Lovin the New River Valley

Moving back to Blacksburg has been a huge blessing for so many reasons!! Life is so much slower, that we are actually more healthy...reducing the amount of stress. Both Bryce and I could not rant and rave more about how little time it takes to get around town, to and from school, to the grocery store, even to the big town of Christiansburg to go to the mall (aka my community college). :) Bryce often rides his bike to school. I'm also so thankful that Bryce is really loving what he's doing. He is being challenged and getting to problem solve, research, and continue learning about his field in his classes. I think he will forever be in academia because of his personality and love for learning and teaching...but I guess we'll have to wait and see. I'm also enjoying what i'm doing with my time. For those who don't know, I am working part time for Rotam North America, the same company that my Dad works for. I help with marketing and market research, and also have some secretarial responsibilities. On the side, I'm taking 3 classes at the local community college as prerequisites to eventually get my Masters in Education. I have grown to believe that I would love to be an elementary school teacher. I will be taking these prereqs this semester, and next semester, and hopefully will enroll at Radford for the Masters program in Fall 2010. Life tends to change fast, so we'll see. It's really fun to be so close to the mountains and the river. Speaking of which, we skipped out early yesterday to go fishing at the New River. Plus we got to use our new canoe for the second time!

One year already!?

Bryce and I have been married for ONE YEAR as of September 26th!! I can't believe it. Bryce and I both can't believe it's been one year--I feel like it's flown by, and Bryce says he feels like it's been 80 years! Haha, yes, that sounds horrible, but when he said it, he didn't mean it in a bad way, instead that he can't remember or think of what life was like being apart from each other. It really has been such an incredible year, getting to know each other so much better, getting to know ourselves better, and just growing together. I am so blessed!!


For our anniversary, when we talked about what we were going to do, we (I) decided that Bryce could plan a surprise :) It was pouring all day, but we had a really special lunch at Chateau Morissette, and then stayed at the Roanoke Hotel. The hotel was so beautiful!! It was really fun, and actually, I think we watched more football than I have all season! We watched and cheered as the Hokies beat Miami, and then watched most of two other games. I also gave him a little gift...I made him a completely homemade Coconut Cream Pie (his favorite). This was quite a feat for me, but he loved it, and it was worth it.

Goodbye, Brad!

Just this week, we said goodbye to Brad, Bryce's oldest brother. We are so proud of him! He is a captain in the Marine Corps. He will be in Afghanistan for the next year. Please pray for his safety and time over there! We will definitely miss him! We had fun seeing him when we went home to WVa a few weeks ago. Fortunately, we were able to take a good family photo (Thanks Brett!) with ALL of us in it! And on that topic, I know that family photos can be a pain to get everyone together, take time to take pics, etc, however I am a huge fan of family photos. I am already certain that both my husband and my future children (God willing) will be annoyed with all the family photos I will want! There's something special about a professional looking photo from different time periods in life. Handsome Brad is smack dab in the center :)

Whiteds visit the Whiteds

I was just looking through my pictures, and saw some cute pics from late August, when we had 3 weekends in a row: Bryce's parents, Brant and Ashley, and then Brett and Rachel all visit our new little nest in Blacksburg :) We had a lot of fun!

With Bryce's parents, Connie and Roger, we walked around campus and painted inside the house-every room except the hallway and bathroom! I was really happy with how it came out. The family/dining area is a blonde/tan color, the kitchen is an avocado/celery color, and the 3 rooms are a modern looking gray. They were a huge help! After painting it, it feels a lot more cozy. The stark white everywhere made it feel very unwelcoming. Funny how just a coat of paint can really warm up a place.


When the bros and their cute wives visited, we just relaxed, watched movies, and we actually took them both (separately) down to the river to go tubing, and walked around campus to show our beloved VT.