Update!

OK here is an update since I haven't in FOREVER!
School is halfway over for the summer! I am LOVING my classes even though they are exhausting me. Justin is doing awesome in his as usual!
Justin has been at MidFirst for a month now and really enjoys it. He has had to go to OKC for training multiple times. One of the times it was a week long training and I was able to take off most of the week and go stay with him. We had a fun week spending lots of time together!
We have started a new workout deal. We are doing P90X. If you don't know what that is - google it or go to youtube and type it in to see transformations. It is VERY hard and super intense - but we are loving it! In 90 days we will post our before and after results if they are as amazing as they should be! The best part is that we work out now for an hour at the minimum a day. So we get to spend that time together, yes working our butts off, but it is fun time together!
In 3 weeks we will both be done with summer school and have a few weeks break. I only have 1 semester left until all you folks have to refer to me as Master! HA JK!
He only has 2 semesters left and he is finished!
Also in the past month we bought a Jetski. I grew up with them so I am a fan but he has been dying for one. So we went for and we are very happy we did! We are planning on going this weekend so I will have to get pictures up soon if we do!
I will ask that you keep us in your prayers. We have been going through some dissappointments and we know that all we have to do is have faith that God knows better than we do and His plans are always better than ours! Patience is a virtue!
My big 25th birthday is coming up in about a month. I can't believe I am almost halfway to 50!!!

Vacation!

Well we are back from Vacation. We went to Dallas and went to Six Flags and a Rangers game. We did lots of shopping too which I think is our favorite thing! We decided that we love to take pictures on trips but it was more fun to do little videos. So we took the flip and did a couple video diary sessions.
So here we go!
This is on our way to Dallas!

We went to the Rainforest Cafe in the Grapevine mall. We at at Rainforest in Vegas after our wedding and loved it.


Next is on our way to Six Flags. The story here is I booked our hotel on Priceline. If you have ever used priceline you know that you type in an area and price and it chooses a hotel that will accept it. We got the Hyatt Regency which was very nice, but it was smack dab in the middle of the DFW airport. When we arrived we drove all around that big airport trying to find out which terminal the hotel was on!!!


Next are videos from the arcade. We hit a few different arcades down there because lets face it, we are kids at heart! I will take this moment to mention that at the basketball game in the arcade not only did I kick Justin Ray's butt - but I also rocked the HIGH SCORE or the whole machine!





The next video is on our way to the Ranger's Game. As we were driving we were just following traffic to the parking lot. Our light had been red a full 30 seconds probably and we just kept going with the flow and turning and we had SO many people honking at us. In his defense - we thought we were suppose to go cause we were thinking we were following the traffic cop and not the lights! Also I had typed in the wrong address to the field in our GPS and we were passing the park and he said - shouldn't we just turn and go there instead of driving 30 more minutes - HAHA oops!



This is a recap of our trip. Since he was driving i was videoing - so it is his opinion! But I agree - it was fun!



And last - yes I had to include this - is me driving. He drove the ENTIRE trip. But his shoulder got hurt and it was killing him. So we pulled over - 30 minutes away from home - and I drove! It reminds me of that Jeff Foxworthy show where he makes fun of his wife for asking on mile 4999 of a 5000 mile trip if he wants her to drive. He says ' sure let me pull over and you can kick us on into the driveway!'


It was so nice to get away but to be honest it was nice coming home. We are home bodies! It is hard going back to work though! He started his new job June 1st and We went to Summer hours (10 hour days with Fridays off) and school has started back. It will be a LONG summer, but we can do it!
Hope you have enjoyed this post. It is a new thing for me to add videos. They may be stupid when watching them - but when we watch them back we just can't help but laugh! We have so much fun together!

