Our Trip to Iowa

So we left the warmth of Tennessee to head out to Dubuque, Iowa for Christmas. Both my mother and father grew up there and most of their family still reside in the area. We met mom and dad in Atlanta and flew into Moline, Illinois. My little sister and her boyfriend drove up Christmas Eve. Unfortunately they didn't get there in time to go to church with us but she had a surprize for us when we got home - a little pomeranian puppy named Mogli. He is absolutely adorable - particularly when he decided to have an accident all down Andy's leg! Christmas morning was a brunch with the Snyder family - Andy had many names to remember (Dad is one of six) and then the afternoon was spent with the Hoppmann clan (mom's side where she is one of eight) and some Wii Fit - we were stuffed by the end of the day! The next couple of days included lots of card games, a trip to the casino where Andy won over $100 playing roullette and then treated a bunch of the family to cosmic bowling where dad and Brian (my sister's boyfriend) battled it out - Brian won by six pins in 3 games, and we saw Marley & Me. My mom, sister and Aunt threw us a couples shower where we played a bunch of fun games and then got some great gifts including a racy deck of cards and coupon book to be used on the honeymoon. We even got some sledding in down the street next to my uncle's home. We had a great Christmas though I know Andy missed not being with his family. Hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Happy Birthday Andy!

Happy Birthday to the love of my life Andrew! And guess what he gets on his birthday... 3 final exams to take. I am so lucky to have him in my life. Happy 32 Old Man!

Merry Christmas

Goodbye Bandit!

On Friday my parents had to put my dog, Bandit, to sleep. She had just turned 15 years old. She was a great dog and a great friend and I will miss her greatly. She is now in that big yard in the sky with her sister, Smokey. I will miss you Bandito!

Engagement Photos

Andy and I had engagement photos taken the other month and just got them in the mail. This is my favorite one. Here is the link if you are interested in viewing them http://www.pictage.com/457895 . Our wedding photos will be at this same site.

Race for the Cure

Yesterday Andy and I ran in the Susan G. Komen 5k race. We ran for Christy's Angels - a team founded by Christy's daughters Kim, Jaime and Julie - 3 lovely ladies I have had the opportunity to meet and get to know. Kim is married to Andy's friend Dusty and also works for West Knox Trucks and Julie is my future sister-in-law (Andy's brother's wife). Andy came in just under 24 minutes and I surprized myself by being just over 28 minutes! Great cause with good friends. To all the ladies - get those boobies checked!

Less Than 8 Months To Go

Hello all - been a while since I've posted - sorry for the absence. Things have been busy in our lives. Andy is busy taking 18 hours worth of classes and spends long nights at the library studying - I am so proud of his dedication but can't wait for him to graduate in May. We are less than 8 months from the wedding and I just got a call that my wedding dress in already in (they said it wouldn't be in until December). I have been busy working with the men's soccer team at Carson Newman College and am proud to report that they are undefeated in our conference play and have a high probability of winning the conference title. I also work with the women's basketball team and they start up official practices this weds. Guess who their first game is against - The Lady Volunteers! I also start teaching an online class for Mount Olive College at the end of the month. As you can probably guess I am kept very busy and haven't had much of a social life. Andy and I had the chance to go to a haunted corn maze the other weekend and had a blast - check out the Oakes Farm (http://www.oakesfarm.com/). That's it for now!

The meeting of the families

So this past 4th of July weekend our future inlaws met for the first time and it went great! My sister flew in from Kansas and mom and dad drove in from North Carolina and brought our dog Bandit. We had a cookout that friday (thank you so much to Andy's parents for hosting and his family for attending) and dessert was a tasting of potential wedding cakes (we had a winner - Daisy Cakes it will be http://www.daisycakecompany.com/). Then we went and watched fireworks on UT campus. Saturday was all about the dresses - both bridesmaid and wedding gown. One was selected and it was ordered yesterday :) I am going to wait until my bestfriend and maid of honor comes into town to make a decision on their dresses. Of course the guys did not want to partake in this and hit the golf course despite the rain. Dinner was Calhoun's on the river, our reception site, and for the most part went well. Unfortunately there is limited parking and dad had to take a little walk to get back to the restaurant and needless to say his frustration was obvious. I hope they overall liked the site we chose. Mom and dad left early sunday and we took Kristin for the delicious brunch at Copper Cellar. After gorging ourselves we dropped her off at the airport. So the meeting of the families has come and gone. With that going on I also started working at Carson Newman College. I have enjoyed it thusfar except for having to be in at 6:15am a couple of morning and a 35 mile commute but a nap in the afternoon revitalizes me. Hopefully I will have a great year there with minimal injuries and many wins. Hope all is well!

