One Year

Justin and I celebrated our one year wedding anniversary on August 25th. I would love to say that we had the most romantic day of our lives but alas, we were married during orientation last year and that is still affecting us today. Many special people were unable to come to our wedding because it was such a crazy time but we knew that when we planned it so we just took their presents to calm our disappointment.

The busiest week for an HRA is right during our anniversary. Our day consisted of waking up super early, eating lunch in the cafeteria with other people, checking in new students, making them go to orientation, dealing with parents, running crazy errands, submitting work orders, and going to hang out at the school carnival so we could be cool HRAs that are involved. Justin had never been to the carnival, lovingly referred to as Knight Games so we did that for our date. He had fun riding a mechanical bull and racing non-pregnant people in a giant inflatable obstacle course. I had fun eating cotton candy, otter-pops and popcorn till I almost exploded. After that we went home and I passed out before 9 p.m. of exhaustion from the week and in preparation for the next day of craziness.

We did find a few minutes to exchange a little gift. Justin got me a beautiful necklace with our oh-so-significant rubies. I love it so much. I got him gummy worms and a homemade card. I obviously did not get the memo about gifts but he ate them so I guess he liked them. I was going to get him an ipad 2 but I don't have a million dollars and we are waiting for the ipad 3 anyway. (And a million dollars) Justin's Mom also sent us a super cool anniversary package with goodies and gifts. We also got a few cards which was unexpected but totally cool that people would remember our anniversary.

So pretty!

We have had a pretty great year. We learned and changed a lot. We both learned how to quickly resolve any issue we see approaching before it becomes an issue. I think when you see a potential rough spot headed your way and you do everything in your power to send it the opposite direction that is a big gesture of love. We have learned how to deal and help each other with our weaknesses. It is amazing how much verbalizing weaknesses that you have never put into words can help your spouse instantly understand and help you. Justin has gotten his fair share of crazy in this marriage and bless his heart he still likes me. Being together is so much fun and we are both dreading that work and school have picked back up because we see each other only for like 12 hours during the day. I know rough! I don't know how will handle Justin having a full-time job. Oh well, I guess that is why we have eternity:)

Here is video of Justin riding a bull

Loose Ends

Summer is almost over. Tragic I know, but for some reason I love the fall semester. It is so full of promise and change! I am not technically in school anymore but Justin has his last semester to finish up so that means I will still be doing a lot of homework:) Justin is always more motivated with someone directing his every move and I am just the girl to do it!

Justin dreads school but he has a pretty light semester ahead of him so he should be able to focus on the big task at hand, SENIOR PAPER(Dun Dun DUN!!!). While I enjoy the process of writing a paper I hated writing my senior paper. It was 25 pages on the agricultural benefits of mycorrhizae fungi. Yeah, you would hate it too. The thing is, I picked the topic and hated it. I would rather have someone else pick a topic for me. Give me a paper on the patriot act, censorship, how to repair America's image with Islam, I will put that sucker in the bag. I just don't really care about them so my opinion never plays a factor. I just write whichever position is easiest. Justin, on the other hand, crumbles under the immense boredom that is bound to ensue from a topic his cares nothing about. Let him pick his own and he will research it for weeks, write it early and revise it a million times and then have me revise it a million times again. I guess that is because he has better writing integrity than I do.

Justin also just started taking the basic tax preparers class at H&R Block. He goes twice a week to Staunton (30 mins away) to take the class in hopes that he will be able to work there this spring after graduation. He really likes it so far.

Next week is going to be the busiest week of our lives. We have orientation and check-in. This is where we make our non-existent pay check. I am pretty nervous actually. We have had the football players on our floor but we don't really have a connection with them yet. Saturday, they will all move to their fall assignments and our friendship needs to begin. How do I convince a bunch of 18-20 something young men that this grumpy pregnant lady is cool? We do have a pinata and brownies for them so hopefully that will help. I also start back at being a crossing guard on Monday so that will be super exciting. My tutoring does not start till after labor day and I am so grateful for that. I swear, I am so glad that I don't plan my life because it would not work out at all, Good thing the Lord is handling all that.