J & M

Catch Up

Well today I am home sick. I HATE being home sick. I feel so unproductive, I know the next day at work will be busy with catch up, and I just hate feeling sick. But since I have some time to kill, I thought I would update this.
Since the last time I posted things have changed.
First off - Justin got a new job. He will now be working at Midfirst Bank. We have been waiting to see about this for a while. The interview process was a month long it seems. He will start his new job June 1st.
Since we have been waiting to see about this job, we couldn't book a trip. We didn't know how the vacation leave would fall and all until we knew if he got the job or not. Good thing we didn't!
So no big trip for a while. Which is sad but we are so excited about the opportunity he has that it makes it ok!
His last day at his current job is May 27th. That is on a Wedesday. He starts his new job the following Monday. So we have decided to just do an extended weekend trip! We are going to leave for Dallas Thursday the 28th and go on a mini vacation! We are going to go to six flags, and a ranger's game. We just found out that Casting Crowns (one of our all time favorite chrsitian groups) are the pregame concert and the baseball game! We have been wanting to go to one of their concerts so we are SO excited that it happens to all work out like this! Se we ar ejust going to go and stay in Dallas for 3-4 nights and just have fun there!
Hopefully once he gets in this job and gets going for 6 months or so, we can take a week and go somewhere bigger for vacation. But to be honest, we will have just as much fun in Dallas as anywhere else. We just have fun together.
This weekend we decided to be spontaneous. We left Friday night and headed to the city. We have had some crazy weeks at work so we just wanted to get away. We went and stayed the night in the Marriot and just had fun. We shopped and went to the movies and ate at our favorite resturants. It was so refreshing and fun! We got back late Saturday night. Sunday we mowed and worked in the yard. I am loving the weather!
It was one of the best weekend I can remember in a long while! That is why me being sick is crazy. I have had a great weekend and felt fine. Woke up in the middle of the night last night so sick! Oh well - I just hope I am better by tomorrow!

Granny turns 75!

The other night we all got together and had cake and ice cream from my granny - she turned 75! Garrett saw a picture of the Queen of England and started point to her thinking it was Granny. She got a kick out of this! So I got her a princess crown to wear to celebrate this event! She actually wore it!
This toy that Rece has was what my brother and I use to play with when we were kids. It has been broken for a while. Rece sat there and figured out how to fix it. This kid amazes me!

If you remember from my earlier post about Garrett's 2nd birthday, he loves to blow out candles. Look how excited he gets when my brother goes to lite granny's candles.

. The kid loves cake and of course granny (or GIGI as he calls her) isn't going to make him keep his hands out of it.

Just a little taste test(that eventually turned into him grabbing handfuls of icing and eating it!)

Blowing out candles with Granny. (We were still singing at this point, he had to beat her to it!)

Granny actually helped this time!

Look how big he looks. He isn't a baby anymore!!! And he is turning into quite the photogenic child!

Garrett gets so frustrated because I take pictures constantly. If I am annoying him and I don't see him all the time, just think how annoyed our kids will be with me one day! :)

Update

Not only do I see the light at the end of the tunnel - It is about time to put on sunglasses! 2 more weeks of class for me and then another semester is finished! I will have a much needed 3 week break in between this semester and my summer semester. I am going all out this summer - 2 classes, with 1 being the one that requires traveling to Weatherford every week. We go to 10 hour days at work in the summer (with Friday off) so it is going to be a HARD summer! But it is only 8 weeks - I can do ANYTHING for 8 weeks right???
Justin is doing well and is 2 weeks away from his semester ending as well. He will get a 3 week break before he starts back up too. I think we are both burned out, so after a little break and our vacation (Last week of May), we should be revived and ready to go again!
Crazy enough, even though I hate putting in the time that my classes require and I hate having something to do at night after long work days, I have really enjoyed my classes. Counseling intrigues me so it has been so cool to get some book knowledge about topics that I have dealt with or seen. After my classes this summer I will have 1 class and my internship in the Fall and then I AM DONE! WOO HOO - bring on that Master's degree!
Justin will have classes this summer, classes in the fall and then his final semester in the spring! He is getting it done fast and so far has gotten straight A's from OU! He is so smart!
Since the weather is warming up, we are about to start working on our yard and flower beds. When we moved in last May we were more concerned with remodeling our bathroom and putting up our privacy fence. This year we are going to try to remodel the flower bed! I do NOT have a green thumb, so this may be interesting. What I keep telling myself is, it can't look worse! With the wind we have had lately, our flower beds now look like a trash dump!
Well that is a little update on what has been going on with us! Nothing too exciting, but somehow, life still feels so fun!

