Our Engagement :)

As mentioned in the previous post, Matthew and I had been dating for a year and a half. I was so anxious to get that ring and start wedding planning, but Matthew had a different plan! In the end it was perfect the way he did it, and he even got to teach me patience along the way. ;-)

Every time we went on a date, I was expecting a ring. And every time it didn't happen, I would get into a bad mood and pout. Matthew probably thought I was crazy! Thankfully, he loved me and decided to stick it out. :)

The day was July 8th, 2014. It was my 27th birthday. I spent the day at my friend's pool with some of my favorite friends. All day long, we talked about how he could propose to me that night. I basically told them that he better propose, or else I would be so upset. Towards mid afternoon, I went inside and started getting ready. My friend Rachel did my hair, I made sure my nails were done, and off it was to my birthday date!

Matthew took me to dinner at Joe T. Garcia's in Fort Worth. I love this place for many reasons, but one reason is because we had gone there for his birthday and that was the first time he mentioned getting married. :) I was so nervous! However, he was acting completely normal. I thought he would be acting weird/nervous... but nope. Completely and totally normal. So I texted my friends that I had spent the day with and said, "Yall, he's acting completly normal. It's not going to be happening tonight, I can just tell! I've got to let it go, or it will ruin my birthday!" And then, I really did try to let it go....

Us at Joe T Garcia's for my birthday--- this would end up being our last picture as boyfriend/girlfriend!

After dinner, we were walking back to the car, and Matthew says, "Hey, why don't we go to the Fort Worth Water Gardens?" I responded with "YES!" but in my head I thought, "Maybe he really is going to propose! Why else would we go THERE??"

Then we get there... and we can't find a parking spot ANYWHERE. And he says, "Oh well, let's just go home." And I think: "OK, he's obviously not going to propose. Because if he were... he would be freaking out a little bit more about not finding a parking spot!!" But out loud, I just say, "OK, that sounds fine."

Then two seconds later, a parking spot opens up. He pulls in and says, "Ok, let's just go!" Then we walk around the water gardens, (which, by the way, are beautiful). We get to this section of the water gardens: 

and he says, "Hey, let's walk down to the bottom!" So we start walking, but I chicken out after a few steps. (Give me a break, the stairs were wet and I was terrified of slipping in my shoes!) So we head back to the top. We are sitting at a bench, overlooking this view, and he says, "Do you want to open your birthday present?" So of course I say YES! He hands me a tiny bag. I reach in, and I feel a tiny jewelry box. My heart stops. And I think, "Holy crap! This is my ring!!" I pull it out, open it (with my heart beating 1,000 beats a second).... and it's pearl earrings.

Beautiful pearl earrings.... but pearl earrings. Not a ring. I was so bummed. I mumbled a thanks and threw them in my purse. (Ok, so I was also being a brat.) Well, during this time, Matthew had gotten him and walked behind me. He was standing up, and got me to stand up with him.

He starts telling me all of these sweet things about how much he loves me and how wonderful I am to him. I probably should have been paying attention more, but honestly in my head I was thinking, "He just realized that I thought that was going to be a ring, and now he's saying all of these sweet things to make up for it because he just realized that he might have just ruined my birthday...."

But then, all of a sudden, he's reaching into his pocket, pulling out another box, and getting down on one knee. He tells me he wants to spend forever with me, and asked me to be his wife!

I just remember saying, "What? What? Are you serious?" over and over again!

First engaged picture-- we look gross because it was 102 degrees outside and we were sweating like crazy!

Obviously, I screamed YES!! (And maybe an "It's about time!", too... but hey, don't judge!) Man, it was such a rollercoaster of night, but it had finally happened and I was THRILLED!! Afterwards, we facetimed my entire family to tell them the good news. Then we went to his parents house to tell them, too!

This picture doesn't do the ring justice. It's gorgeous!

 After all of our families knew, we headed to BJ's Roadhouse for a birthday dinner/engagement celebration pazookie. And it was delicious. :)

We took this picture after our dessert. :)

It was by far the best birthday ever! I would say the best day ever, but nine months later we got married... and that was the best day ever! I will blog about that one soon!

Hello, Blog World! Meet Matthew :)

Hello, long lost blog world.

It's been a long, long time. One of my goals for the end of 2015 and all of 2016 is to get involved in this blog again. So I figured I would take the time to update what my life is like these days! Of course, this may take a few blogs, so I will update about one topic at a time! And the most important topic is up first...

I GOT MARRIED!

So it's probably time to introduce him to the blog, yes?

