Going through pics

Bocktoberfest 2005
Little did I know that I would meet my future husband a few hours after this picture was taken.Mom's wedding cake-recreated by Gagee for their 25th Wedding Anniversary.Dad's recreated wedding cake. Back in the day he had Country Boys BBQ and sold insurance. Of course he no longer has Country Boys, but he still makes the BEST BBQ ever!The first time our parents met was at the anniversary party. The first Texas State football game we went to together. We went with Josh and Elizabeth Williams. This was in November or December 2005. I was wearing glasses because my eyes were terrible because I wouldn't take my contacts out. Jenn Pekar and I tailgating before a Texas State game. It was when we almost won our conference. I miss you JP! :(Our 2nd football game together. No more highlights for me....EVER AGAIN!My first birthday with Nick. Party at Mamacita's in San Marcos. Little did we know that all of the people to the right of Nick would be in our wedding one day down the road.

A Kindergartener's Perspective

I really do enjoy my class this year. I've got a bunch of cute kids that are on the ball. I lucked out to have a pretty good bunch while planning this entire wedding. Since we started school I mentioned to them that I was getting married. Now that the time is nearing, they are getting as excited as I am. They've seen a few of my bridal pictures and thought that I was a princess. One kid freaked out and thought I already got married. This Monday we officially started a countdown during our calendar time. They LOVE it! One little boy gets excited and claps everyday. Several have asked if they all get to come to the wedding. I just tell them maybe!

I've been out twice this year and they hate it, therefore I've warned them that I will be out for 8 or 9 days for the wedding and honeymoon. One little boy REALLY doesn't want me to go and tells me about it everyday at recess. A few days ago they asked me what I was going to look like when I get back from getting married. I snickered a bit and asked them what they thought I was going to look like. One girl immediately said that I would have a baby in my tummy because you have to get married before you have a baby! I told her that she was right, but I wouldn't have one in my tummy until they were in second grade! That opened up a new can of worms. Then they asked if they could see the baby when it was born and that I need to name it something pretty if it's a girl.

Kids can be so cute and they don't even try. I really do love teaching when I have good kids and good parents to deal with. It's even better if you have good administrators. Can't believe I have all three in one year, usually you don't get so lucky.

AMEN! AMEN! AMEN!

Invitations are officially in the mail! I dropped a huge box of them off during my conference today. It felt wonderful! I think I'll have a giant margarita tonight for getting them out. (Especially since I did the majority of them myself!) Nick actually did help make the invitations when he had time, but I did all the hard parts. We ended up sending out nearly 700 invitations. We still have a handful more to get addresses for and I'm sure there will be a few that we'll think of along the way.


Another AMEN for getting my PDAS observation over with today! Thank God I'm out of Hays CISD so I don't have to do their stupid 8 page observation 4 times a year. It's nice to work in a normal district again.

On a sad note, today marks the 10th anniversary of Papo's death. The time has flown by incredibly fast. I remember it all like it was yesterday. Oh how I wish he could have met Nick and been able to be at our wedding.

Engagement announcements in the newspaper

Yesterday our announcement came out in the Victoria Advocate.

Here is the link:
http://www.victoriaadvocate.com/831/story/195892.html

I rushed out and got the paper as soon as I woke up. I thought it ended up looking pretty good. The Wharton one was too dark and the Shiner one was too light, this one looked like it was supposed to.

Last night, at around 8:30pm, we decided that we should go buy a few extra papers to give to anyone who didn't get one and a few for ourselves. Little did we know that this would take 30 minutes to do. We went to the Conoco that's closest to the house. No Victoria Advocates. We stopped at the Donut Shop. We saw the rack and Nick went to get one. Sunday papers cost $1.25. Run across the street to Diamond Shamrock to get quarters. They only had 5 quarters so they wouldn't give them to us. Went to the next place, next to the donut shop. The girl gave us some quarters there. Nick was approached by a homeless, "crippled" man while I was getting the quarters. He's always on the streets drinking, so I don't feel sorry for him. I was scared and jetted to the truck as he was walking back into the car. I think the girl in the store was a little scared too. She was pretending to talk on the phone. I made Nick wait a little while until he left so I knew she was ok. So, back to the Donut Shop. They only had one paper. I hate to admit this, but we were planning on stealing a couple extra newspapers since the night was almost over. We figured no one else would be buying them anymore. On to a few more gas stations. Best Stop first to get more quarters. She too, was short on them. We passed on getting the Advocate there since she could see us steal them. Ugh...I'm starting to feel bad about this. Someone tell me it was ok! We went to the racks by the Chinese restaurant, they were sold out too. Onward to HEB, sold out. On to Svatek's, don't carry them. The lady recommended Diamond S. So on to Diamond S we go. Finally, a rack that wasn't sold out. Nick couldn't get the money to stay in the machine. He tried several times and it finally opened. There was a stack of papers in the machine. Right as he opens it, a truck driver comes up to him and asks where Alabama Road was. Nick is holding the door of the rack open and giving the guy directions. The guy finally goes in and Nick takes 3 papers. I wasn't going to do the stealing, but I guess if he goes to jail, I'll go with him! We only ended up stealing two, buy one get one free.

