Timberrrrrrr! Daddy and Jordan.... "There's a lot of Sap!"

Well today was a pretty interesting day to say the least! Jordan and Daddy worked outside most of the day in the yard at our future house! You see, my great aunts and uncles, Granny and Papa, and Great Grand Parents all loved bushes, trees, and anything flowerish! Of course I like flowers and green (it is my favorite color), but I am completely OCD (CDO actually in alphabetical order) about organization and things having their "proper" place, even if it is in the yard. Jordan, on the other hand, is not as OCD, but he LOVES, I mean, LOVESSSS for a yard to be trim and proper. So, like lumberjacks and Clark Griswald at Christmas, my Daddy and Jordan tackled cutting down a very old cedar tree.

The Cedar tree is the one blocking the house, behind the other plants (boxwoods and bushes that will also be removed). 

Here it is, "Isn't it a beaut?" Huge right.... and blocking the house.

Here is a road view of our future house. We have dogwoods and LOVE those, they are in a straight line, and have order. It makes sense where they were planted, the others, not so much. This is one of the last looks at the Cedar tree before it came crashing down. 

Daddy hard at work sawing off some of the lower limbs, so Jordan could drive the truck and pull it out. It was tied with a long rope about 3 feet above where Daddy is trimming.

Going to town on the tree! See it is HUGE.

Lot of wood!

And it's down, "lot of sap." We decided that Daddy looked like Clark Griswald from Christmas Vacation dragging the Cedar tree out into the old tobacco field next to our house. It was PRICELESS. 

This was only half of the tree by the way. 

This half is going to be used inside the house. Jordan and I discussed some of our renovations with some of our good friends, Kelsie Roper and Taylor Miller. Taylor does construction and sees a lot of different types of wood being used for mantels and such. He suggested using this cedar tree for two mantels that will be used on the fireplaces in our house. 

Boy was he right; this wood will make a beautiful mantel. All of the knots in the wood and the different layers that cedar trees have will make a mantel full of character, just like our house. 

Now, all we have to do is wait for it to dry out- get it cut into mantel boards and put them up when it is finished. 

Needless to say, I am very thankful that my Daddy and my future husband, Jordan can do all of this handyman stuff. I absolutely do not know what I would do without either one of them, even if we do act like the Griswald's from time to time. This is just the next step on our way to making an old farm house and yard, OUR own.

Tearing Down the Old.. Getting Ready for the New!!

Well, the past couple of weeks have been very eventful! We FINALLY have gotten things situated with the bank and officially can start moving forward on OUR house. Yes, OUR HOUSE... it's hard to believe that I am even saying those words. I remember like it was just yesterday when Jordan picked me up to take me to my junior prom in high school... 8 years later here we are finally engaged.. (the perfect engagement by the way)... and remodeling the house, that including us, 4 generations of my family have lived within. It is amazing needless to say.

These floors had the UGLY shag carpet on top of them. Jordan and I became adventurous one day after we came home from work and ripped up the carpet only to find beautiful "quirky" pine floors underneath. 

The pine floor, I was told, was probably cut off of the family farm and taken to the local saw mill to be cut into these differently sized boards. Some are thin and others are pretty thick, but it adds character to the house that will be our home. 

The floors were just the beginning of all of the demolition. 

We are so ready to get everything started and see some building, but we have had a lot of "tearing out" to do! I mean this house was built in the 30s. Flowers and trees were planted EVERYWHERE! Jordan and I want to keep some of the old- especially the charm of the interior of the house- but we also want to add some new, this will most likely be done in certain areas in the yard. Of course, there will be some updated additions inside the house as well like around the fire places.

This is a picture before we took the face off of the fire place. This certain chimney has two fire places- one in what will be our living room, and the other in this room pictured, Jordan's "man room." 

The chimney's are pretty well kept, and have lots of that character that we love!

We are going to place rock on the chimney and make it appear slightly more rustic than it already does. 

We even found cast-iron "horses" that use to hold firewood that heated the rooms of the house. These will be fixed up, preserved, and used once again!

