Engagement Picture Ideas!

Several exciting things are happening to us this month! 

1. We're taking our engagement pictures on the 23rd and we are SO excited!! 

2. Our two year anniversary is on the 25th!!

3. The wedding countdown gets below 200 days!!!!!

Number 1! We're going to take our pictures here in College Station since this town has been our "home" for almost 2 years now! I'm praying for a beautiful day so we take some pretty pretty pictures! Our photographer, Christina Shippey, has never shot here in CS so I'm thrilled to discover new places with her! Some of the places I hope to take pictures are: Research park (where we got engaged), maybe a few on the beautiful A&M campus, and hopefully we'll make it to charming downtown Bryan!


There are several things I'm trying to decide on. Outfits and Props! Here are several ideas I have thus far

Love the balloons in this picture! If I do balloons it will be in my red & aqua wedding colors!

I LOVE the boots and dress look! I have a cute white dress that I'm probably going to wear with boots. Lee has requested to wear his custom made gun belt in a few pictures so it'll probably be in a pic like this

I had a vision of us sipping Dr. Pepper in glass bottles with a straw outside of some cute store in downtown Bryan... I hope we can find some Dublin Dr. Pepper in time!

I LOVE the chalkboard in a field look :)

And finally my FAVORITE idea is finding a yellow Volkswagen beetle and taking pictures with it! We play the bug game all the time and it would just be perfect to take pictures with it!

Number 2! Our two year anniversary is right around the corner! Unfortunately we won't be able to spend it together cause it's on Thanksgiving and you know how those Troopers are worked over the holidays :( But we will celebrate a day or two before and it will be wonderful!!

Number 3! Woohooooooooooo only a few more forevers until we're married! Funny how time seems to be going bye sooo slow. But when I look back it seems like it was just yesterday we started dating! We're praying the Lord teaches us patience and that we enjoy each day exactly how it is! 

Just'a Bloggin

Hello all! I am a horrible blogger I must admit. I seriously wish I had the motivation to write here more often. Sadly I tend to read nursing textbooks or completely zone out from nursing overload in my spare time. Not only do I lack motivation but I lack cool stories and such. So we'll just go with the boring everyday stuff I guess :)

Lee is on his last phase of FTO (field training officer, which means he's partnered up with another trooper)! Praise the Lord we have made it thus far! Last September he was finishing up everything for DPS and just staring the academy. My we have come a long way since then! It has been such a learning process for both of us. For him its all about how to do the job safely and effectively. For me its been about praying and trying to let go of the fear I have for his safety. That's a toughie for me!

I am on the last legs (get it ;) of nursing school. 2 More semesters left!! Super excited about this fact. I'm getting nervous about applying for jobs and such since nursing is pretty competitive and we all know the economy is in the toilet... Lee is so good at reminding me when I get stressed about something that God is in control and there's absolutely no reason to worry. God sure knew what I needed when He gave me a such a wonderful man!

Wedding planning. Whew. There are SOOOOO many little bitty details that have to be decided on its crazyness. After this wedding I will be a master decider. We have several things decided already. 

The couple: Lee & Lauren

The Ring

The date: June 4th, 2011

Venue: Fellowship of Huntsville Church

Colors: Aqua and Red

Wedding shoes: Awesome red ones!

Cake Topper: Hamster (Lee/Groom) and Elephant (Lauren/Bride)

The dress: noooo you'll have to wait till the wedding :)

The Photographer: Christina Shippey

The wedding party: 

MOH (matron of honor): Jessica Alexander

Bridesmaid: Karen Berry

Bridesmaid: Kellie Lyons

Bridesmaid: Sarah Hazlewood

Best Man: Chris Myers

Groomsmen: Daniel Owens

Groomsmen: Jonathan Berry

Groomsmen: Drew Alexander

The Honeymoon: Ireland baby!!!

Wellll thats about all the things we have decided as of now. Exciting times are ahead :)

We're gonna get hitched!

