on customers here in Georgia. From day one we've been able to see how much more convenient it is being here now. (Marie Thum – you know what I'm talking about!) I love having him home for lunch and dinner most days, with meetings in the area in between. He's been pretty busy during the day with work so I've had to keep myself busy since he apparently doesn't get paid to entertain me?? [Remind me to talk to his boss about that...]

Anyways, in the meantime I've been spending all of my time playing housewife. It's only been a week so it's hard to say what normal life will look like, but so far I've planned out our meals until the middle of April, [that sounds a lot better if you ignore the fact that we'll be in NC for several of the weeks between now and then ;)] I've tried to organize the house a bit and give it our personal touch, and I've had lots of time to read, watch the NCAA tournament, imagine all the crafty things I'll attempt to do one day, etc.

So, as lame as this may sound (and I'm ok with that), one of my favorite things so far has been (drum roll please...)

 

...doing laundry!  No no, there's no need to re-read that sentence, you read it right the first time. We got a new washer and dryer when we moved in, and let.me.just.tell.you. I've always been a fairly simple girl and never had none of them fancy-schmancy appliances, but our new HE (High Efficiency) machines are ah-mazing!! Brad and I may or may not have stood and watched an entire wash cycle. I mean, come on – it uses SO little water, has that giant drum, spins around so fast – you just can't help but be fascinated! I've done many a load of laundry in the past few days since we didn't have a washer/dryer for a week and a half.  Let me tell you – I'm in love.   Quite possibly my favorite feature of the machines is the noise they make when they are done.  You may have all heard it before, but it is new to me, so I thought I'd share.  This is obviously not our video, although I'm sure it's helpful if you're considering a new washer and dryer.  Go straight to the 6:25 minute mark - trust me, you don't want to watch the whole thing.

 
And I'll stop talking about household appliances now.

Believe it or not, we have done a few things besides laundry!  Last Saturday we drove about 20 minutes to the northernmost MARTA stop and took it into the city - about a 40 minute trip to downtown when all is said and done.  We walked around the city and stopped by Piedmont Park (fun fact: a good bit of "What to Expect When You're Expecting was filmed there) and took a quick trip to IKEA, since I had never been before.  We somehow walked out without buying a single thing; but no worries - we plan to go back soon :)

The other thing to mention about life here so far is church!  As soon as we found out we'd be moving to the Cumming area, Brad started some research on what church we'd be going to (I love that man!) We settled on The Vine Community Church, which you can check out here. We went Sunday morning and absolutely loved it. It is a very tight-knit community that really loves each other and the community. We were blessed but saddened to be able to experience a very somber morning with them. One of the elders' sons had been killed Friday night in a car accident, and there was a lot of mourning and sadness. We were very encouraged, though, to hear the pastor repeat over and over that our hope is in Christ and that despite sadness, death and despair, we have a Father who loves us and has a purpose and plan for us. We were privileged to meet the pastor, one of the elders, and a young couple that moved here about a year and a half ago. We are excited to go back on Sunday!

Ok, this thing is long enough, and I guarantee some of you are a) asleep, b) bored to tears or c) just politely skimming through the rest of this :) Next time I'll show you some pictures of our hike on Raven Cliffs trail, which was absolutely beautiful.  I'll leave you with some pictures of the house. It's time for me to watch some more of the NCAA tourney!

 

The Big Move!

Well folks, we made it!  We're finally here in Cumming, Georgia.  We packed up the truck on Monday evening (March 11th), spent the night with Brad's parents down the street and headed out Tuesday afternoon after some much needed hangout time with the legendary Rachel Montgomery (post on that visit to follow!)  We spent the night in Greenville, SC and arrived at the new townhouse Wednesday around noon.

For those of you that have never heard of the city of Cumming, it's a small suburb about 40ish minutes north of Atlanta.  We got here with the help of lots of people and we're incredibly thankful for each of you!  From packing what seemed like a million boxes, helping us clean up the house, grabbing dinner when I couldn't cook because my dishes were packed, loading all of our junk onto the 26-foot Penske truck (yea, that's right), to driving all the way down to Atlanta with us, unloading the truck AND helping put everything away (ahem, if you don't know Dale & Anne Armstrong, you need to - they are amazing), thanks to EVERYONE for all of your help!!  To say we couldn't have done it without all of you is quite the understatement.  Just to recap a few of the things mentioned above in pictures:

 

Loading the truck at our old townhouse.  Think the truck is big enough??

  



Our neatly organized (by weight and size) boxes, ready to be loaded onto the truck.

Ahem...*Nerd alert*

The first item being loaded on the truck!  Seriuosly, that truck is ridiculously massive.

The boys working through the evening to get everything packed just right.

The final product.  Seriously, how do we have that much stuff??  Glad to see my smiley balloon that

Brad gave me for my "retirement" is still going strong after the trip!  Although about 2 minutes after this picture was taken we looked again and it was gone, apparently up, up and away - oops!

 

 

And of course, I would be remiss if I didn't show you at least a couple pictures of our beloved townhome that we left behind - you never forget your first home!!

 

 

The (messy) kitchen/breakfast nook/living room

The living room, pre-packing up the house.

Our beloved bathroom.  Will we ever find one like you again?!

 



Post-packing-up-the-house living room!

 



 

Ok ok you caught me.  This isn't from when we moved, but it was so pretty I had to share regardless.  This was that big snowfall we had a little while back that sadly melted before it even finished snowing.  It was pretty while it lasted!

I'll post soon on our new life here as things get going for us, as well as pictures of the new (temporary) townhouse once it is finally organized.  Also, all you fans of the Braves/Hawks/Falcons/the Chattahoochee River/History of the U.S./The Varsity/Georgia Tech/Bulldogs/Fox Theater/Ludacris (Brittany White I see you)/Coca-Cola Museum/busy airports/Aquariums/or us, the Armstrongs, I expect a visit very soon.  And if you don't like any of the above, you probably shouldn't be reading my blog.