Throughout this whole blog I felt bad and couldn't believe I would tell everyone what we did, but I just justified our thievery and don't feel bad anymore. We spent $92 on an ad that was about 3 inches big and they didn't send us a paper for it!

Valentine's Day 2008

Beware this is going to be a long post.
Coaches' wives have nothing on Ag teacher's fiances. Nick is ALWAYS busy! For the past month or more I have known that Nick was not going to be here on Valentine's Day. He had to go to the San Antonio Rodeo for the pig show. When I found out about it, I was fine. I didn't throw a tantrum because it's his job. I definitely wasn't ecstatic about him not being with me, but I was good. I decided to go to Richmond by myself and watch Definitely Maybe and take myself out to eat to Chik-fil-a...drive-thru of course because I don't eat by myself!
He woke up at about 6am so he could leave for SA by 6:30am. I woke up with him and gave him his Valentine's card. We walked out and he left. It was really sad, especially because I didn't get a card from him. I figured that there would be something waiting for me in my car so I got dressed really quickly for school. Got into my car and NOTHING! I was a little bummed, but I knew that I would be getting flowers or something at school. The day ended and NOTHING!

I have duty on Thursdays til 3:30. I got back to my classroom and had 4 missed calls by Jake and he was calling again. I answered and THIS is what took place. He said that he wasn't going to come in this weekend, but decided to surprise his parents on Valentine's Day. I thought that this was very strange and plain out dumb, especially since he could be going to College Station to surprise Sarah Beth, his GIRLFRIEND! He was going to ride in with a friend from Houston and I needed to pick him up at Wal-Mart around 5:00. This is where the EXTREMELY AGGRAVATED Jenny comes out. I called Sarah Beth and asked her why in the heck was he coming to Wharton? She got extremely ticked as well. She called him and then called me back. She was soooo mad...I told her that it would be over for me if my boyfriend didn't surprise me, but surprised his parents. Both of us were getting even more mad at him.

So, the movie was playing at 5 and 8. I was not going to the 8 by myself and then driving back late on a school night. I told him that I'd wait til 4:30 and if he wasn't there I was pulling out. Why couldn't his friend drive him an extra 2 miles? Do you have any friends in Wharton that could pick you up? Can't you call your other sister-in-law to pick you up? What if I tell your Mom to pick me something up at Wal-Mart at 5:00 and you can be waiting there? I asked him every question possible. Finally he said he would give me $20 and I agreed! haha!

In the meantime, I go to Wal-Mart and fill up my car. I'm sitting in the parking lot at 4:30 because earlier Jake said he would be there about 4:45. I tried calling Nick several times because I was SO MAD. I left him a couple of voicemails telling him how Jake really ticked me off and is ruining my plans. I was in the middle of text messaging Nick this...I'm fuming and I'm about to cry....CALL ME! Then Nick called. I went to crying and complaining. Then he has the nerve to tell me that he told Jake that I probably wouldn't mind picking him up. Obviously, I get mad at Nick. He said that he figured I wasn't leaving right after school to go to Richmond. He knows that I always leave immediately after school so that I can do some shopping before and after. He kept apologizing to me that he offered me to pick Jake up. I finally figured the time that he would be arriving would be at 5:30 or later and this infuriated me even more. I was telling Nick how Sarah Beth was so mad at Jake and that she should dump him if she has any sense. Then he had to hang up because the other ag teachers were calling him to come help with the pig. As I was waiting for him to call back, I decided that I wasn't going to go to the movie, that I would wait until Friday. He calls back and I'm in the middle of telling him that I'm not going to his school on Friday because they ruined my plans for Valentine's Day when I catch a glimpse of Nick's truck. He said, "Baby, look to your right." I was sooooo soooo mad at this point and then I was completely shocked. All I could say was, "You little shit!" I don't get surprised, EVER! Ok, so this is probably the only time other than our engagement. Let me just tell you, he really pulled it off this time. I thought that he just made it in from San Antonio but he never went. When the Ag teachers were calling him to help with the hog, he was trying to call SBG and tell her the lie so that she wouldn't be mad at Jake. His packed bags...fake. Leaving early...fake.