Yay we're engaged!!!! Just had to throw that out there for those of y'all who didn't know that already :) Ok so here goes the story.. I'll start from the semi-beginning. Lee and I started looking at rings at the first of the year. We fell in love with this ring The original ring. However, it was pretty pricey and wasn't exactly what I wanted. So Lee decided to have it custom made at Montelongo's in College Station. Well let me tell  you it took FOREVER (or so it seemed). I have been counting down the days for months now! I thought originally it was going to happen soon after he graduated the academy (in April). But Lee had other plans :) Ok back to the present. Lee had been acting kinda funny the past week. By funny I mean he was trying to make plans and asking me all these questions (he hardly ever plans things so i was getting suspicious). I was trying really hard not to get my hopes up but they were definitely up! He told me last Friday that he didn't have the ring and didn't know when it was going to be ready... and of course i cried. Well we leave Huntsville on Sunday to come to CS (because Lee wanted to "relax & chill in CS"). Monday rolls around and he has an appointment at 10-10:30 to go "play games with his buddy" (which was code for I'm going to pick up the ring from the jewelers... which he did with his cousin Jessica). He came back and we went to Plato's Closet cause I wanted a new dress for our "date night". We just hung out watching tv and stuff till around 4ish (all this time Lee is incessantly checking the weather and scared that its going to rain and all... suspicious yes?). Then we got ready and drove over to Research Park on the A&M campus. P.s. I saw like 15 Volkswagens on the way over there which means it really was my lucky day (we play the hit each other when you see a VW game.. ya know like the tv commercials) So we pull into the park and Lee starts looking for this specific stream that we'd been to before (at this point I pretty much KNEW it was coming and was starting to freak out!!) So we found the stream and He took a picture of me (that was his cover story... that we were going there to "take pictures") and I saw a flash in the bushes and thought to myself "Did I just see a flash in the bushes!?" Then he got down on one knee. Told me he loved me. Said "Lauren Elizabeth Berry will you marry me?!?" I said yes! He took my promise ring off of my left hand and put it on my right (poor guy he was shaking so badly!) and put my beautiful engagement ring on my left ring finger :)) Then we kissed (yay!!). Chris & Tammy Myers and Jessica Lyons were hiding in the bushes videoing and taking pictures (Thank you guys so much!!). So we have awesome pictures & video of the pre & post proposal! We're planning on getting married sometime in May of 2011 after I graduate nursing school. We'll keep you updated and I'll get to working on a wedding website super soon!!!!! YAYYYYY!!!! 

Cooking!

I recently had a wonderful cooking experience with my lovely sister Jessica at their home in Gatesville. It was SUCH a fun time! I love spending time with my sis & baby Abigail! Learning to cook well is my new passion! Jessica is educating me on the ways of a thrifty wife (since I hope to be one of those very soon!) Lee and I visited the Farm Patch in Bryan today and it was AMAZING!!! We got two big bags of fruits & veggies for 16$! I will definitely be visiting that place more often! I have never been a huge veggie fan but I am trying to branch out and explore! I ended up just sautéing the veggies (which included red & green bell pepper, onion, garlic, mushroom, squash, & zucchini) in grapeseed oil with a little salt & Mrs. Dash's seasoning. Grapeseed oil is my sisters influence. It has a higher heat tolerance than olive oil which does something that's suppose to be healthier for you or something... i'm not exactly sure the reasoning but its tastes good!

I LOVE reading the pioneer woman's blog! O those recipes... mmm they look so scrumdiddliumcious!! But then again I feel myself gain 5 lbs because they is so much butter!! That's another area Jess is edumacating me on... the fine world of cooking light! Cooking with applesauce and whole wheat flower may not sounds o so yummy but it's really not that bad (and your arteries will thank you later by not forming plaque and hardening so as to not allow blood flow to semi-essential parts like your brain and heart ;) So for a healthier version of the Pioneer Woman's recipes I turn to http://www.cookinglight.com/. It has great quick & healthy-er-ish alternatives!

