Surprise!

Alex & I are getting married on April 23rd  & moving to Florida that week.

Everything happened so fast so we wanted to kind of update everyone!

We aren't having a wedding. We're just going to have a small BBQ with immediate family. We will be having a big reception later on with everyone invited! With flight school & moving so soon with such short notice we just don't have the time for a big wedding right now. We hope everyone understands!

We will keep everyone updated here with pictures and stuff from our move & married life in Florida. The next couple of months are going to be extremely busy!

Cruise To The Bahamas

I Found The Answer To Your Prayers

This song describes everything perfectly. 

But Mommy already knows that. 

I remember a few years ago her telling me that she was praying for me-and had been-for me to find my "knight in shining armor". 

I finally found him.

Every one that knows Alex & I as a couple knew from very early in our relationship that we were perfect for each other. 

Over four years later, he still treats me like a princess. 

He always takes care of me, helps me put my coat on, opens doors for me, never loses his patience with me-especially when I have panic attacks...he always comes to my rescue to make sure I'm all better, is just as obsessed with Christmas and the other holidays JUST as much as we do!,  we never argue-so I'm sorry to Sierra when she asks for some..gossip? Idk the word for it! haha! & he constantly reminds me how much he loves & cares about me. I could go on & on :P.

He is always amazing to me! Always.

So you know you never have to worry about me because he's always taking care of me.

And he is good, so good
He treats your little girl like a real man should
He is good, so good, he makes promises he keeps
No he's never gonna leave
So don't you worry about me

Love you, Mommy!

We're Engaged!

Once Upon A Time

He grew up in a huge, beach city in Florida & I grew up in small, southern town in North Carolina. 

He moved up to North Carolina not too long before we met...maybe a year or two? At this point I was still in the same town going to college- Alex had become a lifeguard, EMT, Volunteer Fireman, & a ton of other stuff that made me feel like I haven't been doing enough in my life! 

In the beginning of October 2011, we met online. So talking was the basis of our relationship. We asked each other a ton of questions. I remember thinking...This guy sounds perfect!

This picture is our first picture together. It was taken on our second date at a haunted amusement park  (Scarowinds)

We live 1 + 1/5 hours apart. So our first date was about a week after we began talking. We played three or four bowling games & then we decided to go to Applebees to get dessert so we could eat & talk. Neither one of us was actually hungry, we just wanted to talk more. Our desserts ended up melting all over the plates because we were so busy talking and not eating. We talked for 2-3 hours. I remember thinking that he seemed just as perfect as he did while we were texting each other. He was so sweet & there was never an "awkward silence" between the two of us. 

It was the perfect time of year for us to meet. It was the beginning of the holidays so we did tons of holiday type stuff. Like ice skating, carving pumpkins, haunted amusement park, decorating, etc. It didn't take me long to fall in love with him. I think we had been dating three weeks when I told my mom that I was going to marry this guy.

They say "you know when you know" - which was so true for both of us. 

He's so smart, cute, funny, & is obsessed with holidays & Disney stuff just like me.

He's the perfect gentleman-he takes great care of me, looks after me, protects me, makes me laugh, & always makes sure that I'm happy. Basically, he treats me like a princess.  He couldn't be more perfect if he tried!

Thank goodness back in October 2011-both of us did something that we normally would never do. & that is how we met.

PS....all of these pictures were taken within our first 2 months of dating. 

Orlando, Florida - Disney World + Friend's Wedding

I haven't updated all summer long because it has been busy! One of the reasons...we flew down to Orlando for a friend of mine's Disney wedding! It feels like Alex & I have been traveling all over this year. Plus side is I have mastered dragging my carry-on throughout the airport. Normally it would flip & flop all over the place.

When we landed in Florida, we went to pick up our rental car. It was late & we were tired & still had a 1 1/2 hour drive to the hotel from the airport. We were surprised when the car company upgraded us to a Camaro. *thumbs up*

The next day we had completely free because the wedding wasn't until Friday. So we decided to spend the day at EPCOT. I was able to meet Winnie The Pooh & Tigger! And Belle! I was super excited. Way more excited than a normal 25 year old should be to meet them :P.

It being at the end of June...in Florida...it was extremely HOT. 104 degrees hot. I couldn't take my sunglasses off because the second I did, sweat that was trapped under my sunglasses would pour down my face. Sounds miserable, but we had such a great time! And that night we met up with the bride to be & some of her family to spend Extra Magic Hours in EPCOT. Best thing ever. No lines...no hot sun...Perfect!

Starting the day off at EPCOT we were able to use (for the first time ever) Magic Bands. We felt like the super heroes on Captain Planet-but instead of rings...it was wristbands. :D

It's Tinkerbell!!!!!!

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

We stayed at the same hotel that we did when we visited back in the fall of 2013 because we love the place so much!

