And so it begins...

Wedding season.

It's officially in session and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't so super duper pumped about it!!! (Even though exhaustion is sure to set in right around Christmas Eve)

Off to Oklahoma City (I was def the very last one on the plane-oops!) for our first wedding since October. Then we're heading to CABO where one of my four brothers will marry his lady and another sister will be added to my life!!

It sure doesn't hurt that I'm also missing 3 of the only 15 days of school we have left before Christmas break! It's a tough life I tell ya!

In other wedding related news (I warned you this was quickly becoming a wedding blog!) this cute couple got engaged last night!

Now she's got a gorgey rock on her finger too! YAY!

10.5.12 is taken (tentatively) but ANY other weekend will be just perfect, Kailey!

Crossing my fingers the groom doesn't shed a tear because I def forgot waterproof mascara. But really? Who am I kidding, I'd cry at the wedding of Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy. Fail.

Until next week my friends!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Ms. Landin said "YES!"

Most mornings I have a message waiting for my kids when they walk into class. A typical message usually says something along the lines of "Ms. Landin thinks you're ballar!" or "Did you get your guns up this weekend?" (all my students are Tech fans because I make them be)

I always have fun writing the messages and the kids love to read them but I was especially excited to write a morning message the Monday after I got engaged!!

This is how I told my sweet kinder babies I was officially off the market...

After about oh, 200 guesses on what the picture was ("Is it a pumpkin?", "a wrench?", "a trash can?") someone finally guessed a ring!

I showed them my new ring, which did not impress them much, and told them I got it that weekend. When I asked them to guess who gave it to me, they all yelled out "Jonathan!" (my sweet -and very single-  brother who had just come to school to help us plant flower for our plant unit) I quickly said "NO!" decided not to get in to the topic of incest, and finally someone guessed Travis!

I asked what they thought the ring meant. Guesses were flying! All of them followed by lots of giggles.

"It means you're having a baby." No, no it definitely does not mean that. YET!

"It means you got married."

"It means you have to live with Travis."

"It means you have to kiss a boy."

I finally told them that the ring meant I was getting married! I explained that Travis asked me to marry him to which they all responded "EEEEWWWWWWWWWW!!!!"

The boys in my class think ole Trav is pretty cool.  I show them pictures of the fish he catches and the animals he shoots and the fun animals at his parents house. They all think it is all pretty spectacular. I had warned T though that he would lose all cool points after I told them what he had gone and done. It was true...they now think he's gross to want to marry a girl. HAHA.  Man, I love little boys!  

THE rock!

I mentioned that when I first saw the ring, I was a little taken aback. I had sent him at least 5 pictures of rings I loved. The same ring I had wanted for who knows how long. Simple. Skinniest band you can possibly get with a round solitaire. 

Here's one of the few pics I sent him about 5 months ago.

but with a round center stone

I assumed since I had sent him pictures he'd go with that. Simple and easy.

Well, I was wrong. Obviously, it was absolutely gorgeous but I didn't know what to think at first because it was so different than anything I'd thought about before. I was so dead set on what I had always thought I wanted.

He bought the diamond first then found a setting. He explained that he and jeweler tried the diamond on multiple settings like the ones in the pictures I sent and they agreed that the skinny band didn't support the weight of the diamond. Then he told me the minute they put it on this setting he knew it was the one. He said it looked like me and had a vintage feel to it that he knew I'd like. 

Remember the little breakdown I had the morning after the proposal? Well after that little episode I was feeling 1000% better about everything. Once he explained why he picked the ring I started to love it. I mean LOVE it. And now? I am absolutely OBSESSED with it.

Want to see??! OK! 

in the box - via crappy iPhone shots (like all my terrible pics)

and the diff angles on my finger.

IT'S SO SPARKLY!!! 

That phrase comes out of my mouth at least 15 times a day. Y'all this baby even sparkles in the dark! Love! 

At first sight I didn't think it was "me".  I am not a very blingy person and this was just so much! But it is safe to say this baby is NEVER leaving my finger now. (Let's pray it stays on there forever anyway, this new rock is adding plenty of anxiety to my life currently, I check at least a million times a day that the ring is on my finger and then that the center stone is there. So paranoid!)

Ironically, I have received 2 random messages from girl friends saying that they can't believe how perfect my ring is and how it totally "fits" me.  I just tried on a couple solitaire skinny band rings, like what I had always wanted and I hate the way they look on my finger! As always, Trav was right. He honestly knows me better than I do I think.

Jeezus....have I mentioned how lucky I am??

On a side note, we're going to have to make a custom wedding band. Have any of y'all had experience with that? I want something simple and definitely understated. Oh, and insurance for this bad boy is OUTRAGEOUS! $700 a year?? Nah-uh, not happening. Any ideas on where to insure this for less, surely that's not normal! All suggestions are welcome! Please and thank you!

