the best question

 

The proposal:

We had been talking about getting engaged for a while, but, he kept saying he had things to get in order beforehand, yada yada yada, so, I figured it wouldn’t be till the summer sometime that he would actually propose. So, in typical date fashion, we decided to go to dinner and a movie at The Harbor. Nothing out of the ordinary. Went to Gloria’s and actually got into a little bit of a heated conversation/debate, that we were both started getting a little annoyed with one another. So, after dinner we had a little bit of time to kill, so again not out of the ordinary, we walked around by the lake. We stopped down by the lighthouse and since it was such a beautiful night, I of course wanted to take a pic. It was little windy.. so after about 8 attempts, we got a winner! And, at that point “Will you put your phone away already?!” That was out of the ordinary! Haha. But, I didn’t think much of it. So, we sat down and I just laid my head on his shoulders listening to the water, then he nudges me up and says “I just have a question for you” and pulls out the ring and says “Will you marry me?” :))) My response: “What?! What! What?”while he stares at me. Haha. Its not that I was undecided, just totally surprised!! Didn’t see it coming that night at all. So, finally I said “YES!” We kissed.. hugged.. a great moment :)

About 5 minutes before he asked.

I was so nervous I guess afterward I didn’t call anyone! We still went and saw the movie, haha. It was nice to just take in the moment together before all the phone calls :)

So, Natalie had been in cahoots with Philp for weeks –so, the last weeks and up until she had her baby- at the hospital when she had Oliver we even talked about when Ithought he would propose, etc,.. she had me fooled. Soo.. Philip told her that he was going to do it that night, so of course, she’d be waiting for a phone call. Well, after we walked back to my car we immediately noticed one of my hubcaps was mussing! Some one tried to steal all of them, but, could only get 1 off. Seriously? Out of alll the cars, mine??? Geeze. So, I decided I’d call Natalie and start off by telling her about my car. She answers totally excited and I start telling her the story.. “What??” “Ohh, that sucks”.. haha. So, we chat for a bit then, “OH, and I’m engaged!” Totally had her, it was great. :) So, we stopped by her house on our way home, where she gave me a sweet card and money for a manicure- awesome :) I got up bright and early the next morning to get one done! haha.

So, then, I went home told my mom and Marvin, they were really excited! Told my siblings- surprised, but excited. haha. Then called Jenny and Amanda and put them on speaker- again, excited! All the excitement really had it sinking in- loved it!

I was going to call Lauren and Lauren (which, totally luckily, Lauren Smith was in town!) but, decided to wait till the next day when I would see them. It was Sawyer’s birthday party, so I didn’t want to “steal the thunder”, so after a lot of hoping it would work out, we all went out to dinner- and Alycia and Joel- bonus! So, after we had all order I had Philip slip me the ring under the table and I casually put my hand out there, with the ring visible. Smith was sitting across from me, so.. she was the first to notice! She looked at it, then looked at me real confused, and I just shook my head yes! She got up and came to hug me, when Alycia got sight of what was going on, then Lauren “What?! Whats going on?” So I turn and show her my hand- her look was great! It was such a fun way to tell them!! Totally sucked having to be around them all day and not say anything, but, so worth it :)

  

After that, facebook official.

It has been a great 3 1/2 weeks of people finding out, beginning of planning and just starting at my ring ;) 

After we booked our venue and set the date!

Come November 3, 2012- I’ll be a married lady!!!! Whoohoo!!!! :)))

how it all began

well, I’ve realized I never did properly introduce philip… guess I wanted to keep him a mystery ;)

so, let’s take it back to the beginning..

this past summer I was in full force ready to date. it just seemed like finally the right time, and I was ready. problem was- who?? haha. seeing as I worked with only one other person, my step dad- ha, (though me and natalie always joked how cool it would be if one of my customers was ‘the one’) so that option was out, tried getting involved with church (though, I could have been much better about that), went on a couple of blind dates that were a bust, then sarah (older sis) started in on the dating sites. natalie had been pressuring, nagging, encouraging me to give them a go too. ;) I wasn’t so sure about it all. took a lot of convincing.. and seeing sarah have such good luck with it. so… I finally gave in. and guess what- no luck! I talked to a couple of guys, but nothing ever came of anything. so, I switched sites (to another one sarah had even better luck with- she’s still with her guy!) and searching through some profiles I cam across one that really caught me eye- a cutie in a cowboy hat! so, I figured I’d give it a go (plus my subscription was coming to an end pretty soon) and he responded! whoo hoo ;) so, we start talking through the site.. very slowly. his response time was killing me. so, I finally had to give him my personal email bc my time was up (and I didn’t want to pay for more, haha) so, we started talking that way.. still at a snails pace. I was started to get annoyed. we had been talking for at least 2-3 weeks (?) and no talk of meeting up. so as usual, I initiated our first date. I didn’t want another weekend to pass! so we agreed to meet for dinner in arlington (kinda half way). let me tell you, I was nervous. could barely bring myself to get out of the car. and as I did, I sliced my finger on my door handle (the backing of the handle was pulling apart) so I grab a napkin to wrap my finger so blood wouldn’t drip everywhere and go up to him. real classy. he gives me a hug hello (which I always think is a little odd when you first meet someone) and we go into dinner. first impression- tall: nice. cute. and, that’s what he wore? haha. I felt a little over dressed compared to him. but, he said it helped him feel less nervous. haha. he just had jeans and plain tshirt and  baseball hat on- not bad, just not first date worthy ;) well, things must have gone ok, we talked for 4 hours! well, he talked for 3.5 ;) come to find out, I get quiet when im nervous and he talks more when he is- aww, perfect match. haha. we both start getting a little tired, and the restaurant was closing soon, so we call it a night. we hug goodbye (which was ok this time) and he says he had a nice time and we should do it again. never really can tell with that kind of closing. by the time I get home- email from him- wanted to make sure I made it ok and said he really enjoyed the night. guess we were good for date #2 :) so we start texting and talking a lot more. and lo and behold, I ask him out again! who am I? I don’t do the asking! but, in this case, if I didn’t.. I’m not sure if we would have ever gone out! haha. I asked if he wanted to meet me for lunch, since he was in the area for work, so we did. that lasted 2.5 hours. (in case you’re wondering, I kept a note of all our dates for a  while, haha!) the next date wasn’t for 2 weeks.. his lack of initiations was really starting to get to me. he acted really interested in me but wouldn’t freakin ask me out! so, I hinted really hard and obvious that I was free that coming weekend.. and still nothing. this was his last chance I had decided. finally, he asked I wanted to go out that weend- duh! :) All of our following dates lasted for hours. Like, 5+ everytime. we just couldn’t stop talking. It was really nice. He eventually started asking me out without me having to hint :)

