House!

This past weekend we had our house warming party, and we finally got some pictures taken of the house. Looking back on the pictures I can't believe how much it has changed and we have only lived in the house a little over a month. A lot of dedication and hard work has been put into this house..and Andy and I are so excited to finally have a place of our own. It's been a lot of fun unpacking things that neither of us have seen since before we got married....since we didn't have very much room in our apartment our first two years of marriage. So we are finally settling in and figuring out projects and things that we want to do...to make the house more "us". Tonight we set up our cabinet we bought Saturday after the house warming party to use as our pantry. It is in the laundry room and I absolutely love it! I took a picture of it on my phone and sent it to my mom so someone could share the joy with me..lol Andy doesn't get as excited about that kind of stuff like I do. haha..I knew mom would so thats why I decided to share it with her instead. It's funny though because before we got the house no one really said anything to us abotu when we were going to have children..but now that we have the house a lot of people keep saying..soo when are you going to add a baby to the mix? lol We would love to have a baby right now, but we are trying to get some things figured out with our jobs first..so that it would be easier for me to stay home with the baby and not worry about losing our house we just purchased :) So here is our house...our home that will come to be included in so many meaningful memories that I can't wait to experience with Andy ...and Wilbur :)

Our very own Christmas tree!!

Guest Bathroom

Our Bathroom

Our bedroom

Guest bedroom..this will eventually be the nursey when the time comes :)



Office

Here is our kitchen. See all that food in front of the 'island'. That is now in our new pantry!

Here is our living room.

Yes we still exist! :)

It has been way too long since I have updated this blog, but there have been so many things going on the past couple of months I haven't had time to really spend some quality time in the blog world. :) So I will start from the beginning going back to August. At the end of August our lease was up on our apartment, and Andy and I had been looking at houses and found one. We put in an offer, it was accepted and waala! But our closing date wasn't going to be until the end of September, so we decided to move in with my parents until we closed on the house. They very last weekend in August we got all of our things out and cleaned up the apartment. I happened to be off that weekend so we decided to go to the Home Show in Knoxville. We had gotten free tickets from very good friends of ours that we go to church with that own their own business and were set up at the show. This home show is very important because this is where we adopted Wilbur. Who would've thought that a dog adoption place would be set up at a Home Show? But it was definitely fate because once I saw Wilbur I knew we had to have him! He was the only dog that wasn't on a leash and he was laying right next to the lady that was fostering all the dogs. He was so mellow and just hanging out. I went over to pet him and he was just so calm and sweet. We walked through the entire home show and then we went back to where the doggies were and after much discussion with Andy we decided we would take him home. He is the sweetest dog I have ever met and so loveable. He is very shy and skiddish, especially around males. (Him and Andy are still kind of warming up to each other) but he really loves me and that makes me feel good :) lol I just hope that him and Andy can bond and have as much fun as Wilbur and I do when Andy isn't home.. Wilbur is a completely different dog when Andy isn't home. He loves to play and run around the house and shake his toys around. So he has adjusted well. :) We closed on our house Sept. 18th, but didn't actually get into the house until the following week because we allowed the little 80 year old lady we bought it from time to get all of her things out in a timely fashion. So on Sept. 28th we started tearing off wall paper, cleaning, and painting. And slowly bringing some things over. We didn't actually start living here until October 11th.

On October 9th, I was driving home from work heading to the new house, because I had bought a brand new shower curtain, rod, and rings that I was so excited to hang up. Andy was already at the house and I was about 2 minutes away, on a back road, at night while it was raining. I got into a car accident and totaled my car. There was a lady driving in the opposite direction came around a curve too fast and lost control. She ran into me and kept spinning, and she ran me off the road into a ditch. I think it scared me more than anything just the fact that I wasn't on the road anymore, and the road was above me and not the same level as me. Andy got there before the police and made sure that everyone was ok. The driver of the other car was ok, which was good. Andy drove me to the hospital. I was fine, not even a scratch, just sore and wanted to take all precautions to make sure. We were very grateful I was in the PT Cruiser and not my old eclipse. The Cruiser held up really well and I was suprised that they totaled it. So we were off to find a new car. A new house and new car all within the same month was not something we planned on! But we found something nice and reasonable. I ended up with a 2006 Chevy Malibu. I absolutely love it! So in the end everything worked out :)

Things are going great and we are still working on the house. Still more things to be unpacked, and we still have big plans for new flooring, remodeling the bathroom in our bedroom, and a few other big things we have planned. All within time though. It's fun turning a house into a home, and I am so excited knowing that we will have our first child here....someday :) We are having a house warming party this Saturday, I will try to take some pictures of the house to post soon.

Here is Wilbur on his bed in our bedroom.

Celebrity Waiters Dinner

For those of you who don't know Andy & I along with my parents are involved in the local Relay for Life. We have been participants for the past three years and have really enjoyed it. We've made a lot of nice friends and our family has been affected by cancer multiple times so it's nice to feel apart of something that is not only a great cause but is personal as well. My friend Ashley and I have a team and something that all the teams decided to do this year was a celebrity waiters dinner. Each team had a table (or more if you wanted) and they were the servers. They had to dress up as 1980's celebrities. Our team had two tables so Ashley and her husband Roger had a table, and Andy & I had one. Ash & Rog dressed up as Baby and Johnny from Dirty Dancing, and Andy and I dressed up as GI Joe and GI Jane. We had so much fun! Between both of our tables we raised almost $1000 for our team. All together that night we raised around $12,000. So it was definitely a successful night. Here are some pictures from the evening!

P.S. I do have to say that this was my first pair of camo pants! lol They are super comfy! I guess I'm really fitting in as a Tennessean!

