Christmas 2012

From our date night, on the 23rd

 
It's really hard for me to believe that Christmas has already come and gone. It was our first Christmas married, and I have to say that it was a great one, full of new and old traditions that I cannot wait to share with our children when we have them in the future. As of now, though, we are enjoying the holidays as our tiny family of two, before going over and spending time with our families. We used to have a tradition of celebrating "our" Christmas on the 23rd (since we do everything on the 23rd), but we decided to change things up a bit this year.

Aren't the lights amazing?

Since we knew we would wake up at home Christmas morning, we decided to keep up our date night on the 23rd, but wait to do our presents. Instead, that night we invited my brother and his fiance out for a double date night. We went to dinner and then went to a place called Prairie Lights, where they had about 4 million Christmas lights set up. It was incredibly, to say the least. It was definitely a night full of many laughs and great memories, and a tradition I hope to continue for awhile, maybe doing something different each year.

Our winning gingerbread house, we didn't plan the Christmas colored shirts!

For the past few years, we have had the tradition of doing Christmas with my parents on Christmas Eve. Since we were all getting married/in relationships, it seemed like the best time to do it because none of us ever had big plans that day. This year, was by far the best so far. We had fun games like a gingerbread house competition (which we won (look at that beauty!)) and a Christmas Song scramble (which we won). We dominated the games, coming away with $22 in scratch off lottery tickets! We spent some time coloring, went to church as a family, had a dinner of my mom's famous, incredible lasagna, and opened presents. It was a great day, and it went by incredibly fast. This year felt very much like Christmas!

We went to see the Nutcracker ballet the weekend after Thanksgiving.

 Christmas morning, we did "our" Christmas together. I put some cinnamon rules in the oven, and we did stockings and opened our presents to one another while we waited on breakfast to cook. It was a lot of fun just having the time together. I know that this time will be set aside for us from now on, which will make for wonderful Christmas mornings when we have children. Christmas day was spent with Michael's family, something we have been doing for several years as well. His grandpa lives with his mom now, and his aunt and uncle were in from Minnesota, so most of his mom's side of the family was there, which made for a fun day. We had a big Christmas lunch, watching some Christmas movies, did a gift exchange, had dinner together, and then opened some more gifts. It was a great day, and a great holiday season!

Now comes New Years, taking down the Christmas decorations, and starting in on semester number two of my first year teaching. Hoping everyone else had a Merry Christmas!

This Girl is Married!

Sorry this is so late, as we have been married three weeks today! Everything has been pretty hectic though. A real update coming soon, and hopefully we will have all of the wedding pictures very soon so I can post more of them. This is a sneak peek from our photographer!

-Tiffany

I get married in ONE week!!

Ahh!

What's been going on around here...

Sorry it's been so long since I've updated, things have been pretty crazy around here, and mostly in a very good sense. It really is amazing how a couple of things can change everything around for the better, and the future is looking pretty great at the moment.

So lately:
* I got rejected for a job that I was feeling really good about. I had some great connections and everything, but it just didn't work out for me.
* Michael began his job with Lockheed Martin, and I couldn't be more proud of him. It seems slow for him right now, but he thinks it's going to pick up pretty soon, which is great.
* We have picked out an apartment that I love, and we move in August 11th, which is really soon!
* We have found a lot of great furniture at great prices to fill our apartment with.
* I had three job interviews last Wednesday. After the first one in the morning, I got a call to go back and see the head principal. When I went back that afternoon, I was offered a job! Starting next month I'll be teaching 6th grade English.
* My bridal shower is this Saturday, and then we are celebrating my parents' 30th wedding anniversary. It's going to be a great weekend. (one of my best friends is coming into town for the shower too, yay!)
* Now I'm just waiting for HR to call to confirm the job and everything, and have started packing up stuff to move.

That's about everything that's going on right about now, at least that I can think of. Hope everyone is doing well!

Engagement Pictures - Take 2

After Michael proposed, it did not take us long to pick our wedding day. Everything had been on September 23 for us, and it just happened that the September 23rd that followed our college graduation fell on a weekend. Obviously it was just met to be. Since we had the date picked, we had exactly two years to decide everything else. Since my parents were paying for most of it, we sat down and decided what we wanted to spend more money on, and where we were going to try to pinch. We decided photography was not something we wanted to go cheap on. It was difficult, though.