Ok enough of cooking... I started summer school again. Less than a year till I am finished with nursing school whoop! I am excited/not so excited about this semester. Excited because we'll be learning about more acute disorders & get to work in the ER & ICU a couple times and because we only have school 2 days a week. Whew that makes me tired just thinking about it! Not so excited because we have class for 5 hours on Wed & then clinicals for 12 hours which makes for a long 2 days. Yep you read that right TWELVE HOUR clinicals. That means i'm at St. Joseph's Hospital from 6:30AM to 7:00PM on Thursdays. If you ever at the hospital on Thursday's at that time hit me up! I'll be one of the 10 people wearing identical maroon scrubs running around like a chicken with its head cut off (or being totally bored... there's hardly ever a happy medium of business & slowness in the hospital)!

Lee has been enjoying work. He's keeping busy doing such things as pulling his girlfriend over on the highway just because he can... O Texas Justice. He's 1/4 of the way through his FTO period! Man it seems like I just watched him graduate. Time is going by faster & faster every year!

Well thats about it for now. Y'all stay safe & don't speed in Conroe :)

Our happenings

Hello all! I hope y'all are having a fabulous first week of May! Lee is enjoying working in Conroe West. He has a great field training officer (FTO) and a great schedule (7-4 sun-thur)! He's getting a lot of experience in various   Trooper things such as: getting free coffee at Starbucks every morning, driving 70mph on the feeder road, getting free or discounted lunches, and the respect and thanks of the citizens of his area. He had a really neat experience yesterday. A random lady came up to him while he was standing outside of CVS. She asked if she could touch him, which of course he was wary about initially but after "guarding" himself (which means he turned his gun away from her) he allowed it. She put her hand on his shoulder and asked if she could pray over him. He said yes and she asked God to watch over him and his fellow troopers and keep them safe. Then she thanked him for his service and went on her way. WOW! Lee was blown away and very touched by this experience! This lady will probably never know how much this meant to Lee but it sure did make his day! Its awesome to see followers of God minister to each other. School is winding down for me. Only 3 more tests till the end of the semester. I've been in nursing school a year already which is hard to wrap my head around! I remember how nervous I was to even talk to my first patient! I have come a long way but I still have quite a ways to go. Being in the hospital is no fun for sure! Its my hope and prayer to bring my patients joy and the love of Christ! A patient told me recently what a difference it makes to be greeted with a smile and laughter rather than a sour-face and grumpy attitude. One's attitude really does set the tone of the day! Let's make it a joyful one :) 


Ecclesiastes 9:10 - Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might... 


1 Corinthians 10:31 - So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God!

Our first blog post!

I am so excited about getting a blog! Hopefully this will be a helpful and God-inspired blog! Just a little bit of history for those of you who may be behind. Lee, my boyfriend (hopefully I won't have to call him that for too much longer ;) just graduated from the Texas Department of Public Safety State Trooper Academy on April 9th. He started his first day of work as a Trooper today in fact! He's stationed in Conroe-West which we are so excited about! God blessed us immensely throughout the academy! It was a long and grueling 28 weeks but God was so faithful in helping us through and providing us with His strength! Thank you to everyone who prayed for Lee and I, we couldn't have done it without God and prayer! I (Lauren) am currently attending Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Nursing. I am pursuing a bachelors degree in nursing and will graduate (Lord willing!) May of 2011. I am throughly enjoying learning about people, medicine, and everything in between! Upon graduation I would like to get a job at a hospital in The Woodlands/Conroe area. Memorial Herman The Woodlands is my number one pick right now because it has Magnet Status. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's stamp of approval by a bunch of nurses saying that this hospital loves their nurses and puts a big emphasis on quality nursing care and nurses wants to work there!! Thats the plan for now... but its always up for change depending on what God has in store for us!