The Proposal - Each of our stories. :)

Steve's Perspective
Coming up to the proposal weekend, Taylor had a sore throat all week and wasn't sure if it was something bad or not.  Throughout the week, I (Steve) was hoping she would get better, because I knew I wanted to propose to her on Saturday with a picnic and a hike.  Finally... on Friday, when I went to go pick Taylor up from her house after work, she said she was feeling back to normal, which I couldn't have been more excited about.  So, then Saturday roles around and we have a wonderful breakfast of Belgian Waffles with whipped cream and syrup, I had strawberries and Taylor had some cherries (she loves cherries).

After breakfast, we worked in the yard.  Taylor worked in the garden and I did some more general maintenance: mowing, spraying weeds, edging and stuff.  We also had a bed arrive at about noon for one of the guest bedrooms so people could stay in, and then we had a nice lighter lunch.  We ate and then went to Costco, I (Steve) love Costco.  I really wanted to get a bouquet of flowers for the kitchen table, however they didn't have anything that was that great, everything was geared towards for the Memorial Day weekend, and I wanted to get something special for us.  Prior to leaving for Costco, I put the ring in my pocket, I had stored in the nightstand next to my bed while Taylor was getting ready.  I knew I needed to be able to have the ring handy and didn't want to her to think anything of it if I tried to get it later, prior to going for our picnic.  After going to Costco, we just got a few random items.  I was really hoping that I could've gotten flowers for when we got back from our hike to have at home.

After our nap, we made got everything ready for our picnic, I really wanted to try and get Taylor excited about going and try to make it fun.  So we got everything packed and ready and made it on our way to a large park nearby with a large river that runs through it.  When we got there, and started walking, we realized that there was very few people on the trails that day, which is very unusual, and Taylor was thinking there might be an abundance of people there because of it being a long weekend.  This couldn't have been better for me because I didn't want there to be a lot of people around when I proposed to Taylor.  It was something that I wanted to be special for the both of us, and have it as just our time together.  We finally made it to the end of the trail and sat in a resting area at the end.  We were there a few minutes and I wanted to say something before asking, but then I finally decided to just pop the question, so I let Taylor know that I had a question for her, before getting down on one knee, pulled out the ring from my pocket and asked.  I couldn't have been more excited and emotional, to ask the woman I love to marry me.  It was a very special moment and happened at about 6:45 in the afternoon.  She said "Yes" and we both had tears of joy.  It is definitely one of the most exciting times and couldn't imagine being with anyone better.  After calling up our families and talking to everyone, when I called my family, they couldn't have been more excited and the phone got passed around to everyone.  When I asked Taylor, It was on our 11 monthiversary, at the same time that we would have finished our first date we had way back when too.


Taylor's Perspective :)
The day started off with Steve making Belgian waffles - Topped with syrup, whipped cream cherries, for me, strawberries for him.
Steve reminded me that it was our 11 month anniversary. I completely forgot.. haha.
 We sat outside eating our breakfast, and discussed the day. - Yardwork, first, then run some errands, then picnic/hike.
Steve had been waaay too excited about this hike/picnic for about a week. he was very pumped... sure we get excited but not that excited... :)
After breakfast we changed into our 'yard clothes' and worked outside, I mainly just weeded and did some stuff in the little garden.
at about noon there was a bed delivered for a guest room, so we called it quits after they arrived to deliver it. then we  ate a little lunch, freshened up a bit. then headed out to Costco to go get a few things. When we arrived back at the house, we both really wanted a nap, so we took a good nap, then we got up, and got our food all ready to go, then we headed out.
We went to River Legacy Park where we walked on the trail, there wasn't many people out on the trail at all, which was surprising since it was memorial weekend, the picnic areas were packed, but the trails were extremely quiet.While we were walking, we found a perfect spot to eat our dinner, but we did not stop... we continued on, and we said we'd finish up the trail, then come back to eat there. So we continued on for a few more minutes before we reached the end.when we reached the end, Steve asked if I wanted to to take a break for a minute, and sit down... theres concrete benches there -

We sat for a few minutes, drinking our water, and not saying a whole lot- Steve was beginning to get emotional.(so I knew that something was about to happen)... after a few seconds, he said to me as he began to fiddle with something in his pocket"I have one question for you." i said "oh you do? huh?" He then got on one knee, and asked me "Will you marry me?" I reapetedly said "Yes" and we both were extremely emotional (so thankful that there wasnt anyone around) after a few minutes of hugging, we regained some composure, and then he put the ring on my finger. it was so wonderful.


