Engageversary!

I realize that is not even close to a real word, but it makes sense to me. Today is the 2 year Anniversary of our engagement. I can't believe it has already been two years!! I wanted to post a little something about the fabulous proposal my husband had for me two years ago on December 15, 2006. It was wonderful, romantic, amazing, and memorable...definitely a good story for the kids! (By the way there are no kids on the way or anything!)

So here is the story of our engagement night.......
Zach and I decided to go out to dinner. We drove by Cheddars...it was packed and so was Olive Garden. Not wanting to wait to eat, we ended up going to Fudrucker's...which is exactly what we did on our first date. I took that as a rare coincidence. After a dinner, with a very calm Zach...we got in the car and he said, "I want to take you somewhere, but first you have to wear this." He blindfolded me and my stomach started with the butterflies...we had already been talking marriage, so then I totally knew what was coming!

After a long blindfolded walk, we stopped and he took the blindfold off. We were at the George Bush Presidential Library. We had been there before and spent time talking and enjoying the serenity of the place. There is a beautiful pond and gazebo with arches leading up to it. On the arches leading to the gazebo there were 3 red banners with gold letters that said "I <3 U".

We walked into the candle filled gazebo and sat down. His hands were shaking and he picked up a big metal tool box. There was a lock on it. He explained that the combination was the date of our first kiss. I thought about it and with shaky hands, turned the 3 dials to the date. It opened. Inside was a smaller wooden box, decorated by my future fiance. It also had a lock...this date was the day we first said I love you. I opened this one to find a ring box. Zach said, "I guess I will take over from here." He got out the ring box, got on one knee, and through a few tears expressed his feelings and asked me to marry him. Through my tears I said yes!

Ashley, my sister, and some wonderful friends were out hiding in the woods. They had helped his whole plan and idea work and were also there to take some great pictures! We have since been back to the gazebo and you can still see wax on the stone pillars. It is nice to have a left a mark on our spot!! Happy Anniversary Zachary...I love you and wish you were home with me tonight instead of at the station! See you in the morning!!This is my favorite picture of the whole night because his smile says that he made the right decision in asking me to marry him! I will always have this to remind him of that...even when I might drive him crazy!

The verdict is in and it's not good.

The beach neighbors got a helicopter and flew in to the beach on Sunday. They sent my dad some pictures of the house...and it is bad. Like, made me cry, bad.

My dad was able to talk his way down there yesterday in his truck and said it was the "most surreal thing" he had ever seen. The town is like a war zone. An the front side of the house didn't fare nearly as well as the back. The front walls are gone as well as about half of the floors in the house. Dad was able to take a ladder up and salvage quite a bit of stuff that was in the back portion of the house.

I will post some pictures that he took once he gets them uploaded and sent to me. These pictures are some that the neighbor took from the ground.

Our place on the left and the neighbors to the right.

No more deck or walls or floor

Again...you can see the kitchen is still there at the very back!

Even the foundation was washed out from under.

Looking up into the great room from the ground

Looking up where the master bedroom was into the master bathroom.

All of this is still very hard to fathom. Like I said I will post more once I get them. The ones my dad took should be really good since he climbed up there. My dad suggested having a goodbye party at the beach to tell the house bye...I will let you know!!

Crystal Beach...

I know that everybody has already heard all they can stand about the recent hurricane...and I have cried all I can over it. My dad lives primarily in Crystal Beach. He has a beach front home there, as well as a rental house, and his branch of Chicago Title. Ike wasn't too kind to the Bolivar Peninsula and no one has been allowed to go down there yet to survey their homes.

On Monday, I was able to find an updated satellite images site that confirmed to us that dad's house was still standing!!

This site had all of us feeling very blessed. Our neighbors...to the left on this image...have absolutely nothing left of their house! I still can't fathom how random the damage can be! We were able to see a picture of another house on the front row just down from dad's and it didn't look so good from the beach side.It is amazing to see that the slab is cracked and the sand is gone from under it. The front of the house has literally been pulled off. Only time will tell what the front side of our home looks like.


This picture is the once green and beautiful neighborhood. From this photo, we were able to see that the beautiful front deck (that is shown in my header) is gone. But for the most part the rest of the house looks good from the back...my dad's design held up well.

Dad's rental house is now non-existent and his office has been hollowed out. The windows, furniture, documents, and offices are gone...but the building is still standing. Hopefully everyone on the peninsula is given to opportunity to rebuild!


