Out of town

Shawn left this morning for a meeting out of town. He won't be back until late Friday night. I am going to miss him so much. We haven't been apart for that long in probably a year. I have big plans though. Not really, just a lot of packing. I hope to have a lot done by the time he gets back. We found a rent house and we will move in a couple of weeks. I look forward to having it all done.

Wreck

On Friday, Shawn was in a car wreck. He was driving down the road and this girl pulled out in front of him. Fortunately he just clipped her, otherwise it would have been much worse. The front left tire took the brunt of the wreck so, luckily there wasn't much body damage. Her car was in pretty bad shape though, the front was crushed in. I am so thankful that everyone was ok and God was watching over them. My greatest fear is losing Shawn. When Shawn called me early Friday morning and said he was in a wreck, I was thinking he was able to call me so he must be ok.

Brick

Do y'all like the exterior of this house?

We are thinking about using this brick and stone on our house.

Lot Clearing

Last week they cleared our lot. I think it looks great. I am so excited about having all that space and trees. Many people have asked why in the world are you moving. Well, it wasn't something that we set out to do. After we got married, we started talking about how when we had kids we wanted a couple acres so that our kids would have a great back yard to play in and plenty of space.

A few months ago we were driving around just looking at the different neighborhoods that had lots that were at least an acre. We came across one that was for sale by owner. We inquired about it and it turned out the owners were ready to sell it quickly and gave us a great deal. At that point we decided that we would go ahead and buy it and then wait a couple of years before we built a house on it. After thinking about it some more we decided that maybe we should go ahead and build. We couldn't wait to live there and we decided it would be a lot easier to build a house now than if we were to have already had a baby and were really busy.

Shawn recording the lot corners on his GPS

We are about to be homeless

We decided to go ahead and list our house, so that it would be sold before we moved into our new house. I had no clue it would sell so fast. Last Monday, we listed it with a realtor and on Saturday we received a contract on it. We accepted the offer and now we will be homeless on September 26th! We are looking for a rent house to live in until our house is ready probably late next spring. So we are going to be very busy this month moving, but we are very thankful to have sold our house so easily.

Happy Birthday Shawn

Today is Shawn's 33rd birthday and now for the next 6 months he will be 9 years older than me! We went to Shawn's parents this weekend to celebrate Shawn and his dad's birthday which is Monday. Happy Birthday Mr. Locke!! We had a great time. I attempted to make my first decorated cake. I think it turned out ok for my first try. You can read it, so that is good. I thought it would be a complete disaster.

I got Shawn a gift card to Cabellas for his birthday, so that he could get some warm hunting clothes for his Colorado mule deer hunt. Cabellas is a really neat hunting and fishing store that has all of these exhibits of animals from all over the world.

Shawn thought this mountain lion and elk cow was really neat.

Shawn in his new hunting clothes

Happy Birthday Shawn!!! I love you so much and I hope you had a wonderful birthday.

Fishing at the Ranch

We had a great time this weekend with Shawn's family. On Saturday, we went to the ranch to go fishing and swimming. Here are some pictures from the fishing.

Shawn's Graduation

On Friday, Shawn graduated from Texas A&M with his doctorate in Wildlife & Fisheries. That morning he got his Aggie ring.

I am so proud of him and his accomplishments. It was a long road and not a very easy one, but he was determined and succeeded.

Shawn & his sister, Shannon

Shawn & his parents

Shawn & his niece Courtney

After his graduation, we went to the ranch for dinner and to celebrate.

2 years ago

Two years ago today, I met Shawn for the first time. I don't think very many people know this story but I think it is kind of neat.

Two years ago, one Saturday night Lindsey and I went to see the movie Must Love Dogs. It is about a woman who is looking for a man and tries to meet guys on the internet. After watching that movie, Lindsey started to try to talk me into going online and trying to meet someone. I was very hesitant at first, but she is very persuasive. Living in a college town, it is very hard to meet someone who isn't in college, so I thought it was worth a shot.

The next day, she and I got on match.com and signed me up for the free trial. I decided that if I was ever going to meet someone I was going to have to go out of my comfort zone and try. We had a list of things the guy must meet. He had to be a Christian and attend church regularly, be conservative, want to have a family, have a job, and a few other things I can't remember anymore.

On Monday, the next day, Shawn sent me an email. He met all of our requirements and he was getting his Ph.D. in wildlife. I thought he sounded great and perfect for our family so I replied back. We emailed back and forth that day getting to know each other better. That night he called me and we talked. He seemed like a very nice guy and not a serial killer or anything like that.

So, the next day (two years ago today) we decided to meet for dinner at Johnny Carinos. I wouldn't say it was love at first sight or anything like that, but we had a nice time and decided to keep seeing each other. Well seven months later we were engaged and three months after that we were married. I never thought I would be one of those people that got married so quickly, but Shawn made me the happiest I have ever been and from early on we just knew it was right.

So to recap, in a matter of about two days on match.com I met the man I was to marry. It's funny I never thought it was possible that people could meet their future spouse online, but every time I tell someone about how Shawn and I met they say, I just heard of another couple that met that way.

I am so thankful that God blessed me with Shawn two years ago today. I met Shawn at a time in my life where I didn't think I would ever get married. I felt I would never meet someone in this town and that I was going to be alone the rest of my life. I thank God everyday for bringing him into my life.