you jump i jump

I am going to assume most people have seen Titanic. It was a sweet and intense movie. I was probably 14 or younger when it came out so it was HUGE for kids my age. Everyone thinks of the love story when they think of the movie. They think of how Rose gave up her life of luxury and money to be with the man she loves basically, right? There is another part of that love story that I think about. What about the part at the beginning – when they first met. You remember she wanted to commit suicide. He called her out on it and said she didn’t want to jump or she already would have. Part of love is confronting. The next part is him starting to take off his shoes. He doesn’t tell his plans; he takes action on her behalf. The reason for taking of the shoes? He is going to jump after her if she jumps. He isn’t going to sit there and give her a million reasons it is a bad idea, he isn’t going to get mad that she is giving up, he is just planning on going with her to try to save her. Yes he probably would die if he jumped, and he is hoping she gets her head on and stops doing this. BUT if she doesn’t, he is willing to go too. Fast-forward a few hours into the film. Rose is going down on the safety boat to the water. She has her ride to safety. She has the hope of living. But Jack is on the boat. He doesn’t have that chance or hope of living. She knows this. So what does she do? Yes, she jumps off the safety boat back onto the sinking ship. Why? ‘You jump I jump.’ They would rather die together than live apart.

Ok so why this ramble and blast from the past with Titanic info? I woke up this morning next to the most amazing person in the world. Not just the most amazing husband, the most amazing friend as well! And I thought to myself….he is my ‘you jump I jump’ person. If I am having a hard time he has a hard time. If I am encouraged or excited, he is. If he is stressed, I am stressed. If he is successful, I am successful. If he wants to move to Australia, I would move to Australia. All of this isn’t just because we are married either, it is because we have that kind of love that we are so connected that everything is tied together. Emotions, thoughts, motives. ..

As I was thinking about this in the morning (something which is strange for me since I usually can’t think before 10AM!) I got to thinking about how lucky some of us are. We found our ‘you jump I jump person.’ Talking to a friend yesterday, they described their husband as their Solid rock and strength. What an amazing way to describe someone. God has blessed us more than we know. What would life be without our ‘you jump I jump’ person?

This is the first picture we ever took together. We used my cell phone - we had only known each other probably 2 weeks! Friendship is instant when you connect!

Baby Fever

This is Mason Dean. He is the wonderful little blessing that Mary and Jimmy brought into this world March 27th. Cute huh?

We can't wait until we get to have one of these!

Garrett Turns 2

Well Spring Break has come and gone. Even though I was not as productive and I wanted and needed to be, it was wonderful! I got to spend LOTS of time with my wonderful husband and we had a blast!
We got a call on Wednesday that someone had 2 extra tickets to the Thunder/Bulls game so we jumped on that one and headed to the city when Justin got off work! We watched the game and then stayed the night and shopped the next day! He took Thursday and Friday off so we had a 4 day weekend together! We had a whole list of things we wanted to get done, but I think we only did a few things on it! It was nice to just be together without a million things going on! I think we have finally figured out how to manage work and school and still have time! It took time to adjust and figure it all out - but we found our groove!

On Thursday Garrett turned 2!!! We had a birthday party for him Sunday and it was pretty fun. We had a moon bounce house deal and they thought that was cool stuff!

This is Garrett in the bounce house. He kept saying ''mon sissy (me) hop 'mon JAR (JR) hop' which is his way of saying come jump with me! (which we did!) He kept getting knocked over by the big kids jumping but thought it was so funny!

Here is Rece and Garrett in the bounce house! Rece LOVED it the most I think - he was doing all kinds of flips!

Here is his sweet face as we all sang Happy Birthday to him!

Big breath to blow out those 2 candles!

He blew so hard (and spit a little) that he got both candles!

So proud of himself! Now it is CAKE TIME! (His favorite!)

His 'big truck' that we gave him - makes all sorts of loud noises! Payback when we have kids is going to be bad!

It was a fun day! I cannot believe that baby is already 2! Time flies when you are having fun!!!

FRIDAY!

Today is Friday! Not just a normal Friday, it is FRIDAY BEFORE SPRINGBREAK!!!!!!!!!! I know everyone in this school is in need of a break!
We have no plans for the break. He of course has to work - but is taking Thursday and Friday off. So we may go out of town for a night or so - just go have fun! But the thought of no agena (except homework of course!) is so exciting to me! I love sleeping in and staying up late! I sooooo wish I still had summers off!
Rece was student of the month so we are celebrating over springbreak! He wants to come stay the night and play the Wii and watch movies! He is a night owl like me so I love him staying so we can stay up watching movies and then sleep in!
Ok well that is all the rambling I have!