While we are glad to see that our house is still standing and overjoyed to think that we will be able to go and retrieve items and memories from inside the house, we are devastated at the damage that has been done to the wonderful community of Crystal Beach. My dad has many friends who have lost everything. We also know that some people lost their lives. It is hard to fathom that in the course of one storm entire neighborhoods can be gone...And that one storm can cause such great damage to a place that so many from Southeast Texas have enjoyed for decades.

My dad went to a meeting yesterday in Winnie for residents of the peninsula and they were told that in the next 10-14 days that would be escorting residents in for a short period of time to salvage what they could and secure what is left. Hopefully in the days and weeks to come more information will come out and more can be known about the future of the peninsula. Keep the residents and their families in your prayers and pray especially that those who are missing will be located.

I found one last picture to share of a beautiful Crystal Beach sunset. This is a great juxtaposition of the beauty of the area with the destruction of the storm.
I will try to update more often and post more information as I get it. This has been very humbling for me to see how truly blessed I am to have what I have. I am grateful for my life, my family, and all the wonderful things that we enjoy. I am also so grateful for the many beautiful memories that I have had at this wonderful beach. Dad...thanks for being the most positive person through all of this and yet the most affected...I love you.

This is a good slideshow of the damage.

Woman's 2nd Best Friend

Of course Zach is my best friend...but little Chico comes in at a close second! I am not sure if I have mentioned it before, but I love my little dog! Lately (and probably for the next few years) Zach spends a lot of evening studying. It is so great to have a little companion. I love that he is always more than happy to see me when I come home and that he likes to sit with me when I watch tv. As I type this, Chico is sleeping in my lap. He follows me around, which sometimes can cause me to trip, but I secretly love that he loves me!

Here my little guy is making himself comfortable in my sister, April's jacket!

When Zach and I started dating, Zach didn't really care for Chico much. He was just ambivalent towards him. But as time has passed Zach has gone from tolerating Chico, to playing with him when he thinks I am not around, giving him food when I am not looking, talking to him, letting him sit next to him while he does homework, to now actually admitting that he loves the little guy! It is funny to see my husband, not a dog person, have no shame in taking a 3 pound girly dog with him to check the mail.

He pretends not to like him, but I caught them studying together!!

So if you don't have a pet of your own...you should get one! Or you could just borrow mine for a while...because, as with everything we love, sometimes he drives me crazy!!

Spring Break...I know, I know...FOREVER ago!!

I started this post a long time ago and never posted it! Figured since it was almost ready to go I might as well put it up here...just in case anybody actually looks at my blog!

We spent the start of Spring Break 08 in El Paso visiting my family there! Zach had not met my grandmother yet and only spent a few hours with my aunt and uncle...so we headed out there and spent about 5 days enjoying West Texas. It was awesome and we got a lot of good pictures. We took a day and went to White Sands New Mexico which was a lot of fun! We loved sledding down the sand dunes like little kids!!






It was great to see my family...it would have been great to have everybody together, but we still had a lot of fun!! My aunt and uncle were wonderful hosts and it was super fun to see Grammy, Andrew and Happy dog!

Everybody eating dinner at Aunt Becky's!Our wonderful hosts...Aunt Becky and Uncle Gary!

Becky, myself, and Grammy!!

El Paso was great and we are excited to go back again and maybe venture into the mountains of New Mexico for some skiing!!

Jury Duty

Last week I went to the courthouse for my first tour of jury duty. After a long day, I was picked to be on the jury. They told us it could be all week because it was a murder trial. So everyday last week I was doing my civic duty and can I just say it was much much harder than I ever thought?!? Being a murder case, I knew it would be hard. But by Thursday when we gave our verdict I was emotionally and physically drained.

The deliberating took us almost all day so reaching a verdict was very hard. The hardest part was putting emotions aside and following the letter of the law. I know that our guilty verdict was the right decisions, but after it was read I got SUPER emotional and spent most of the night in tears or on the verge of tears! Poor Zach didn't really know much about what was going on because I was trying my best to not say too much.

This man convicted of murder, was, in my opinion acting in self defense due to prior attacks from the victim. But the night of the murder, the victim had not physically attacking which is where the letter of law says it is not self defense.

Friday, our last day, we were able to hear a bit more testimony and deliver the punishment. That is where many of us were able to feel better about our guilty verdict by, in our opinion, giving a punishment that fit the crime.