His name is Matthew. We met through an online dating site in January of 2013. I never blogged about him during that time period though because he was so anti-social media. But now? Well, he will just have to learn to like being mentioned in the blog. :)

This was the first picture we took together. It was at his dad's birthday lunch in 2013!

So anyway, we met in January of 2013 through an online dating site. I had recently been on multiple dates with other guys, and they were all terrible. I was convinced that online dating was not for me, and kept bailing on meeting matthew in person. But he was persistent, and I finally agreed to dinner at iFratelli Restaurante. He walked in, and I became a believer in love at first sight. I knew from the first moment that he would be my forever.

At a Stars Hockey Game in late 2013

However, Matthew moves slow and it took him a little while. :) It took Matthew three months to hold my hand, four and a half months to kiss me, and a year to say "I love you". My friends use to tell me he had friend zoned me, but I knew better. I knew that this would be forever, so for the first time in my life I showed patience. And he was well worth the wait. :)

When we first met, he hated sports. Now he's a huge Alabama fan just like me!

 I prayed for a man like Matthew for a long, long time. God exceeded all of my requests. Matthew is a Godly leader for our family and puts his relationship with Christ first. Matthew is funny and keeps me laughing all the time. Matthew is caring and always thinks about my needs. He is my best friend in the whole entire world, and I am so blessed to spend the rest of my life with him by my side.

On our one year anniversary date!

 I was single for so long, and knew I wanted to be a wife so badly. I loved my single life, but I always was longing to find my "one". I remember the nights of longing, loneliness, and impatience so vividly. If I could go back and tell single Heather anything, it would be this-- Remember, that God has it all planned out! So to my single friends- I know how lonely it can be waiting for God to bring you your one. But ladies, hang tight. Don't lose sight of what kind of man you want and deserve. God has him out there for you, and when you find him.... you will know that it was well worth the wait. 

I love this man more than anyone else!

Even now, sometimes I look at Matthew and can't believe he's mine. It a pleasure to wake up beside him every morning and to be his wife. He is my best friend in the entire world, and I can barely remember what my life was like before he was in it.

One of the many weddings we attended in 2014 :)

We caught the garter and bouquet at my little brother's wedding... and got engaged a month and a half later!

Matthew fell in love with Tuscaloosa once he finally got to go!

 We started talking about getting married in March of 2014. We went home in May of 2014 for my little brother's wedding. While there, he asked my dad's permission. I had figured out that that was when he would do it, so I was so impatient after that. I wanted to get that ring and start planning! But Matthew had a better plan. Our engagement story will have to be my next post! :)

I love this man more than anyone else!

Heaven Birthdays

Nine years ago today, I held my momma's hand as she met Jesus.

I've missed her a lot of the past nine years, but especially so in the past year. In the past year, my brother got married. He had a little girl. My other brother had another little boy. And I got engaged and have been planning my wedding. She has missed so much.

Over the Christmas break, my entire family got together to celebrate. When we sat down for Christmas dinner, I was overcome with a feeling of pain and loss. Around the table were all of my loved ones, laughing and having a good time. But my mom wasn't there. And my mom lived for those kinds of moments. She would have been in heaven at that table.

But then I looked around the table. When my sister laughed, I could hear my mom laughing. When my little brother was cracking jokes, I could see her silliness through him. When my older brother said the blessing, I could hear her faith coming through him- the faith that she taught us and raised us in. When my two year old nephew smiled, I could see her beautiful smile on his face.

And I was reminded that while she may not have been at that dinner table physically, she was there. She will always be there, through all of these milestones. She is there through us and the things that she taught us. Her spirit will live on through us until the day that we are reunited again. And the feeling of pain and loss went away and was replaced with JOY and hope and love.

I love you mom. Happy 9th heaven birthday! We miss you so much down here.

Long Time Coming

Dear long lost friend (aka- my BLOG),

It has been so long. So very, very long. In fact, it's been 13 months and 20 days. I am oh so very sorry for the long delay. I would say that I promise I hadn't forgotten about you, but that would be a lie. I did. I forgot. So, I apologize for that.

