Looks like I failed again and haven't updated in 6 months... oops! Anyway, we packed up all our things and moved to Springfield (finally!). We've gotten settled in and I've been at my new job for 2 weeks now. It was actually a nice break between jobs and moving wasn't too stressful. We took a short camping trip right before the move and it was pretty fun. We canoed down part of Buffalo River in Arkansas. Half-way through the canoe trip, it started pouring down rain so we pulled off the river to eat lunch and huddled under some trees for about an hour and a half while we waited for a lightening storm to pass. We didn't have much of a choice because of time constraints, so we got back in our canoes in the lightening and rain. About a half hour later, it finally stopped raining and we got to enjoy what was left of the float. It was pretty enjoyable and I caught the most fish! After getting back to the tent, we decided we didn't want to take the chance of getting another storm in the middle of the night so we drove to the nearest town and stayed in a hotel. They had an awesome hot tub :) We went back to get the tent the next morning and went to see some cavern and springs and stayed in a small cabin on White River the last night. Headed back to Carbondale to pack up our stuff in the trailer that night to head out the next morning. We got most of the stuff in, but thought we would have to make another trip (4 hours each way). We got optimistic and rearranged the trailer in the morning and managed to get everything in the trailer and cars in one trip. Thank goodness!! It was such a relief to have everything in our new apartment, even if it was a huge mess. At that point, I was a little stressed because that was Thursday evening and I started my new job on Monday morning. Luckily, we were able to get mostly everything put away that weekend. And Aaron was wonderful by helping getting everything set up and putting some little last things away. So, I've been at my new job for a few weeks now and it is a LOT different than my last one. I knew it would be, but I miss my Carbondale work friends :( The doctor is really nice and pretty relaxed so nothing has been too stressful. The other girls that work there have been nice, too. I basically got thrown in to doing some therapy without really knowing much, but it's a computer-based program, so I mainly provide motivation and tell them when to take breaks. At first, I wasn't sure I was going to like it, but now that I am learning more, it's not that bad. It's so much different than my old job because, here, everyone has their specific duties, and I am used to everybody being able to do everything. Aaron has been amazing. He is studying this summer to get ready for school and he is cleaning and cooking me dinner when I get home from work. I am so lucky to have such an awesome man in my life!! I couldn't wish for things to be any better. And it's almost our 1 year anniversary coming up, too! Holy cow, did time fly by! Oh, and we got birds! Aaron's parents had birds that their house, but they don't ever get let out of their cage because of the cats and dog, so we took them home with us. We thought it would be good for them to get some exercise because they haven't had any for a while. The other day, we took them imto the spare bedroom and let them out. BAD IDEA. They flew around a little bit, but not much because their wings aren't very stong so they would go up and down a lot. And they haven't fully trusted us yet, so they freaked out when we tried to get them to put them back in the cage. And they couldn't steer very well, so they flew into walls a lot... we thought they might have brain damage after that incident. Eventually (after they wore themselves out completely), we were able to get them to step up onto a perch and put them back in the cage. That was about 3 days ago.. not sure if they've fully recovered yet.

Blessed Beyond Belief

I really have been meaning to update the blog more than once every six months, but I guess it didn't work out that way. Six months of being married has absolutely flown by. It still feels like the wedding was just a few weeks ago. I am glad time is going by so quickly now because I cannot wait to move up to Springfield in June. Don't get me wrong, Carbondale is great, but not worth being 4 and a half hours away from home. I definitely took living close to my family for granted because I really miss it now that I'm gone! In less than 6 months we will be able to come home for even a day if we wanted to! We're going to look at apartments sometime in March and I cannot wait. Our apartment in Murphysboro is pretty tiny, but it's perfect for now, and your first apartment isn't meant to be the biggest anyway.
Aaron and I have been doing really well since we've been here. Aaron is doing well in school (I think so anyway). He just took the mid-unit exam for the second unit so that means he is half way through his first year of med school! He is very good at disciplining himself and making himself study when he needs to. I am so proud of him because I know I would never be able to do that! He's set up a research study type thing (pending the committee accepts his research proposal) for the summer as soon as we get to Springfield and it's in the field he is wanting to go into. Hopefully that get's his foot in the door with the doctors he will be working with for residency maybe? It would be nice to be able to stay in one spot for a while if he gets into a residency program in Springfield.
I am working at an Optometrist's office in Carbondale and I absolutely love it. I never would have thought twice about working at an eye doctors' office before, but I am so happy. And I was so blessed to find a job so soon after moving because all you hear about is that no one can ever get a half-way decent job, much less one that they like. Well, I found a great job, working with wonderful people, and a fantastic boss. I am sad to be leaving in a few months, but I am looking forward to finding a job in Springfield doing the same thing. It will be tough to find a job with such great people, but I am excited to get more experience in the field.
As far as home life goes, I am getting to be a much better cook than I thought I would be :) Not to brag, but I made a awesome vegetable chili tonight for dinner. And chicken/tofu parmesan is on my best meals list, too. I am finding a good balance between working full time, cooking, cleaning and other stuff like that. It has been somewhat of a change to go from a school schedule to working full time, but I definitely like working better. As soon as I come home, I have no homework to do or anything like that. Yeah, I work later in the evenings, but I can relax and no have to worry about anything like that. And I get paid for it. Which is the best part.
So all in all, life is going really great for us right now and it is only going to get better. Hopefully I will be able to update more than once ever six months, but no promises :)

Summer of BIG Changes...