We have been prepping Main Hall for all the new students arrival Yay! Painting, moving stuff, fixing stuff. It has been so crazy! I am so grateful for the help of all the RAs and HRAs. I really like these people especially the ones that help me all the time. Justin and I would never get everything done. We have a lot of great people in our lives. This week we said some painful goodbyes. I am now the only person left that lived in Waggery my senior year. Those were the girls I liked best and was closest to. It is so weird how you think a place makes you happy when really it is just who you are with. I guess I will have to make some new (but not as good) friends. Although, I doubt any will compare since these are some of the best I have ever had. Thank goodness for facebook and stalking.

Cha-cha-cha-changes!

Well it is time for an update and this one is a big one. Justin and I found out a couple weeks ago that we are having a baby girl and we are tickled pink! Justin and I had dreams over and over again that we were going to have a girl and I felt a little mother's intuition that it was going to be a girl. I confessed that to no one because I did not want my first round of mother's intuition to be wrong. Prideful? Yes, but my motto has always been its better not to try than to try and fail. It is something I am working at removing from my life with the help of my wonderful husband who point out when I am being crazy ever so gently. 

For those of you who would like to know all the nitty gritty details of the last few months feel free to read on. If you would rather not, pregnancy is so great and stuff. (Feel free to move on)

I found out I was pregnant in April. I was pretty much in denial and thought I was just a little late and since I never keep track of anything like that whose to say I was even late? Apparently I was. Justin and I looked at the positive pregnancy test both feeling a little shell-shocked. Justin recovered much more quickly and was very excited. I, however, was not getting my hopes up until this was confirmed by someone other than a Wal-mart brand test. We called happy parents, excited for grand babies to come. I maintained the mentality that the doctor could still tell us it was a false positive. She, however, did not. Rather, I was welcomed with enthusiasm, given a gift bag full of information and free things, and sent home with a sonogram, having heard the heartbeat of a little stowaway who had been hiding for 8 weeks. Now I could get excited. It really was not my fault that I did not know due to the fact that my pregnancy symptoms have been relatively non-existent. My first trimester I had an intense craving for Now and Laters, Jolly Ranchers, fruit, and vegetables. In that order. Chocolate, not interested. Meat, not really. My most beloved bread, can I just have a cucumber? I was so lucky to not have any sickness. Sometimes I would feel queasy for like 5 minutes in the afternoon but after hearing others horror stories I really should not even mention that. Here is a list of fun pregnancy symptoms with that will hopefully make up for that. 

1. Horrible anxiety-every night I go to sleep worrying about something and how I will deal with the situation when the worst happens. Fun fun

2. Amplification of my already constant joint pain. Sleeping is fun. 

3.Dry hair and even more brittle nails (Is that even possible?)

4. Being ever more emotional than Justin even thought possible. He is a good man. 

5. That 2 weeks that I was more angry than I have ever been in my life and I did not know why. Not understanding the reason why only intensified my anger. Guaranteed to be Justin's favorite 2 weeks of our marriage hands down. 

I think she is so pretty already

Aside from those, it has all been very manageable. Probably because she is going to be a handful. This child is so active. As I type, she is holding a aerobic class in my womb. When we went to hear her heartbeat she was moving so much we could barely catch anything other than static. During our sonogram a couple weeks ago, the sonographer just kept saying "Wow. she is super active", "She is quite the little mover", "I can see why you had such a hard time hearing her heart beat last time, she is so so active". We are going to blame that trait on Justin and just plan on getting a hop-a-roo for her first few hours after she is born. Hey, at least she is healthy right?

Sister Moss told me "We do a lot to get them here" and that is so true. Talk about a lesson in selflessness, who else would I cook my lunch meat for to avoid getting a rare food born illness known as listeria other than my unborn child? It is an adventure but we are so excited to be parents. I hope, this little girl likes glitter, pink, nail polish, mud, baseball, and doing everything we can for Southern Virginia University. I think she might come out ready to lead the spring orientation groups and move some mattresses because that is the life she is being born into. We already love her so much.