Wedding Update!!

Sorry I have been such a stranger lately!! I would like to say I have an amazing excuse...but I don't. I can say that I have been doing a lot of wedding planning, which has been extremely exciting! Here is what has been accomplished so far:
1. Ceremony & Reception Site have been booked
2. Photographer is booked (and I absolutely LOVE their pictures!)
3. Colors have been chosen (purple and white)
4. Asked officiant for the ceremony
5. Wedding dress has been purchased!!!! YAY!
6. Bridesmaid dress has been chosen and girls are getting measured
7. Called several photo booth vendors...would love to have a photo booth at the wedding but they are so stinkin' expensive so we will see.
8. Meeting with a travel agent on Friday to start looking at honeymoon plans :)
9. Purchased Nick's wedding band and my wedding bands
10. This has not been done yet, but I thought I would put it on the list....Registering!! I am super excited about registering with Nick! We will probably do this in the next few months.

So I know that this does not look like a lot, but it feels like a lot! Nick and I will also be taking a few fun pictures for our "save the dates" in the next week or so. I have really enjoyed all the planning so far and I can't wait for June 1st to get here. In addition to all of the planning, Nick and I are back in school. Nick has been extremely busy because, not only is he part of Best Friends (LCU acapella group), but he is also playing the lead role of the prince in Cinderalla. I am so proud! He is such a hard worker! My family will be coming into town October 7th-9th to see his play and I have no doubts that it will be fantastic! My semester has not been as busy, but I did get to complete my level one fieldwork in August. This involves going to a facility for a week and shadowing/assisting an occupational therapist. This is the longest hands-on experience we have had in our program so far. I did my fieldwork at an outpatient pediatric facility in The Woodlands, TX (near my home town). It was a good experience, and I definitely know that I want to work with babies or children when I start looking for a job. I will have another fieldwork in January that will be for two weeks, but I think I am going to stay in Lubbock for this one.

I know everyone wants to see pictures, so here are a few from the summer:

                                    

At the lake (Branson, MO)

Nick, myself, my grandpa, and my dad

Hanging out in the water

Going away party at Greenlawn Church of Christ...love all of these girls! Greenlawn is where Nick did his internship this summer.

Slink man!

Again...

Family Pic in Seattle, WA

My sister and I in Seattle

My dad scheduled a surprise activity while we were in Seattle, WA...you guessed it! A hot air balloon ride! We had to help put it up and take it down. The ride was amazing! Cross that off my bucket list :)

On a more serious note, please be praying for all of the families in Magnolia, TX (where I am from and where my parents still live) because they have been battling a wildfire for the past few days. It has been very scary for everyone due to the fact that the fire has not yet been completely contained and evacuations are currently taking place. My parents have not been evacuated yet, but my dad has been staying home from work as to be ready if they are informed to do so. I am sure most of you know, but my parents have quite a few animals, so getting all the kitties, horses, dog, bird, and guinea pig ready to go is not an easy task. Hopefully, they will not have to evacuate, but if told to do so, my dad informed me today that they do have a place they could stay (one of my dad's work friends). Some of my other friends have been evacuated from their homes and they are not sure about the condition of their homes at this time. Please pray for comfort and peace among these families and also for the safety of all those who are fighting the fires. I can not even imagine what they are going through!

Snow and a little bit of love

So despite the fact that it is now a hot 80 degrees outside, I still feel like everyone should experience the snow that swept through Lubbock a few weeks ago. Nick and I were both VERY excited! (Probably more so than the regular Lubbock residents) We were unable to play in the snow together for the first two days due to road conditions, but we got our chance later on in the week. Being that I am from Houston, I refused to drive on the icy/snowy roads, so my good friend Mandi came and stayed the night with me when the storm hit in order to drive me to school the next day. Thankfully, the roads were not too bad at all so I was driving in no time!

On a more recent note, last Monday was Valentine's day...in case you were unaware. I cooked Nick's favorite pot roast and we exchanged gifts. I don't know if this is a sign of getting old, or just being practical, but Nick and I discussed before Valentine's what things we really wanted/needed. Nick wanted a nice water bottle to take to class and I wanted a nice coffee mug to take to class, so guess what!? That is exactly what we got each other! Now before you say this is boring, we were still surprised because neither of us knew what kind of bottle/coffee mug we were getting. Oh, and Nick really surprised me by showing up with a beautiful bouquet of flowers! After exchanging gifts we sat down and ate our pot roast (for Nick) and watched The Bachelor (for myself!). Needless to say, we both enjoyed dinner! I don't want to embarrass Nick too much, but I think he actually enjoys watching The Bachelor. It is wonderful because we all know I am absolutely obsessed!

