Married 8 months recap

OH MY GOODNESS....It's been a ridiculous amount of time since I have blogged and I can't believe I NEVER wrote the rest of my honeymoon blog! I am a blogging failure. This post is LONG and it is more for my memories than anything!!

So much has been going on...let me see if I can remember

November- Brad and I celebrated our first married Thanksgiving! Let the married weight gaining begin!

December- First married Christmas....it was so wonderful! I got a Kindle and Brad got a Razorback golf bag....we got other things, but those were our bigs gifts to one another!  We drove around so much and ate very little that we were STARVING by the time dinner rolled around that we ended up eating at a Chinese buffet in Maumelle just the two of us on Christmas night. We are pretty sure it will be a tradition if we can help it!  The day after Christmas Day, I flew to Virginia to see my cousins, Aunt, Uncle, and Grandmother. We threw a surprise party for my Grammy and her 80th birthday! She was so surprised and my mom did an AMAZING job putting it all together and contacting all of her friends to schedule it, and then she had to reschedule it due to a snow storm that hit the day I flew in!

January- New Years! We went out to Conway to celebrate with our best friends Chris and Kirby! We ate, drank and played games on the Wii! Im now a big fan of Mario Kart!  We also bought and closed on our first house at the end of January. We bought my dad's house!

February- We  celebrated our first married Valentine's Day and moved into our first house! We owned it for about a month before my dad's house was ready and he could move out. The lull allowed for us to gradually pack up our apartment and slowly move things over instead of having to do it all in one day. That worked out nicely because I left for Vegas on February 17th and Brad moved all of our big stuff into the house on the 18th. Chuck Hawley helped him load the moving truck on Friday night and Chris Johnson helped him unload on Saturday. We still owe them BIG TIME!

While I was in Vegas, I got a text message saying that the water had been shut off by my dad. Brad called the water company about it and they told him it had never been shut off, just turned off and he had to turn it back on. He and Chris and my dad tried and tried but did not succeed. Brad had to go the rest of the weekend with no water to shower with, drink OR flush the toilet with...luckily we still had the apartment so we could go over there and shower.

I flew back in on Monday and we STILL had no water....OR gas....which meant that we had no heat either. It was toward the end of February...and we were FREEZING!! We wore lots of clothes around the house and used my heated mattress  pad at night! At night, I would take some water from one of the jugs he bought, put it in a bowl, heat it up in the microwave and wash my face with that because it was so cold!!

Every morning, I had to get up extra early, go back to the apartment in Maumelle and shower and then leave from there to go to work in Conway. It wasnt ideal, but we didnt let it bother us...it was funny that it was happening that way and we just laughed about it! We made memories for sure! On that Tuesday, Brad had to work, but we were promised that we would have water that day! I came home, all excited...turned on the faucet and NOTHING! I was NOT a happy camper. I ended up calling the emergency line at the water company and the lady had to talk me through how to turn our water on!  I went outside with a wrench and a flashlight and dug through the dirt to find the meter and turn it on correctly! I am super woman!!!  We finally had water!!!  The gas was turned back on the upcoming Friday!  Our house (well, utilities) were finally complete!

March- Brad and my Dad's birthdays....not to mention Kirby and Chris's wedding weekend at the end of the month! We started to really unpack our house and discuss when we were going to have our house warming party. We had SO much to do in the house in terms of unpacking, painting and updating some stuff...as well as get the backyard cleaned up and the pool opened! We worked really hard for a few weeks and then hit a wall and took a several week break from the unpacking and updating! We did paint our bedroom...it went from a dark forest green to a light blue with a teal accent wall.

At the end of March....Brad and I boarded Patton and Reagan and took off for Hot Springs...the location of Chris and Kirby's wedding! They got married in the chapel at Garvin Gardens and the reception was at the Country Club of Hot Springs! Everything was beautiful and perfect and we could not have been more excited for our best friends to FINALLY be married! The day of the wedding, Brad got up super early and went and played golf with Chris and the guys. It was FREEZING! I tried to sleep in, but couldnt....I knew there was lots to be done! I met Kirby and her mom and brother up at the Country Club to help decorate. They had most of it done before I got there....but I am so glad I could at least go and help and offer to run any errands they needed.  The weekend was fabulous and so much fun!

April- On Monday, March 28th, I was at work and Kellee (a girl I worked with) said she saw a dog in the parking lot. If you dont already know, I LOVE dogs and would save them all if I could. I ran outside and called the dog to me. She didnt have a collar on and she looked VERY skinny. I called Brad and said "A dog found me in my parking lot and now it is standing in my office". He asked me what I was doing with it and I replied that I was bringing her home. My friend Lauren came over that night for wine and pizza and she was helping me think of places I could take this sweet girl so she could be off the streets and find a new home. I kept her outside, away from the other two dogs I have. We found out that she was fully trained to sit, stay, lay, shake....WOW!