So much has changed in the past (almost) 14 months, that there is no possible way to highlight them all. But here are the key points-

• I went to a total of 12 weddings this year. 12. That's entirely too many weddings in one year, but I am oh so very thrilled for all of my dear friends who have found their forever. Yay to love!
• One of those 12 weddings was for my little brother. What?? My little brother is MARRIED? I still forget sometimes. I think of him as the little curly headed boy that he always was to me. Now he's married. Time flies.
• I became an aunt again in July to the prettiest, cutest, most adorable little baby girl Lexie. She is too stinking cute! It hurts my heart that she lives all the way in Alabama.
• I became an aunt again in November to the most handsome baby boy, Blake. He is perfection. Well, at least when he isn't screaming his head off. I spent my Thanksgiving break snuggled up with him, and it was some of the best days I've had in my life!
• Carter has gotten so big. So, so big! He is so adorable and precious and the light of my life. Over the summer I was babysitting him one night, and put him to bed.... I said "Goodnight I love you!" and he said "I love you too Header!" and I think my heart shattered into a million pieces because of that adorableness. Most days he doesn't care for me and would rather play with "Machew" (or anyone else who is around for that matter), but I still love him so much. He is the best!
• Oh yea... I also got ENGAGED. That's right, I found my prince. Matthew is the best thing in my life (besides Jesus, of course.) We started dating in January of 2013 and he proposed on my birthday in July. Maybe I will blog about that sometime soon. It was perfect, he is perfect for me. I love him so much and can't wait to be his wife in 87 DAYS!!!!
  
  
  
  

So basically my life currently consists of being an aunt, teaching 70 crazy, amazing 8th graders, and trying to plan a wedding at the same time. It's a crazy busy life, which is probably why I forgot about you, poor old blog.

Who knows, maybe it won't be another 14 months before I write again!

Sincerely,
Your old pal Heather 

Happy Birthday, Carter!

Yesterday, my precious nephew turned ONE! I can't believe he is already ONE! He has been such a JOY to watch grow up this past year, and I can't wait for many, many more!! He is my favorite little guy!!

To celebrate his first birthday, I wanted to make something really special for him. He lives in Austin, and none of his family lives close to him. (One set of grandparents and I live in Dallas, one aunt/uncle in Tulsa, another aunt/uncle in Chicago, an uncle in Tuscaloosa, and other set of grandparents in Birmingham.) He also has family members that have gone on before him that he won't get the chance to meet. Being a reader teacher, I decided I wanted to make him something that could help him learn his ABCs.... as well as his family members at the same time!

I looked on pinterest and found a bunch of ABC wooden blocks that people made with scrapbook paper. I liked the idea, but I wanted it to be more personal. So I did something similar...

I went to Hobby Lobby and bought 1 1/2 inch wooden blocks and a wooden box. I painted the blocks all different colors and put one letter on one side of each block. Then I put someone's name that corresponds with each letter.... so for example, the H block has "Aunt Heather" written on the opposite side. Then the remaining four sides have pictures of me! I printed the pictures on my computer and then mod podged them on to the blocks. (It was a LOT of pictures!!) I did this for every block. Some blocks don't represent a particular family member, but just have pictures of him with family members. I put numbers on those blocks so that he could learn numbers too. I then painted the box with family quotes and put the blocks inside! Below are pictures of the blocks! I am obsessed with how it turned out!

ABC Letters! (I made a Z.... I have no idea how it didnt end up in the picture!)

Numbers

Grandparents Names

Some of the pictures of his grandparents and great grandparents!

Aunts and Uncles

Some pictures of his aunts and uncles!

ALL the blocks!

Two of the quotes on the box!

What the box looks like when you open it!

After creating the blocks, I went on shutterfly and made this ABC book to go along with it! Each letter is again about a family member or something to do with him and it's filled with pictures! I also wrote a poem for each letter. Here is the link to the book! I love love love this book so much!

I love love love how this present turned out! It's so personal and I think it's something he will play with and read for a long time! Happy first birthday, Carter!

A Perfect Weekend!

This past weekend was the last weekend before summer vacation! And oh my, it was an absolutely perfect one!

Right after school on Friday, we had the 8th grade dance. I had been working for weeks on decorations, and I think it turned out pretty cute! We did a Hollywood theme, and I think the kids enjoyed it. It's always funny to watch your kids dancing around the lunchroom, so we had a good time!
                           
Friday night, I had some much needed friend time with Ian! I am so blessed by Ian's friendship! We went to dinner and then hung out at his house, chatted about life, and enjoyed some wine. It was the perfect end to a crazy busy week!
                             
Saturday I ran around all day running errands. Then that night, we threw a surprise dinner for Mary's birthday! She had no idea, and it was so fun! We ate at Mattito's in Uptown, ate some Gigi's cupcakes, and spent the whole dinner laughing our heads off. I swear, I have the best friends in the world.
                             