So many updates

Hello all. Both my best friend and aunt mentioned that I had not posted anything new on our blog for a while so it was time to write again. Let's see what I have to say - oh, the baseball team I worked with at Mount Olive College won the D2 National Championship which was awesome! I am so proud of those guys and 5 of them were drafted. I wish them the best of luck. I no longer work as an athletic trainer at MOC but they are keeping me as an adjunct instructor and I just completed teaching an online course for the summer session and will teach it again in November. I am half way moved to Knoxville. I drive back to NC tomorrow to finish the moving out process and plan on traveling back for good to Knoxvegas on Saturday. I was working the Lady Vols Basketball Camps and Softball camps for the past 2 weeks for a little extra money. The new athletic facilities are amazing and the new aquatic center will host the diving olympic trials. So I have been pretty busy and then I start my new position at Carson Newman College on July 1st. 4th of July weekend is the big meeting of the families - I am flying my sister in from Kansas and mom and dad are driving in from NC. Both Andy and I are so excited for them to meet. They will also be helping us select our wedding cake from some delicious samples. Oh yeah - I have also been working on the details of the wedding while I was working the camps and most of the big things are done. We just ordered our save the date cards today. That's it for now. I will let you all know how my first day at Carson Newman goes.

New Job!!!

Got some good news - I was offered a position at Carson Newman College and accepted. I will start July 1st as an athletic trainer and instructor and will be working primarily with men's soccer and women's basketball. So YEAH!!! I know how I will be paying my bills. The only downside is that it is about a 32 mile commute each way but I can handle it. One more happy thing - both of my alma maters won national championships - Go Kansas and Tennessee!

The little things he does for me

For those who don't know, I have been STRESSING about the upcoming wedding preparations. Due to my location (7 hours from Knoxville - the wedding site) and my busy schedule with baseball that will prevent me from traveling to Knoxville until May, trying to start booking the church, locations, photographer, etc. has been difficult. I mean who wants to put down thousands of dollars in non-refundable deposits on something you haven't seen in person. But then again, if you like the service and have great recommendations should you wait to see it in person knowing that the service could be reserved in the meantime by someone else on your day?! This has been my huge conundrum and cause of a migraine headaches. So for the wedding ceremony I had 2 churches in mind. When I called the first one I encountered unfriendly individuals and was told that the date we had in mind was already booked. I called Andy and expressed my stress and my hopes that the other would be available because we didn't have a third option. So Andy gave me the church's name and the following day I called it in the afternoon. The woman I spoke to was named Leslie and I introduced myself and said I would be getting married and was looking into availability. She asked me who my fiance was and when I told her she said "I just met him! He is in there talking to the pastor." Andy knew how stressed I was and after his classes he drove to the church and spoke to the pastor who has welcomed us with open arms to be married by him in the church and the day we want (May 23, 2009). Andy hadn't told me he was going to do this. When I spoke to him later he said he knew how stressed I was and wanted to help relieve that stress and he certainly did. Just one of the numerous little things he does and why I love him so!

My first blog

Good morning!
This is my first blog so I am just going to give a little note about the happenings in my life. I have been engaged to Andy for 9 days now. Wedding plans are being mapped out and details are being discussed. I am being kept busy at work with teaching my two classes and with the numerous baseball games - for those who don't know my team - the Mount Olive College Trojans - are currently ranked #1 in Division 2. I am so proud of them! Dad surprized mom and I by flying in my sister for Easter - just wish Andy could have met her. Andy is once again busy with school now that his spring break has ended and will have to ready himself for his bachelor pad to take on a new occupant (me) in about 2 months. That's about all for my first blog.