The times they are a changin'...

Hello Friends!!

I realized I hadn't posted since Kenny and I got engaged, and man things are happening fast around here!

We've pretty much got the wedding planned, all the big stuff (location, dress, food, flowers, cake) done, it's just the little things left to take care of. Does anyone ever realize how many little things are involved in a wedding? I sure didn't. To summarize: we're getting married, October 2nd...88 days away (and yes, I'm counting) :)

The other big news is (drumroll please......)




We bought a house!



We had been going back and forth between renting an apartment, renting a house, or buying a house. Every day was a different decision. We decided to just start looking for a house, and figured if God wanted us to be semi-permanently in the West-Houston/Katy/Cypress area we would find something in our price range that suited us. The house we bought ended up in our price range just the day we looked at it! If we had looked at it any earlier it would have been too expensive. (Yay God!) It is a newly built, never lived in home and is just the right size for us to start our lives together. Plus it has a yard for Ellie, so that means mornings will be much easier!

I took these (silly) videos with my phone when we first looked at the house, so they're awful quality but we were so excited! I'll just show ya'll the downstairs since the upstairs one is the worst...enjoy!






I was waiting to share the news until we knew for sure we had the house, and since I spoke with our lender this morning and he remembered us as "the easy loan" I'm counting on everything working out and closing next Friday!

Who will live in the house you ask? Well here's the skinny:

Kenny's lease is up in 10 days whether we had a house or not, so he had arrange to be hosted by a church-family so that he wouldn't have to pay rent for 2 months. So, Kenny gets to move in first (temporarily and into the guest room) for the last few weeks of July and then I'll take my time moving stuff over and cleaning my apartment and live there full time starting in August. Meanwhile, Kenny will be ousted and living with the wonderfully generous family from church until our wedding.

So here's to houses, weddings, and countdowns!


Blessings to you all!

Ruk-tan-ti-choke....just like it's spelled :)

Hello friends!! Many of you guessed correctly about my weekend surprise, and possibly many of you knew before I did that it was coming! Yes, you guessed it:

Kenny and I are engaged!

I posted Saturday about the spa and going to dinner. Kenny took me to Taste of Texas, an amazing steakhouse here in Houston. I really enjoyed my steak, but Kenny was nervous, so he barely ate anything, and for those who know Kenny, that's unusual! After dinner he told me we were just going back to his house to catch up on the shows we missed during the week, and I was a little disappointed to have been dressed up to cuddle on the couch. When we walked up the stairs, Kenny didn't use his key to open the door, instead he pushed it open and this is what I saw:


I don't even know how many roses and candles he had, it was so gorgeous! Little did I know that just minutes before we walked in, Kenny had recieved a "delay" message from his co-horts Jared, Scott, Stephanie, and Liz because the candles set off the fire alarm.

This was their reaction:

So after Kenny and I got there, the real proposal began. He read me scripture, and a list of 50 things and memories I love about Stephanie, and then he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. Thinking back, I don't think I actually said yes, I think I just nodded a lot and gave him a big hug and a kiss. :)

Meanwhile back at the ranch:....while the proposal is going on, the fire-alarm crew is headed to the final destination, an engagement party for Kenny and me with the biggest surprise being all of the out-of-towners who came in just for the night! The least of which being my mom :)



Not to mention one of my favorite Homies: Brandon "BG" Gavin. Please note that Ms. Funk, pictured Center below was fully aware of this whole shin-dig when I had dinner with her 3 days before Kenny proposed. Way to be sneaky!

My mom gave a toast using Ecclesiastes and reminded us to keep God as the center strand in our marriage.


I think this is the point where my mom announced that Kenny had driven from Houston to Corpus and back to Houston in one day (a 3.5-4 hour drive each way) just to have lunch with my mom and get her permission. I was stunned!


Stunned or not it was such a happy day, I think all of the pictures I've seen of myself from that night have the expression pictured below:



So to answer your questions:
-When are we getting married? Sometime this fall.
-How do you say his last name? Ruhk-tan-tih-choke.