I am new to this blogging thing, so bear with me. So it actually took me a while to think of a title for this blog. It's mostly going to be about life to keep family and friends updated on what we are up to. After thinking for a while about what I was going to write about, I realized that my life is AMAZING right now. Yeah, I worry about finding a job and having money and everything, but I was just the first one in my family to graduate from a 4-year college straight out of high school and I am marrying the love of my life in 73 days! I was just listening to the song “Livin' on a Prayer” by Bon Jovi and one phrase is “We've got each other and that's a lot...” That sums up what I think. We will have each other and nothing else matters. So as far as I'm concerned.. I'm living the dream.

Most (if not all) of you know that I am getting married this summer and moving to Carbondale, Illinois. And I just graduated from college last weekend so this summer is a very important summer in my life. This blog will probably be used to update everyone on life after we move.

Anyway, I have been getting very excited about the wedding lately after a ton of shopping for stuff. My room was filled with flowers, plates, and other decorations until I moved back home after graduation. I actually slept on the couch for the first few nights before I could clear off my bed. Now it is all in the living room with nowhere else to go :) I cannot believe how fast this summer is going to fly by. I have only been home for not even a week , but this summer is going to be crazy. Fortunately, we have been blessed with so much help from both our families. My sister has been amazingly wonderful in helping me figure out what all I need to do. She just got married (like 5 years ago) so I am trusting her in that she knows all the details and things. Did I mention she makes cakes, too? She is going above and beyond her duties as Matron of Honor and I love her so much for all of her help. My mom is another HUGE blessing in this. She has done multiple flowers for weddings so she volunteered to do all of that. Going to the craft store to look at flowers was a nightmare because I literally had no idea where to start. She picked up some pretty orchids and just matched like three different stems together and it looked awesome! After waiting for flowers to go on sale, we got them all and now we just have to put them together.

And speaking of my mom, we are always making fun of her and how many freebies she gets because most of them are useless, but she saved me so much money with that stuff. I think the first thing she sent me was some kind of banner that was free. That same website (www.vistaprint.com) also had a thing where we could get 100 free postcards (just pay shipping). We decided to use postcards for RSVP's instead of ordering actual RSVP cards. So those were free. And postage on postcards is 29 cents instead of 49 cents so we saved some there, too! We also included an engagement picture in the invitations which were also free (minus shipping). A lot of picture printing websites (www.kodak.com , www.snapfish.com , www.shutterfly.com) will give you some free prints when you sign up for an account on their website. Kodak gave us 50 per account, so we got 100 free 4 x 6 pictures. The invitations were also free thanks to Seno Formalwear. If you pay for 5 tux rentals, the groom's tux is free and you get free invitations (pay for them in advance and get a rebate check after tuxes are returned). So we saved a huge amount on stuff like that. She has also helped me search around for lower prices on some things we ordered online as well.

Another thank you is to my brother-in-law who is volunteering to help with all of the food for the reception. He has done some catering and really loves to cook so I am leaving food preparation up to him :)

Bridesmaids dresses should be coming in in about a week or two so I am really excited for that so we can finally match the color to other stuff.

Amidst of all the wedding planning to do, we are going to the Bahamas in the beginning of July with my family. So we are kind of taking a pre-wedding honeymoon.. haha. It will be a nice vacation to relax before the wedding before some last minute preparations. As far as a real honeymoon goes, we probably won't take one right away. We're thinking about just taking a two day trip to Starved Rock to go hiking or something. After the wedding, we are moving down to an apartment in Carbondale and Aaron starts med school on August 11^th (I think). Hopefully I will have a job soon after that (if not before). I have sent my resume in a few places, but have not heard much back yet. I did hear back from American Cancer Society via e-mail and need to call them for a phone screening soon (I stole the idea of looking at ACS from Natalie :)

Well, this post is already WAYY longer than I thought it would be, but those are my updates on the wedding planning so far. I am not good at updating diaries and blogs and stuff, but I am going to work on that.

I have a daily Bible verse website I use so I am going to record the verse for the day on my posts.

**Disclaimer: It may not (and probably will not) apply to the post.

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

Genesis 50:20

Please leave comments with questions, concerns, or smart remarks if you want.

<3