Long over due!

Alright, so I know it has been a LONG time since I have updated my blog and a lot has happened since I moved to El Paso, TX with my amazing husband.

When I first got here the weather was still really nice so on the weekends we did a lot of hiking and rock climbing in the mountains that surround us. A few of the places that we have hiked are the Franklin Mts., Aztec Mts., & Ron Coleman Trail. It was a very new adventure for me, not only was it a great work out but the altitude change kicks your butt and it is not anything that I can describe to you and you will understand...you just have to come visit us in El Paso and see for yourself :)

Sunset at the Franklin Mts. You can see the Rio

Grande, Mexico, New Mexico and Texas!

pic above was at the top of the Franklin Mts. before the sunset...right pic was pretty scary but I LOVED it!



October was Fritz birthday so I had a little bit of surprise party/get together for him :) I had some of our friends meet us at Olive Garden for dinner then over to our apt. for desert....a 4 layer chocolate peanut butter cream cheese cake!

On the way home from dinner............................the cake!!!!

Also, in October we went to a Winery in New Mexico for a fall fest, and it was a BLAST. They had of course wine tasting, crafts and live music. They had an area set up with rides for the kids…but Fritz and Putnam decided that they wanted to go on the ride the spins your around and around after a GOOD bit of wine. The guy running the ride thought it would be fun too, and the little kids around us watching yelled “puke, puke, puke!” oh boys. We had such a great time that we are looking forward to the next event that they host. My 2 favorite things there were the wine margaritas and the great dip mixes that we got.

Well my sweet hubby worked a 31 hour shift yesterday and has been sleeping all day today, so I am going to make him a nice dinner before our work out.

P.S. I promise I will not wait 3 months to update everyone :) more to come later today/tonight!!

El Paso, Texas

After our beautiful, amazing and everything that I ever dreamed my wedding day would be like on September 5, 2009 @ 5:00 PM, Fritz and I drove from Columbia, SC to El Paso, Texas to our 1st home! It was a 24 hours, 1694 miles from my parents driveway to ours (with Major in the back seat).

We of course had to ship a LOT and I mean a LOT of my stuff including our weddings gifts., and the best part is that 2 weeks later we are still getting presents :) The people down in the office loved when my 132 lb box of clothes and gifts came all at the same time, oh yeah, and our new grill and a few other smaller boxes!

Half way to Texas!

When I came with Fritz in June to El Paso we picked out the aprtment that we are living in and also brought a good bit of both of our belongings to get our soon to be home together set up. Since then, I am enjoying putting all of OUR new gifts out and doing a little bit of redecorating!!!

Set up in June...

Set up in September :)

I had to brighten it up a little and add some more color!!

FedEx

As I am up stairs trying to get ready to go to Carolina Ale House for the USC game, out with everyone for a "last fling before the ring" and picking Fritz up from the airport at 11:30 PM 2 days before our wedding....I hear my Dad yelling "Temple! Temple, come here NOW, quick! Temple, hurry up!" So I figured her BFF Donna had got into town early and surprised her. Well how WRONG was I! I then hear my Mom yelling" Jennifer, come here NOW!" and I reply with "Why? I am trying to get ready (due to the fact I was running late, but that is nothing new :))" So she tells me "Come sign for your package from FedEx, it has your name on it." So with my make up half done and one shoe on I went running down the stairs, fling open the door and what do I see....NOT THE FEDEX MAN but FRITZ with a dozen hot pink roses!!!

So needless to say I was beyond EXCITED and full of questions b/c he was not supposed to get in until 11:30 PM and there was no car outside! And on top of that while I was just getting my eyebrows waxed he was "at the airport and had to go" Well he had to go b/c Glen was there to pick him up and bring him to my house!

Fritz LOVES to surprise me all the time with things like that...Kind of like the time he had to take his Grandma to the dentist and could not come back to Columbia from KY but really the whole day he was texting me he was DRIVING! Have a mentioned that I LOVE THIS MAN!

Bittersweet!(OLD)

Today is a very bittersweet day for me....it is my last full day in the office of USC School of Medicine!! December would have been 6 years that I have worked here and learned a whole new world of things along with many great people! I have truley enjoyed my job working with the 3rd and 4th year medical students as well as the many Internal Medicine Residents!! It has given me many great opportunites as well and wounderful work experiance. I might miss it a little bit but I am even more excited to see what is about to begin for me and my life with my soon to be husband in 15 days!!!

Soooo to play a little bit of catch up on the things that have been going on since my last post I will start in order of dates :)

On August 9th I had my second bridal shower that was hosted by Anita and Rhonda, I was joined by some of my co-workers along with friends my awesome 2 sisters and mom and some bridesmaids!!

I LOVE my china :)

Oh the Bachelorette weekend at the beach!!!!!!

It was a blast to say the least :) thanks to my amazing friends, SISTER and bridesmaids. We went to Myrtle beach for the weekend...it rained all day Friday but Friday night it stop so us 8 girls could have a blast!

We decided to get a taxi to come pick us up from the condo so that way we could all have a good time, but seems how there are 8 of us we need a VAN! Well Bethany called around to some places and one of them said no problem we will see you at 9:30 at your condo and we will be there to pick you up from Broadway when you are ready to come home! Perfect right :) well it was even more perfect when we all walk outside and there is a LIMO to pick us up!!!

Count down has begun!

• 6 days until shower # 2
• 11 days until Bachelorette weekend at the beach
• 19 days until shower # 3
• 15 days of work left at USC
• 33 days until wedding day!
  
  How EXCITED do you think I am right now?!?

Bridal Portraits

Friday is the day that it is all going to become very real! I have my bridal portraits :) so I will have my dress on, hair and make-up done and see the whole thing put together! I cannot wait to see what it all looks like!! I am doing something a little special as well, My Dad is going to come with me and we are going to do some Father-Daughter pictures with him in his uniform when I take mine as well….but everyone will have to wait until September 5th at 5:00 PM to see :)

back tracking....

Ok...I know it has now been 2 months since I last posted anything on my blog and that is horrible!

Where to begin with all of the updates...

On July 19th I had my first Bridal shower hosted by my best friend of 10 years Lindsay Dinkins and it was awesome, everything that I could have imagined and more. Thanks to all of my great friends and family I/we got lots of fun new stuff like my perfect something blue from Katie! It was a monogram shower so of course lots of things with our Name and initials on them.

My Bridesmaids minus 3....

That same weekend was Brianna's 4th birthday and Bethany's birthday as well. Brianna my flower girl wanted to have her birthday party at "Jen's house". She is too cute; we went to the water park for the day at Ft. Jackson followed by dinner and CiCi's pizza then cake and ice cream at the park in Lake Carolina near my parent’s house. She had her friends Haylen Grace and Jackson there to play at the park. Then a fun filled night with my parents and sisters coloring in her new princess coloring book and playing dress up in her new Cinderella dress :)

Emily and Brianna coloring....

The weekend of July 25th was Lauren's 20th birthday so I got to spend a day on the lake with her and her boyfriend and roommate then enjoyed a good home grilled meal and homemade ice cream cake!

I have my second shower coming up this weekend on August 9th and I am just as excited as I was for my first one! Anita who I have worked with for the past 6 years is hosting this one for me. This is also going to be another busy weekend for us, my parent’s 27th wedding anniversary is on Friday and on Saturday my Mom is graduating from USC Upstate with her BSN, YAY congrats mom!

Things are coming along smoothly for the wedding...invitations are out and I am having fun checking the mail daily for the RSVP's. We got the programs printed this past weekend now it is just putting them together b/c we all know that I cannot do anything just simple :)