Many thanks to everyone who made it possible, all those who kept secrets from me **cough Lindsay, Mandy, Brandon, Kathleen, Hayley, Mom, the guys from the small group as well as Liz and Stephanie**. I know I speak for Kenny and myself when I say we are so excited for this new stage in our relationship and I can hardly wait to marry the wonderful man that God created me for!

Here's to new stages in life, well kept secrets, new last names, and new jewelry!

Blessings to you all!

girl interrupted...

***I began this post early Saturday morning, and while I was finishing it, there was a knock on my door. Kenny's and my friend, Brent, was there with one red rose, and two note cards. I was given instructions to open the first one right then, and not to open the second one until the afternoon. The first card told me that I had been gifted (by Kenny) with a spa-day. The second, which I opened after I left the spa, said that we were going to a fancy dinner tonight...I think there may be another, more exciting update in the works :)


Hello friends! It's been a while, and for that I apologize, but life has been busy in the casa de bridge these last two months.

1) I started a new job! Working in the schools was just not my niche at this point in my career, I wasn't happy and excited to get up and go to work in the morning so I started interviewing. One week I prayed for God to help me and give me another work option, and the next week I had interviewed, been offered a job, and accepted the offer all in about 4 days! So I switched from a school setting to what's called an "L-tach" (long term acute care hospital) setting, and I love it! An ltach is just like a regular hospital, but there's no OR, no ER, and the patients stay about 25 days on average. My new co-workers are super fun, and I'm much more relaxed and happy now that I am more excited about work. Praise God for His timing! I started this new job in March, just after Ashleigh and Will got married, which brings me to my next time-consuming activity:

2) Wedding season is upon us! Kenny and I are slated to go to 6 weddings from March to the end of June. So far we're 1/3 of the way through and have had a ton of fun celebrating with the newlyweds!
First was Ash and Will's wedding. Ash has got to be the most low-key bride I've seen. She barely admitted she was nervous until just before the ceremony.

Here's a picture of the wedding party, courtesy of Leslie's mom :)


I also took the chance to show kenny around Waco since he hadn't been there for an extended period of time before. We took the walking tour and started at the BSB.



He got to eat claypot (YUM!) and enjoy common grounds' frozen treats, and I bought him a Baylor basketball shirt...he needed to be initiated into the bear family somehow right? Oh, and before I forget, I took Kenny on a tour of the CSD building...he wasn't overly impressed, was I surprised? Not at all! However he did meet Mama Rainer and got to look at the awkward picture compilations of the years gone by along the second floor. :)

Next was Brooke and Sean's wedding in Austin. It was the weekend right after the Stutz wedding, this one I was just a spectator for, but it was a perfect evening for an outdoor wedding! Patty Pattillo was able to be there since she had a conference in Austin and I was so glad to see her and spend time with Patty and K-Dub as well!




I've taken the last few weeks after the March wedding Madness to relax since next weekend starts round 2 of wedding season. Kenny's roommate is getting married on May 1st and then miss Hayley is getting married 3 weeks later! That wedding means another Waco trip and more hole-in-the-wall experiences for Kenny! Wahoo!

I hope to keep you all updated sooner, but I've just been enjoying the freedom of having free time (no more 1 hour commute each way, now it's only 15 minutes, 20 if I get stuck behind a slow car)!

And just for kicks here's a picture of my nephew Daniel, who turned 1 last weekend!! Isn't he the cutest?



Here's to new jobs, new friends, newlyweds, and news in general!


Blessings to you!

...race number 2...

Hello All,

For the record, I'm totally not diggin' the cold snap that's happened lately. This past weekend was uber cold. Funk and I decided to take on a 5k trail run on Saturday, and it was nothing if not eventful. I'll try to tell the story through pictures (though I don't have any from after the race).

First off, it was really really cold on Saturday morning, like 40 degrees maybe. Poor Kenny was bundled up and had to wait in the cold while I ran, but I'm thankful he was there supporting me!Pre race...even with ski gloves he was still cold!