After dinner, Matthew and I headed to the movies to see "Now You See Me".... it was a really interesting movie! It had a lot of twists in it that I wasn't expecting. You have to pay attention to the entire thing, or else you get really lost. I'm not sure Matt enjoyed it... I caught him snoozing a few times! HA! But I think he was just really tired. At least that's what I'm going to tell myself. :)

On Sunday, I went to church. After the service, I headed to Matt's house. We then went to his parent's house to spend the afternoon with his family celebrating his dad's birthday. I really enjoyed my time there. It was a sweet time together! After lunch, we went back to his house and spent a lazy Sunday together. We watched a lot of Netflix, napped a little, and just hung out. Then we grabbed dinner and hung out some more. By the time I went home, I was exhausted. How is it possible to be exhausted when you didn't do anything all day? I don't know! Ha!

Overall, it was a perfect weekend. Perfect, perfect, perfect. Now it's time to spend this last week with my babies before I send them off to highschool! Summer is SO close, yall!!!

YOMDA

YOMDA! You Only Memorial Day Annually!

Oh my, I am so blessed with amazing friendships with incredible, Godly women! Six of my girlfriends and I headed down to San Antonio Friday morning for a little girls weekend!

We stopped at the Czech Stop on the way out of town. There is nothing like their Kolaches! It was a great way to kick off a great weekend! We later stopped in San Marcos on the way and did some outlet shopping! There is a VERA BRADLEY OUTLET there. OMG. If you know me, you know I'm obsessed with Vera! I went a little crazy in there! After shopping, we headed to San Antonio and got settled into our apartment... which was an old jail house. It was awesome!

Czech Stop!

Cali and I at dinner at Rosario's!

That night we went to dinner at Rosario's! The food was incredible! After that, we went to Target to pick up some stuff we left. I was asleep by 10:00 that night... party animal! The shopping must have really worn me out!

Saturday morning we headed to Guenther House for brunch. OHMYWORD. Can I just say... it was the most amazing meal of my life. And the coffee?? I've never tasted coffee that was so delicious.

It was amazing! After brunch, we went back to the hotel. Then we headed to the Alamo! I was so excited about seeing the Alamo. I taught Texas history two years ago and have wanted to go see it ever since! It was really neat to be there. After the Alamo, we went to the river walk and enjoyed margaritas at Rita's. They were delicious! After that, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We ate dinner at an Italian restaurant on the river walk, but I don't remember the name of it! Then we visited La Villiata and just enjoyed the beautiful evening by walking around San Antonio! We ended the night by getting ice cream. It was a fun day!

The gang at the Alamo!

The gang in La Villiata!

This man sang Mary "Happy Birthday" at HH!

Hanging out on the River Walk!

With Mary on the Riverwalk!

With Amy on the river walk!

This margarita was from Rita's and it was amazing!

Sunday morning we got up and had breakfast at the hotel. Then we got ready and had lunch at Acenar! After that, we walked to the mexican market down the street. It was a really neat place, but the best part was stopping to get margaritas at a restaurant there... but I don't remember the name of it! I obviously had way too many margaritas this weekend! Ha! Then we went back to the hotel for naps. After naps, we got ready and headed to the river walk for a boat tour! I was so excited about the boat tour and it didn't disappoint! After the boat tour, we had dinner at The Republic of Texas, which is on the river walk. After that, we headed to Howl at the Moon, which is a piano bar downtown. We had so much fun there ringing in Mary's birthday!

At happy hour with Sarah!

Pictures from our River walk tour!

I painted my nails during nap time!

On the boat tour!

Margaritas with Mary!

Mary and I weren't very good at nap time. We took a bunch of ridiculous pictures instead!

With Amy at Happy hour!

With Sarah about to go on the boat tour!

Mary got a birthday dessert at dinner!

The Piano bar!

At happy hour with Mary!

No, I didn't pay for this to go on the board. I loved it being there though!

With Mary about to go on our boat tour!

Monday, we got up and headed home! Before we headed out of town, we stopped back at the Guenther House to get breakfast to go. We had some more of that delicious coffee, and I got an amazing (and huge) cinnamon roll to go! We then stopped in San Marcos to go back to the Vera store. (I'm obsessed. I bought the cutest suitcase for CHEAP!) We stopped in Waco for lunch at Newk's, and then it was back to Dallas!

Yea, I was only able to eat a fourth of this. Ha

I saved $200 on this thing!!

I spent the afternoon doing laundry and going grocery shopping. I even grilled out some hot dogs for myself! Then I met Matt for a movie. We saw Furious 6, and it was pretty good! My favorite part was holding his hand and ending my weekend with him, though. :)

This was definitely a memorial day for the history books! We had SO MUCH FUN! I am so blessed with the people in my life! They are all incredible!

(To see everyone's pictures from the weekend, go to instagram and look up #yomda)