I think the hardest part of all of it all was for me to judge this man that I didn't even know. To think that one day the Lord will have to judge me and what I have done, knowing the pain that I felt in judging a stranger really hit me hard. Sometimes we make bad decisions but to think of the repercussions of our decisions on all of those who love us, even the Lord was really hard for me. I know I felt a little taste of how difficult it is for the Lord to punish us with all of the love that he has for us.

I am grateful to be able to feel of the love that the Lord has for me and for the defendant in the trial. I just hope that this man that I was forced to judge is able to know of the love that the Lord has for him despite everything tough that has happened in his life. The trial in general helped me to again see how truly blessed I am in so many aspects of my life.

Sorry to get all deep, but this jury duty experience was really a good one for me even though it was also very hard. I am glad that I had the chance. I just hope there aren't any little green cards in my mail box again anytime soon!!
On another note...we celebrated our one year anniversary this weekend with a much needed trip to the beach and day off! I will post pictures and details soon!!!

New layout!!

It was so fun to make a new layout. If you are looking for a simple, cute blog layout...for free of course...check out this great blog. It gives you directions on the side for how to make the change...it is pretty easy and doesn't mess up all your saved stuff!!

Tagged!

Laura tagged me...I guess it is a good way to get me blogging! Thanks!!!

--5 Tag--

10 years Ago...
I was 13 and in the 7th grade. Still going to All Saints Episcopal School. This is when my desire to get out of private school really started. Little did I know, the next year I would get my wish and move to Marshall Middle School which I loved!!

5 Years Ago...
I was a senior in high school getting ready to graduate from WestBrook High. This was the really fun and busy time of the year with graduation, prom and Neches River Festival. This is actually right about the time of Neches River Festival which is a big thing in Beaumont. Senior girls are chosen to be princesses and there is a parade, coronation, and ball. My little sister April is actually a princess this year. We are going this weekend for the coronation and ball!!!

5 Months Ago...
Thanksgiving! Our first married Thanksgiving!! We were able to hit up most of the family. We spent Thanksgiving Day in Fair Oaks Ranch with Zach's family and then left the day after Thanksgiving to go to Beaumont. On our way to Beaumont we stopped and bought our first Christmas tree at the great day after Thanksgiving sales!! We then spent the weekend in Beaumont. It was great and I didn't even have the pressure of making a full Thanksgiving dinner!

5 Things on My To-Do List Today...
1. Figure out my summer leasing budget and make it work!
2. Get a smoothie at lunch for my super soar throat.
3. Help my indecisive sister pick a wedding dress to calm my stressed out mom down a bit! We thought we had it figured out...but I guess we don't!
4. Do laundry tonight...that has got to be one of my least favorite things to do EVER!
5. Watch American Idol knowing that Brooke...my favorite...is going home.

5 Snacks I Enjoy...
1. Cheerios...all kinds, plain, honey nut
2. Cheddar popcorn...there is this great deli brand at Kroger
3. Kiwi...I love summer fruits
4. Peanut butter sandwich...makes me feel like a kid
5. Cheese...again all kinds

5 Things I Would do if I was Suddenly a Billionaire...
1. Buy a house
2. Decorate that house however I want...I'm thinking a lot of Pottery Barn
3. Travel...pretty much everywhere!
4. Buy a boat and a house at the beach or lake to use it at
5. Give some away...with that much money I would feel bad not sharing!

5 of My Bad Habits...
1. Checking my email/facebook way too often
2. Washing clothes and not folding them till later...days later
3. Basically remaking the bed every night before I can get into it. I can't stand if the sheets are not flat and straight...Zach seems to mess them up every night!
4. I tend to get into cooking ruts every so often and we eat out too much during those times.
5. Not calling people back in a timely matter. Since being married I now hate talking on the phone more than before...I am not sure why!

5 Place I Have Lived... (this one is just sad...I technically only have 2 places)
1. Beaumont, Texas (birth-18)
2. College Station, Texas (18-current)
3. Lake Livingston, Texas (we had a lake house there...so we lived there on the weekends)
4. Crystal Beach, Texas (again only on weekends)
5. Next year someplace different depending on where Zach gets in for med. school!!! I really need to expand my horizons!