Washington D.C.

We rarely go "out". For the first time in around 2 years we went to the movie theater a couple of months ago...(for Fifty Shades of Grey...duh.) We try to save our money to go on a trip at least twice a year. Once in the Spring & then again in the Fall/Winter. 

This year we decided to go to Washington D.C. in the Spring. But our first day there, you wouldn't have known it was Spring. It was 50 degrees & windy-which just made it that much colder. The next day was better.

We saw everything we wanted to see-with the exception of Ford's Theater-& that is only because we forgot to get tickets until that morning & they were sold out.

We were only there two days & one night. In order to see everything we wanted to see we walked around 23 miles in two days. Needless to say-we are still recovering. 

We were able to visit :: 

The Capital

The White House

WWII Memorial

Reflecting Pool / Lincoln Memorial

Arlington Cemetery

Changing of The Guards at The Tomb of The Unknown Soldier

JFK's Gravesite

National Monument 

Smithsonian Museum of Natural History

Smithsonian Museum of American History (My faaavorite)

Smithsonian Air & Space 

Jefferson Memorial

Roosevelt Memorial Park (which we didn't even know was there...just happened to stumble upon it)

Korean War Memorial

If  you're going to visit there...& you want to see a ton of stuff but you're only there for a short amount of time...Just time it out. Figuring out exactly how long it would take us to walk from place to place really helped us keep track of our time. We turned out ahead of schedule on both days. 

Here are just of the few pictures we took...

Snow Day

I've lived in NC for my whole life. Alex, on the other-hand, only for a few years. So I guess I shouldn't have been surprised when he told me that he had never built a snowman. So obviously, I had to show them how it was done.

We had the best time playing in the snow! We built snowmen, built a snow monster, snowball fights, snow angels, & I tackled Alex to the ground. It was such a perfect morning! I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

Snowed In

We were almost halfway through February & had 0 snow. I figured, well, by this point...we aren't going to get any because it will soon be Spring.

I was wrong.

Alex lives 1 & 1/2 hours north of where I live-so they usually get a bit more snow than I do. 

I happened to be here when it decided to snow. 

Unfortunately, firefighters don't get days off because of the weather. So while he was working his 24 hour shift I was just relaxing in bed looking out the window watching the snow fall. Wishing that Alex was here so we could go out in the snow. 

I was desperate for Alex to come back home I sent him this-

Being here without him only led to me eating tons of the chocolates that he got me for Valentine's Day. I mean...they were there...and I'm going to eat them all eventually. So why not eat them all at once?? Dove chocolates are da bessssst. Plus they have little happy/positive sayings underneath each chocolate. 

I also got some snuggles with a dog wearing a sweater. Her name is Zoey.

Since my texts begging Alex to come home didn't work (couldn't people just put off getting sick or setting things on fire for just one day?) I decided to relax.

I snuggled up under the blankets...with food, laptop, Gone Girl book, & The Hunger Games on tv.

It was so pretty falling, but the ice leftover is not so good. Although it is extending my time here by a few days because of the roads being ice covered. 

Valentine's & 50 Shades

Alex is not really a Valentine's Day kind of guy. It's not that he isn't romantic, he really is-he just doesn't think it should all be narrowed to one day out of the year. So this year when we got together on Valentine's Day I wasn't expecting anything. I knew I wanted to go to the movies & we planned to go later in the week to see 50 Shades of Grey.

I get to his house & he calls me in to his room & that is when I see this...

Best boyfriend or what?! I'm so lucky to have him forever. He is unbelievably good to me. He knows me oh so well. Balloons, chocolates, candy, cat things, stuffed animals, cupcakes, 2 cards, & a dozen roses. I love him so much!

& yesterday he took me to see 50 Shades of Grey. I was so happy with how the movie turned out. You always worry when they take a book & make it in to a movie. Of course the movie cannot be as good as the book-the books are hundreds of pages long. You can only cram so much in to two hours. But I think they did such a great job and getting all of the important things of the movie. Alex, of course, had no idea what to expect. He claims he went in with no expectations & the second the movie was over I looked at him and said "Well. What did you think?" He was literally left speechless. He loved the helicopter-Charlie Tango-& was quick to point out to me that the helicopter should've had its name code thingy (that's not the technical term he used) on both sides of it & it didn't. And then he went on about the airplane & gliders. He's obsessed. As for the rest of the movie, he said it was good. He says he can tell there is much more to everything than this first movie has shown. Which is so true. I can't tell him, obviously, everything that happens...but the second one only gets better! People always make a big deal about the book/movie. But they are people that have probably never read/seen all of the book/movie. Because they actually have good plots to them. 

Anyways....I love my may-un. <3

New York City : Part I

It all started when I was a little girl & watching Home Alone 2 : Lost In New York. When I watched the movie (several times every year...duh) I knew I wanted to someday go to NYC at Christmastime. 

