Been awhile...

   So, I am currently on vacation with my family in Colorado.  And when I say family... I mean FAMILY!!!!  All of them!!!  All 17 of us.  The only one of us missing is KC. :(  Sure do miss my bubba.  But we are all here.  It is crazy fun.  All seven grandkids and all 6 girls!!!  We are going to South Dakota to 'rough it', well Geneva's definition of roughing it, which means.... We are not sure if the HUGE cabin we are going to has A/C or not. BAHAHAHA!!!!!!  We surprised mom today when she got into town.  She didn't know Cathrine and Aaron would be here from Alaska!!!  Tom, Cathrine's husband just got a new job and couldn't come, so he is still in Alaska.  It was great surprising mom though!!  She cried... Nothing new there.  When her and dad got into town we had Renee's kids answer the door with Aaron in the mix.  Took mom a few moments then she said 'Hey!!! Tristan's little friend looks a lot like Aaron.... Wait!! Is that Aaron??  IS CATHRINE HERE?!?!?!?!'  Cathrine then stepped out and we all had cameras and there were hugs and tears.  It was awesome!!!

    So tonight Uncle Mark and Aunt Alicia came and made dinner and we had a belated birthday party for Aaron.  He turned 3 back in May, but Cat wanted to wait to have his party til they got here.  So all the family could be apart of it.  We had cupcakes and presents.  So much fun!!!  Before dinner the kids played on the slip and slide I got for them.  TOO CUTE!!!  We have pictures... They will probably show up on Facebook here in the near future.  XD

   So I am on day 4 of not seeing Shawn... It is going easier than I thought... but is still really difficult.  I miss him soo much!!!  We got the disk of our engagement pictures just before I left.  I find myself looking at the pictures all the time.  I get distracted by my family easily, but every time some one talks about the wedding or wants to see the ring....  I think of him and I miss him like crazy.  This is my favorite picture from the pictures.

Well... Not much has come about in the way of wedding plans.  There is just too much going on... and I feel overwhelmed every time I think about it.  Mainly because  I am BROKE as a JOKE!!!!  I went from a 'baller on a budget' and slid down the totem pole to rock bottom.  It is sad....  I also found out tonight that my sister who almost never goes to work (because she would rather sleep through it and her boss loves her and won't fire her)  and never went to college makes more per hour than me... The responsible one who went to college and chose a career she loves makes squat compared to her.  FML!!!!  Well on that high note I will split.  I am dead tired!!!! and am gonna go to bed.  Night all.

Til next time.

Last one of the week....

So... tonight is my last shift at work before I go on vaction in da morning!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!! So I am wicked excited! Also Shawn went and picked up our engagement pictures today!!!!! Woot! He is not feeling too well and when I get off work at 12:30 tonight I am not going to really get to see him. :/ because he sucks. :P Except that he doesn't. Tee-hee.

So the last few nights at work have been stupid busy!!! Tonight has been ok though. I am just so exhausted... So... it is Wednesday now. I got busy a work and forgot to finish this post.... oh- well another time. Love ya!!!!

Engagements and Vay-Kay!!!

Howdy again,

   Last night Shawn and I had our engagement pictures taken.  I worked and researched and debated on which photographer to use.  I decided on Doug Schwarz.  We were scheduled to take the pictures yesterday after Shawn got off of work.... Well Shawn's work, once again, screwed us over. : /  Someone took vacation and they let him go on vacation... So Shawn had to work a 12 hour shift instead of an 8-hour shift.  I was less then thrilled when he told me.  But we powered through.  I felt bad because we needed to have our pictures taken before I go to Colorado next week and Doug made special arrangements to be able to work with us for that to be able to take place.  I could have rescheduled it for after I got back, but I want my family to feel as involved with the planning as they can be.  I thought what better way than to have them help me pick the picture that would go in our wedding announcements.  YAY!!!  We just pushed back the time and Doug was able to work with us for about an hour and a half before the sunset.  He was so awesome and so much fun to work with.  XD  I felt bad for the guy though.  Shawn and I are both rather tall people and Doug isn't.  So he was on his tip toes or a bench or had his camera above his head so he could the shot he wanted.  I reassured him we would have a stool or chair for him on the wedding day.  He about died laughing.

   So Shawn is a Shipping Supervisor for International Paper here in Oklahoma City.  He doesn't necessarily LOVE his job, but he likes it because he is in a position to promote up through out the company.  Well, here is the story about his job screwing us over.  My family is large!!!!  6 girls, 1 boy, 3 sons-in-law, 2 parents, 7 grandchildren.... needless to say, we don't all get together too often.  Well this summer is special, because all of us, minus KC will be together!!! YAY!!!!!  Shawn had requested the time off and was going to come too and it was working perfectly... until it didn't.  There are 3 shifts at Shawn's work.  Therefore there are 3 shipping supervisor's (Shawn is one of them).  Their boss is Becky.  Now when any of the shipping super's takes time off the other 2 work 12 hour shifts so that one is there at all times.  Well.... When Shawn took his vacation, none of the other super's had time off.  So you would think that the remaining two would work 12 hour shifts to cover it.  Well that is not how things are going.  Apparently since Becky has vacation at the same time, Shawn can't have that time off.  Which makes no sense to either one of us, because there are other mid-level managers who can do her job!!!!!!  It is ree-DICK-you-LUS!!!!!  He picks up everybody else's slack but the one time he asks for a break... There is no one around!!!!  So yeah.... He isn't able to go to Colorado. >:-|   But I got the shifts covered, so I am still able to go.

