4th of july

4th of july is one of my favorite holidays. even though it’s a million degrees outside, i love how patriotic everyone gets, getting together with friends and family, good food, and just fun :) this year was no different!

me, philip and aubrey met up with sarah, jeff, collin and amanda and david, jake and levi, at harry meyers park. we’ve gone here several years now and they put on a good show.

the sun was a bit bright.

 

the kids stayed entertained for quite a while with ice.

     

she posed like this all on her own!

  

we took the kids to the splash pad, oh man, anxiety. there were a million kids and adults all over the place, i kept my eye on her the whole time. amanda asked me to watch the boys while she went to the bathroom, but i told her i couldn’t keep up with all of them- didn’t want that responsibility! haha. so, this is the only pic of that part. and doesn’t she look cute ;)                    

                            

our first 4th of july together. (seems kinda odd to say that since we’ll be getting married in 4 months! haha!)

 

they’ll get married one day. it’s been arranged.

 

jeff bought all the kids ice cream and a light up toy. what a good spoiler :)

   

 

tried to get a group pic.

  

they totally could pass for siblings. and yes, aubrey looks quite excited! haha.

well, all day aubrey was going on and on about the fireworks. she couldn’t wait to see them. and anytime she saw one go off in the distance she got real excited. so, i was getting real hopeful that it would not be a repeat of last year where she was terrified and we had to hide in the parking lot while she had a death grip on me the whole time. so, we all get situated and as soon as the first one goes off she runs to my lap and says “i don’t like them! i want to go home!!” :(( so much for that. she started crying and screaming to leave, so i walked off to the parking lot (again) and tried to calm her down and get her to see the sparkly ones, and purple and pink ones, anything.. nothing worked. she wasn’t having it. she realized she didn’t have her shoes on so i convinced her to let us go back so we could get them, she agreed. so, i basically held her and covered her ears the whole time while she held on for dear life again.she hated the noise, think next time i’ll bring ear plugs! and, same as last year, as soon as it was over she was as happy as could be! i love fireworks, i wish she would too. here’s to one day! :)

hope everyone else had a fun and memorable 4th! :)

what’s been going on

well. guess it’s been a while since my last post. good reasons though.. lots of school, wedding planning, and.. well, that’s the most of it!

let’s see, finished up a may mini, and 2 classes over summer 1, which has totally sucked. and yay, get to start 2 more next week ;) but, i'm making good head way, so that’s what matters. the end is finally in sight.

praise the lord.

wedding. well, its coming along, slowly but surely. things that have been marked off the list: venue, photographer, dress… whoa, is that all?!? we’ve bought a lot of décor, but, still need plenty more. working on getting all the table cloths in place, oddly that’s what’s mostly stressed me. odd. we took our engagement pics, it was ridiculously hot, but the pics came out good :) food is covered, just gotta pin point the menu. still need to figure out our play list for music, bridesmaid/flower girl dresses (though, that’s all family, so not too worried about that). been working on registering this week, who knew that would be so difficult and time consuming?! its been fun though :) let’s see, i know im forgetting stuff, hope its not too important ;) if anyone has any good tips/tricks/advice.. ill take it!

can’t wait! 4 months exactly!!!

something else we’ve been doing, is a premarital class at church. an 8 week class covering all sorts of topics.. and its been great! i really enjoy our mentor couple, they are really fun and we’ve got some similarities between our situations, so that’s nice. usually after class, on the ride home and for at least an hour, we sit in the car and talk. its just been really nice to hear others advice, what the bible says, and just great conversation starters for us. i would highly recommend this class (merge at watermark.org)

aubrey. oh this child of mine. what a mess :) but man, do i love her! she has been so fun lately. she sings and dances non stop. makes up songs to whatever she’s doing or what’s going on around her. most the time they don’t make a bit of sense, but she does it a lot! we’ve also been going to the library quite often- free entertainment! she loves it though, always wanting to go. we signed up for the summer reading club.. but i think i lost the paper of the books we’ve read :/ she still loves her little babies and animals and carries them all over the place. she’s all about accessorizing and picking out what she wants to wear. her imagination is so fun to watch, she get’s so detailed in her pretend play. she’ll change her voice to whatever is being portrayed and she loves to mimic- especially me! girlfriend still loves her sleep and rarely misses a nap. though, sometimes a “nap” is just laying in bed for 2 hours because she will not fall asleep! but, as long as she’s in her bed quiet, i don’t care :) she has also, finally, gotten to the point of waking up in the night if she needs to go to the bathroom. she hasn’t wet the bed in months, but i would still worry that she might and would have to get her out of bed while she was sleeping to have her go to the bathroom again (amazingly, she’d sleep right through it all!) but now i don’t have to worry anymore. now, just to get  her to get up and go instead of me having to go in there and get her. she is also way concerned with me being happy. if she does something wrong, or that she knows i don’t like, she immediately says “are you happy?” if i say no she says “i want you to be happy. yes you are” so i tell her what she needs to do, or not do, for me to be happy- and it works! haha. she’s also been real lovey, kisses and hugs randomly, i  love it!  well, guess that mostly sums her up right now.

looking forward to fourth of july, its one of my favorite holidays. hoping aubrey will do better with the fireworks this year. last year i had to take us away and hide behind cars while she had a major death grip on me. poor baby hated it. i think she’ll like it better this year though.. hopefully. :)

other random stuff, haven’t worked since mid may (minus a few times at the bakery for big orders) since ive been going full force with classes over the summer. in one word not working has been amazing. but, i need to get a job. :( just something part time. guess ill get on that this week. philip has also been looking for another job, part or a better full time. the job he has now is good.. but, frankly, we need more money. (don’t we all?!) so, he’s on the hunt and has had some interviews, hoping this last one works out. so, if anyone knows of any lab jobs available in the dallas area… :)

just some faves from instagram :)

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I know the lighting on the blue one is weird, but its from daniels mom while aubrey was there for a week (i was missing her bad so i asked for a pic) I just thought she looked so grown up.

  

this might sound crazy, but, she was laying down next to me one night, and I just noticed how much arm hair she has now. that seems like such a big kid thing. my baby really isn’t a baby anymore is she. :(((

 

I put a box together full of aubrey’s coloring books, workbooks, colors, etc. i told her to go get into it, after about 10 minutes of listening to her in her room, i decided to start recording. she has been very thankful and grateful lately. its kinda long, but its pretty cute, especially towards the end :) (oh, and im in the midst of rearranging her room, so, it’s a little messy :)

one day aubrey made a “mad” face, it was so funny looking that i tried to get it on video.. then she started hamming it all up. of course :)

this past sunday, after lunch, aubrey had this major burst of energy. pretty evident in the video of what i mean by she makes up her own songs and dances. oh, and we recently watched some celtic river dancing and so she naturally picked it up. future career? ;)

alright, well it took those videos approximately 2 days to upload, grr, so that’s all she wrote.

see ya in another month. ;)

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 :)