Nick ran into Wal-Mart to get champagne as I called Sarah Beth and yelled at her for lying to me! :) He was going to stop at HEB to get it, but he knew that he didn't have time spare because I was minutes away from jetting out of the parking lot. When I first called SBG, she really thought Jake was headed home. She called him and he immediately told her about their sneaky little lies, so she got in on it too!

His idea was very well-planned out! We got in his truck and headed for their farm in Louise. We sat under the tree where we got engaged and the evening was absolutely perfect. We drank our champagne and talked about all of our good times. He went into the truck and brought me a card. It took my breath away...he wrote me an AWESOME poem in it that was a real tear-jerker. I really want to post it, but he might kill me if I did. We sat there for a little while longer and he went to get me a present from the truck. It was a point and shoot camera! WOW! It's actually a gift for both of us, but a very good idea by him. He wanted the small one for the honeymoon so we wouldn't have to lug the big one around everywhere and one that he could use to take before and after pictures of his tractors. After we finished the bottle we went to eat at Casa Hernandez.

The evening was absolutely amazing! He always finds a way to take my breath away. HE HATH REDEEMED HIMSELF!

Sidenote-At their farm, we were sitting on the log that we carved our initials and date into when we got engaged. We were facing US 59 because a cow had just had a calf behind us. As we were in deep conversation, I looked behind us and the cow was munching on the afterbirth. Doesn't get any more country than that!

Valentine's Day 2007

Nick was in college and I was teaching kindergarten in Kyle. He unfortunately had a big test the day after Valentine's Day. I told him that he didn't have to worry about Valentine's Day, I would take care of everything. Apparently, that is the WRONG thing to say to any male. Since I love to cook and he loves to eat, it wouldn't be hard to satisfy him. I made a huge heart-shaped ribeye and sides along with our favorite champagne. He had class until 6ish so I did all of this at his apartment. When he arrived, there were rose petals and candles all over the apartment, a candle-lit dinner waiting for him, chocolate dipped strawberries, and several other romantic things I won't mention. Everything was beautiful! He was shocked when he walked in. We sat down to eat and I gave him his card. He gave me a sweet card and we started to eat. Of course, I was immediately upset, but didn't want to show him that. It's not about the gift, to me it's about showing that person that you love them by doing something special for them. We sat around for a while and talked and then he started studying. That was it...that was our Valentine's Day. I went to lay in his bed while he studied, by this time he already had an earful. He went outside and came back in with a check for $300. WHAT?? What nerve he had to give me a check for $300! It had no meaning or thought behind it and I DID NOT want it. I tore it up and he proceeded to tell me it was to help me pay for new mattresses. He had just gotten new ones that I loved so much so he thought I should get myself some. Hummm....definitely NOT a very good Valentine's Day AT ALL!

The next day I went to school and boo-hooed to my teacher friends. I VERY RARELY cry in front of people, but it was terrible! They new everything that I did for him and told me that he really thought I really meant I would "take of everything." I got over it because I knew he didn't mean to cause me any pain. He felt terrible about his mess up and tried to redeem himself by sending me flowers the next day, which was our anniversary. It was a nice gesture, but didn't make up for the day before. So, today is the day that he gets to redeem himself for last years screw up
and guess what HE HASN'T redeemed himself YET and I don't really have high expectations that he will!

Valentine's Day 2006

Oh how wonderful our first Valentine's Day together was. Nick had everything planned to a T. He really had to do some research on his idea. I met him in San Marcos at his apartment. He was all dressed up so I figured we were going somewhere fancy. Not the case! We hopped in his truck and we went through the drive through at Fuschack's BBQ. (The old one where CVS is now.) Mind you, we had only been dating for 4 months...I knew he was country, but dang, bbq on Valentine's Day. I knew he had something up his sleeve so I gave him the benefit of the doubt. We got on I-35 South, headed for San Antonio, I knew exactly where we were going....Canyon Lake. We took the exit and Nick found his designation. It was some park on the water. We found us a table, ate our bbq, and then watched the sunset. It was GORGEOUS! He was so cute! He brought my favorite champagne and he even bought some glasses and plates since all he had was plastic. We exchanged gifts...I don't remember what they all were, but I do remember that he stole my James Avery charm bracelet and had a tractor charm put on it. I need to find the pictures and upload them.

It was an amazing Valentine's Day. He really went to a lot of trouble finding out where to go and making sure we made it at the perfect time. He was really nervous about missing the sunset, but we had plenty of time. It will be a time that I will never forget.

Stay tuned for Valentine's Day 2007...not such a great memory!