I don't know how many of you have had to look for photographers for weddings and things, but they do not come cheap. We went to bridal shows and did tons of research but could not find anything on our budget. So, when we figured out that our wedding coordinator from our venue did photography as well, and it was affordable. We assumed that it would work out okay, and she would know where to get good pictures at the venue.

During the summer we had her do some pictures out at a house with a barn and what not, which we thought would be nice at the time. She did not take any time to get to know us though, and simply just made everything really pose-y. It turned out, once we got the pictures back, that she did not edit her pictures at all. This was not something she told us before we agreed to use her.

I spent the time after that being very upset by the pictures. A lot of my friends were engaged and having pictures done, and I was always so jealous. Then one of my friends' pictures posted, and when I looked at them, it led me to the photographer's blog. I just had to ask my friend for the information. Within a couple weeks we had book Mary, and were thrilled that she was doing a special so we could redo our engagement pictures.

About three weeks ago,  we met her in the Arts Bishop District and had our pictures done, and she just posted our blog post yesterday. (see, I told you I had more exciting news!) I am thrilled with them, could not be happier, seriously. She is sending the disc of pictures to us and she said there are about 300 total, so I'm looking forward to going through all of them! 

Anyway, check out her blog post about us HERE and look around her blog some more. If you're from the Dallas/Fort Worth area, then she's definitely a wonderful choice! 

Graduation!

  So, obviously I've been pretty horrible about updating lately, so I apologize for that. Things got a little busy with the ending of student teaching and my last semester of college. Mix that in with graduation and job applications and things have been a little hectic! However, I would like to stop and mention graduation, since it did just happen on Saturday. I cannot believe how quickly my four years of college went, and I know I couldn't have gotten through it without Michael. It was great that we got to go to college together, and it was incredible crossing the stage during the same graduation. We went through high school graduation together, and then got to do college as well. It really was a wonderful feeling. 

Since school is three hours away from our home town, mom and I went down Friday afternoon. Michael was still there, I was only away since I did my student teaching back home. We had to stay in a hotel about forty-five minutes away, which was the closest we could book even though we started looking SIX months before the day. Everything had been full in our school town at that point. It worked out well since my grandma and grandpa could stay at the same hotel and then just ride in with us. Since they're from Iowa, they don't know their way around that area like we do. 

 So, they rode with us in the morning. We woke up bright and early at 5:30 Saturday to get ready, and then left the hotel by 7:30 so we could be there within the hour. When we got there, I was able to meet up with Michael and we got our cards together, and then spent some time talking to friends. I hadn't seen them in quite some time since I had been living at home, so it was nice to catch up. We then had to sit in the bleachers while we waited to start. There was somewhere around 1500 students graduating, so it did feel like it took forever. I was number 796 to walk, so there was a long way before and after me, but it was worth it. It was a nice feeling, walking across that stage. Then, we managed to get the heck out of there and headed back to the town we stayed the night before where my family and Michael's family all had lunch together before heading home. Once we got home, we took some much needed (of course) family photos. 

Me and my wonderful parents. 

My oldest brother and his wife.

My older brother and his fiancee 

 My brothers and I.

All of us being silly. This is kind of a traditional picture for my brothers and I. I can't wait to make sure we get one like this at my wedding so I can frame one for each of them. 

Then, once we were done taking pictures and could finally change into some more comfortable clothes, we relaxed for a little while before heading over to Michael's house. They were hosting a party for the two of us, and my whole family was able to make it, which I really did enjoy. It's not often we all get to spend time together with work schedules and one of my brothers living an hour away, so it was definitely nice. And of course, I got to see Michael again which was great since things were so hectic during actual graduation. We put the gowns and cords back on and took some more pictures together. 

We both finished college with honors, which is how we got those awesome diploma covers. Along with that, we got some cords and a medal to wear, so that was definitely nice. (plus we get to say we graduated with honors which is a definite plus).

The awesome blanket that Michael's work gave him for graduating. Plus, we got to be in comfy clothes again, which was definitely nice! 

The wonderful cake his parents got for us to have that night. I'm not a big fan of frosting, but it looked really pretty and the actual cake was delicious.

