Love Story Part 3

I meant to write this yesterday but time flew away. This part of the story speaks for itself. It was an imperfect but incredibly perfect day all at the same time. I don't want to get all sappy on the internet so I wil stop and here are a few pics.

These are a few random shots. The last one, I just like. It gives some flair. It gives fun!

Love Story Part 2

The Engagement:
It was december of the following year. Yes, only one year after we started dating. A few close friends of ours had already gotten engaged and I was convinced it wasn't happening to me anytime soon. I had tried to guess every time he would have proposed but I was wrong every single time. So I just gave up guessing.

I knew he had the ring though. Nosy me found the receipt one day and of course I couldn't help myself to not look at it! I knew he had that thing somewhere! This is crazy but every time He would leave his apt for whatever reason I would search for the thing. Guess what....I NEVER found it! He was such a good ring hider! ( I seriously only found out like a month ago where he actually hid it.)

So Im at work one day and my friend/coworker asks me if I wanted to go shopping that night after work. Sure, why not? So that was our plan. Well for some unknown heavenly God-inspired reason I guess we didn't end up going. I have no idea why really. So instead I had laundry at Jeremey's apt that I needed to get and I needed to study for finals anyway. I was going to get the laundry and just go home.

My friend Heather (who was also the coworker) and I arrive at the apt and the boys are acting so weird. I grab my things and Im about to leave until suddenly Jeremey asks me if I want to walk to the mailbox with him. Ok sure? 
'Meanwhile, Heather's fiance is rushing her out the door while I am trying to tell her to grab me some dinner at the store. We are both thinking, Can you guys chill for a sec while we figure out what we want for dinner!? So weird we had no idea.

So as we walk to the mailbox I kind of figure out what is going on. Jeremey is acting so strange. But, we get there and back...and nothing! What a trick!!


We then decide to walk to the park, which was like right next to the apartments. I knew what was going on now. Seriously, it had to be happening! He gets out of the car and something falls out of his pocket, I say umm, what was that? He so cooly says, "oh just my phone." yeah right!


My favorite thing to do at the park is swing. We go to the swings and he pushes me and pushes me and in my head Im expecting to turn around and see him on one knee any moment. Magical right? Well it STILL doesnt happen! Sheesh! We talk about the day and such and start walking back to the car just like nothing at all. (I was secretly disappointed, I really thought I had guessed wrong again!)

As we are walking back, I tend to walk fast so I am ahead of him, I look back and he is sitting right next to the swing I was on, on one knee. Perfect! I kind of walk back to of course smiling from ear to ear, I heard that magical question and I said seriously!? Yes!


And that was that. Heather came back with my dinner. Her fiance knew the whole time obviously. We had some cupcakes to celebrate!

            I had chosen a ring that I thought I wanted but this one I had never even looked at. It was perfect.

                                            My roommates at the time were also very excited.

Love Story Part 1

This one might be sappy. Just a warning. Im not a sappy girl but I love this story! Mostly  well only because it is mine.

I must start off by saying that there is reason I am writing all this. Our 2 year wedding anniversary is on Sunday! Whoo! 2 WHOLE years! Its very little compared to some but very long to others. For me, this is been a very fast, crazy two years.

Here is how it all began....
Here I was, a freshman at Hillsdale. I had taken this leap of faith and moved from good ol' Wichita to Moore. I was very convinced that after 2 years at Hillsdale I would pack up and move back home and continue on. I just wanted to go away for a couple of years and go back to settle in Wichita again. This would have worked out perfectly if I never would have watched this cute boy mow outside my window everyday. Creeper, I know. But he was cute, I had a great excuse! He was tan, in shape, and well...cute!

Well at first I really didn't know who this cute boy was but come on, its Hillsdale and it only takes a couple days to learn. Ok so I now know his name and I wonder if he will ever talk to me. Im a freshman and he is a junior. hmm. I wasn't going to be one of those MRS degree girls so I figured I would just be friends with him anyway. I mean, I had plans of going back home. NOT staying in Oklahoma forever. ha! My lucky day came and it was biology class. Why he waited until junior year to take biology Im really not sure but hey, it worked for me.

It was test time. I hadn't really told anyone that I liked him, but Im pretty sure my roommate had figured it out. He came to me one day and said "Hey, you want to study biology tonight?" umm....YES! I so humbly answered "Um maybe I might have plans but I will let you know." Really I was ready to drop everything and "study". But of course, I had to play hard to get. I couldn't let it go that easy. Needless to say, I called about 30 min before it was time and said " yeah I guess I have time tonight so where do you want to meet?" Playing it so cool. Yeah right.

We went out to eat often, we went to movies, we hung out with friends, we went to the park to swing. (Not to make out...seriously! We went to the park because it's one of my favorite places. This will come back later in the story.)

Time went on and I kept up this game of "hard to get" for awhile. At least I thought I was. Nobody else agrees with me. It was about November at this point and I was thinking, seriously!? Why won't he just ask me out?? I knew the answer and it was wise, but I wanted to be dating now. Something about you should be sure you want to date before you actually do. He was planning this way better than me!
So getting ahead of myself one day, I said "ok look here, its been 3 months and you STILL haven't asked me out yet! I dont have time for this so let's be friends." He said "ok, well if that's what you want, but it's not what I want." WHAT? I felt stupid! Im not sure he knew what to do from there. I so graciously went into one of my roommates and spilled it all and she said, "karen, seriously, wait! You are going to scare him off acting like this!" Thanks for that advice friend, you know who you are!
Ok so I did, I just decided we would be friends for awhile and stopped acting like I was falling for this guy every minute. I hid it better. One month later in December, he FINALLY asked me to be his girlfriend...