Baking cakes

Well my husband loves cake (I know who doesn't?) but he likes white cake and of course I am a chocolate girl. So I decided to spoil him and make his favorite - confetti cake! Well it cooked and I got it out of the oven and let it cool. This is our convo:
Justin Ray - Will you please Ice it?
Melissa - You can
Justin Ray - But I always mess up cakes when I Ice them
Melissa - All you have to do is spread it
Justin Ray - Pleassssssssssse I don't want to mess it u p - it is too good to mess up
Melissa - OK but I am at least going to teach you how so come watch

I proceed to get a spoon and put a big drop of icing on, I go to spread it and it is taking off the top part of the cake!!!!! I don't know why but I keep going - when I finally have all the icing on and we are laughing so hard we are crying - we take a picture of my finished product that I 'taught him how to do!'

Yes I know now that we didn't let it cool long enough. We ended up taking it to my mom's because she wanted some too and of course she made it look pretty and presentable!

It is the thought that counts, right?

Why I love WOSC

I was thinking last night about my job. I was thinking about whether or not this is the place I fit. I kept coming back to the friendships I have made here. This is a place where I don't just have colleagues, I have dear friends. I have people that really care about me. I have people that go through the same challenges and joys I go through during the day. I have people that will fly many miles to come and see me and my best friend get married. I have people that understand my job and make me feel appreciated and give me the feeling that I did something that was for a purpose. I have people that get up everyday with the same work goal as me - to make WOSC the best there is. These people I thank God for, they are the reason that I feel like I fit here. They have touched my heart!

This is Katie, Mary and I when we all worked for IT!

This is April, Terri, Pam and Vicki in Vegas for our wedding!

This is a group that we grabbed together to take some silly pictures with Terri on her last day so that we could laugh instead of crying!

This is my group of friends at Vegas for our wedding. They even wore wedding crew shirts so that when we all flew there together that we had a bond! I love those shirts - they meant sooooooo much!
This is April and Anita on the first day of my WINDS Job. They had decorated my office in pink and princess stuff so that I would feel special - and of course because they are ornery!
This is me with Terri. She was the best boss ever for over a year, and in that process became a wonderful and treasured friend. She is missed daily.
There have been others out here that just haven't gotten their picture snapped yet! We have some that have moved on - like JD, we miss you! - and some that haven't came into our lives yet. I love this place and it is because of you guys - thank you for being such wonderful friends!!! You mean so much to me!!!

Done!

Wow life has been crazy! More so because of work. I just completed my first Course Schedule. Yay! It is one of those things that I will have to frame because of the amount of time and work that was put into it. I will be honest - knowing that I always have that coming at some point each semester makes me want to search for a new job! HA!
Terri's last day was Friday. It was a hard day. The party on Thursday went very well. I was so impressed with the amount of love and respect our campus showed her. I think it really showed how much love and respect she had shown others in her years here. It is still hard not having her out here - kind of like a security blanket, but I know it will be ok.
We finally decided on a vacation destination. We are going to go to......DISNEY WORLD! I have always dreamed of going - My princess castle is there ya know - So we are going to go for it! We found a week that we can both slip away from work and school so we are going to go ahead and book it as soon as we have an evening off together! It will be nice having something to look forward to - a light at the end of the tunnel! Other than our Vegas wedding adventure - this will be our first big trip together married!
Tomorrow Emma turns 1. I may have to post birthday pictures! I can't believe it has been a year since those puppies were born! It was such an amazing experience to be part of. They fit in the palm of your hand and now my big lug of a dog is a horse!!!!
Ok well that is all my rambling for now!

Therapy?