These were all the people at our table. Dawn, Doug, Melinda, Phil, Mom, Dad, and Mark & Tammy. Thank you so much for your support!! Hope you had as much fun as Andy & I did!

Yep...thats us :)

Andy, Me, Ash, & Rog

Packing!

I know I'm not the greatest at keeping up with the blog but there usually isn't anything too exciting to talk about. Andy and I are usually so busy with work, church, and trying to fit in sleep every now and then :) That it isn't too often we go and do something fun! We have been enjoying our summer, going to the pool to cool off and going to see some movies. (We saw Transformers Revenge of the Fallen...very good!) But other than that nothing too out of the ordinary. BUT! lol We have decided that when our lease is up at the end of August we are going to move back in with my parents. Yes, I know it sounds crazy but we're trying to save up money to buy a house and we feel that we can do it much faster by living with themfor a few months to really put some money away. I've already started packing, which I've decided I do not like! lol It's a lot of work and I have a hard time figuring out how I want to place things and what to put in what box and if it's going to fit..yata yata. So at this point our apartment looks like a tornado hit, but it's ok..it's a work in progress!! I'm just really excited about buying a house and Andy and I officially having our very own place to settle in to. We have already looked at a couple of houses and our plan is to hopefully be into a house by the end of the year. I'm so excited because I feel like we're taking the next step in our marriage...and we're preparing to hopefully start a family soon. So I will definitely keep everyone updated on the house hunt!!

Graduation!!

Yes it is official, I am finally a college graduate!!! The week was full of fun because Andy's mom and dad were able to fly in for the occasion. My grandparents also drove up from FL. I spent the first part of the week with Andy's mom, which was fun because anytime I am around her I get in the crafty mood and FINALLY finished the baby blanket I started 8 1/2 years ago..lol. I have now started another blanket for a special friend who is expecting :) Wednesday night Andy's dad flew in and then I took both of them around Gatlinburg on Thursday. Thursday evening my friend Ashley and I drove up to Johnson City where my school is. (ETSU) and we spent the night in a hotel to wake up bright and early for Graduation practice the next morning. Both of our families drove up that night and also stayed in a hotel and then Graduation was Saturday May 9th at 10am. I am so excited to have my degree in teaching and hopefully can get a job starting this fall. Please keep me in your prayers as due to the economy there are not many positions open and there are a ton of people applying. I'm just so happy because I feel like Andy and I are taking the next step in our lives. No more homework, no more tuition...a normal life...wahooo!!

Sunday was Mother's Day so I was lucky to have my grandma, mom, and mother-in-law to share it with. I made my first double layer cake in their honor :) I think it turned out pretty good, I will post pictures later! My whole family was with me at church when I was sustained and set apart as the new YW President! Everyone kept asking me before hand what I was going to do with my spare time now that I'm done with school...well, this is what I will be doing! lol I'm really excited and very grateful for my new calling and feel that I'm going to learn and grow a lot. It should be interesting because when I was first called, I was thinking what! lol I'm only 23 and I'm going to be YW President... :) It was a lot to take in but I'm truly very excited and up for the task! Wish me luck :)

Ashley and I waiting for the ceremony to start

Yes we are laughing...hahaha We are done! lol

We were roasting! It was so hot.

My mom has more pictures that I will get from her..also Ashley's dad took some with a really nice camera so I will get some of those too. :)

Valentine's Day

So I'm way late in posting, but things have been really crazy with student teaching. I'm really enjoying the experience but it is taking up a lot of my time! The week of Valentine's I got sick with the crud that was going around school. It was so awful! I was out most of the week, which made me feel even more awful. My goal was to not miss any days during my student teaching..but it got to the point where my mentor teacher was sending me home. It started with a sore throat, then coughing so much that I lost my voice for a couple of days. Then started the sneezing and nose blowing! The good thing was that we didn't have school that Friday (the 13th) so I was able to rest some more before heading to work. Valentine's day I spent the first part of the day at work and then the plan was to go to Olive Garden with my parents, Ashley & Roger, and Ashley's sister Noel and her fiance' Dustin. When I came home Andy was sound asleep because he wasn't feeling good so I left for Olive Garden without him so I wouldn't break our plans...I was really bummed! lol Andy started feeling better so he met us at Olive Garden..just in time for the food! (I think maybe he planned it that way??...lol j/k) I took a few pictures..but you can tell by mine and Andy's that we are both sick! lol Everyone else looks great! Although it wasn't the most romantic Valentine's I was happy to spend it with family and friends.

Andy & I

Mom & Dad

Ash & Rog

My Snowboarding Adventure

Unfortunately I do not have any pictures for this post...but that is probably to my advantage because by the end of the day I was so pooped and so sore that I did not want any pictures taken! I went snowboarding for the first time ever with a really good friend of mine. He was a good teacher but I wasn't a very good learner I guess..because I did a lot more falling than snowboarding!! It was fun, and I would like to try it again but I am EXTREMELY SORE! I am icing my knee as I type. It is swollen from all of my "accidents" lol. What's sad..is that I fell before we even got to the dang place to go snowboarding! We stopped at walmart on our way there so I could get some gloves, and for those of you who don't pay attention to the weather out in TN we have had snow since Monday like all day non stop snow. So needless to say there was a lot of black ice....and lucky me just happens to walk right across it..not paying any attention because I'm on the phone with my mom all excited about my snowboarding adventure! The next thing I know I'm on my knees! Yes it did hurt..and I think that was Heavenly Father saying Heather this is how it's going to be the rest of the day! Because that is exactly how it went...board fall board fall...fall fall fall! lol So I will be staying away from the slopes for a little while..lol but I would like to go back. I think I may try skiing next time, it looks so much easier!