Little girls....

...dream of their weddings their whole lives...however, they don't dream of the stress and things not going according to plan....especially when your dream is right there in front of you.

I am one of those brides.

I have imagined myself getting married outside or in a little white chapel my whole life. Now that I have a ring on my finger and an AMAZING fiance you think making this dream come true wouldn't be difficult....think again...please pray for me during this time. I know that it is about the marriage not the wedding- but you have got to get to the wedding before the marriage can begin.

I love Justin more than anything and eloping is looking better and better every day...

Formal Observation

My first formal observation is tomorrow!!! Say a little prayer...I am doing a whole lesson on POLYGONS- MATH! If you know me, you know Math is my weakness so...say a prayer! No time to really talk gotta get ready for tomorrow... but wanted to post this- these girls are amazing! (I cant remember if I have posted them- I don't think I have)





Update: I finished my lesson! Here is photo of my interactive board I made to go along with my lesson. I am pretty proud of it! : ) Each thing is attached using Velcro so they can take it down and check themselves as they go.

Whirlwind

Phew...I write this as a sit down directly after getting home. If I wait until later this blog will never get done. But since soooo much was accomplished this weekend I feel the need to share everything. Friday we left and drove to Dallas- we got there and had pizza and set up shop in Jessica's living room. Jessica got out all of her wedding stuff and together we went through everything I had already collected and what she already had. Saturday morning we got up and got going. First we went to Stardust and looked at dresses and bridesmaid dresses. There was a trunk show going on so the designer of the dresses was there and all of the dresses were discounted! I made Jessica try on a number of different dresses but fell in love with this one! We decided we would think about it and went on to the next stop which was JUST wedding gowns! I tried on so many gowns but found THE ONE! It is beautiful and I cant wait to wear it! We decided I needed to sleep on this dress also so we left once again so I could sleep on it and see if it really was the one for me...and it was! Sunday morning we got up and went back to Stardust, purchased the Bridesmaid Gowns, looked at invitations and then headed to try on my dress one last time...I tried it on and didn't want to take it off! I LOVE IT! The only picture of it you get is this...After we had purchased the dress they blow bubbles and play the bridal march! It was super cute! My aunt came and had fun with us! After the wedding dress and bridesmaid dresses were purchased we were off to College Station to spend the night in 7F Lodge, The Barn! I was sooo excited! Today we had a grand tour of the location. I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE IT! It is perfect! Justin and I both really like it. However, when we got to the office to discuss numbers and dates and what not- they had booked a wedding for July 25th! I was crushed and cried for probably the whole afternoon. However, they called and told me that those people now have canceled and they have it open again...so the saga of the location and date continues....It is very stressful for me to talk about it so I'll just leave it at that....Anyways...enjoy the photos--- isn't it beautiful!?

Slacking with good reason...

Life has been crazy since last Saturday! School is going great! I love my kids and my teacher! I look forward to going to school every day. I have been trying to do wedding plans but nothing has been set in stone yet...still just lots of ideas. However, 7f is available on July 25th so that is what we are looking at. Anyways....my birthday was great. I kept forgetting it was my birthday. I have so much else on my mind : ) I still haven't stopped smiling. For my birthday morning mom got me a cinnabon and put two candles in it for 22. She sang to me before school and I had a very sugary breakfast. Dad got me a big balloon that said HAPPY BIRTHDAY so I took a picture in front of it before heading off to a wonderful dinner. This is such a great start to my new year! I am so excited! Last night I created our wedding website:

http://www.mywedding.com/laurenandjustin.com

so go check it out! Granted it is still in the works...majorly...I am just adding a little a time when I have time! Life is good!

We're Engaged!

Lauren Hardy will soon become Lauren Hardy Knight!!! : ) I am so happy!! YEAH!!!!

My 1st Day

Whoa- what a day! This morning I woke up and showered before going to pick up Brenna so we could ride together to the district office. We got there 30 minutes early and sat together patiently awaiting our meeting. We had our meeting and got our ID's. I am so excited about this, I could hardly wait through our meeting to get our name tags- I'm so official now! After our meeting where we went through our handbook and just got acquainted with each other we headed home and stopped at Wendy's : ) I went home ate lunch real quick and headed to Greentree. When I arrived 3rd grade team was planning so I went and sat in on the meeting and after we had gone over a bunch of scores we were done and ready to get busy in the classroom. This whole first week I am supposed to be observing but my teacher must trust me already because she sent me home with Spelling Tests to grade along with a test over The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Also a math book to look over before I do it on Thursday and a book which lets them learn their word wall which I am doing TOMORROW!!!

