A whole bunch of crazy!

Wow... The first week has absolutely WORE me out. I mean it is pretty exhausting to do try outs before and after school and then teach 4 classes. I constantly feel like I am having to entertain for some reason. However, I feel SO happy and SO blessed to have this job. It truly is so much fun and I have already met so many kids that I know I will never forget and will always have a place in my heart. 

Try outs have been going pretty good.. I was so worried about over looking certain girls and I feel very confident with the teams I will have by the time try outs are over! We scrimmage Crockett next week and I can hardly wait! 

I was also worried about my classroom management and my kids being out of control but so far (and I know it's only the first week) things have been great and I really have some great kids! 

I haven't had any time to blog so I just thought I would give a quick update. 

On a different note: my brother Brent and his wife Julie are expecting their second little boy, Carson Reid Bullard, any day now! I cannot wait to meet that little guy. I can't believe I will have two sweet nephews that will now have my whole heart! Can't wait to see you and meet you Carson!! 

Other than that, not much as been going on- I will be sure and blog about next week and how our scrimmages went! 

Here's to something new...

I am so excited to be writing this post to announce to everyone my exciting new plans! 

For the past year since I have graduated college I have been working as a landman and have really enjoyed it... However a new opportunity was brought my way and it was just too good to pass up! 

I am officially the new teacher/coach at Bonham Middle School! I am so excited to be teaching and of course coaching volleyball. I feel like I will truly have a career that is a hobby and I will enjoy every minute of it! It's also pretty cool to be back at my old stomping grounds... It will bring back some funny/unpleasant memories that's for sure! Middle school years are always a little awkward for everyone. 

I must admit I am pretty nervous to be running my own classroom so if ANY of my teacher friends have any decor/advice for me I would so greatly appreciate it!! 

I will be blogging a lot about my experiences as a first year teacher and hopefully post anything that may be helpful to others! So... Here's to my new adventure! 

Go Mustangs!! 

The 4th and other festivities!

This 4th of July was so much fun! Eric and I were pretty much busy with plans almost all week which was kind of nice since we usually have nothing to do. Tuesday and Wednesday I was pretty sick and laid around the house all day BUT Monday and Tuesday I was able to see my brother, Brent, his wife Julie and of course my sweet nephew Luke! 

He loved the water fountain in my parents backyard and kept wanting someone to hold him so he could throw his ball in the water. He is definitely all boy! 

For the 4th of July Eric and I met our good friends Michael and Heather in Canyon for the fair on the square! I was still not feeling very well but it was nice to get up, take a shower and get out of the house and spend some time outside! I have never been to the fair on the square but it was great! I loved all the little stands that sold fried foods... just like the fair! Also, Canyon has some of the cutest little clothing/antique stores so Heather and I went shopping for a little while also! 

After the fair on the square we went with Erics family out to pop fireworks! I can't remember the last time we bought fireworks and popped them ourselves.. usually we just end up watching them somewhere so this was a nice change! Here is a little collage of our SECOND 4th of July as a married couple :)

The next day, the 5th we had tons of family and friends over to cook out, play some washers and of COURSE play some ping pong. I really love ping pong. It was great to have everyone over to see our new house even if it wasn't completely finished. Here is a little collage of that night! 

 Saturday, the 6th we went to an Amarillo Venom football game with my brother and his kids! I was pretty excited to go since my nephew Cade has never been before! He just played his first season of Flag Football so I was excited to see him watch all the big football guys play! 

Lastly, that Sunday I woke up and had my first volleyball practice with my club girls since the season ended. It was pretty laid back since the girls were all SO excited to see each other again. Afterwards we went to the Ramsey's for a pool party and hung out for a while. I don't have any pictures but it was a lot of fun. Words can't describe how much I love those girls! 

The week of the 4th was busy, fun and full of spending time with family and friends. I was mostly impressed with the fact that I remembered to take pictures. I am really trying to be better about that so I can document all of the fun times Eric and I have before we start a family! :) 

Slacker..