So, it was a bit of a crazy day, but it was definitely worth it. It will be nice once we have our actual diplomas, though. That all happened Saturday, and then Sunday we had a second set of engagement pictures done (that's another story for a later date!) Now, our lives will consist of trying to find work and everything before we get married, so hopefully we will fine jobs soon! Michael just had an interview today, so we're hoping that might turn into something!

Spring Break

It's finally spring break time! While I have been enjoying student teaching and really care about my sixth graders, I definitely need a break right about now! I can't believe in about eight weeks I'll be graduating from college (one week is spring break, and then I have a week off between my last day of student teaching and graduation). Anyway, back to the point of this post...

If you have read through my 101/1001 list (it's on it's own page and can be found up on the page tab ^^^), then you know one of my things is to go on a spontaneous road trip. Well, Michael and I really wanted to go somewhere this spring break. We haven't gotten to spend much time together this semester, and we've never gone on a trip just the two of us for more than a weekend. Our intent was to go to Disney World since we can fly for free on standby, but then all of the flights filled up. (Boo!). After that, we decided we just wouldn't go anywhere.

Then, about a week ago, I sent him a text asking how he felt about going to San Antonio. We had both been there before, but it was when we were young with our families, so I knew we would appreciate it in a whole new way. So, while it might not be completely "spontaneous," it is for us. We like to make sure we have a place to stay when we go somewhere, so we did book a hotel.

So as of tomorrow morning we are off to spend some time together. Seeing Shamu and some great museums, I'm really looking forward to it. I will be gone tomorrow until sometime on Wednesday, so I will talk to you all again, then!

Have a great weekend/week!
-Tiffany

My Late Valentine's Day...

Since Michael and I are doing the long distance thing, this was the first Valentine's Day we were not together. It really was not fun! However, I knew he was coming home yesterday, and that did give me something to look forward to. It had been a whole month, so I couldn't be more excited to see him! He got home when I was still at work, and then the last hour and a half of work seemed to drag on forever. Finally, it ended and I went home to get ready and then he headed over to get me. (He always enjoys picking me up for dates, and I love it, too.) So he shows up to my door with these...

Apparently he had to go to three different places to find someone good ones, and that made me appreciate them anymore. I can't tell you how many times I've gotten flowers in the four plus years that we've been dating. He always gets them for me and I love them, despite them dying. Along with that, he had these.

He knows how much I love chocolate, and he has yet to go through a Valentine's Day without getting me some, which makes me very happy! And the box is adorable, I might have to keep it and figure out something else to do with it.

After we put the flowers in the vase and I showed him some wedding things we made while he's been gone (like the pomander balls in a previous post), we headed off to dinner. We went to Texas Roadhouse, which we don't go to often. It's always packed and super loud, but I knew how much he loves it, so we went there. They have the best strawberry margaritas there, so we shared one. (I say shared, but I drank most of it. He pretends to like strawberry so that we can share). So, then we have a tradition of always going back to his house to open gifts. We've been doing it since our first Christmas together, I think. I got him the new Star Wars movies on Blu-ray that he wanted. Apparently they updated them or something? And a really cute tie that has hearts on it. I also sent him a card on Valentine's Day. And I got...

A beautiful card on Valentine's Day. He sent it through the mail and he wrote a very sweet note inside of it. I keep all of the cards he's ever given me, and I really need to put them all on a ring or something so I can keep them all in one place.

When I opened my gift bag, this little guy was in the top! I LOVE  giraffes, as I said in my last Valentine's post. I sent him a picture on my phone a few weeks ago of this one, and I was so happy that he got it for me! Isn't she adorable? I have a purple one just like her, too. Then, sitting underneath the giraffe was...

drumroll please...

I have ALWAYS wanted something from Tiffany & Co. I mean, my name is Tiffany, after all! Even though I had been telling him this for a very long time, I never expected to get it anytime soon! However, I opened the little blue box, and this perfect necklace was inside!

I absolutely love it, it's perfect! So, he definitely made up for us not being able to see each other on actual Valentine's Day. He's so romantic, and it was a perfect night! I hope everyone else had a great Valentine's Day with the ones they love! <3
-Tiffany