We then began to call our families - I was only able to talk to my dad, and my brother. We were able to talk to Steve's parents, older brother, and his fiancee, later that night we were able to talk to his little brother. It was truly amazing.
it was about 6:45pmwhen he proposed., now 11 months ago at this time we were wrapping up our first date... at that Starbucks that Sunday afternoon. ...  which was really neat to coincide with.
I could not have asked for anything better or more wonderful.

It was so nice to be able to have the long weekend to begin to soak up being 'engaged' truly wonderful.

The next several months will be fun and interesting. but we plan on enjoying this stage of life. And plan on enjoying this time together and as we plan our wedding together.

Saturday Surprise

This past weekend Steve surprised me (Taylor) with a lovely evening -

he came to pick me up at 4pm, we went to his house, he changed clothes, then we hopped back in the car...
All I knew was that I was to dress nice- like a summer dress.
I was good to go.

So we headed out. no idea where to...

But as we drove, We took the 'downtown' exit... so I knew we were doing something downtown... no idea what...
as we were driving downtown he told me "we're going to go to starbucks, and get something to drink, maybe eat a little bit. Then we're going to see a movie.. "Battleship" (in my head "oh great...")
So we parked, then we walked, then I tried to turn to stop at the starbucks near the theater, but he told me that we were going to keep going, so I asked.... are we going to the otherstarbucks."
he basically told me not to worry about it.
so I went along for the ride. - So we kept walking, until we were about to cross the street, he told me "there it is"- he was looking at the italian restaurant straight ahead--
He said "do you know what we're doing? "italian!?"
"yep."
So that was dinner.
During dinner, he told me the real plan.
- dinner, then ice cream, then comedy club.

We had a blast!
I really enjoyed it. :) was a really lovely evening :) nice to get out and do something different.

Fun filled family weekend ;)

The weekend started a little early on friday, we both got off work early to go to my (Taylor's) Uncle's Graduation from college.

The graduation was a very lovely ceremony it was quick (1hr!) but really nice. :)
Afterward we all headed to a mexican restaurant and finished celebrating Uncle C graduating. :)


Saturday we were worn out,  we did take a nap, we ran some errands, we worked out (P90x) and enjoyed a simple dinner.

Sunday after church we went to Granny's for a mother's day gathering. we ate, and visited and had a good time.

Cherry Pie

I (Taylor) have had a list going for about 2 years now "101 things to do in 1001 days."
Slowly I have been crossing things off the list.

One thing on the list was "make a homemade pie"
Well back in January (I think?) Steve and I attempted to make an apple pie, but did not succeed.
Then Steve surprised me with one a few weeks later. :)

So I wanted to do one all on my own.
Steve set it all up that we would do it this weekend - to have lobster ravioli, and a cherry pie. as a special dinner.

So we went to the store, got everything we needed, then that afternoon I got in the kitchen and began to make the pie. 
It was tough. wasnt hard - just have to be precise, more time consuming and i was tired afterward, it took awhile to really get it going.
but it was fun














Steve was in charge of the Lobster raviolis that evening, while I sat and took a break :)



It was a really yummy meal, felt like we should have been celebrating something....

Think we concluded that we were celebrating "one more thing knocked off the 101 list." :)

Special Olympics, Main Street Arts festival

Saturday morning began bright and early for us, we were at the UT Arlington Stadium for volunteering for Special Olympics by 8am.
The morning began slow... We were helping out the atheletes get from the stands to the starting line.

It really was a humbling experience to help out, and realize of how much we truly are blessed.  The people that we helped were some of the nicest people, and they were very competetive... they all were going to be in "first place" but they were so excited to be there, and to run, it really was nice. all of them were just so excited, and so happy.
Our "shift" was from 8am-12pm.
our races ended a little early (11am) and we ate lunch at the group tent - then we had a group picture, and we were headed back to Steves house at noon. :) we went to his house, took a little nap and got

About 4ish we headed back out, went to Fort Worth for the Main Street arts festival. We only spent about an hour or so out there, (lots of people, didnt see a whole lot that interested us) so we went back and made dinner. :)

Camping at Lake Mineral Wells

Steve had never been camping.