Also, several weeks ago, my cousin's Hanna and Sara came to visit and helped do some demolition inside the house! They ripped off paneling and knocked holes in walls that were to be torn down later that week. They had the best time!

This picture is from the 10k race in Pilot- I came in 1st in my age group 20-29 and was in the top 10! So fun, but I have been recuperating from a knee injury ever since!

Did I mention that I am one very lucky, and blessed lady to be marrying into a great family, and to come from a fantastic family? Well you see, I do have one of the BEST uncles in the world. He is so talented and has worked hard all of his life- living the life of a tobacco farmer- among his other creative traits. He has owned his own grading business for as long as I can remember, and for our early wedding present- my Uncle Sammy removed hundred year old tree stumps that we had cut down, and fixed our yard! It looks so much better, and it is certainly ready for the addition!

This is where a HUGE pine tree was taken down!

Behind the Pine was a Pecan tree!

This is where an apple tree use to be!

Also, last week, we had one of the chimney's ripped out of the house! It was a huge mess, but it has opened up a lot of space in what will be the center of the home, the kitchen.

 This is a picture of the original setting of the chimney.

The chimney was used at one point in time to heat the house as a wood-stove. This is why it protruded out quite a bit from the existing wall. The boards seen leaning up against the chimney were pulled off of the original built in cabinets. It is the same pine wood that we found on the floors. Jordan is going to make a table out it for us!!

No more chimney!

Jordan and his dad checking out the ceiling and the wall!

Yep, that hole goes into what will be our master bedroom- use your imagination folks! :)

We are well on our way to getting things accomplished. A good portion of the demolition is completed within the house- now all of the new additions and "re-fixing" of old items has to take place! Next week, we will be doing the footings for the addition, and moving forward with our future southern home! We are so very blessed and thankful that we have the opportunity to make an old family home, Ours. 

Ahh.. We're adults, and we can renovate a house??

Well, the time has come, we're adults. It's kind of scary.... Jordan and I decided several months ago back in November that we wanted to begin looking for a house that I could move into before we got married. Me, being the hard-headed independent lady that I am, has a dream of living on my own before I get married to my best friend! So, we began house hunting back in the late fall, somewhere in Westfield near our families. And crazy me completely overlooked the old family farmhouse that my mom inherited when my Granny, Papa passed away. This house is quirky. I mean some of the floors aren't level, lady bugs have built their home in the upstairs, there is a door under the staircase, and lots of 60s, 70s, and 80s charm that was added over the years while generations, upon generations of the Pell's lived there.

You see, this house was built around 1935- my Granny "Iva" grew up during her teenage years in the house because their original, massive farm house burned down. There are dormers on the house, a dining room, a den, a living room, and three bedrooms plus a bath. It's white, charming, and has a lot of potential. Luckily, Jordan was smart enough to say- hey- let's renovate that house. The land that the house sits on has been in my family since about the mid eighteenth century, so it was the perfect place to be, and begin our lives. (Next year it will be official when we decide on a date).

So, this will be our house, without all of the bushes, random trees, and such. You have to use your imagination, but there is going to be a huge porch on the front, an addition on the right side, and new siding put on the house! It will be the cute, quaint farmhouse that I always wanted, and it will be a great first home for Jordan and I. 

(This is a photo of the road that led to so many tobacco fields on the family farm. It is so important for us to remember the heritage of where we will be living).

So, renovations have begun. We have torn down wallpaper and paneling, and ripped up carpet among other things. Luckily! Underneath the horrible awful shag carpet lay a diamond in the ruff, original pine floors that were logged from the family farm when it was built. Some of them are slender pieces, and others are more thick, but, boy oh boy, will they be amazing when they are refinished!

Pre-carpet rip up! That horrid shag carpet.

We are lucky, both the den and the living room have fire places that we are going to re-do in rock! One of the many projects and DIY's that we will be conducting on this house! :)

Part of the kitchen--> imagine beautiful wood cabinets, either stained dark, or white- we haven't decided on colors yet!