This was the first picture we ever took together: at Sonic

TO BE CONTINUED

Happy Father's Day

I will admit it...have been a terrible blogger lately!
I do have a couple of excuses though.
I have been taking a summer class and my time on the internet lately has been devoted to either research or nothing productive at all.

Anyway, a few important things have happened.
1) My sister finished her LPN work and is now moving on to get her RN. Way to go sis! It's been a lot of sacrifice for her the past year (and a little sleep for me going to her house at 630 am twice a week) but hey, its worth every bit of it in the end. I dont have a picture or I would post it.

2) My husband had a job interview. Thats all I can say about that at this point. It has been very promising thus far but we are waiting for that "final" confirmation and a start date. It would be a HUGE blessing for us.

Well here is the real point of this post.....HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!
To my Dad....I love you!

This is one of my favorite pictures with my daddy. Yes, thats a real tiger! I think I was in 2nd grade in this picture.


And I also like this one alot.

My dad loves my sister and I alot and we love him so much back:) I miss our Saturday lunch dates and the gas fairy coming to my car on a weekly basis. And Dad, you can still run faster than me!   Thankfully, I am not too far away and a phone call is wonderful! Love you dad!

Teaching Taz

Pretty much, our dog is like our child. We took him to Jeremey's hometown this past weekend and he provided a great source of entertainment for all. Who needs a kid when you've got a dog!? Jeremey and his brother got the bright idea to teach Taz how to swim. My dog is not a swimmin' dog! The dog book tells us that. He is terrified of water! Anyway, it was funny to watch.

It begins with a lesson from "Daddy"

And Taz is successful! (Im not sure he really knows how to swim or if he was so scared all he could do was move his feet and get out!)

Poor thing, he would jump out and run straight to my father in law to ring his tail out.

Poor Taz, looks like a rat when he is wet.

Education

Husby let me pick out a movie tonight. He usually picks because I honestly don't really care about movies most of the time. In fact, I usually almost always fall asleep. When I do pick out a movie, its either going to be a happy movie or a "teacher" movie. Tonight what do I pick? A documentary. I love to watch documentaries. Boring, I know, but I find them interesting, meaningful, and not a waste of 2 hours of my life like other movies. Anyway tonight it was Waiting for Superman.

This is a documentary basically talking about the plight of the public school system and the option of charter schools. Yes, its a "teacher" documentary. So naturally, I would find this interesting.

My view: Yes, we have so many schools across this nation in danger and failing to meet the standards. There are so many arguments about the standards and testing that I could write all day. However, bottom line, we still have schools that aren't matching up. There are teachers passing the buck and not dealing with issues. I am not a teacher yet so I cant say that I will be perfect, and I know I wont be. However, I hope will do my best. There are hoops to jump through and annoying things that teachers have to do.There are things that teachers wish they didn't have to do. I have seen it in my observations and heard teachers talk about things. The legislation, mandates, tests, etc don't make it a breeze but as a teacher, I feel like there is still a responsibility to make the schools the best they can be and give the students the best learning experience they can have no matter what, working with what you have been given.

None of this changes the fact that I want to be a teacher. I want to feel like I am making a difference. I want to be a teacher that cares. None of this changes the fact that I don't want to be one of "those" teachers. I want to be more than "that".

This is what I am called to do. This is what I will do.

On a different note, watching this only reminded me that I was so incredibly blessed with a solid education. My parents had a choice of where to send me and they made excellent choices. I was able to attend good schools my entire life and went to one of the top high schools in my state. I went into school never doubting that I would graduate. I went into high school never doubting that I would college was in my future and I left high school never doubting I would be prepared for college. I am so thankful.

Its not fair to me that some of these families on this documentary were hoping for a little luck through a lottery to attend a good school. This is America, the country of freedom. I don't understand why every child doesnt have the same access to good education. I don't get it, but that's the way it is.

I just hope that whatever school or place I end up in, that I could make the learning meaningful for the one year that student is in my classroom.

I am meant to be a teacher. I know it.

Cooking Shows

Ok so I have the morning off work and I found myself watching cooking shows on tv. Why? I really don't know but that's what I did. I enjoy watching the chefs make things that in the end look so wonderful but it always leads me to a few questions.

1) Do people really watch these shows and try to make the stuff on their own at home?
* I ask this because I mean its great to watch but they usually make things I would never make at my house. Maybe I am too simple.

2) Do you have some of these ingredients just laying around your kitchen?
*Once again, maybe I am too simple and I do not have some of these crazy ingredients just in my kitchen cabinet.

3) This is off of question 2, but if I don't have these ingredients I obviously would have to buy them but I'm not convinced it would be an affordable meal and I am a cheap shopper!

I love finding new recipes and things to cook but they must be simple and affordable. So if anyone reads this, let me know what your favorite simple and affordable meals are!