I had written a nice updated about our life in Gainesville and how well we are settling in, but somehow it is deleted and I can't easily get it back. Suffice it to say that we are doing great, although I am already eager to be coming home. I am thinking of this trip as an extended adventure/vacation and in that light we are really enjoying it. The best news from the last few weeks is that we are going to be able to come home in early May rather than mid July as we were originally planning. I am extremely excited about this! I have caught myself already counting down the days, as in, "one week down...only so many more to go!"

I am so far behind that I am doubtless going to leave a lot of pictures and events out, but I thought I could begin updating on our recent Kittrell Family Vacation to Anna Maria Island. On the way home from this vacation the Kittrell's dropped us off in Gainesville so except for the last few weeks this is as updated as possible.

The Happy Little Kittrell Family The Happy Little Almost-Kittrell Family
The Happy Big Kittrell Family

Adorable Laurel with her first tan!

This was a BEAUTIFUL sunset!

The bird-watcher in action!

Yum! Will and I at our farewell lunch with Bill and Cheri. A few tears were shed, but I think we managed to keep it together fairly well :) All you can eat fish and chips certainly was helping our cause!

Breakfast on the beach!

My favorites! Lucky girl :-)

Here we all are in the new apartment before anything has been moved in.

Off to Gainesville!

Here is the trailer all packed up with our worldly goods. Will worked VERY hard to fit everything I packed inside.

This isn't from vacation, but I thought it was too cute not to include! Laurel is waiting for will to come home from the Bar exam.

This is where Laurel got her baths on vacation.

Enjoying some ballpit time in the backyard.

Annual Smuggler's Cove mini-golf trip! If you are interested I came in dead last :)

Cheri and Laurel enjoying the waves!

Will and Laurel. I love her little hand holding on to his shirt.

Grandfather and Laurel reading one of her favorite books.

Laurel LOVED the shopping cart we got her for her birthday. Here she is playing with it for the first time.

A new ball.

I just think this is funny!

Devotions with Grandfather...you know you are getting up early when you have to wear a headlamp to read! This was also useful for grilling at night (I do have that picture, but it isn't posted :O)

This is my new favorite picture of our little one year old! I forgot to mention that she has started walking!!!! She took her first few steps a couple days after we arrived at our apartment. She is getting better and better every day. We are loving it!

Will and Laurel enjoying some pool time. You can vaguely see that Laurel has a little more hair. It is growing by the day.

Summer Days with my 11 Month Old

I can't believe how long it has been since I have posted Laurel pictures! She is doing great and Will and I just continue to grow in our love and enjoyment of her. She turned 11 months last week and is seeming so much more like a little girl to me and less like a baby. She is eating different kinds of table food now which has been lots of fun. She has turned into a really good eater after getting off to a rather slow start! She doesn't seem to care about learning to walk yet, being very content to crawl around very fast and cruise around on the furniture. Will and I try to lure her into standing by offering her favorite toys just out of reach! Dada is still her favorite word and is used for most people and situations. Even so, when she says it to Will we get excited and think she is figuring it out :-) We have recently discovered that her favorite music is classic rock with her favorite song being "Sweet Home Alabama"...very interesting. When it comes on she will get very excited, wave her arms wildly, and "dance"! She is such a joy to take care of and spend time with!

Here are some pictures from the last month:

Our sweet Laurel Anne

Looking SHOCKINGLY like Will when he was little!

"Pick me up, Mama!" I still love it when Laurel holds out her arms even though she has been doing it for months and months.

A couple weeks ago, I was in the bathroom getting ready for church when I came out to discover Laurel "getting ready" as well! The eye shadow container was actually IN her mouth when I found her!

She looked like the Tin Man!

A recently family outing to Dunkin Doughnuts. My kind of outing! We let Laurel get a doughnut hole which she loves.

Poor "Uncle B" after getting his wisdom teeth out a couple weeks ago.

Gainesville

Will and I had a wonderful getaway/trip to Gainesville this past weekend! We got to visit the church, find an apartment, see the campus, and get acquainted with the area. God was so kind and we are extremely encouraged about living there starting in August.

Here we are in a National Park area called Payne's Prairie. We saw an alligator (as well as tons of lizards, birds, some wild horses, and a turtle)!

I cut bangs! I am enjoying having a new style. I get bored with the same one if I keep it to long.

We are very pleased with the apartment complex we choose! We looked at 3 different places that got consecutively better. You gotta love being able to sunbathe in winter!

Kitchen and Dining Room (the front door is to the left). They won't be furnished like that...I was taking pictures of the model.

View from the front door

Our room on the left and Laurel's on the right.

I really like how small the buildings are. Only 4 apartments per unit.

Home Sweet Charlotte

Will let me and Laurel go on a wonderful, last minute trip to Charlotte this past weekend. Although I hate being away from him, it was so great to spend some time at home with my family. We packed a lot of wonderful times into 2 days!

Laurel and Kate's favorite game is grabbing toys from eachother! See the progression...

I sure love my little "Kate-ums"!!

Dave, Anne, and Kate (Anne and Kate are visiting at the end of July. I can hardly wait!)

Me and my two favorite babies! They are less than 3 months apart.

Studious Laurel in Pop's glasses

Studying

I know I have missed MANY interesting events in the past couple months and I apologize. Every time I sat down and thought about posting I just didn't know where to start! I just decided to forget about all those pictures and start afresh. If you really wanted to see an event just let me know :-)

9 months old and Overdue update

I looked on my blog and the last post was April 16! It looks like I have some catching up to do!

Laurel is 9 months old today! It is hard to believe that she has grown so fast. When Laurel was an infant 9 months sounded so old, but she still seems like my little baby to me. A little baby who is learning a lot of new things! As of this past week she has learned how to climb stairs and pull up to standing while in her crib. I love seeing all the things she is discovering with her new found mobility! One of her favorite bits of mischief is to climb on to the bathroom scale which is below the toilet paper roll and start unrolling all the toilet paper. It is hilarious to me, because that is such a classic baby thing to do and I don't know how they all discover it! I took her to the doctor for a cold last week and discovered that she is 16.5 lbs. I'm not sure what percentage that is, but I will find out at her doctors appointment coming up soon. All is all, she is just such a delight to Will and I. We laugh about her little antics everyday! She is a happy, bright, fun loving little girl!

Here Will is teaching her the finer points of juggling. She is enthralled!

My little bathing beauty!

(this is before she tried crawling in the tub and got a mouthfull of water...poor girl)

Good times with Granni and Pop. In this picture she is "flying through the heavens like a cherubim". Dad used to sing this to us when we were little too!

Laurel is a big fan of her sippy cup of water! She gets maybe half of it in her mouth and the rest on her clothes and has an absolute blast!

Recently we had our friends Josh, Sarah, and Lucy Andrews over for dinner. It was so cute to see Lucy (2 months) and Laurel interacting together!

Playtime with Dad wearing nothing but a diaper, a strawberry hat, and a smile.

What else could you need?

Laurel has developed a deep and abiding love for her "Lambers". This lamb sits on a chair in her room and when we are carrying her by the chair she will crane her neck and make noises and reach out her hands when we bring her near it. She will grab it and hug it and make happy sounds. It is SO cute and fun!

Kittrell ladies annual shopping trip to the outlets in Pigeon Forge. A highlight of the year :-)

Shocking sight I know! Lauren (exersizing amazing patience!) is teaching me how to play tennis. I actually really enjoyed it and would love to keep "playing".