Eric's Graduation

Eric graduated from his Electrical Technician program within the Coast Guard at the end of March. My parents and I were able to support him at his graduation. I am so proud of him. He's so smart and such a fast learner. I'm grateful that he's my husband for eternity!! :D

Welcome to Louisiana

What we saw driving into Louisiana - the last and final day of our road trip, though we still needed to get to our hotel that night. Eric and I had quite the adventure driving from the West Coast to the South. We were able to see much of the country that we wouldn't have been able to otherwise. Of course, most of it was desert and not all that exciting to look at and especially drive through "alone." Oh! I suppose I should mention that Eric and I drove separate vehicles the entire trek out here. He drove the Penske truck with his car hooked onto it and I drove my car. Don't worry though, my father had the grand idea of walkie talkies! It really was quite genius as Eric and I were able to communicate regularly without having to call each other on our cell phones. Although driving 2400 miles wasn't the most thrilling thing I've done in my life, I actually wouldn't mind doing it again. I enjoy driving and site seeing. In fact, we'll do it all over again in a few years when we finally move from Louisiana.. Happy happy joy joy! ;)

Days 6 & 7 - Texas

El Paso, Texas.. the picture is of the border of Texas and Mexico and looking into Mexico. It sure looked "run down" and the typical sight of Mexico's homes, therefore, we assumed it was Mexico.

San Antonio, Texas. I'll be honest, I was a little disappointed with the Alamo. I really thought that there was more to it than just a few buildings with very little informational plaques. Sad days, but, it's okay. At least now I can say that I've been to the Alamo.

Here I am sportin' the Davey Crockett cap. This one's for you, Pop... His land is biggest an' his land is best, from grassy plains to the mountain crest. He's ahead of us all meetin' the test, followin' his legend into the West. Davy, Davy Crockett, king of the wild frontier!

Eric didn't want me to take any pictures of him, so I had to sneak 'em in when I could.

Days 6 & 7 - Texas

Day 5 - New Mexico

There were so many cacti! It was one of the coolest scenery I've seen. You can't tell too well in the picture, but the landscape and hills were covered with cacti on either side of the freeway. It sure was neat looking!

The rocks were pretty cool too. Not much to say about rocks... haha

Yuma Air Show

This Jelly Belly airplane is one of the planes that did "tricks" in the air. It did flips, crazy turns.. it was fun to see what incredible things airplanes have the capability of doing. Wow!

Turtles!

Here are the turtles that I mentioned.. I think I'm holding David and Eric is holding Goliath.

Day 2-4, Arizona

So I struggle with this whole blogging business. I'm still learning how to work it and all, so forgive me for having my posts a little bit backwards. Well, a lot bit backwards, but oh well :)


Eric's brother-in-law's parents, Sharon and Albert, live in Yuma, Arizona and they offered for us to stay with them a night or two on our drive east. We took them up on their offer and stayed with them over the weekend. Albert had a few tickets to the Yuma Air Show that weekend and wasn't planning on going, so he gave the tickets to us. What a treat! Eric and I spent a few hours at the Air Show.. I'll upload those pictures in another post as they are still on my phone.. hee hee.

Albert owns his own plane and asked us if we'd like to go for a flight. Heck yes, please!! So one morning, the four of us got up early and loaded up in his little airplane (pictured above) and flew over the Grand Canyon, landed about an hour and a half later in a city called Kingman where they took us out for breakfast. What a cool way to spend the morning, no?! They were truly very generous! They even kept their pool heated in their backyard for us and let us play with their turtles, David and Goliath, which pictures I'll post later..

Truly incredible, isn't it?!! And what a killer opportunity to see the Grand Canyon from above!!

Day 1 to New Orleans

As you know, we are currently living outside of New Orleans, Louisiana. We began our week's drive out to Louisiana on the 25th of March and arrived on the 31st. We moved into our apartment on the 1st of April. Not too bad for timing considering we drove nearly 2,400 miles and spent the weekend in Yuma, AZ! The above picture is of beautiful Sonoma County in California; day one of our trip.