5 Things People Don't Know About Me...
1. I love Dr. Pepper and on days when I like to feel I am stressed...I get one from Sonic at happy hour. It is a bad thing!!
2. I love mascara...like literally love it. Finding a great new kind makes my month...seriously. Right now the best is from Avon.
3. I sell Avon. I really only did it to get the discounts, but they have great products for great prices. So if you are looking for new fun stuff let me know and I will send you a catalog. This is a bad thing too because I order stuff I don't really need.
4. I have a dog who is very small and cute. Most people know that, but Chico is like super small...he only weighs 3 pounds!! And yes that still qualifies him as a dog!5. This isn't really a surprise, but it has sure snuck up on me. Next month, actually in a little over 2 weeks, it will be my one year wedding anniversary! I seriously can't believe it, and all cheesiness aside it really has been the best year of my life!!

5 People I Tag...
1. Kristen GARDINER!
2. Maren Johnson
3. Caroline Shillig
4. Rachel Odom
5. Molly (about to have a baby) Metcalf

This was fun...so thanks again Laura!!!

Putting Along!

Again...I admit, I really thought I would be better this time about posting, but I am not! When nothing exciting goes on, I just don't feel the urge or need to blog. I don't mean to make my life sound dull...but on most days it is just the same old same old and I really like it that way!

Getting into the married phase of life, you find joy and fun in the simplest things. The security of always having someone to go to dinner with, or someone to drag along on shopping trips is wonderful! On those occasions when shopping trips actually occur...he is always giving good feedback on everything, which is even better! Husbands seem to find the good in every outfit and every pair of shoes, because they know it is just better to compliment than repent! Moms and sisters seem to be the brutally honest ones who are not so good to be shopping with on a "fat day" or something like it! I am grateful for a supportive, entertaining, and patient husband.

He has, throughout our almost year of marriage, been patient with my tennis swing and been more than willing to chase after the balls that I don't seem to hit right. I know this is all because he would like a tennis partner, but it has become one of those fun things we can do together.

A few weeks ago I showed in interest in golf...which just about made his year! Before I knew it we were off to Academy and I was the proud owner of a new pink putter and a not as exciting plain silver chipping wedge. I am proud that I even know the difference between those two clubs!! We also spent much of our weekend watching the Master's so I could watch the pros and learn from them, or something. Zach is even already talking about golf vacations...I am not sure if I am that ready yet! Throw in a full set of cute clubs and this great pink golf bag I found and maybe I will be game for it!
So, with my new putter in hand and a well picked out golf outfit...we headed out to "play" 18 holes. Well he played and I mostly just putted! It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed spending the time together doing something different. Now if I can just get my not so strong arms conditioned to drive the ball like he does we will be in business. While Zach is excited to be able to play golf with me...he is probably still looking for someone else to play who can actually give him some competition, since I am no Tiger Woods! If you know of anyone, send them on over...I am just fine putting along...baby steps with me!!!

A little catch-up!

Time sure does seem to fly in between my blog postings! I really just am not very good at this! I never even got around to putting up the other great pictures from our New Year's beach trip. It was the first time we had been able to make it down to the beach since the summer and we had a great time! I will just go ahead and put a few pictures just for fun and to make this post a little less boring. I am terrible at remembering to take pictures of everyday stuff.

We enjoyed a rainy weather day just walking on the beach...I promise Crystal Beach can be pretty, but as you can see it can also look pretty brown!


This one is just so you can see my favorite jacket ever! It was my dad's in high school and everytime we are at the beach I sport it. The sleeves even zip off for summer use!
I told you it can also be very pretty...the very next day we enjoyed some actual blue water!The men showing off their golf skills at the neighborhood course!

A nice shot of us on the boat from our previously blogged dolphin boat trip! That about does it for the pictures. I know I mentioned it, but I am terrible at remembering that we have a great camera and should use it!

Life since the holidays has been back to the normal with work and school and super busy schedules!! Zachary is taking an EMT certification course. He enjoys it but it is three nights a week from 6-10. So I don't really like it too much. We meet up in the parking lot of our apartment complex on those days for about 5 minutes when I get off work before he has to leave. It sucks!!!!!! A lot of night he gets out early which is great...but I do usually end up hanging out with Ash on the nights he is gone. And she is pretty dang cool too!

Our 9 month anniversary has come and gone and so has Valentine's Day! I can't believe how fast this year is moving along. Zachary had his EMT class on Valentine's, so we didn't make any big plans not knowing how late he would be. He got off a little early and we exchanged cards (we decided to do a no gift thing and each get new swimsuits instead).