HOT MESS

Now, I am generally an over excitable person. I have thought about every aspect of a proposal, wedding, marriage, family, etc. more than the average person (trust me, it's an obsession) and I imagined my reaction to becoming a fiance to be much different. It was a feeling I had never experienced and I had no idea how to show that emotion. Simply put, I was a wreck. A big ole HOTT MESS. 

I was SO excited and happier than I had ever been in my entire life.  It was literally like Travis was fulfilling all of my dreams for life in one simple question.  I have always wanted to be be a wife and mother. Like always and forever, since I was probably 5. But it almost seemed too easy. Was it for real? Was that all it took to have my life changed forever? Just a simple little question?  

One second I was crying and jumping up and down, the next I was feeling like I was going to barf. I just kept telling Trav I thought I was going to be sick and he was starting to get a little nervous that I wasn't sure about this whole thing, poor guy. (Have I mentioned that he is SUCH a good man to put up with me?) The millions of wedding ideas I've had stored in my mind for 10 plus years we're flowing out like crazy. I immediately started worrying about how on earth we'd ever have time to plan our own wedding with so many other weddings happening in our life. I was speechless but all I wanted to do was talk and tell Travis how much I loved him and how excited I was. My mind was spinning. I was freaking out. I never freak out!

  I always thought I would be so excited to call our friends and share the good news but a phone call just didn't seem appropriate. I wanted to run and hug all their necks as soon as I could but we were not near them and I wanted to soak in every bit of the weekend with my new fiance! We sat in Trav's truck on speaker phone and called friends and family for at least 2 or 3 hours. Just as soon as I stopped crying we'd call someone else and the tears would come rolling back. To say I was utterly exhausted by the end of the night, would have been putting it way too lightly.  

Of course, I didn't sleep a wink all night. Ideas were rolling through my mind, I would begin to fall asleep and I'd have an urge to google the most random things (wedding rings for Trav, venues, bands, etc.) and constant dings from my facebook push notifications were keeping me up...I wanted to read them all right then!   

The next morning I woke Travis up (at like 7) and just started bawling. (I know y'all, I was a crazy person!) I told him how I was sad I wasn't completely surprised and how I loved the ring he picked out but was expecting something completely different (like the pictures I'd sent him). I wasn't sure how I'd make a wedding band out of my grandmothers diamonds for it like I had always wanted - something he didn't know. I sobbed and explained that we were so busy this year there would be no time to plan this wedding I've always dreamed of, I cried because I felt so silly and ungrateful acting the way I was, and I cried (and cried and couldn't stop crying) when I explained that I had gotten used to saying goodbye to my boyfriend but I was NOT used to saying goodbye to my fiance!

As always, Travis calmly listened to my craziness and explained that everything would all work out perfectly. He told me why he wanted to be my husband and why the weekend and Rockport was so special to him (and I actually heard every word this time!) He explained why he chose the setting for the ring, why he wanted to propose the way he did and told me that no matter how crazy I was acting he'd always want to marry me. What a relief! I must have asked Travis 10 times if he still wanted to marry me. He had never seen me such a wreck (and hopefully never will again!)

That melt down was the best thing that could've happened right then. We laid there for a little bit longer just letting it all sink in and then I was back normal again, thank the Lord! I've said it before and I'll say it again, Travis ALWAYS has the right words to say at the right time. There is no doubt he was created specifically for me. 

We spent an amazing day together, just the two of us, which rarely happens. We got breakfast and did some shopping (my favorite activity) in all the cute shops of Rockport. I am really regretting not buying a picture we saw and loved for our first home. hoping it'll still be there next trip. We went back to the house, rested, snacked, and then went fishing (Trav's favorite activity). It was perfect. (all of it except for the boating accident we had which I'm pretty certain left me with a concussion - just what my already jacked up brain needed!)

Because obviously we'd go fishing the day after we get engaged! Love it! Wish this pic was with the reel Trav got me complete with pink line! Oh well. :)

I couldn't wait to see my momma and dad on Sunday!!!  We met our parents half way and enjoyed lunch together. After, we went to his sweet Granny Betty's for coffee and dessert. Then, I sadly told my new fiance good bye - but timing couldn't have been better because I got to see him just 2 days later!

I let my dad drive my car home...I was EXHAUSTED! I've slept like a baby ever since that night!

AND I am not acting crazy anymore!! Halle-freakin-lujah!! I am probably the happiest most excited person you will encounter these days! The only thing that could make me happier would be having Travis here. I am beyond blessed to have him in my life!

3rd Times a Charm

Rockport, Texas.

Hands down one of my favorite places on earth. I have grown up enjoying this part of the Texas coast and have been sharing this love with my sweet friends since the moment we could drive (and even before).