Just outside of Bakersfield, California, where we stayed the first night.


Southern California; the morning of our second day.

Gulf of Mexico

We pulled over and walked on the beach and pier for a bit on our drive back from Gulfport. White sand, warm water, a fairly clear day.. simply beautiful! It's a bit unreal to think that we live so close to the Gulf of Mexico now. It always seemed like it was so far away and now it's less than hour away from us!

Krispy Kremes

Last weekend Eric and I drove out to Gulfport, Mississippi, or Missippi, as they say it here, and walked around the outlet mall. We took the freeway out to Gulfport and decided to drive along the coastline on the highway back to Slidell. Before we made it to the highway, however, we found a Krispy Kremes and of course, we had to stop and buy a doughnut or two.. or a dozen! Yummy!! It isn't a complete Krispy Kreme experience if you don't sport the hat while you enjoy their scrumptious doughnuts!

Alligator!

A few weeks ago, Eric and I went for a drive and found an alligator! Eric thought it'd be fun to poke its eye and I decided that it would be fun to "wrestle" it! We sure did have some fun with it. Eric has seen an alligator or two and I, on the other hand, have seen ZERO. I'm hoping to see one soon though! We may go on a swamp tour in a few weeks when my parents are here, so here's hopin' I'll get to see at least one!

Our engagement story

October 27th. The day that Eric asked me to marry him. Our original plan was to drive out to Bodega Bay, and although a breeze and the coast go hand in hand, it was incredibly windy so we decided to change plans last minute. So Eric took me out to dinner at an Italian pizzeria in Geyserville and all night he kept asking if I'd go for a walk in a vineyard with him. "Sure," I'd say. After dinner, we drove to Healdsburg and ended up walking around town for nearly two hours, just talking and enjoying being together. I had a feeling all night that I was going to propose, it was just a matter of time. However, I tried not to get my hopes up just in case he didn't. When we parked, I got out and walked around the car to open his door. A little backwards, I know. I noticed that he leaned over and opened his glove compartment and hurried and locked the doors. Hmm. Interesting.

After our lovely walk around Healdsburg, he drove us back to my parents house. On the way back, I had him turn on a back road which would add a few more minutes to our drive. He pulled over, turned off the car, and said, C'mon, lets go for a walk in the vineyards. Now, by this time, it was well after 10pm and it was dark and cold. So, I said no, it's dark, cold, and scary out there. What? It was! After much urging and me finally giving in after he nearly left to walk on his own (though he wasn't really going to, he just knew it would get me out of the car), I got out and I told him had to promise to hold and protect me out there, which he did :)

I held him so tightly as we walked and as he told me how much he loved and me wanted to be with me for forever. He told me that he loved me with all his heart and that he was so in love with me. Although it was very cold and scary, it was quite beautiful standing there in the vineyards, dead ones, I might add, together with the moon being the only means of light. It was then that after I hug and a kiss, he got down on one knee and proposed to me. I couldn't have been happier or more excited!! I said YES, kissed him, and gave him a giant hug! Awe, what a night! ...

Alright, so now you know the beginning of "Eric and Amy." :D

Ps.. the picture posted was taken before we were engaged.. I attached it to the wrong post and can't delete it. Oops!

How Eric and I met..

For those of you who are new to my blog, which is everyone minus my mother and sister, I thought it'd be good to start from the beginning of mine and Eric's relationship.. If you know the story already, please bare with me ;)

Eric and I met at church at the end of August of 2009. I was standing and talking with a few of my friends when a Sister missionary came up to me with Eric at her side and said, This is Eric, talk to him.... so I did. I introduced myself and asked him a few basic questions like "where are you from?" and "Where are you working?" When I asked him how old he was he just looked at me. I told him, "no judgment" haha. "23," he said. Me too! He had the same reaction when I asked him if he had served a mission and I responded with "no judgment" again. The more we talked the easier conversation flowed. At first sight it was, "he's cute, she's cute, but I'm not interested." We expressed several times how neither one of us were looking to be in a relationship and Eric flat out said he didn't ever want to get married. Funny how things change, eh?! I will admit though, there was something intriguing about him. I wanted to get to know him better.