I have decided that blogging has become my therapy! I have learned through my Master's program that everyone needs therapy! It is so important that you can't even become a counselor until you have had counseling and taken care of your issues. The other day I posted 25 random things. Even though I know what I wrote, I always go back and read my post a few days later because I am weird like that. So reading my list I decided how ridiculous it is to have a shirt fetish. Who has that? So this morning I got a shirt out of my other closet that I have never worn. It is brand new. I bought it about 6 months ago. I put it on. I got anal. It just is to low cut and to off the neck. But I wanted to push through it. So I put on a necklace and guess what, THAT DID THE TRICK! Now I can feel something against my neck and I am OK. It is still too low cut, but I have made it almost all day in it! I know, it is a weird thing to be excited about, but this has been a 10 year process for me. So keep blogging everyone and go back and read them later, who knows what kind of therapy it will bring to you!

Memories

I found this old video and it made me laugh. It is stupid and silly but it is my lovely husband when we first started dating. awww memories!

Poem from the past

In my 25 random things I touched on the fact that I like to write. Usually songs or poems. I was cleaning up an old e-mail address and came across a letter from a stanger saying she liked my poems. I had forgotten that I had posted them on a website in high school. So I went to that sight and got to read some old poems. I thought it would be fun to share one with you guys. This was written my senior year. At the time we were going through lots of stuff with my dad. You can tell that by the emotion. You can tell I was still a very immature write. But I love that this poem can bring me back and I can feel the exact emotion I felt at the time I wrote it. I was so scared of letting the world know that I was hurting and struggling as you can tell.

Cry
A picture is worth a thousand words
and tear is worth no less
it express all your inner thoughts
when words can't say it best.

With that tiny little drop
comes your heart so pure
it's our way of letting go
what makes us insecure

As it flows it strieks your face
it makes your eyes so red
it reminds you that your still alive
when you think your dead.

It lets all of your emotions out
not only when your sad
the greatest feeling in the world
is crying cause your glad.

Tears are real but can be fake
don't let your emotions lie
be real with others and yourself
and never hesitate to cry.

Fireproof

If you have not watched Fireproof I highly recommend you go rent it and watch it. The acting isn't the greatest of course since it isn't a big budget film, but the message and story line is amazing. Also when you do that, go and buy the book called the Love Dare, it is what the movie is about. Justin and I have been reading the Love Dare together and it is amazing. Then when you put it with the movie, it is powerful. It is a movie and book about marriage and I promise it is worth the 2 hours it takes to watch it!

25 Random things about ME

Someone on Facebook started a chain where they were to make a note that listed 25 random things about themselves. I thought it sounded fun, just a little hard. So if I am going to spend that kind of time on it, then I am going to post it on the blog!