Well its official.. I am horrible at keeping a blog. I think mainly its because we don't have a lot of exciting things going on but luckily I have a good friend who stays on me about updating and even gives me ideas to update about.. thanks Mrs. Gillaspie! 

Lately, I have just been working away.. Club volleyball is over and I must say out of the 5 seasons I have coached this season was the hardest to say good-bye to! I loved coaching those girls and we ended on a great note. Luckily, next Sunday we will start once a week practices.. yay!!! 

Eric has mainly just been working as well.. we recently moved into a new house so Eric has been busy helping me move things, hang things and everything else in between! I wish we could say we bought a home but neither of us have been at our jobs long enough BUT we are so excited to be out of the small 2 bedroom, 1 bath duplex with NO central or air! This is a much bigger house that gives us room to grow! Here are a couple pictures of the house even though it isn't completely done yet: 

Here is the kitchen looking from the dining room that leads into the backyard... I love all of the storage and built ins! 

Here is a picture of all the built-ins.. its a HUGE wall to fill up and no matter what angle you take the picture from its hard to fit in the entire thing. I pretty much filled it with all of our decorations that were stored away at the other house that we didn't have room for... I think it will have to do for now! 

Here is sweet Jackson guarding his toys and enjoying his new backyard! Thank goodness the backyard is looking better than this.. we sprayed weed killer and have been watering it and it looks 100% better already. For those of you wondering.. the house came with this huge play pin/jungle gym.. It is pretty convenient for when the nieces and nephews come over! 

Here is sweet Charlie laying on our new couch in the living room.. we have lived there for a month and this is the ONLY time he has been able to get on the couch.. poor guy :( he was so sweet I just couldn't kick him off! 

I am still waiting to get the living room and some other rooms finished so I will post pictures of those some other time! We are really blessed/lucky to have found this house.. it was so spur of the moment and it is definitely what we want between now and when we will buy one in hopefully a year or less! 

Lastly, Eric and I celebrated our ONE year anniversary June 16th! That Saturday, the 15th we had plans to go eat at BL Bistro and then go to the Adaberry Inn here in Amarillo. My niece was going to house sit/puppy sit but that morning Eric got a call that his grandpa had been rushed to the emergency room and was going in for surgery in Lubbock. Unfortunately around 3:00 things had taken a turn for the worst and we immediately rushed to Lubbock. I felt so horrible for him and his family... losing a loved one is so hard but thankfully we have a Lord that promises we will see our loved ones again some day! 

The next day, Eric woke up me with beautiful flowers, homemade pancakes and O.J. I can't even believe how lucky I am to have found such a caring, thoughtful and selfless man! Here are some pictures! 

Eric- thank you for being the man that you are and for a wonderful first year of marriage. I cannot WAIT to see what the future holds for us :) 

I think its obvious that I should really post more often so I dont have to make such LONG posts! Hopefully I can keep up with it from here on out! :)

Blogs are hard!

I have to admit, I had every intention of updating my blog more often than once a month, HOWEVER, the whole "blog" world has made me feel like a complete idiot! I like to consider myself somewhat technologically savvy, but blogs are SO much more difficult than they need to be. Anyway, I was finally able to  fix some of the issues I was having and its time for a new post!  


 First of all, Eric and I went on our VERY first ski trip to Angel Fire in January and we had a blast! It was just me him and my parents and I must admit, I was a little worried with how my parents were gonna hold up! They hadn't been skiing in 20 years but from what I hear they were pretty awesome back in the day. For those of you that didn't know, my dad had a heart attack back in October and even though he is doing wonderful, I couldn't help but worry about him! We were on our first lift at about 9AM and after I went on the good ole bunny slope about 3 times it was all blue and green slopes from then on. Eric picked it up SO much faster than I did which was a little frustrating.. or maybe it was just the fact that after I busted on the mountain, 5 year olds were flying by me laughing. Anyway, we were skiing from 9AM to 4:15PM and my body has NEVER been in so much pain in my life. My mom probably could have gone longer and my dad went back to the lodge around 1:00 but only because his knee was hurting him. They both picked it up like they hadn't missed a beat. Here is a little collage of the mountains, Eric and I and then the parents! 

