An Engaging Vacation

Last week, Nick and I, along with his parents, took a trip up to Gatlinburg, TN.  We had a wonderful time enjoying all the touristy attractions there in Gatlinburg and nearby Pigeon Forge.  The Smokey Mountains were gorgeous!

                                          

We left on Thursday, and once we got checked into our hotel and had dinner we began walking "the strip" to check out the sights and sounds.  On Friday, we went to an entertaining dinner show about the Hatfields and McCoys.  The food was great and the show was a lot of fun.

Before heading out to walk around again that night, Nick turned on the first song we ever danced to together and asked me to dance with him in our hotel room.  In the middle of our dancing, Nick got down on one knee and proposed to me!  I, of course, burst into tears immediately.  I definitely said yes, and I am super excited to be marrying my best friend and soul mate!  My engagement ring was actually his grandmother's ring.  I am so honored that his mom has let Nick give me such a special piece of jewelry.

Currently, the ring is too small for my finger, so we will have to go get it resized.  Nick wanted to make sure I would have something shiny to wear until my real ring is ready, so we picked out a temporary ring.

The rest of our trip was so much fun!  We checked out a local cavern, went to the aquarium, saw another show at the Comedy Barn, went up into the space needle, ate A LOT of food, and walked around checking out as many of the shops as we could.

This was one of the best vacations I have ever taken!  Now it's time to get back into school mode.  And to let the wedding planning begin!

Time to Start Anew

I know it's been an extremely long time since I've blogged, but I think now is the perfect time to get back on track.  I desperately need to lose some weight and work on getting myself in better shape and more healthy.  It is also time for school to start back, which will hopefully help in putting me back on a more structured schedule.  I'm hoping that if I blog about what's going on in my life, I can hold myself to being more accountable in all things I want to work on.

So here are the things I hope to keep track of here:

• As I mentioned before, I need work on being more healthy.  A co-worker of mine has been eating primarily fruits, vegetables, and beans following the plan outlined in Eat to Live.  I have started reading this book and want to try to implement this into my life.  Hopefully adding a better diet to the exercise I've already been doing, I'll see some improvement in my weight and health.
• I'm starting my second year of teaching 7th grade science.  I'm hoping to grow in my profession and work on bringing more hands-on activities into my classroom.  I hope my students grow and learn so much in my class!
• Nick and I have been together for almost 2 years now, and we continue to fall more in love each day.  I want to make sure we continue to keep the excitement and fun in our relationship by trying new things and experiencing life together.

I'll leave it to that for now, but expect to share much more.

Kato

Back in December, Nick and I decided we were ready to adopt a puppy together.  As you know, I have Rosey, and Nick has a Yorkie named Java.  One Saturday, we headed out to Petsmart to look at the dogs the local rescues bring in for adoption.  We spotted Kato right away!  We decided to walk around and check out the others, but immediately came back to him.  After seeing how much attention he was getting, we put in an application as fast as we could and were approved to adopt him within a short time!  Here is our first picture together:

We picked the name Kato while heading home with our new baby.  He was about 2.5 months old when we got him and weighed about 25 pounds.  He is a retriever mix and loves to play.  Rosey and Java have taken to him very well.

We have really enjoyed being the parents of 3 fur-babies!  Here are some more pictures of Kato:

He's getting so big now!  He is almost 7 months old and is weighing in at about 70 pounds!

Here are they all are together!  Kato, Java, and Rosey

~Emily

Spring Break 2012

Last week was my Spring Break from school!  It started with an Easter weekend spent with Nick's family, who came up from Charleston to visit.  His nephew had a blast playing with the puppies and finding Easter eggs in the yard.  I had a blast playing the Easter bunny!

Nick headed back to work for a couple days while I worked on school work and enjoyed sleeping in late!  Wednesday, we headed to Florida for a little vacation.  Nick's parents took us down to the gulf coast of Florida.  I was introduced to some of his family and had some fun in the sun!  We celebrated my 26th birthday while we were in Florida.  We went to Hooter's (my first trip) and then had some fun by the pool!

We had a great time!  Sad that the break is now over, but looking forward to our next vacation in May!

I'm Back!!!!

Okay, so apparently the blogging thing only lasted a few months last year, but in my defense, things got a little hectic after my last post and just haven't had the motivation to get back at it.  But I've decided that since some things have changed in my life and all for the better, I'm going to try to get back into my blog!

