Seventeen Years Ago...

Seventeen years ago, three of my sisters and I sat at the window watching a flash flood outside our Las Vegas home debating what a Native American would name a baby who was born that day. Around dinnertime that night, my little sister was born...without a Native American name. Jessa came as a very loud little girl who wanted to make her presence very known. Every since then, she has always been very energetic, outgoing, and crazy. And, while we could barely stand each other when we were sharing a room at ages 6 and 12, we couldn't be closer now. She has grown to be a very smart, beautiful, and amazing person. Jessa is now one of my very best friends.

Happy Birthday Jessadork!!! I love you!!!

Little Boy Blue

One week ago, I had a sleepy, floppy-earred little puppy to bring home with me. He spent the majority of his time napping and loved spending time in his little bucket bed. At that point, he was given the name Blue for his beautiful eyes.

A few days later, his ears began to stand up, and he looked adorable. Also, he began to be more comfortable with his new enviornment. Blue has a pile of toys that he became inseperable from at this point.



Just a couple days ago, his ears stood up all the way!!! I think he looks so cute and goofy with his too-big ears! I can't get enough!



These pictures may also be the first time he has sat still in days. He loves to play and be active--night and day!



The newest challenge is to teach him to walk on a leash, because I need a running buddy, and he will certainly have enough energy to do it! Of course, he has also found a fire hydrant that he loves...

Puppy Love!!!

When I arrived home on Saturday, I learned that my parents' neighbors had a new litter of puppies! Dad walked into the house carrying one of them, and he was adorable!!!

After talking with Devin and doing very little convincing (he was hooked too!), we decided he had to come home with me at the end of the week.

Since then, I have been spending a little time with him each day...I just can't get enough!

By the end of the week, he will be 5 1/2 weeks old and ready to leave his three brothers and his mother. And, Devin and I will name him once we get home!

Wedding Update

For those of you out in blogland who are wondering what's been going on with plans...

On Saturday, Devin and I had our engagement photos taken at Piedmont Park in Atlanta. This has been one of the most fun parts of wedding planning thus far. Since the last update post, we have also moved the ceremony from Orlando to Atlanta and switched the open house to a reception. However, this is still taking place on May 2nd! We have also registered at Bed, Bath, and Beyond...which was an adventure in and of itself. Now, we are trying to lock in on cakes and catering while trying to take care of flowers and finalize honeymoon plans. Whew! Plus, we don't know where we'll be for the summer yet! But, please enjoy these pictures if you want, because we sure had fun taking them!!! :]

Eventually, the smiles just got to be too much, and we just got goofy! I love that we got to have every picture that was taken...not just the serious "good" ones!

Southern Snow

Yesterday the Sotheast received a huge surprise and received a MASSIVE snowfall. There was at least half a foot of snow dumped on Athens...a city withour snow plows, salt trucks, or a stockpile of road ash. Plus, few people have much experience driving in the snow. Thus, the entire city shut down. (No school today!) After almost an hour of trying to dig out of Devin's apartment yesterday afternoon (a tree was weighed down blocking the path) and digging out Devin's car, we couldn't even back out of the parking space. We were stuck until the sun came up this morning and started melting the snow. Dropping Devin off at work, we saw trees covering several lanes of traffic, more than half of all the traffic lights out, and cars literally just abandoned wherever they stopped moving. It was quite an interesting sight!

The snow was just POURING out of the sky.

Of course, my Southern fiance had much more fun with the snow than me - I left the North to escape it!

It was fun playing in it for a little while, though!

And, we did a few good deeds by working with some of Devin's neighbors to knock the snow out of the trees and prevent the ones near him from snapping at least.

All in all, it was definitely a fun adventure!

PLEASE bless this food!

Recently, Devin and I have been into making pizza. As a result, I bought him a pizza cookbook for Valentine's Day. We decided to try and make one completely from scratch last Saturday. We made the dough and thought we did something wrong, so we tossed it out. We tried again and realized it was just the dough and had to make our own adjustments. In the end, we had a heavy, heavy dough that didn't want to spread out at all. We baked it anyways (with homemade sauce and everything!) but made sure to pray extra hard before eating it...

In the end, the second one came out better than the first, but both were surprisingly edible!