More kitchen. This will be my favorite place- you see we are adding on a 12 foot addition, and the kitchen will be HUGE!

Jordan ripping down the awful paneling- it is a fun job :)

Our dining room will look gorgeous with the family's antique 100+year old handcrafted table we will be using! We are super excited about this room as well. 

Needless to say, Jordan and I are very blessed to be able to renovate, remodel, and make new a house at 24 years (soon to be 25 on Thursday for me) old. We are at a great place in our lives, and everything seems to be falling into place (especially after the engagement last weekend--> I still can't stop smiling, its that can't eat, can't sleep, reach for the stars, over the fence world series kind of love, and life). Our families are being extremely supportive, and we know they are going to be there to help us out through the whole process. We are so very blessed, and know the "big man" and all of our guardian angels are guiding us in each step of our journey!

April 5, 2014- Engaged to my Best Friend!

Last Saturday, I received the surprise of my life. Jordan and I have been dating for almost 8 years, it will be on April 29 of this year. We have been waiting patiently to get married, trying to do the right thing financially. We began dating as juniors in high school, and have worked through working long crazy hours, hundreds of baseball games, many volleyball games, races, and family struggles through those 8 years, but we have worked through each happy occasion and struggle and are stronger than ever.

Back in the fall, we both obtained teaching positions in Stokes County, Jordan at West Stokes, and me, at South Stokes. We could not have been happier! After we obtained teaching positions, we started talking about getting married a little bit more often, but we wanted to make sure that we were ready- and that everything was okay within our families. I suppose Jordan had decided that the time was right.

April 5th, 2014-

It began like a normal day, Jordan preparing for the upcoming turkey season, and me running and training for the 10k on the family farm. We have begun to renovate a house that I will move into as soon as it is completed. It was the house that my Granny grew up in during her teenage years, and it is on the old tobacco farm that has been in my family since the 1740s. We received GREAT news on Saturday that our loan had been approved and that we would move forward with signing and begin construction/renovations on the house within two weeks! Such a great day already!

Well, Jordan came over to visit while I was running, he stopped me and said "why don't we go look at the old tobacco barn logs on the backside, then go get supper tonight" I told him I didn't want to get sweaty, and he insisted that I would not get hot, for me to get ready, wear my boots, by 5:30 that afternoon. So, I did.

Jordan picked me up at my parents house and we went down to the farm. As we are walking to the backside- (Jordan holding my hand all the way) Jordan begins asking me questions about what I have going on at work the next week, what we need to do to the house first, and I ask him the same thing. Finally we reach the top of the ridge where a tree had fallen and I look up to the tree where Jordan had carved a J & A in it several months back. A wooden board was hanged up above it, and I start complaining about someone trespassing on our property, and how I did not want to deal with that when we moved over there.

Jordan asked me to flip the sign over to see what it said, and so I moved toward the sign, and he helped me flip it over:

It said "The Jessup's" and as soon as I turned back around Jordan was down on one knee with a ring out:

Jordan told me that he loved me and wanted to marry me: I was in shock, but of course said "YES"- he told me "come here so I can put the ring on you." 

Needless to say, I was balling like a baby, so surprised, and happy. I hardly could even understand what Jordan was saying. Finally, he told me that he had another surprise, that his mom was hiding in the woods taking pictures of the whole thing- and I started to hear the "click,"click" of the camera.

I found out here that Kem was taking photos! Jordan planned out this proposal better than anything that could have been written in a book, or acted out in a movie! From making the sign that said "The Jessup's" to having the entire thing photographed. He is amazing!

So excited! 

The ring was more than perfect!!! 

So, we will be "The Jessup's" sometime next year. We have been patient with each other, with timing, and with our lives, and could not be more thankful and blessed to begin our journey together! We have been there for each other through good and bad times, and I will be honored and proud to be "his wife," because he is the love of my life.

 So happy and in love with my best friend! We are blessed to have found love early, and grow in our love each day!

So excited to be "The Jessup's" next year!