Taylor had been camping since she was 'knee high to a grasshopper' ---

Steve had been wanting to go camping, so we decided to go camping, it was a quick decision. we had about a week to prepare.

Taylor suggested a place just a bout an hour and a half away (just in case if something happened)

We watched the weather-- as the week was going on , they had anticipated rain during the week, but then kept pushing it back,  then the weather people said "it will be raining this weekend...."
we were very much hoping that it would either fizzle out and not reach us, or they could push it back for a few more days.

Nope.

We went anyways-- we loaded everything up in the car... tent,  sleeping bags, blankets, pillows (well we actually forgot pillows.) lantern, flashlight, chairs, food, icechest... cameras, everything we needed.
and headed out west about an hour and a half, and arrived at our destination, in time to set up our tent...


set it all up got it all ready, then pulled out our dinner (sandiwches) got everything out, began to make our sandwiches and then was getting dark... the bugs came out all of a sudden, (irritating) then we quickly ate dinner-- then we headed to the tent - had an early bedtime.

Didnt sleep much during the night, it was windy, and made the tent flap - and make noise... so would wake us both up, so we didnt get a good nights rest whatsoever.
Just before daylight, before the birds were even chirping, we were about ready to go ahead and get our day started....
right at daybreak, we had breakfast. (bagels, yogurt)
then we headed out for a hike.
we hiked for a few hours, it was about 10 am when we headed back to the campsite (ready for a nap)
kinda glad we had gone out so early, we had the trails to ourselves, so nice and peaceful.

We got back to the campsite, and ended up taking a 2 hour nap, since we didnt sleep well at all the night before.

We had lunch (sandwiches again, i know very original here.) -

Then we decided to head to town- we needed some things for dinner- so off we went to get ice and charcoal. We were going to make burgers for dinner. so we got our stuff, as we were out, i was keepign an eye on the weather on my phone...

high chance of storms during the night.

We went ahead and did some things that we wanted to do -
We went for a nice hike, then Steve wanted to go for a swim, so we went to the swimming area for about 30 mins or so. When we got back to the campsite we talked on what we would do - do we stay... Stick it out, and deal with it?... Do we stay and at last second pack up?... do we go ahead and pack up and get out of here?....
So we decided fot the time being we would go ahead and pack up things that we knew we wouldnt need, stick around for dinner, then during the night when it got bad, then we would take down the tent and would head home.

so we began to pack stuff in the car. then I (Taylor) got to thinnking of how miserable that would be--- the wind will be picking up, if we couldnt sleep last night because of the wind, we definitely wouldnt be able to sleep that night because of the high wind.
So I suggested that maybe we need to think about going on and heading home - (everyone else was packing up their tents....so that was a good indicator) I knew that we wouldnt get much sleep, then it would be raining, so would be just muddy and just difficult trying to take down the tent, get it in the car and everything while raining, possibly hailing, then driving home while storming, all the while we are exhausted. just knew it would be a complete disaster.
Steve agreed that would be best to do that... just go ahead, pack up and head home.

so we werent rushed - we packed everything up, and we headed out... we stopped on our way out at a church (sister church to mine.) and we took some pictures of some flowers and stuff out there, then we went on back to steve's house and we cooked dinner (bug free!)

Steve does want to go back out and go camping again, so we will definitely be doing it again, hopefully it wont get cut short from storms.

San Francisco for Easter

This past weekend we went to go see Steve's family for Easter out in California.
We got out there Thursday night, and didnt do a whole lot,
Friday Steve took me to go to Trader Joes, a store out there, that is coming to Texas... I wanted to see what it was all about. I walked in, and loved it, (especially the prices) and some good food too. :) I absolutely cannot wait until we have one here in Ft worth. :)

We then went with his parents, and went to the ferry - rode the ferry across the bay into San Francisco.

















 then we spent the day in san francisco, spent quite a bit of time in a building, like a market place then we had lunch with his brother and his Fiance

, then we went and hopped on a cable car and rode that for a bit,

jumped off, and then spent a few minutes down by the wharf, then we headed back we were running short on time since we had to be at the ferry by 4:15, we waited in the line for a cable car, but the line was long, and the cable cars were slow, we decided to "hike' back to the ferry.... then we took the ferry back and then went back to the house we rested/ napped, then we went to his brothers house and had dinner with him and his fiance. it was a fantastic time, we really enjoyed our time with them. then we headed out....
We were supposed to go see a movie with his parents and younger brother, but we left too late, and we would have been about 30 mins late... plus we both were tired, so we went back to the house and went to bed.
saturday morning we got up and went to go look at his high school, then we went to a coffee shop  "Peet's" was delish!