I am so excited! Today was great. Mrs. Parker and I seem to really get along and I like her a lot. I am looking forward to this semester and what is to come. Something I am super excited about is our field trip. I have been begging Justin to take me to the zoo for 2 years now and still have yet to go...well...on March 24th I will be going to the zoo with all the 3rd graders!

I guess I'll go and start grading and getting my word wall words ready for tomorrow...

P.S.- This is how the kids choose their lunches- I already told her I was going to print out some aggie things to cover up her longhorn gear...

Project of Today

**Update**
This is how my board looks as I go to bed...and this is what an amazing artist Elissa is (She painted while I wrote verses)So I start school tomorrow and I am super nervous. Tomorrow I have to go to the district office for a meeting then actually start school Tuesday. I am excited nervous. I just want things to go smoothly and with Mrs. Parker's recent lost I am nervous.

So...when I get nervous I turned to the Lord. My cousin, Elissa's friend from Camp Ozark died on Halloween in a car accident and I have looked at a lot of pictures they had up of her on Facebook and how she lived for Christ and something she did really caught my attention so I have decided that during this stressful time (starting a new school- being the teacher- being apart from Justin- Justin starting training in Corpus- Dad still looking for a job- living at home) this would be something that could calm me and keep me thankful and worshipful every time I enter my room. The following is a picture of Caroline's (the girl who died) bulletin board which I am modeling mine after. It is a bulletin board completely full of bible verses in colorful sticky notes and note cards and a few pictures. I'll add a picture of mine once I am finished with it.

P.S.- something else I found amazing and so sad at the same time this is the letter she left them (she was leaving to go home and left this note for them)

Every day God gives us is a gift- we should be so thankful every day!!!

2008 in Review

Project 365 has been so much fun and I cant believe that is over. i love being able to look at any day over the past year and tell you exactly what I did and what happened. It is so awesome to me! I love it!! I have decided to continue with this and make it Project 365: Part II 2009. This year is a year of change and am looking forward to documenting it. However, instead of what I do each day this year is going to be "God's Gift." I am going to try to look for my gifts each day and capture them. Not a good frame, but a great frame! I am excited to get started!! So to start this year, I decided I would choose one photo from each month, my favorite or the most momentous thing that happened that month- so here it goes... (Some months have more than one exciting thing- but I only chose one photo per month)

JanuaryI turned 21 and got to spend my birthday not only with my baby but all of my best friends!!

February
It was the best of times: Kaylee was born
It was the worst of times: Grandpa went home to be with Jesus

MarchBaby Pip was born

AprilRagan's Baby Shower- Little Avery was on her way

MayWent to Disney World for Jordan's 21st
Colleen got married

JuneWent to Dallas to visit Justin with Carla & Kason
JJ got married
Stat Summer School
Pip got trained and spent all his time with me...or was it I spent all my time with him?

JulyWent to Florida with the parentals
Cole turned 1
Ella turned 1
Avery was born
Mom's turned 56

AugustWent to Dallas
Went to Virginia
Started Fall Semester
Justin started looking for a job in College Station

SeptemberHurricane Ike
Passed out at the tire store
Heart Monitor
Aggie Ring Day

OctoberTilt Table Test
Justin moved to College Station
Nala & Rajah were born
Got Food Poisoning from Sonic
Halloween

NovemberElection 2008- Obama elected President- a sad day for Republicans
Pip got fixed
Brad & Avery Baptized
Thanksgiving
Family Pictures
Decorating the Christmas Tree

DecemberFinished school
Last Meal with the girls as roommates
Saw Kason perform with RV's
My first snow
Moved Home
Went to the 3rd grade Christmas party @ GreenTree
Kason & Carla got engaged
A wonderful Christmas
Ice Skating & Bowling
New Years @ the Lake

Wow- This year has been full of many many memories and I cant wait to see what this upcoming year has in store for me!!!

Yesterday is the past- Tomorrow is the future- but TODAY IS A PRESENT!

