16 Days till Christmas!!

The last time I posted was before Thanksgiving! Geesh! I LOVE having time off work, but it sure does put me behind for WEEKS whenever I come back.

We spent Thanksgiving in Houston with Brian's family - it was nice to see everyone and catch up. They were all really excited to hear we are moving back to Texas. It sure was a quick trip though... I came back to work Monday a bit pooped. We are spending Christmas here in St. Louis with my parents, so I'm glad we won't be fighting anymore airports over the holidays.

The last couple weeks have really just been a blur... time is FLYING by and now Christmas is only a little over two weeks away! Insane! I have absolutely NO Christmas shopping done either... oops. I'm still not really sure what I'm getting Brian this year... I need to do some serious brain storming. He says he already knows what he's getting me... hmmm... I guess we'll see!

This time two years ago I'd be preparing for finals (probably pulling all-nighters with Chelsea at Starbucks!) and an entire MONTH off school... THOSE were the days, people.

Since I'm getting all geared up for Christmas, I shall do my top TEN favorite things about this AMAZING holiday:

• Christmas decorations! I swear I put my tree up two weeks before Thanksgiving. It's ridiculous how much I love decorating.
• Christmas COOKIES! The BEST!
• Snow, fireplaces, sweaters - just being COZY
• Seeing all of my family together celebrating Christ
• Christmas Parties!
• Christmas music... although by the time New Years hits - I'm WAY over it.
• GIVING presents - I guess that has to do with the fact that I'm not 10 anymore, but I enjoy giving gifts just as much or more than receiving. (ok so maybe not MORE...)
• TIME. OFF. WORK.
• The SMELLS... pine, cinnamon, fireplaces, apple... MMMMM!
• Having Brian to spend these holidays with - this is our second Christmas together - with many more to come :)

Hope you all have a wonderful rest of the week!

The BIG Reveal...

I've been reluctant to post what our big news is because you just never know who's reading, you know? But - I've come to the conclusion that I don't care.

Drum roll please...

BRIAN AND I ARE MOVING TO TEXAS!

Quite a change from my last post since I was talking about the house we are building here in Missouri and all that...but Brian and I just really sat down and talked about the commitment we are making by building a house here in Missouri. We've always known that we would move back to Texas eventually, and if we were to build this house we'd be here for at least another 5-10 years. So we decided that now is the perfect time to get up and go! The lease on our house is up the 1st of March, so we are looking to move in February... or sooner if I get a job before then.

We are definitely thinking the Dallas area. I've started my job search - so if any of you have any suggestions or know of any businesses hiring in the Dallas area, I am VERY open to ideas!! Brian will finish up his 1st paramedics semester here in December, and then he will be transferring all of his hours down there. He's looking to get on a fire house somewhere in Dallas while he finishes up medic school.

Are we sad to leave St. Louis? For sure... I've got some amazing friends here that have been my friends for what seems like FOREVER, and I don't even want to think about how hard it's going to be being that far away from my parents, but with all of that said I really believe this is the right move for us. Plus my parents are definitely not opposed to moving down to Texas once we start a family... no way they could stay away after that!

SO... please keep us in your prayers - job hunting could be difficult with this economy, but I'm hoping we will be able to find jobs between now and February.

We are SO EXCITED about this... cannot wait to be back with all of the people we love so much!!

We are headed to Houston Wednesday night for Thanksgiving with Brian's family... a MUCH needed break from work. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone and thank you so much for your prayers and support!

Prayers, prayers and more prayers!

Well folks... the time has come that Brian and I could use some prayers...

Nothing bad has happened or anything like that, but Brian and I have made some major decisions in our lives as of late and some big things are going to change, but we truly feel that we have God behind us on this one. So just pray that we keep that faith and stay steady.

I promise to reveal things soon, but I can't JUST yet. :)

I'll say this... it's been a long time coming!

PS... I'm not pregnant. Just wanted to throw that out there!

Not sure what to think...

This is our lot... with a VERY pretty "SOLD" sign :)

These are our house plans :) Probably hard to see, but this is basically what it will look like. Some minor changes - but nothing huge. We love it!!

This is the entrance to our new subdivision!!

Well... I said right before the election that all we can do now is pray. But that's pretty much all we can do now as well. Obama has won. Fair and square... and by a lot. I just cannot understand why the American people would vote a socialist with such radical ties into office. Sorry if that offends anyone, but its the truth and I'm scared for America. I know God has a plan... just not so sure what it is yet.