When Brad got home from night shift, he stood at the back door and looked outside at her, informed me I needed to find her a home, and walked away. Next thing I knew, he was back at the door looking at her and then would walk away. At some point he did go out and meet her. About an hour and a half later he was standing at that door again, he turned to me and said "If we can get her spayed, YOU can keep her!" LOL...i didnt even ask to keep her. He fell in love with her and she became a part of our family that night! I know that happened in March, but her life in our family began in April, so it counts as April!!

Now we have three dogs! Our Maltese Reagan, Our Lab-ish mix Patton and our Pit Bull-Lab Mix SCOTCH!!!

Mid April, a friend of mine informed me that he was leaving his current job at Arkansas Otolaryngology Center in Little Rock to open a practice in Cabot, closer to home! I asked him about the opening he was leaving and if they had posted the job...he told his ENT's about me and they said they wanted to meet me! I interviewed at noon on a Tuesday and by 1:15 they called to offer me the job! I talked it over with Brad and then I accepted!! It was truly an answer to prayer!!!

I loved my job in Conway and I loved who I worked with and who I worked for....but the drive was really starting to take a toll on me...and not getting home until 5:45 when I got off at 5 was hard not to mention I was filling up my gas tank twice a week. Since I have started my new job in Little Rock.... I get home within 10 minutes of getting off work and I fill up my gas tank ONCE every TWO weeks!!! Such an answer to prayer!! The night before my interview, I was nervous and had an uneasy feeling about it. I realized it was because I had not asked God if that was His plan for me....so I prayed and asked him to give me a peace about the interview if it was something He wanted for me and an immediate calm washed over me. I gave it up to Him and told him that if it was His will, I know I would get the job and if it wasnt, then there was something else out there for me. It was such a neat feeling.

We also opened our pool in April and started to clean up the backyard. We added sand to a portion of the patio to make it feel beachy and it has a fire pit and adirondack chairs! Brad completely ripped up all of the flower  beds and re-did them with a pretty red mulch and planted flowers! We got a new patio table and chairs, put together our grill, added some outdoor lights and tiki torches and our patio was a step closer to being Party-ready!  I also scrubbed our whole patio with dawn soap and a bristle brush on my hand and knees to get any imbedded dirt up. I will post pictures of our changes one day (probably in another 6 months). HA! 

May- We had our mother's and Brad's dad over for Mother's Day for lunch and it was the first time any of them had seen the house! They were super excited for us and so supportive! The following weekend (on the 14th) was our housewarming party! We had an absolute blast! We ordered 40 pounds of crawfish and also had hot dogs just in case crawfish wasnt an option for someone. We must have had 20 to 30 people at the housewarming and it was so nice to be around our wonderful friends!! We had so much crawfish left over  though that we probably threw half of it away the next day! That party for us was the official kick off of entertaining and having friends over for dinners, swimming and hanging out!

June- We celebrated Father's Day with our father's, Brad's mom and one of dad's friends and their daughter. We made ka-bobs (chicken and steak) with baked beans, corn on the cob and baked potatos. It was a FEAST and Brad did an AMAZING job on all of it.

Brad and I are really loving our pool too! On Saturday mornings, we wake up, grab something out of our deep freeze for lunch (usually hot dogs), throw it on the grill, put on our swimsuits and swim and relax all day! It really is so nice to not have to worry about going somewhere, run an errand or HAVE to be doing something! We have had a few friends over for swimming or dinners and we cant wait to do more of that in the near future!

I have really learned in the recent past just how blessed Brad and I are and how things happen for a reason. I have gotten to know some of the most AMAZING girls through Brad and his friends and they have become good friends of mine, as well as invest in my friendships of many years!

Near Future- This coming weekend is 4th of July and I can not wait to decorate our backyard with red, white and blue and celebrate our freedom! Friday (the 1st) one of my best friends from high school, Trisha, and her husband are pulling into town with their moving truck and they will start unloading their belongings into a house they rented in Little Rock. It has been 10 years since Trisha has lived in Little Rock and I am so excited she is going to be back!
Sunday we are having a few friends over to swim and grill out and just be together! I love entertaining and I always feel so refreshed and joyful when I get to be around our friends!! Good food off the grill is a plus as well!!

Well, I feel like I have recapped all my brain can handle. I didnt proof read before I published it, so if it has run on sentences, incomplete thoughts or doesnt make sense....so sorry. This is not a grammar blog! I doubt anyone even made it to this point anyway!!