Later on in January/February we went to our good friends Justin and Tara Hatch's gender reveal party! We were so excited to see that they will be adding a sweet baby girl to their family. 

I have had volleyball just about every weekend it seems. Joni is my assistant coach this year and I can't tell you how much FUN we are having with these girls. We have really been teaching them an advanced offense and they have picked it up like champs! We have one 6th grader and some 7th and 8th graders and in one of our last tournaments we got 2nd place! In our other tournaments we were having trouble getting past the semi-final mark and we finally did it! We beat some freshman from Canyon High School to get to the finals and in the finals lost to some Freshman from Frenship High! Here is us and our girls after getting 2nd place: 

I am so incredibly thankful for these girls and for Joni! I don't know how I have been coaching for so long without her! 


Lastly, even though it isn't Valentines yet, Monday after work I walked home to the sweetest surprise! Backstory: Collin Gillaspie asked Lauren to be his Valentine and brought her flowers and lots of little valentines cards and I kind of gave Eric a hard time about it but I didn't actually think he would go and do something like this! I walk in from work on Monday and I see the following letters written with rose pedals all over the house

I couldn't believe that he took the time to go and do all of this. He is such an amazing person and I am so thankful to be married to such a sweet and loving man. Eric and I have a very playful, fun relationship and for him to show his romantic side very unexpectedly was very.. well romantic! The day of Valentines we plan to go eat at Kabuki and go see Safe Haven (which is probably everybody elses plan in Amarillo). Oh well! 

Happy Valentines :) 
 

New Year, New Blog!

I can't believe that 2012 has already come and gone! It seems like yesterday I was frantically planning a wedding, getting ready to graduate college and coaching volleyball!

I started this blog mainly to document Eric and I's life as newlyweds, to look back on and remember such special moments we have shared together. Since this is my first post of 2013 I think it is only appropriate that I post some of my favorite moments in 2012! 

In May, a sweet little boy came into the world and absolutely STOLE my heart! My brother Brent and Sister in-law Julie had their first little boy, Luke Preston Bullard!

Words can't express how much I love this little man. He is the reason I think about moving to Dallas so that I can see him grow up and be there for him every step of the way! Thank you Brent and Julie for giving me such a sweet, lovable and absolutely perfect nephew!

 
In June, Eric and I FINALLY tied the knot! We definitely had a longer engagement than most people, but it ended up working out perfectly for both of us. June 16, 2013 we will celebrate our 1 year anniversary as a married couple as well as being together for 6 years.

I coached LOTS of volleyball in 2012 and just a couple weeks AFTER I got married I took my volleyball team to the National tournament in Columbus, OH. Here is a picture of the girls after they won the Regional Tournament in Lubbock. 

 This was a very special time in my life- it was a huge milestone for me to take my very first team to Nationals as a coach! I went almost every year as a player, but the sense of pride I had in these girls after winning the regional tournament was so different than I had experienced while playing! 

Right after Nationals- I had one more week left of my very last class at WT. I graduated with my Bachelors and then 3 weeks later found a job! I work at Manning Land which is an oil and gas company. So far I have loved every minute of my job and can't wait to see what the future holds! 

In August, one of my best friends that I have known since 1st grade had her bridal shower and continued to prep for her wedding that Ocotober! Here are a couple pictures from the bridal shower and her bachelorette party! 

 Finally, In October-- Lauren and Collin tied the knot!! It was so fun to be apart of such a special time in their lives! The wedding was beautiful and the reception was so much fun, I almost had withdraws when all of the festivities were over!!

Congratulations to The Gillaspie's!! 

  2012 was truly a very exciting year filled with "firsts" for me, for my friends and for Eric and I as a couple!! I can't wait to see what 2013 has in store and to be able to  document all of the moments along the way :)