Since the last time I updated I have met the man of my dreams!  We met at my best friend's wedding last September and have pretty much been inseparable ever since!  His name is Nick, he is 29, and he has a nice job in the IT field.  After walking UP the aisle together (as in I was a bridesmaid and he a groomsman), we chatted and had a great time together at the reception!  Another of my best friends made sure to give him my number, and he didn't waste any time in getting in touch with me later that night!  A little under a week after the wedding, we went on our first date and made it official a week later.  I pretty much knew I was falling for him by this point and have tried my best to make sure he knows how much he means to me ever since!

Okay, now that I've got the lovey stuff out, here's how the rest of last year played out:

I have still not been successful in obtaining full-time employment, but I have been continuing my teaching at Congaree Elementary and really enjoy working with my students.  I decided to leave my work with the marching band at Airport and join up with the staff at Lexington (my alma mater).  I really feel like I've made the right decision because these kids at Lexington really try their hardest, and they all seem to actually want to succeed!  I have been having a blast working through marching season last fall (especially with our third place/bronze medal win at State Championships) and into our current Winterguard season that concluded this past weekend with circuit championships up in Rock Hill!

I have gotten into some really good books over the last few months, reading The Help, Hunger Games, and now Catching Fire.  I seemed to have forgotten my love for really good books before a few months ago, but have made my way back into reading again!

In the last month I have begun taking two online courses to help me obtain my middle level teaching certification that will hopefully help me land a full-time job in the upcoming school year.  I've found it to be a little stressful getting back into the school swing of things, but have managed to make time for the school work again!

Well, I think you have pretty much been caught up now!  I promise to try harder to continue posting and maybe actually get some more people to read this!

~Emily

Grace Circle

Okay, so first of all...I just have to get it out that today is MY birthday!!!  I am now 25 and a quarter-century old!  I plan to do a post dedicated to me and my 25 years a little later (cause that isn't conceited at all LOL), but I want to focus on how I spent this evening for right now!

We had our second meeting and fellowship as Grace Circle tonight!  Grace Circle is a women's group recently formed at church.  It's for women in their 20's, and we do a little devotion and plan to get more involved in the church community as we grow!

I am really excited to get this opportunity to become more involved in the church and get the chance to talk to other women my age about my experience and my walk with Christ!  I haven't always been in a church community, but I feel like in this time in my life, I need to become closer to God and really find my path in my faith.  I know this group was formed at a perfect time for me to get involved with it.  I was looking for a way to feed my desire to become closer with the Lord and more involved in the church, and I really feel like this was put in front of me to give me the opportunity!

Tonight, we read and discussed Romans 12.  I haven't ever read the Bible completely through (though I am working on it), so I'm not very familiar with all the parts.  We got to talking about how we incorporate Christ in our everyday lives and accepting others for what they believe and where they've come from.  I got me thinking about how I can tend to judge others before really getting to know their background and what's happened to them in their past.  We had a great discussion about all of this, and I really enjoyed hearing other people's perspectives on this subject.

I think this is going to be something I will really look forward to each month!  I really hope this will continue to help me build my relationship with Christ and bring me closer with some new friends as an added bonus!

~Emily

Month of Birthdays

Ok, so it seems like almost everyone special in my life has a birthday in the month of March!  That is one of the reasons I've been so behind on blogging.  The month started off with my sweet baby girl turning ONE!!!  Yes, Rosey is moving out of being a baby puppy (not like she was small for long)!  We (well mostly me, the adoring mother) celebrated Rosey's big day on March 7th!  Here are a couple pictures to see how much she's grown over the last year!

                                                            



On March 12th, I helped celebrate Jessica's 24th birthday by cooking dinner for her and Rilee!  She requested my famous baked ziti, and so we enjoyed a bit of Italian while watching "Love and Other Drugs"!

Next came Mom's birthday on March 21st and then my sister's birthday on the 25th!  Mom turned 50 this year and her co-workers honored her with a surprise luncheon!  Caitlin turned the big 21!  She started her birthday celebration at midnight going out with her friends...let's just say she wasn't feeling the best when she woke up the next morning!  But, she managed to make it out the night of her birthday for dinner with Dad, LuAnne, me, her boyfriend, and a few other guests!  We went to dinner that Sunday to celebrate both of these lovely ladies and their milestone birthdays!!!

And last, but certainly NOT least...Rilee turned into a big 4 year old on March 22nd!!!  We celebrated her big day the Sunday before with a fun-filled birthday party fit for a princess!  There were lots of friends and family around to celebrate, yummy food and cake to indulge in, and even a jumpy princess castle for the little ones!!!  It was a great day, and the birthday girl was showered with TONS of presents!!!

Love my big girl!!!

Well, it was a busy, but an absolutely fun month filled with some amazing people's birthdays!!!  Next big birthday up????  MINE!!!  I turn 25 in just a few short days!!!  I'll let you know how that shapes out!

~Emily