A weekend in Rockport includes all of my favorite things.  Friends, family, fun, drinking, sun, water, porch sitting, relaxing, music, eating....it can't be beat.

Rockport brings people together.  

You see, Rockport is a really special place to me and Travis.  We spent our first weekend (after only one quick, friendly date) there with all my best friends.  We had a great time! A few days later, however, I called things off with him.

Fast forward a few months (after I realized I made a GI-normous mistake).  Travis invited me and my besties to "C.A.S.T. for Kids" this amazing program where you pair up with disables children and go fishing on the coast. I can safely say this was the weekend I knew I'd marry him someday. It was cold and rainy but we had a blast reeling in tons of fish (that Travis caught of course) and the kids we're loving every minute of it. (And no lie, I was loving seeing a man be so incredibly into an activity like this) Later that evening we went to his bosses house, John and his wife Rhonda, for an unforgettable night of fun and drinking and dancing. These people have now become some of the people dearest to me. The awesome bar set up at their house on the canal is called the "Sand Bar" - it's by far my favorite bar to party at and drinks (and delicous snacks) are always plentiful!

I can't remember exactly but it may have been this Rockport weekend Travis told me all he wanted for his birthday was for me to be his girlfriend to which I responded "no, not yet". HAHA. I had this crazy idea that until I was absolutely certain I was going to marry the boy I was with, I didn't want to officially be in a relationship.  (2 weeks later I caved and told him he could be my boyfriend)

So Trav, poor guy, was 0 and 2 at this point. First time we spent the weekend together, broke things off with him; asked me to be his girlfriend, told him no.

Since that trip we have spent multiple incredible weekends together in Rockport, the bay in general, is our place.

And as luck would have it, his losing record changed....when he asked me to be his wife....in the same location we stayed up talking for hours and shared our first kiss over a year earlier, I didn't hesitate for a second. It was a question I had waited almost our entire relationship to answer.

I wish I could remember all the sweet words he spoke to me the night of November 17, 2011. But all I heard was the question that would make me is wife. The question that will always be my favorite question ever asked.

11.17.11

The day I got engaged.

As I posted before, I had a feeling a proposal was in the very near future. I waited each weekend in October thinking "maybe this is the weekend". October came and went and before I knew it November had practically vanished. Our schedules are about to get crazy busy (out of town/country weddings basically ever non-holiday weekend from now until April) and because a dear friend mentioned that he had planned to pop the question before Thanksgiving I had a pretty good idea it would happen.  

On the way to Rockport I had convinced myself this wasn't going to be the weekend. I was sure he was just trying to throw me off and I was positive he hadn't asked my dad or purchased a ring but the moment I pulled up to our cute little bay house and he walked outside to meet me, I knew what was about to happen.

I wish I could remember much after that.  He walked me into the house, sat me down, which instantly led to tears...the rest unfortunately is a huge blur, he talked to me for a bit, got a knee, pulled out a box, asked me to marry him, I said "YES!", and just like that, we were engaged! I have no photo documentation of details or anything but I have this big honka rock on my finger that is a constant reminder of the night I became a FIANCE!!

11.17.11

Bear with me...these next few posts are for my memory - they're lacking all the fun of a typical post like pictures, etc.  Those will come soon!

Our Story

I know I promised a post on the engagement and it's coming!! I also have about 10 more thankful for posts (that I'm still doing even though Thanksgiving is over) and other wedding related news but I thought I'd first start with the story of me and Trav. This is more for my benefit than yours but feel free to read along...I happen to be absolutely in love with the way this story pans out.

In college Travis and I were both in serious relationships. We didn't know each other but had mutual friends. My boyfriend at the time lived with a guy named Wade.  Wade and Travis were friends from class and I remember this big red head (enter: Travis) coming over to the boys house to study or get notes, etc. from Wade.  I've always loved a big guy and strangely a guy with red hair (I mean, do you know a red head that is not a total blast?!? I don't!) but I obviously I didn't think much of it because I had a bf.

There is no doubt we partied at the same parties and frequented the same bars all through college but these encounters never really stuck (I was dating a really good guy and he was dating a witch of a girl) we had other things on our mind.

Fast forward a couple years.  We were both out of college. I had decided to go out with Wade for a birthday celebration of a guy I didn't know.  As soon as we got to the house we were meeting at out comes this incredibly drunk red head, the same guy I remembered from college. I was no longer in a relationship and I immediately was attracted to this guy that was being, simply put, an asshole. As soon as we got in separate cars I asked numerous times, 'Who is that asshole with the red hair?" I remember going on about what a jerk he was being (I couldn't tell you how he was being a jerk, chances are he wasn't. I am not one to outwardly flirt with people and I guess I was annoyed because he was not showing the slightest interest in me, which I found read as jerky.) Wade informed me his serious girlfriend had just broken up with him, he totaled his brand new King Ranch, and one of his retrievers had run off ...all in the same week. He was living the life of a sad country song and he was in town to drink his sorrows away!