When you think about it...a lot of Christmas movies take place in NYC. Home Alone 2, Elf, Miracle On 34th Street, tons of Hallmark movies, etc.... It's just a very Christmas-y city. 

ANYWAY. I knew ever since I was little that I would go to NYC at Christmastime. I just didn't know when. And to be honest, I didn't know we were going to NYC until a few weeks before we left. 

It started when Taylor Swift's album 1989 came out. Of course, I got it on itunes right away. The first song on the album is called "Welcome To New York". I got about halfway through the song & I had to pause it. I called up Alex & basically the conversation was like this:: "Hey...wanna go to New York City in December?" Alex : "This December?" Me: "Ha, yeah!".....and that was when we began planning. It was mid to late October at the time. 

We were leaving the week after Thanksgiving. I couldn't believe how fast it got here. Before I knew it we were up at 4 in the morning getting ready to head to RDU Airport for our flight to JFK. Traffic getting to the RDU airport took longer than we thought it would (thanks to traffic) & it took forever to find a place to park in the parking garage. 

We were thinking we would have time to relax at the airport...grab some starbucks & watch a movie on the ipad. Well, we had time to get a little something to eat, but that was about it. 

Here we are on the flight to NYC. 

Alex has always been obsessed with flying. He made friends with the pilot once we landed & the pilot let us go in the cockpit. 

I have never been to NYC before. Alex has been a couple of times, but the last time he was there was when he was around 12 or 13 years old. We could see the city from the plane & both of us were so excited! Once we landed, Alex had got us a private car & driver...so we were driven in to the city. Taking in everything around was kinda crazy. It seemed unreal to actually be in NY. Of course...once we left the airport...it looked like we were in the "hood" of NYC. But the closer we got the better we could see the buildings & before we knew it we were at our hotel. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express...a couple of blocks down from Times Square.

Happy 4th of July!

To start off my fourth of July...while I was getting ready for the day I managed to get a second degree burn on my leg from my curling iron. It hurt (and still does) but at least my hair looked good. 

Alex & I spent the fourth with his family. We started off the day by spending hours in TMobile so Alex could switch carriers. He also upgraded to an iPhone 5s. He has got me obsessed with everything Apple. I even got the iPhone 5s before him. Hopefully now that he has his he can show me more stuff about my phone...because he is much smarter than I am & will figure things out much quicker! 

Here we are in TMobile.  

Biltmore House - Asheville, North Carolina

I have always wanted to go to the Biltmore House (especially at Christmastime...which we definitely plan on going back for). We drove the 3 hour drive from Alex's house to Asheville, NC. We went straight to the Biltmore House. It was so big & beauty-ful. We got to tour the house...which took a long time because this house is the largest house in America. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures inside the house, but we got plenty of shots outside the house.

On the inside they had all of the old furniture. As Alex said, it was like stepping back in time. It even smelled "old" haha. I don't think either of us had climbed so many stairs. There was a huge spiral staircase...so big that there were seats & couches on the different levels of the staircase so you could sit to take a break. That house had everything from a million bedrooms...to fireplaces in almost every room...a bowling alley...an indoor pool...& the list goes on & on.

It is hard to believe that that house was actually someone's home. It is so unbelievably huge...I think it would have been pretty creepy to live there...& what if you were there home alone? I would flip out. But they did have at least 5 bedrooms for their servants...so I guess they were never technically "alone".

Since I couldn't take any pictures inside the house, I found someone online so you can see how pretty the inside really is...

When you first walk in this is what you see...

Warm Weather...Finally

The weather was finally starting to feel like Spring...so Alex decided to clean all of the windows of his car (also known as Lindsey). While he did that I sat on the front porch eating a fudge popsicle & watched him clean. I also ran from bees & wasps.

After he finished with the windows, we went to the park a couple of minutes away. It was so nice to ride around with the windows open!!

We found a really cute gazebo at the park & decided to investigate it. That didn't last long because we ran because there were bees everywhere. Once we got a safe distance away we were able to take a picture of us with the gazebo. 

Alex is almost always working & on a third shift schedule (hopefully this will be ending soon)...so we are on opposite schedules but this day we were able to spend the whole day together going out & spending time together. It was sooo nice <3.

 

Later that night we colored Easter Eggs. By this time we were both tired from the "busy" day, but we had fun & sang "The Easter Bunny Is Comin' To Town"...the words we actually knew anyway.

Walt Disney World

My first trip to Disney World.

Alex's millionth trip to Disney World. (He use to work there)

He surprised me with tickets to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party!!

November 2013

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Alex, Karen, & Nannie's first trip to Myrtle Beach.

My millionth trip to Myrtle Beach.

September 2013

Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Our Bucket List