 then we walked a little bit of a trail, then went home real fast and we then all went to a skydiving simulater thing... they all did it...i was the photographer.. they all had a wonderful time, and I had a fantastic time watching taking pics and video. :)

(Jon, Kendra,Steve,Jeff)

Steve Flying

We then went back home and started getting ready and went to church (I really liked it)

then afterwards Steve and I stopped at the store and got a few things so we could make a carrot cake that evening... then we went to the house had a wonderful dinner of Smoked ribs and chicken and all the fixin's :)

 then we all got in the kitchen and we all were working on desserts and such, for the next day. it was really good.

 then we all went upstairs and we watched "baby videos" then called it a night.

Sunday morning we got up and got ready for the day - for brunch with the family at Grandma's, did that, was delicious and we had a good time, was good to see all the grandparents. then we went home and rested and took a little nap, then Steve and I took a walk, and then some other family came over and we had appetizers, and then they left and we all had lamb... was delicious.then we went and started packing since we were leaving at 5:30am...
The next day we left and came home.
it was an absolutely wonderful trip. I had alot of fun, it really was nice to spend so much time with the family. I am so happy that I was able to go. and cannot wait to go again.

 I have videos that I'll have to work on getting it on here...
My photo album of our trip

Gardening update

We didnt do alot of work out in the yard this weekend... just some minor stuff, we got to steves house friday evening to find his trees were GONE! the people came and cut them down, when we thought they'd be out the next week... surprise surprise! - The stumps were still there, (But were out by monday) 

I also had gotten my new camera in the mail on friday, so I spend alot of the weekend looking at my new camera and playing with it around the yard. :) (and I LOVE it. ah so much better than my other one, where I had to lug around different lenses :) ) 

heres the update from the weekend:

 I planted a few daisy seeds in our little pot that we got last year :) 

Blueberry plant #2

 Blueberry Plant #2

Blueberry Plant #1

Blackberries

Fig

 Peach Tree :)

 A rose

Trees came out on friday... looks good huh? little bare right now, but you can actually see the house!! :)

Yard work March 24-25 2012

We worked on Steves front yard this past weekend.
Friday we walked around the front yard, deciding basically to rip almost everything except the roses out, so all of the shrubbery and such, then we would be replacing many of the shrubs with more colorful bushes and flowers.

As we were looking we noticed that one of the trees near the front door died.. leaves still on it, but they were very crispy... so we will have to have someone come out to take them out, that is not something that we want to tackle.
Across on the other side is a tree that we do not want, it does not offer much shade, so we (well somone else)  will be taking it out. On both sides of the front walk we will plant Japanese Maple trees which will look so lovely.


BEFORE

AFTER

We ripped up quite a bit of shrubbery...



BEFORE

After

Big bush is gone, alont with some smaller bushes and other plants.

BEFORE

AFTER

6 shrubs gone in front of the tree in front of the windows - this tree will be taken out and will be replaced with a Japanese maple. and some other flowers.

BEFORE

AFTER

2 shrubs taken out along with some "monkey grass"  the tree on the right hand side will be removed since it is dead/dying... and we will have a japanese maple to replace it. Flowers will be planted along the window. :)

THE BIG BUSH:

BEFORE

AFTER

THE SHOVEL:
While tearing out some of the shrubbery, the poor shovel got bent.
so we had to make an "emergency run" to Ace to get another shovel, so we could finish the job.

Planting the hydrangia... it will look so wonderful when it grows big :)



THE BACKYARD.

We planted another hydrangia in one of the back gardens, it will look so nice when it grows  it will be right near the window, and will be so pretty. :)

Yellow Roses ... so pretty! :)



Red rose has bloomed

Steves Apple tree is coming back! I think it heard us saying that we were going to tear it out. :) we'll see if it survives.. :)

Bud

The blackberry bush has started to bloom! - 2 blooms!! :)

Peach Tree is doing fantastic!! :)

Fig is doing great!! Its really growing! :)

The front of the house - Its going to look like a totally new house  when the two trees by the front walkway are gone. I think it already looks great, but I cannot wait to add more color :) so exciting :)