Enough about politics... I guess the only good thing about this election is that FINALLY all of those stupid campaign commercials can STOP! ha!

Here are a couple of pics from our Halloween...

This weekend we are going camping on my brothers land with lots of family and friends... it's supposed to be a bit chilly, but it's been in the high 70's low 80's lately so I'm ready for the cooler weather! Hope you all have a great rest of the week and a wonderful weekend!

HaPpY hAlLoWeEn!!!

Happy Halloween! As you can see, we decided to carve pumpkins on Sunday. I had forgotten how time consuming that is! I swear Me, Brian and Gretchen were out there for 4 hours. ha! But it was fun nonetheless and they turned out cute. As I'm sure you guessed... Brian's pumpkin is the Longhorn. Pretty clever of him I thought. Side note: Not sure if you can tell in the pics, but my hair is quite a bit darker these days. I decided it was time for a change... I've been bleach blonde my ENTIRE life. I'm loving having darker hair. Much more season appropriate.

Saturday I went with Gretchen and the rest of her bridesmaids to get her dress and to pick out our dresses. Her wedding will be here before we know it! I LOVE weddings and I'm so glad I get to be a part of hers. Brian and I are dressing up for Halloween... I'm a 1920's Flapper and he's a Gangster. We'll take tons of pics. :) Cannot BELIEVE the election is NEXT WEEK. Pray, Pray, PRAY people. That's all we can do now besides cast our vote. Alright well I hope everyone has a fabulous Halloween and rest of the week! (PS - This is one big run-on paragraph beacause blogger is being retarded and keeps messing up my formatting... so whatever!)

8th of 8

Well... I'm at work, but lucky for all of you I just so happen to have my pictures saved on a flash drive that I have with me. So... here it is... my eighth picture in my eighth file... you asked for it Jacci!

This was from Delta Theta Grub from 2006 I think? Who knows... feels like forever ago. Our theme was something gay like "Barbie" so Brian and I went as Trailer Trash Barbie. It's scary how natural it looks on us huh? So... if any of you need an idea for a cheap Halloween costume... there ya go!

I'm tagging Chelsea!!

Everyone have a great weekend and I promise to post a long one next week!

Time for Fall!

I know it's been awhile, but I'm FINALLY getting over a sinus infection that I have been fighting since vacation. I went to the doctor last Friday and got some meds so I'm feeling MUCH better. I gave it to my dad though... oops. Sorry dad :) I actually got a cold from Brian and of course his goes away just fine and mine turns into a full blown sinus infection. YUCK. PLUS... we don't have the Internet at our house anymore... Long story but I cancelled it because it was ridiculously expensive, so the only time I can post is at work, and it's hard to find time for that! However... my boss is out today so here I am! ha.

I am SO pumped because it's REALLY feeling and looking like fall around here. We haven't used our air conditioning for over a month and it feels SO wonderful. I LOVE sleeping with the windows open. The leaves are starting to change and it's really getting chilly in the morning and in the evenings. Have I said I love Fall? Cause I do!

Vacation was amazing as I'm sure you could guess. I REALLY needed a break from work. Our time was spent golfing, reading, laying around, watching movies, walks on the beach, miniature golf, swimming, EATING, and getting massages! It was hard coming back to the real world, but there's nothing like sleeping in your own bed!

Well... believe it or not... Brian and I will have been married a YEAR on Monday. Insane! This has been the most amazing year... I absolutely LOVE coming home to Brian everyday. He's my best friend and I couldn't imagine spending the rest of my life loving anyone else. For our anniversary I bought him/us tickets to opening night of Blues hockey. Hockey is HUGE around here and I cannot wait for it to start up again. I hate watching it on TV but actually being at the games is a totally different story. We are going to stay downtown at the Sheraton afterwards. Our seats are club seats that provide free beer/food all night long so I don't think it would be the BEST idea to drive home plus I love staying in nice hotels!

As far as our house goes... some exciting things happening... we got our plans finalized! I LOVE them! It's so neat to see it all on paper. They turned out amazing and I cannot WAIT to start building! However... we all know how CRAPPY the financial markets are right now, so it's kind of putting a damper on moving forward with our house. Here's what's probably going to happen... our lease for the house we are in now is up in March... come march we will most likely break ground and start building. While are house is being built, we will have to live with my parents. It's probably not going to be the most exciting 3 or 4 months of our life, but we really have no choice. Plus it gives us some more time to save money that we aren't spending on rent somewhere. So... it seems like a long way off... but we just have to be patient and wait.

Ok well I hope everyone has a great weekend!