2009

Happy New Year!! For New Years, Dad and I went up to College Station to get the last of the things out of the girls garage. Once we got there we went and ate at Cheddars then loaded up the car. He headed home and before long Justin arrived in College Station and we headed to the lake to celebrate New Years with his family! We got there and ate continuously until we started the movie, Hancock. It was actually pretty good. After the movie went off we ate some more, sat around, went out on the deck and cuddled and before we knew it....it was 11:55! We went out on the patio and watched the neighbors put off their fireworks. I got my kiss at midnight. I was happy and am happy to begin a year that by the end of it Justin and I will be together and no longer have to leave each other...I can hardly wait. I forgot my camera at home and so we used Justin's camera. He is going to email the pictures so I'll add them once I get them!!

Happy New Year 2009!!

Rainy Lake Days

Saturday we headed to the lake. We sat around and enjoyed each others company for the night.

Justin and Mr. Knight started a fire in the fireplace- and it actually started after much poking and prodding and blowing on it and Justins expert "fire-starting" techniques.Kason and Mr. Knight took each others blood pressure while the girls sat around together!Sunday was supposed to be golf day but...the weather decided to change the plans. Instead we spent the day bowling!! It was so much fun! Granted, I am not the best and didnt even know how to hold the ball right...but it was still fun. My camera died so I was only able to get this one picture of the score board before we started....notice my name: WHO! (Once again, everyone thinks I look like a Who so therefore my new name is "Who")

Ice Skating!!!

Friday, the day after Christmas, Elissa, Sam (her boyfriend), Justin and I got up and headed to the Galleria to eat and go ICE SKATING!!

This was us in the car

We ate lunch at The Cheesecake Factory which was as usual - AMAZING!! After we ate, we searched for somewhere to get some links taken out of my watch so it would fit and I could wear it. No where wanted to take the time to take them out since it was the day after Christmas but after Zales lied to us- Justin had a few words with the people and the manager took out my links for me. : ) We then met up with Sam & Lissa and started ice skating! It was a great memory and I enjoyed Justin having to hold my hand : )

Merry Christmas 2008!!!

Christmas morning was here and gone before I knew it. I was alone at the top of the steps besides my best friend, Pip. He was dressed to the nines in his reindeer outfit. We came downstairs together and opened my presents. It was rather lonely without Jessica but I talked to her before I ever even got out of bed. We both woke up at the same time without even planning it. It must be the sisters within us!We began unwrapping presents and enjoyed being together. Dad put on the coffee and the cinnamon rolls and got me some OJ and we finished opening presents. My favorite present is as follows: Grandma gave me the last piece of my Great Grandma Hazel's jewelry. It is a beautiful pearl necklace with an H in a circle next to it. It is BEAUTIFUL. I am so thankful. She told me she knew she wanted me to have that piece. It is just so special to me. One of my presents I opened Pip thought he needed to help. He really tore the paper off for me. It was cute.And of course I had to get a few children's books : )
After we unwrapped presents, we got everything ready to head to the Parkers for lunch. We got over there around 1 and started chowing down! After lunch, Grandma did her devotional with all of us. She has a book called "Then Sings My Soul" which gives a hymn and the story behind the hymn. So she chose 5 Christmas hymns and we learned the story behind each one. I am so lucky to have such a great Grandma. As a young child I would always want to go and play with my Christmas toys and not want to sit through the Christmas devotional (normally led by Grandpa) but as I have aged I look forward to the time I am able to hopefully gain an ounce of their wisdom to pass on to my children one day. The scary part is I already can see my dad doing the devotionals that will last for hours after Christmas/Thanksgiving lunch...After lunch and the devotional we all sat around for a little while then headed home. As we pulled into the driveway, Mom and I both saw him. The beautiful red cardinal. Absouletly AMAZING. God always gives us the gift of seeing a cardinal on special days when we are away from our loved ones-whether they be in a different state, different county or in heaven, the Lord is good to provide and show us, I AM HERE! He is the reason for the season and blesses me daily. Praise be to him for the red cardinal on Christmas day!
I played with my IPOD and set up everything and before long Justin arrived. I was so happy to be able to spend Christmas with him. I am blessed that we were close enough to be able to do this. It was such a great feeling to have Christmas day and have my favorite person with me. Thank you Justin for coming to see me and my family. I love you more than words.We exchanged presents once he got here. He seemed to love his wallet and gift cards and we switched out his wallet for him. We gave each other a price limit. I went over by like fifteen dollars...however, Justin had to be Justin and went over quite a bit more than that! He got me a BEAUTIFUL two-toned, diamond circled Seiko watch!!! Its lovely and so nice and I am so thankful for the "time" he gives me and we have together! He is the best and my best friend and the most wonderful man ever!! Love love him!