Since we knew our Valentine's wouldn't be anything too special we got a hotel room in Houston this past Friday night and went out for a nice dinner that night and then slept in the next morning and had some breakfast at the hotel. My sister was out of town as well so we didn't have a Chico babysitter. He is small and already a pro at being snuck into hotels...so we just brought him along for our nice romantic get away! We went to the temple and did a session(leaving Chico in his kennel in the car...don't worry it wasn't hot and he was fine!), which was great. It is so wonderful to have such a beautiful temple so close. After the temple we went by and visited Zach's grandpa. He loves it when we come by and he is such a fun man to talk to.

We ended our wonderful weekend today with church this morning. We were called shortly after we were married to serve in a small branch in Navasota. At first we were both unsure about the calling, but now have truly grown to love the branch and the very few people there! Being in a small branch has helped me to see that no matter where you are and how few members there may be, the church is still true and can still function...even if it is on a much smaller and more laid back scale. We have been able to find a great branch family and truly enjoy serving there!! It is a great comfort to know that no matter where you live...you can find a ward, branch, or twig (as the members sometimes fondly refer to our little branch) and still be able to grow in your testimony.

In other news...there is a new beautiful baby boy on this earth! His name is Eli Matthew Forrest...and I know for a fact that he has the bestest mom and dad ever...and a great big sister. For more info on him...check out Amy & Aaron's blog! Love you Amy!!!!

I will end this long...maybe bring post with a nice picture of me and little Chico! And, by the way, I do not force him to wear clothes against his will. While he is very stylish in this "Rebel" shirt...the main reason he wears clothes is to keep his tiny little self warm!! He is a sweet little dog and keep us entertained...pets are great!

Dolphins in the Bay!

Over the New Year's weekend we had the chance to go to the beach and have fun with my dad, sisters, and some of their friends. On New Year's Eve during the day we took the little fishing boat out to cruise around the bay with my dad, Ashley, and Jeremy. It was a beautiful day...but still a little cold. We just wanted to get out on the water and have some fun!!

After we had been cruising around for a while by Bird Island and Goat Island, we were suddenly surrounded by a bunch of playing dolphins. Luckily our new camera has a little video recorder and Zach took about 10 videos trying to catch the cute dolphins playing with each other. It was really fun and they played around us for about 15 or 20 minutes. It made being freezing out on the bay totally worth it!!

This first video is one of the better ones for actually seeing some dolphins...excuse all the moving around. The dang dolphins are very fast and hard to catch on camera...especially in the not so clear Bolivar Bay! Every time one would jump on one side of the boat Zach would quickly move the camera to catch it. They really were so cute!!


This second video has a little bit of dolphin shots...but the sound is the best part. One jumped like right next to us and really scared the crap out of me...which you can hear me saying. We all got a good laugh out of it!!



I will post some more pictures from our lovely long weekend at the beach soon!!!

Christmas Fun...Just a Little Late!

Before all of the traveling to be with our families for Christmas we enjoyed our First Married Christmas at our place. Zachary got me some great stuff including a facial...which was great!! It was really fun to have our little tree and everything with just us!!


Our holidays were great and life since then has been crazy busy. We spent Christmas in Houston with Zachary's family and then Beaumont with my family. We didn't get our new camera until Christmas in Beaumont...so I don't have many pictures of Houston Christmas or actual Christmas festivities. But now I have no more excuses to not have lots of wonderful pictures!! By the way, it is a super cute red camera!

It is always great to spend time with family and enjoy time off from school and work. We enjoy road tripping it and find it as the opportunity to talk about all kinds of off the wall things...like baby names. Don't worry we are no where near that point!! I think that is a good thing for more than one reason...apparently Zach has always wanted a son named Bucky and coincidentally, I never have. Oh, the things you learn about your husband after 8 months of marriage!!

This is a nice picture of the whole Stevenson clan at the Christmas Eve gathering with all of the extended family. It was great to be with such a big family group...some of whom I hadn't even met yet! As always Brett and Melody were super fun and cute to play with! Even Chico got to go to the party...he got passed around and made some new friends!

In Beaumont we got to have fun with my mom, Nana & Papa, and sisters. We had a blast opening gifts and then April, Zach and I decided we wanted to get out of the house for a while and enjoy the beautiful weather. We went to be little kids and play at the park and had a wonderful time!!

Ashley and Jeremy out by the pool on Christmas Day!

Playgrounds have really come up in the world since I was a little one. There was even a rock wall!!! Hope everyone had a great holiday as well and has now fully recovered from all the running around!!