   I am getting really excited for the break.  Especially since I can't seem to figure out what I want to do to decorate the cultural hall at the church where the reception is at.  My sisters and mom are so excited to be able to help out!!!  I am excited too.  I am thinking maybe my mom will loosen her purse strings and cough up some moo-lah!!!!!  tee-hehe. :-P  My dad will help when I ask, but I don't want to ask him for a lot of money.  I am making my own announcements.  They are going to be so beautiful!!! Here is a prototype.

   Hope y'all are enjoying this!!  If not let me know... =P  Have a good one.

Sealed the deal...

Hello all,

As I sit here at work....  tired out of my mind and bored to tears (but soooo grateful the city has finally calmed down!!! I hope. XD *Fingers crossed).  I have realized I am soooo done planning this wedding.  It isn't really fun anymore. I am having to do it pretty much by myself. Since Shawn and I have such conflicting schedules and my family is all far away. :/  I talk about it most at work, with my partner Lisa. She is awesome!!! So helpful and willing to listen and give me ideas.

I am just so tired all the time.  Today we reserved the church where the ceremony and reception will be held!!!! YAY!!!! It's October 8th in OKC.  So mark your calendars!!!!  I expect to see all of you there, or at least a gift to help fill the void in my heart. Hahaha! Just kidding.  But seriously. Be there!!  Til next time.

Trying this again...

So I started a Blog once before as some of you may remember... and it was kind of a flop.  Sorry :/  I am trying this again, hoping I can stay motivated to keep up with it.  Wish me luck.  As many of you may know, I have recently gotten engaged. XD   He is a great man and I love him dearly.  So with this 'beginning' of a new life together also come a new blog. :)  Aren't you all so excited?!?!  Also I should be able to keep up with it due to my awesome Droid and the ability to update while at work. I am really excited about life right now and want to have a way to remember these times in my life and since I hate writing- typing seems the only logical way.  plus I get to share it with all of you.

Well I guess I should start from the beginning.  Shawn and I started dating on October 1 of 2010.  We met here in Oklahoma City while I was doing my Paramedic internship that fall and finishing up my Bachelor's Degree from BYU-Idaho.  We have been inseparable and seen each other pretty much every day since.  Except for the week or so over Christmas when I went back to Idaho to test and then he came and spent Christmas with my family down in Texas.  (I am pretty sure they like him more than they like me sometimes. :P)  They are really excited to have him join the clan.  (Mom is excited for more grand-babies.)

Well last week on Thursday, June 30, 2011, I was trying to figure out all my student loans and consolidate them- with very little success.  I was really upset and stressed when I went to pick him up from work.  His truck was in the shop and his bike was out of commission due to a 'small accident' according to Shawn.  Well in my experience no motorcycle/MVA is small, but he walked away with a broken bike and some road rash.  Back to the story, I was on the phone with Renee (my older sister) when he got out to the car and I am crying and upset and trying to explain to her what is going on and why I am so frustrated.  Well after I get off the phone with her, I explain my day to him and how Wells Fargo sucks at life!!!!  The original plan that day was to grill some burgers and brats for dinner, but Shawn suggested 'Since you have had such a rough day, let's go out for dinner.  How does Texas Roadhouse sound?'

So we went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner.  Now throughout the day I was thinking about how I wanted to start walking the dogs more.  After dinner Shawn asked what I wanted to do and I just kinda shrugged and he said 'Well let's take the dogs for a walk.  How does that sound?'  Just about perfect was my thought.  So we went to his house and got the dogs for a walk.  My dog is a black lab, her name is Beretta but we usually call her Puppy Girl.  Shawn's dog is a mix of lab and something else... His name is Ruger.  So I go in the house to use the potty and say hi to James, Shawn's roommate.  Well Shawn disappears for about half an hour I go looking for him and find him coming in the house from the garage looking very suspicious. I question him about it and he kind of brushes it off.  He tries to be sneaky, but isn't. haha!!!  So we take the puppies for a walk.

Well we walk down to this park near Shawn's house.  This just so happens to be the park he took me to on our first date.  On our first date after dinner we went her and played and talked getting to know each other for about 2 hours or so, so it has come to have some meaning to it.  So we walk to the park and tie up the dogs and swing and Shawn pushes me on the tire swing and we play on jungle gym, which at this park is a HUGE wooden castle.  We walk to this one area of the castle and Shawn says 'I think this is my favorite part of the park.  This tower is like a guard's tower.'  He is right.  It is tiny and cramped and fits only one person and you can see the whole castle from this tower.  I say 'Why this one??  The tower in the middle has a tire swing in it and tic-tac-toe on the wall and slides off of it... This one kind of sucks, huney.'  This is the moment I decide to turn around (I was standing in the tower and he was behind me.)  I find him down on one knee with the most beautiful ring I have ever seen and he asks 'Honey?  Will you be the queen of my castle?'  I smile from ear to ear and the tears well up in my eyes and I nod my head and my voice cracks as I say 'Yes'  I said yes many times... He stands and I throw my arms around his neck and give him a hug and we kiss. He then slips the ring on my finger. XD 

The wedding band will go in the middle. It is so pretty.  He did a great job.  All by himself!!!! I might add.  We are getting married in early October of this year.  Less than 3 months away!!!!!!  I am stressed to the max.  I have decided on what the announcements will look like.  Don't worry you will all get one!!!!  Just make sure I get your address. :)  I actually have to run now.  I will finish this later.  I need to run to Hobby Lobby to get the paper for the announcements before work. I hope y'all are all as excited about this as we are.  I look forward to hearing your ideas and comments the more I post about what we are thinking about for the wedding.  Have a great day!!!