Side note..Eric is from Boise, Idaho and is in the United States Coast Guard. He's been in for about 15 months and has 4 years of his contract left with the military. He signed up for an extra year, making it 4 instead of 3. In all honesty, he's definitely not a fan of being in the miliatary, but he knows that it's a great way to provide for us, for right now. When we met in California, he was being trained to be an Electrical Technician at the Two Rock base in Petaluma. He is now out here in New Orleans putting into practice what he learned in California...

A few of us from church were going to go to Oakland to the temple to attend a fireside and so I invited Eric to come along. I didn't want to be taken as forward and ask for his number, so I casually gave him mine when I gave him the option of coming with us or not. I told him to text or call later if he wanted to come with us. Long story short, he came with us... I don't believe we texted at all that night, Sunday night, but I know that on Monday we did. I was working that night at Marie Callenders while we were texting and among our texts, I made the comment, or promise, that I'd get him a slice of pie if he ever came in. Well, I got busy with work and I didn't hear from him for a while. Next thing I knew, he was walking through the front doors of the restaurant. Not gonna lie, I got pretty excited, which completely confused me as I barely knew the guy.

So, as I promised, I bought him a slice of pie and we talked for a while... it was getting late and both of us needed to get going (Eric back to base and I back to work). I walked him to the door and we talked for a minute more. I knew we were just barely friends, acquaintences really, and yet there was something there between us that I couldn't figure out nor ignore. I asked him if I could give him a hug goodbye and he said yes. I remember being somewhat surprised as I was expecting a "soft" hug, but it wasn't, it was a tight hug :)

Eric and I spent every evening together from that day foward and our conversations flowed so easily. Emotions were really taking off and I remember trying to figure out what it was that I was feeling inside about Eric. I truly was not looking to be in a relationship, but Eric was changing that. I just didn't want to end up breaking his heart or hurting him. I knew I cared about him a lot and "like liked" him. Soon, like grew to really like which grew to love which grew to in love, all in a matter of months, barely that really. Eric was the first to say "I love you," but I wasn't ready to say it back at that time. I didn't want to say it and not fully mean it in the way he did. Come to discover within myself, I really did LOVE him and days later, I told him "I love you."

One night, Eric and I went on a double date with our friends, Jason and Grace, in Rohnert Park, and after parting with the two of them, we didn't want to part with each other so we talked as we walked around the giant parking lot we were in. We ended up walking for about 2 hours or so, talking about practically everything under the sun. We talked about how we felt about each other and how much we truly loved and cared about each other. We talked about how we wanted to get.. wait for it, here it comes, MARRIED!! Eric had said many times that wherever he was getting stationed next, I was coming with him. My response was always, I'm not going anywhere with you unless we're married, thinking to myself that that wasn't going to happen, at least not any time soon as it was only the beginning of October and he was due to leave at the end of March.

Together, we looked at rings two or three times and found the 'winner' on a Monday night. He ordered the ring right then and there. I know, by societys standards, I shouldn't have known that information or have even been in the store with him when he ordered it. We don't go by societys standards though. heehee. The next night, Eric sat and talked with my parents. My mother invited me to sit with them and of course, I at first hesitated, stating that it was his time to be with the parents, but I asked Eric if it was okay and he said it was. It was actually pretty cool hearing the love of your life telling your parents how much he cared about and loved you.... My parents 'approved' our desire to get married, with of course, some bit of concern as we really hadn't known each other for very long.

About three weeks later, Eric popped the question.. However, this story is going to have to wait as I have errands that I need to run today. To be continued....