After that night some serious facebook stalking ensued for about a week or so.  I learned from creeping that he lived in Victoria, about a an hour and 45 minutes down the road from me, but came in to town quite a bit.  I was in talks with my ex boyfriend at the time and nothing much came out of the facebook stalking. He went back to being out of sight, out of mind.

Fast forward another couple of years and I'm reading a message from him. I was very excited but there was a lot of beating around the bush. I wasn't quite sure the point of the emails we were sending.  They weren't flirty or even chit chatty.  From what I remember they were literally about nothing. After about a week of waiting for him to ask me out he finally said he was coming through town and asked if I wanted to grab lunch with him.  This in my mind was a very friendly outing, nothing more. After lunch he walked me to my door, as soon as the door closed I did one of those silent screaming, jumping up and down bits. I had found the perfect man and I was SOO excited! 

I randomly invited him to come with me and all my best friends to my families bay house in Rockport, TX the following weekend. This was risky. We are a very close knit group and rarely have new people join without some ridicule. I would never normally do this but I knew there was something about him that would just fit. And I never though he would actually come! I was nervous the whole way there and was actually wishing I would have never invited him.

Not to my surprise, my best guy friends immediately formed man crushes on him.  We had a great time that weekend and I was right, he fit right in. The boys told me on or way home that I better not mess this one up for them. (He had 100 hobbies they were envious of AND a boat - it was love.) 

The distance and another boy I had just gone out with was just one of the factors that I worried about when thinking of starting a relationship with Travis. With my friends voices echoing in my mind I sent Travis a long, dreaded text (I know, I suck) saying that I really liked him but that the timing was off and that it made me really sad because I knew I would regret it. He simply responded with "Ok. Thanks for being honest with me."

I had never been let off that easy before. His simple response made it so hard to not want to retract everything I had just told him.

Sure enough, 4 months later I found myself sitting shotgun driving home from NOLA with the "other boy" wishing with everything in me that I had just spent the weekend in New Orleans with Travis.  I FB crept on him basically the whole drive home and re-read all our past text convos.  When I read the the part saying "I know I'm going to regret this" I knew I had made the biggest mistake of my life.

Shortly after, I found the courage to break things off with the other guy and couldn't wait to try my luck with Travis. You can read about the life changing second chance here.

I mentioned before that I knew if he cared enough to respond to my desperate text, I knew I had it in the bag. I was right. I can count on probably one hand the weekends we haven't spent together since that very text. And the rest as they say....is history.....GOT HIM!
(the desperate text went something like this: "You know what I'm dying for right now? Your crab dip. Warm. With crackers. mmmmmm" to which he responded "hahaha that was random. what's up?" Crab dip is just one of the many delicious things Travis makes. Ladies, this boy can cook.)    


One problem, he was still living almost 2 hours away. I hated it but we made it work, I actually got to the point where I loved how we scheduled time for each other.  We'd meet at his bay house in Palacios on Wednesdays (a mini vacay to look forward to mid week, every week) and usually spent weekends in Houston.

Then, a few months into our relationship he called on a Tuesday saying he was coming to Houston for the night to take me to dinner and "talk about some stuff" I immediately got super excited. I knew he was getting some new great opportunities at work and I had convinced myself he was going to tell me he was moving to Houston. I already had plans for where he should move (into my apartment complex, duh) and how amazing life with this guy close by would be. Well, I was dead wrong.

We met after school at my parent's house. I had never seen him so nervous. He explained that he had this amazing opportunity at work.  A position he had hoped to have by his late 30s. A position that could potentially put me in "house wife" status sooner than imagined (that's how he sold it to me, he knows me well, haha). An opportunity that would move him from less than 100 miles away to 300 miles away. To a town I'd never heard of, Carrizo Springs, basically in Mexico. (yea, that terrifying country next to us) He told me how much he liked me (thought he was going to drop the L bomb but that didn't come until later! ha) and how he really wanted me to be in his life but he'd understand if I wasn't willing to put in the time and effort.

 I told him to do it. I absolutely hated the idea but I knew it was for the best. I hugged him for 5 plus minutes so he wouldn't see my tears.

 And here we are today.

We're ENGAGED and so, so, SO happy and full of love and excitement.

But...it hasn't been easy. In fact, at times it was really, really hard.  I never once doubted that we could do it but I'd be lying if I said there weren't tears. Probably way more than Trav's even aware of. There was a period of time that I would cry basically every time I got off the phone with him. And of course, the only person that I wanted to comfort me was him. 300 miles away. There were times I just wanted to give everything else up to be with him.

Simply put, distance sucks. BAD.

But we did it. We made it work just like he always promised we would.