1. I have a shirt fetish. A shirt cannot be on my shoulders – it has to be close to my neck – or I can’t wear it all day. That really eliminates lots of shirts which is why I wear the same type in different colors.
2. I bite my fingernails to the point they hurt and bleed. Every time I try to stop I bite them worse. My dream would be to have nails, but I have no clue if I will ever figure out how to break that habit so my fingers aren’t ugly.
3. I love Tivo. It brings joy to me so that I can still watch shows I enjoy that my schedule doesn’t allow me to watch. I even Tivo Saved by the Bell!!!
4. I have gotten to the point that I cannot function all day without at least 1 cup of coffee – sweet-n-low saves me from sugar so it is not as bad for me. It is a horrible addiction
5. Praying and reading my bible really does make me feel better. Having a relationship with God is the most amazing feeling ever. When I get busy and fall away from Christ I feel something missing in me. It is amazing the love and connection I can have with God almighty.
6. My favorite thing to do after a hard day is run me a candlelit bubble bath with a cup of coffee and just soak my worries away!
7. I LOVE being an aunt. I love getting to spoil my brother’s little boys. I love getting to be there from the beginning. I love that they yell my name when I walk in and that they beg to go with me when I leave.
8. The only place I have EVER worked is the college. I started as a work study 5 years ago, and then moved to part time then to full time. I have had 3 different full-time jobs at the college, but have only worked there. Maybe I am a little scared to go anywhere else.
9. I am horrible at texting. I am slow and not like most people my age with that. But I hate talking on the phone, so I text.
10. I am SO ready for my husband and I to be finished with College. I am ready for him to get the job of his dreams, and me to have more options.
11. I HATE going to the movies. Too many high school and Jr. high kids there that want to be loud. Does that make me old to say that? So sad.
12. I cannot wait – like some days I am way too impatient and am counting down the days – to have a baby. I know the best thing for a baby would be for us to wait a while longer for our lives to calm down, but I am so ready for that time in our lives. I am blessed to have a husband who is excited about it and ready for it too.
13. I am scared to be away from my husband for more than a day. It is kind of like the fear of staying away from home when you were a kid – which I never did because of my fear. He is my security and I need him with me.
14. I do not know how in the world I got so lucky to have the husband I have. He is kind, compassionate, patient, loving and he is so good looking. How in the world did I get him? I don’t deserve him.
15. I wish I knew how to wear jewelry. I love how it looks on people but I hate how it looks on me and I hate how it feels. It took a while to be ok with my Wedding ring!
16. Part of me wishes I could be a stay at home mom some days. I would love to be there through every part of my kids growing up – but I think I would go stir crazy! I cannot be in the house that long. Maybe one day I can have just a part time job so that I have more time with kids but not always at home?
17. I hate cats. They scare me to death. They are very smart and I hate that I think they know what I am thinking. It is just creepy.
18. Growing up I was a major tomboy. I don’t wear dresses. I hate makeup. I love basketball. BUT, my absolute favorite color to wear or to decorate with or just all around is PINK! Weird huh?
19. I hate roller coasters. I am scared of heights. BUT, if they talk me into getting on one, I close my eyes the whole ride, have no clue what is going on but I LOVE it and want to go again. Never will I open my eyes and the next visit to the park I will resist getting on one again to the point of tears.
20. Our first Valentines day together we split a Wii. We decided that roses and chocolates are sweet, but what would we use for a long time and enjoy together? So leave it to us to buy a Nintendo product to celebrate our first romantic holiday together! How could we NOT marry each other after that!
21. I am 24 years old and have a back of the door basketball goal up that I still play with often!
22. I secretly love to cook. I am horrible at it. I am ignorant with it. I don’t have the utensils or pans for it, but in a weird way it is fun.
23. My dad had a drug problem when I was younger. He has been clean for about 6 years. As horrible as that experience was and those memories are, I am thankful I went through it. I would not be the person I am today without those hard times. Being a daddy’s girl made it rough, but the amount of love and respect I have for him now is amazing. I learned about what true faith in God was during that time. I truly learned that if God brings you to it, He will bring you through it.
24. I wish real chocolate milk, Dr Pepper, Hamburgers, Pizza, Enchiladas and chocolate candy or cake were all good for you. I could stick to that diet!!!!!!!!
25. I love poetry. I would love to write songs all the time. I wish we really could do anything we wanted to do – but instead we have to make sure we pay the bills.

Now it is YOUR turn to write 25 Random things about yourself!

Snow Days

Today it is white outside. It is cold. It is icy. I am home in our warm house because School – AKA work – got cancelled. It is a day most people nap or get warm by a fire, but today I am taken back.
Today I can’t help but remember some of my favorite memories of Justin and me. A little over 2 years ago we had just decided to take our friendship to the next level. We had been close for a while and had basically been dating (going out to eat, watching movies, going out of town for day trips) but we had just decided to take the leap of faith in each other and ‘get together.’ I remember WOSC had cancelled school for a few days. At that time we both worked there so that meant we both had the days off. I lived in my TINY 300 square foot efficiency apartment. It had a dorm fridge and 2 burners – I had a toaster oven that had to work as my stove. Since I have bad luck driving in ice – that is for another post – I didn’t leave my apartment for a few days. When I woke up I texted my lovely boyfriend so that he would come over when he woke up and he showed up with stuff to cook breakfast. So he made use of my tiny kitchen and made some food. At that time it was still a bit awkward – we are use to being best friends and hanging out all the time and now it was a tad different. To overcome that we tried to be just like we had been. He ended up getting stuff to make lunch and dinner those 2 days so we basically spent every waking moment together. We spent our time by making a pathetic snowman – it had fruit loop eyes, was made of only the snow on the stairs and patio and a running hat on! - , beautiful snow angels in the grass downstairs, watching movies and doing what we have always done best – talking. We had always thought each other was ‘the one’ but I think those 2 snow days really sealed it for us both.
Today is not as fun of course because he is at work. When he came home from lunch I asked him if he knew what days like today remind me of and without missing a beat he said those days in my little apartment when we started dating. Those were days that we will never forget. It was so fun falling in love with the man that I now call my husband. We already knew what each others favorite color was and what each others favorite song was from our friendship, so I remember learning how he likes to kiss and how being romantic with him would never be a challenge – just natural. We were just simply 2 best friends that had fallen for each other in ways they never knew were possible. After our snows days we knew it was just a matter of time before God laid it on our hearts to get married and start our lives together as man and wife. But I think it was in those 2 days that we started our forever life together.