Sorry for the Wait!

Snow pictures will be posted soon,along with various snow adventures :)

Count on the Cats

I came home Thursday afternoon to find this laying on the floor.

Looks strangely like my bath puff huh? Well because it is! Someone *cough* Slink had managed to get into the shower and snatch up my bath puff as a new play toy. Now if you know me, my cats are in no way lacking toys. In fact, they happen to be scattered EVERYWHERE around the house! It is a tad ridiculous to be honest. I refused to use the new toy with the cats for a day or so, but I just could not resist. They love it! (Probably more than any cat toy I have actually spent money on). So, needless to say, the cats have a new toy...I am without a bath puff...but hey the cats are having a blast!

Here comes the bride...mark your calendars for the last time!

Welp the wedding date has changed...for the very last time! Nick and I were so confident that the date we set last summer would be the one, but after receiving a new schedule for OT school we had to change it. The original dates we were given have changed...meaning I now start fieldwork on June 11th, 2012. Being that the wedding was supposed to be on the night of June 8th, 2012 we opted to reschedule it for an earlier date to allow for plenty of time for the honeymoon! The new wedding date is June 1st, 2012 at 7pm. Mark your calendars! I am so relieved that we were able to reschedule. After receiving the new school calendar on Thursday (and freaking out just a tad!), I made a few frantic phone calls, one to Nick and one to my mother. After discussing everything and talking to Nick's family, June 1st seemed to be the best date. Even after deciding this, I continued to worry because I just knew that we would call the venue and they would say something like, " Oh, sorry we are booked!" or "Well, it looks like we only have dates after June 8th." Thankfully this is not the response we received, but the venue did inform us that they already have six weddings booked in June 2012, so we are lucky to have gotten the date we needed. No worries,though, Nick and I will be getting married just slightly earlier then planned!

On another note, Nick and I decided to work on a small project today. I recently refilled the bird feeder, and with all of the nice weather, I have been opening the screen door for the cats to go outside. They love it, but I always get nervous that they are going to jump off. Solution: put up a screen! This seemed like a genius idea to both Nick and I, so off we went to Lowes. After about 30 minutes..tada we had a screened in balcony for the kitties. The cats loved it! They could go outside, the birds could eat out of the bird feeder right above them, and Nick and I could enjoy peace and quiet in the house. I love it! Here are a few pictures...

The kitties longing to go outside before the project

Well Hello 2011!

So Nick and I are officially back in Lubbock from our Christmas break. Ironically, Nick and I did not really get to see each other very much over the break, so it is nice to be back. Nick spent the majority of his Christmas in Tennessee with his mom and sisters. I am so glad he was able to spend Christmas there and guess what!? He had a white Christmas! I will have to get some pictures off of his camera, but from what I saw, it was absolutely beautiful! I spent Christmas in Magnolia, and then I went to Missouri to see my grandpa for about a week. Before Nick left for Tennessee we met with photographers for the wedding. We met with four different photographers, all with different photography styles. Nick and I both loved the first photographers we met with. They are two sisters in Spring, TX that have done numerous weddings together. Their pictures were absolutely beautiful! We also clicked with their personalities. We spent about an hour sitting and talking with them. Although we loved them from the start, we kept looking, but we ultimately decided to book them! It feels so nice to have the venue and photographer booked! The next thing on the list is to start looking for a wedding dress! This will probably happen in August when I am home from school. As Nick and I were running around doing wedding stuff, we realized that we have been engaged for a year! Time really does fly, and I cannot wait for June of next year.

With the new year, Nick and I will begin attending Greenlawn Church of Christ (where Nick will be the summer intern). We have been going to a different church in Lubbock, but we want to start bonding witih the kids at Greenlawn before the summer begins. Before leaving for Christmas break, we went to a winter retreat with Greenlawn. It was slightly intimdiating due to the amount of kids there, and the fact that Nick and I did not know anyone. The girls in my cabin were all really sweet and I cannot wait to get to know them more over the summer. Nick and I also hung out with a few youth kids that we met during the mixer. We ended up going on a hike/rock climb. Since Nick loves rock climbing, this was right up his alley! I, however, am apparently scared of heights. I am not okay with crawling along side of rocky hills and climbing up rocks with out cables. The boys said they were on a mission to find this big rusty can...sounds rivating right? Well here it is! At least we documented our hard work!

Nick got a thorn stuck in his hiney!