I had to twist tie the chip timer to my shoe. Note the bean box and super duper bag in the hatch of my car. I was in my "office". No really. I was.

Kathleen and I just before beginning the race...if you look behind us to the right, then you'll get a small picture of what the run was like. yes, it was muddy :)

**Here is where I run out of good pictures...so the rest of the story is a narrative***

Funk and I stayed together for most of the run, but the trail was muddy and narrow so about halfway through we separated a bit. I kept running and the trail got really muddy. My goal going into the run was to run the whole way, no walking, but the never ending puddle of a trail got in my way. Eventually I gave up avoiding the puddles and just started running through them...my shoes are no longer white, they're beige due to the mud :) Each time I slow down to cross a puddle I look back to see if I see Funk....no Funky...I crossed the finish line in about 45 minutes (and considering I had to deal with the mud I'm proud of my time). Kenny's there waiting with the camera at the finish line and as soon as they cut off my chip timer he tells me Kathleen rolled her ankle :(

Funky had rolled her ankle over the Christmas holiday and was able to run on it for the EP5k but when I saw it after the race it was HUGE!! Luckily for Funky she's a student in Eastern medicine, so I'm sure she'll have lots of resources to help her ankle feel better. I told her she could practice on me, but I'm not sure what she'll do...

Anywhoble:

Kenny and I walked back to the cars with Ms. Funk and we parted ways....but not without a plan for a new run! I heard about the BlueBell 5k in Brenham in April...they have a 10k race too and the reward for finishing.....(drumroll if you please)

ALL THE BLUEBELL ICE CREAM YOU CAN EAT!!!!

Ice cream after a run, totally worth it!

Here's to muddy trails, dedicated friends and boyfriends, ice cream and running!

Blessings to you!

My first 5K: Complete!

Hello All!

I am slacking on blogging...life unfortunately takes priority these days (work has been nuts!). But I wanted to let you all know that I successfully completed my first 5K! and by successfully I mean completed (I did walk for about a block after mile 2). Mama Funk and Mama Bridgeman joined forces to document the event and I thought I'd share some of the pictures my mom took this morning.

Mom and I left cypress at 5 (yes in the morning) and got downtown around 5:30 (and found a sweet free parking place!) We met up with Kathleen and Mama Funk a little later and the documentation began: pre-race pose :)

pre-race in the early morning light (still just a little after 7 at this point)

This one was in the "corral"....there were around 4,600 participants in the 5k alone! ....mom could only get a picture through the bars lol. They were playing awesome music to pump us up while we waited like the temptations and Sir Elton John (we were crocodile rockin')

So then we were off at 7:32 in the morning jogging through down town houston. I did not realize how much energy would be expended by weaving between the slower runners/walkers. I had a great time though and it was a perfect morning to run!

As we were finishing the first and speediest of the half-marathoners (who started at 7am) began to finish. Can you imagine running 13.1 miles in an hour or so?

Kathleen and I both finished under the 40 minute mark!! My official "chip time" (the orange tag on my shoe) was 35:22. I am super proud of that time :)

When we reunited with the Mama's the photography began again:

And this was our post-race victory pose (gatorade and cookies included)

I had so much fun getting ready for and participating in this with Kathleen, we're planning on participating in a half-marathon sometime in the fall.

The puppies (Jack and Ellie) were left at my apartment and are usually able to stay out of trouble. Apparently they got bored this morning, and as we entered my apartment my mother and I doubled over laughing when we saw my living room:


Ellie and Jack had decided to take all my magazines from under the coffee table and shred them all over the carpet. It was too funny for me to be mad!


All in all, today was a great day, and I've had great support getting to this point. I can't wait to do it again! Now it's time for barbecue, a good movie, and some Kenny-time :)

Here's to 5K's, the mamarazzi, good friends, good food, rambunctious puppies, and relaxing weekends!

Blessings to you today!