Bring on the Ice!

I think if every day was like today, that I would never know what being exhausted felt like! We got off at 2:00 because of the weather, I came home and took a nap, when my husband got off work I got up and just spent time with him! What a great night!
My weekend was productive. Many of you would be proud of me - I did some wife-like duties! First off let me say that for those of you that keep up with my blog that we are doing just OK on the whole losing weight/diet plan. We did good the first week, but of course with school in full swing it gets so hard! So this weekend we searched some low fat casseroles and Sunday was full of cooking! I cooked lots of stuff up and did what many recommend and froze them for when we don't have time to cook. That way not only is dinner ready, but it is healthy! One question though - I ran into the problem that the first dish that I sat out today was not defrosted by supper time. So it threw the cooking time off and all. Any way to avoid that?
Something about doing that gave me a little confidence that maybe this losing weight and eating better is attainable. It just takes preparation!
Ok well here is my next question for you vacation savvy people. We are looking at our vacation time and we have finally set a week in the summer that we are both going to take off. So now comes the hard part, where do we go? Here are some ideas and feel free to add - Disney World, Cozumel, Vegas. We want to go on a fun big trip this summer - we figure it will be our last big one before we have kids. We will take future vacation money and save it for a kid. So we want it to be fun and full of memories! So bring on the ideas!
I hope everyone's week is going well. Tomorrow night my classes got cancelled already because of the weather so I have a feeling it is going to be a great week!
:)

Sad

No matter how well your life is moving along something can always come up, even if you know it is coming, that just makes you sad. Even if it isn't something that is a bad thing, good things for other people can just make you sad in a selfish way. I guess I am very selfish, because as happy as I am about the situation and opportunity for another, I am so sad. I feel that feeling of being lost. Amazing people don't just come around every day. What a blessing to have someone mean so much that it crushes you at the thought of not seeing them daily. I will be supportive and happy in the long run for them, but today I am just selfish and sad and need to cry for me.

Thank you President Bush!

Great People

It has been such a blessing having such a strong Christian president. I am so thankful for his solid Christian beliefs even when it caused him criticism. The bible says when the world is against you, God is for you. May God bless president Bush and his wonderful wife. You will be deeply missed.

Love Thursday

I love this picture for many reason. April took our engagement pictures. We were on a bidge here. She shot normal, but sometimes she would be playing with her camera or something and we were oblivious to her. This was not a posed picture, she just caught us in a true intimate moment. This picture reminds me of Passion. More than anything, I love this picture because everything else was out of our minds except each other in that moment. I love when the world fades away and he is still there - not faded. True Love.

Wordless Wednesday

Biggest Ice cream I have ever seen. I took this picture in Vegas - 3 years ago on New Years Eve.

Girlie Girl?

When I was younger I was 100 percent tomboy. I grew up with an older brother that taught me how to play sports and be with the guys. I think my mom had dreams of me being this girlie girl. She always made me have long hair - I didn't cut it off until my sophomore year of high school! She always had her little outfits she wanted me to wear. So of course to school I would, then change as soon as I got home. When I was in 5th grade I forgot to tell my mom that we had school picture one day. I went to school in an OU basketball jersey and OU shorts. I remember someone called to tell her. She came up and fixed my hair but let me just take the picture in that outfit. She says to this day that in that picture you can see my true self! When I was 7 she had glamour shots taken of me. She loves these pictures. Even though they do not reflect me at all - I love the pictures too. Maybe because my mom loves them so much and cherishes them. Who knows! So here are a few of them.