First date, Sept. 17. Made it official Nov. 15. Engaged, April 13.

That’s right folks, got me a little bling bling on a certain little finger- and couldn’t be happier!!

Looking at those dates really puts it in perspective how short of a time this really has been, but, as cliché as it sounds, it seems like we’ve known each other forever! Things have been so comfortable from the beginning and it all just seems sooo right. God has truly blessed us.

Aubrey really loves him and they get along great. She is always excited to see him. At first it was a bit of an adjustment.. for me! It wasn’t until February that I really started letting him hold a “parent” role. I mean, I wouldn’t want his help when it came to her- carrying her, telling her no, just anything really. She was mine. But, as we became more serious, I had to let him in. I did. And, its been great!! I mean, there are still some boundaries, obviously, but those will change once were married and just over time. Its all uncharted territory that neither of us have been in, so, it’ll be a work in progress :)

Eerytime I look down at my ring, I just think “wow, I’m going to have a husband!!” haha. but really, its so amazing to know who I will finally be spending the rest of my life with- and it’s a good thing I like him ;)

This may not be the way I had always imagined my story going, but, I’m so glad this is the story I have. Only God could have worked this all out the way its gone. :)

So, a special shout out to Natalie for persuading me to get online.. and, to Sarah for having such good luck and making me jealous. :)

proposal story to come.

Dallas Zoo

 

A few weeks ago, Philip and I took Aubrey to the Zoo. She hadn’t been since February of last year, so I was curious to see how into it she’d be now. She loved it :)

To start off, we took the Dart- fancy I know ;) She loves buses and trains, so I figured she would like it, of course she was really excited. (We took the Dart last year too, its funny how a year makes such a difference in their reactions!)

First stop, penguins.

 

        

        

Is it jus me, or does she look way different here??

   

  

The moment Aubrey had been waiting for all day… the carousel!

 

   

She couldn’t have been happier.

 

After the Zoo- Chuys!! Yum-Yum

Fun times :)

Sunday Drive

a few weeks, month ago, philip, aubrey and I decided to take a little road trip after church one sunday. we kinda threw a few areas around, but, ended up in muenster, tx! which is about an hour and a half from home.

it was an absolute beautiful day!

headed out.

(btw, these are a mix of phone and real camera pics)

Our first stop was lunch. and, muenster is known to a be a little german town, so, german food is where we went! though, I wasn’t very adventurous and got chicken fried chicken  Philip did get a sausage sampler type meal.. I did try them all, though, only really cared for one, haha.

After lunch, I requested we go to this little rest area I noticed that looked good for pics and letting Aubrey get some energy out. Well, after about 20 minutes of driving and debating on where this spot was (a certain someone wasn’t listening to me , we finally got to our destination!

on the other side of the road.

love this one of us.

Beautiful horses! If Aubrey wasn’t so crazy, they probably would have come all the way up to us!

talking about the horses.

And, of course, had to check out the flowers. She is definitely her mothers daughter  

such a sweet girl!

After that, we drove into Gainesville to let Aubrey play on the playground.

Girlfriend loved it-duh!

no pics, but a video.

No surprise, within 5 minutes- lights out!

It was a very relaxing day, and nice to “get away” for just a bit.

We need to make that happen more.

Happy New Year??

yeah, way past due on this one. but, now maybe I’ll get caught up since I’m in the current year now

This was one of my favorite New Years Eves! Me, Sarah, Amanda and Jenny (and all of those that go with us!) went over to Jenny’s parents for food and games! It was really nice to have us all together to hang out… though, next year either no kids, actually put all the kids to bed.. or us adults won’t be attempting to play any games! Ha! Though, I will say, my sweet baby was the only child to go to bed (well, minus Levi, but he’s an actual baby =) and I put her down at a relatively decent time. So, bonus points for me! I also love that I’m the only one that has a girl.. those boys are crazy! haha

Some of the guys talking.. probably about guns.
Aubrey and Jake were so cute!


<3
Us girls trying to get a pic. The guys were doing an awful job (how hard is it to take a picture?!) so we took matters into our own hands… though, I still haven’t seen anyone else’s pics..


The next day we all, minus Amanda’s clan, went out to Jeff’s to shoot guns! He has a lot of land, the kids loved it. It was a bit chilly and windy that day, so kinda put a little damper on things, at least for me and Aubrey

I'm having a hard time arranging these pictures with windows live writer.. hopefully the next post will be better! haha. But, at least you get the gist of the weekend :) oh, and when Aubrey was holding that gun, she called it "her liitle baby one".. oh my!!

It was a great time with great friends.. started the year off right! :)