Smiles

Monday night we went to walmart to get groceries. We never go without seeing people we know of course. We had almost finished shopping and we were walking towards the front when this little kid walks by. I know her. Her eyes caught mine and she just stopped. Her eyes got big and a smile came to her face. She started waving. She was within 3 feet of me and she is just waving. I told her hi and smiled. We both kept going. She is in 5th grade now. I know her from when I student taught in her 3rd grade class. Every time I see her she usually runs and gives me a hug. I hadn't seen her in about 6 months so she was hesitant this time. I got so close to this class. I student taught in a 3rd grade class and a kindergarten class. I think my heart is more with the younger kindergarten kids, but I loved being able to build relationships with the 3rd graders. They had full personalities. They could make up jokes, use sarcasm, show emotion. I think I felt like I taught them more because I connected with them more. Something is very satisfying about the fact that 2 years later every one of these kids still know who I am and they still get a big smile on their face when they see me. (Of course that could be because I was the only teacher to play basketball on teams with them at recess!) I can't wait to see the adults they turn into. I hope I get to see that. This was a fun semester. It was a very stressful one, but fun. Just look at the ornery group! I can't help but smile when I see this picture!

P.S. The girl I saw is in the white sweater on the front row. :)

Love Thursday

This is Rece and Garrett when Garrett was about a month old. I love the child-like pure look Rece has.

I had to post 2 because I couldn't decide. This is me and my boys napping at my mom's house when Garrett was about 2 months old. We did this a lot, but this is the only one caught on camera. I think it shows the closeness we share.

Christmas Break is over :(

Today is it. This is my last day on Christmas break. It is a sad day. It is the feeling that you get the minute before you know you have to get out of bed in the morning. That minute that you want to last at least another hour. 2 weeks flew by. Teaching during the break made it not feel like a normal break either, I was at the college just as much as I was at home. But it was a good thing for the college, and in the long run, I think it will be worth giving up most of the break for. Now it is time to start another semester. Another semester of work, another semester of taking Graduate classes, and another semester of teaching adjunct. The thoughts and stress of all of that starting tomorrow has kind of ruined this last day of freedom!!!
So on a different note, we had a great anniversary. We were going to go on a big trip (either skiing or back to Vegas) but since Intersession was so consuming and I really needed to be close to the college, we didn't go. We did decide to just run to the city for a few nights. Nothing big. No plans. Just me and him. It ended up being our best trip yet I think! We just got to relax and be spontaneous with our time. Our hotel had a hot tub and so that was nice to just go sit and relax in. We shopped a little, ate at our favorite restaurants and went to the movies. I still wish we could have had that big getaway to celebrate 1 year married, but it was just a blessing to go spend a few nights without interruptions together.
The break was pretty productive in a a few ways. My husband stripped all the nasty carpet out of our kitchen and re tiled the whole kitchen in a few days. We were without a fridge, stove, washer, and dryer for a few days, but man it looks so good and clean. I didn't get a before picture, so I am searching for one and then I will post a before and after picture. We are getting close to being done with house updates for a while.
We found a new restaurant that we love. We ate it last time we were in the city and have been anticipating it and ate it again this weekend and it once again impressed us. If you haven't ate at the Santa Fe Cattle Co then you have to go try it. It is just good ol country cookin. I am usually a pasta fan (Fazzolis is my all time favorite!) but this place is just awesome.
We decided that our New Years resolution is to eat healthier and exercise. We both have such crazy schedule that it is hard to cook good food and not just fast food. So we are trying. We also want to exercise. We both feel so much better when we workout. My goal of course is to shed pounds through it. I went on a streak a few years ago and lost about 30 pounds altogether, but I have just about gained it all back. :( I don't have the frame or genetics to ever be really skinny -
but I don't want to be overweight. We got a basketball goal for Christmas thanks to my mother in law and so I am going to enjoy workout in that area! It cost more to eat healthy, but it will be worth the money for us to get some energy back. Strangly we kind of enjoy working out, just have to make the time to do it. Life is busy enough, but we have to take care of the bodies that God gave us! So wish us luck! (Mainly me, he already looks good!)
Ok that was a lot of reading and no pictures. So here are so pictures from Rece's 7th b-day party. It was back in September but I guess I just never posted about it. It was a skating party, and a fun one at that! We played limbo on Skates! I couldn't be kept from the fun even if the kids had a height advantage!!!
Here is Garrett playing. He had the right idea, no skates!!!

Here is Rece man. He ended up geting 2nd place I believe.

And then here is me. No I wasn't the 1 that beat Rece. I got close to last. But I sure did try hard!!! :)