What? More changes?

We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.

Walt Disney

We have been anticipating this, however we did not expect it to come so early...Justin and I would like to announce that we are officially....MOVING!!! :)

It's not Clayton, it doesn't have a view of the mountains, but it is really close to both of our jobs! yay!! Since Justin has been communting an hour and a half to work every morning and leaving at 5:15am, we decided we could spend an extra month's rent and go ahead a move closer!

Last Monday we went to Augusta, Aiken, and North Augusta in search of rental houses. We found several online we would like to look at but when we saw them we immediately found that real estate agents can take pretty darn good pictures of awful houses to make them look attractive. So after searching for a while we found one we really liked-- Nothing fancy, very small, but hey, we don't need anything big...it's just the two of us!

It was once used a parsonage for the church across the street, but since the previous pastor wanted to buy his own house, our house went up for rent!

After waiting an entire week to hear back from the real estate agent, we were getting a little anxious. I had been in contact with her everyday and each day she told me, "should hear something tomorrow!" So, I was getting frustrated... until I got a text that said, "I emailed you Friday saying the owners approved of the contract, are you still interested?" It was from the Real Estate agent...

How had I missed her email, I was checking it all weekend. Turns out, all of my important emails go directly to junk... Thankfully she make telephone contact with me!

We found a 2 bedroom, one bathroom house with a big fenced in backyard for the dogs! A year ago we had no clue that so many changes would be occuring at once, we knew we were getting married, but had no clue Justin would be finding a new job, new house, new city....and although it is not where we thought we would be starting our life together, we couldn't be happier!

We plan to start moving a few things in on July 1st then take a break for the weekend to see the Ziesers!

Mr. and Mrs. Justin Tyson

“This is my wish for you: Comfort on difficult days, smiles when sadness intrudes, rainbows to follow the clouds, laughter to kiss your lips, sunsets to warm your heart, hugs when spirits sag, beauty for your eyes to see, friendships to brighten your being, faith so that you can believe, confidence for when you doubt, courage to know yourself, patience to accept the truth, Love to complete your life.”

-Jeanette Winterson

 Justin and I would like to thank everyone who helped us celebrate our wedding, rain and shine!! We have been married 18 days and are already loving each other more than we thought possible.

 Thanks to our photograher, Sarah Mudder (www.bestgalphotography.com) and her assistant, Tia Williams (www.lifethroughtiaslens.blogspot.com), I am happy to be able to offer you a glimpse of our wonderful day and their beautiful talent!

"You can never be happily married to another until you get a divorce from yourself. Successful marriage demands a certain death to self."

Jerry McCant

"Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value; rather is one of those things that give value to survival."

C. S. Lewis

"There are three things that last: faith, hope and love, and the greatest of these is love."
I Corinthians 13:13

"Newlyweds become oldyweds, and oldyweds are the reasons that families work."

 Author Unknown

"We come to love not by finding the perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly."

Sam Keen

"Is not a kiss the very autograph of love? "

Henry Finck

"Happiness is like a kiss - it feels best when you give it to someone else. "

"Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared."

Buddha

"It is the passion that is in a kiss that gives to it its sweetness; it is the affection in a kiss that sanctifies it. "

Christian Nevell Bovee

"A happy marriage is a new beginning of life, a new starting point for happiness and usefulness."

Dean Stanley

"Remember that happiness is a way of travel, not a destination. "

Roy Goodman

To view more: click here!

Honeymoonin' in Yosemite!

Well, we're back and the real world has already begun for Justin. While he is at work, I reminisce about our the beautiful views, friendly wildlife, and cozy cabin--all put together for our amazing time in Yosemite National Park.

As we entered the park, Justin began to squeal  and he didn't stop until we left that next Saturday! We had arrived! We quickly realized that those individuals who marked the territory of Yosemite knew exactly where to place the boundaries! Right past the entrance to the park we were welcomed with a large granite faces on either side of us!  Spectacular.

Of course our first stop was the grove of giant Sequoias! It was amazing! The largest tree in the park was 1800 years old and about 1.5 meters above the base the tree's diameter is 25.5 feet.

Check it out!

Well, earlier I mentioned the 'friendly wildlife.' On our hike to Vernal Falls and Nevada Falls, we stopped for a gorp and water break. Not a minute after we stopped, we had a little visitor!  This California Ground squirrel would climb in our laps and even grab and eat peanuts out of our hands! When we made it to the top of Nevada Falls we stopped for lunch. We were eating our sandwiches and our oatmeal cream pies were still in their wrappers out in front of us. All of a sudden, another squirrel snuck up and stole Justin's snack, wrapper and all! :)

Here are a few more pictures:

 Justin and I found a nice, secluded spot on a fallen pine tree in the middle of a meadow in Yosemite valley for lunch two days! This was our view! :)

Our trip felt complete because we saw two bears!!

When we were hiking at Hetch Hetchy, we saw dozens of these little newts!

It SNOWED!

Glacier Point Lookout!  Best view in the park!

Us at Glacier Point!

Mirror Lake!

Our cozy little cabin!

California poppies!

Our honeymoon may be over, but we are still happily married and loving more than we ever thought possible!

Almost, Almost!

Almost time! For a name change, that is! :) I thought I should blog on more time as a single (in the eyes of the government) lady!

Excitement is rising as our big day gets closer and closer! (Currently 5 days remaining!) All of the wedding plans are being finalized for an outdoor wedding at Wedgefield Plantation! However, the weather channel does not seem to be supporting our decision for this outdoor extravaganza...SO, there is a Plan B!

 Mom and I sat down yesterday afternoon and sifted through reply cards, separated them into accepts and regret piles, and began writing phone numbers on each card. We have them organized into who will call who and the directions from Charleston, Florence, Georgetown, and even Wedgefield to the church  where we will have the ceremony in the worst case scenario.

So, in case of bad weather on Saturday, a phone call will be made to all who accepted their invite and say, "Hey! We're getting married at Screven Baptist Church instead!" Staying positive....

In case anyone wants to in advance, the address to the church is:
 2221 South Island Rd
 Georgetown, SC 29440.
(However, unless you get a phone call....the wedding is still to be held at Wedgefield!) :)

After a little stressing, Justin reminded me that the weather channel is often wrong and that I am NOT allowed to freak out until the night before! He also told me to stop doing my silly, neurotic habit of checking weather.com every 30 minutes just in hopes of Saturday being clear! I'm trying to listen! :)

We're both SUPER excited and as long as we are married at the end of the day, it will be beautiful!

May brings craziness....

This past weekend Justin and I had a lot of help working on his (in much need of fixin' up) house! A couple of my friends from Georgetown (Whitney and Elizabeth), my brother Ben, Nathan, Lindsey, Beau, and Mr. Tony and Mrs. Mona all came up to join the fun!

Many of you know Justin's color scheme, the light blue and dark blue, was not very appealing, so that was one of the jobs we tackled first. The girls were on the painting crew, while the boys caulked and replaced rotten fascia boards, (and primed and painted anything above 5ft.).

(We were laughing because Beau was the only one working and everyone was just sitting around watching him.) haha.

We were able to get a lot accomplished and are SO very thankful for everyone who came to help!

We did have a minor set back, however. Justin and I had all of the paint picked out and purchased before company arrived so we could immediately get to work. The colors were khaki and dark green, or supposed to be. (Our mistake was not testing the colors out before we purchased enough to paint his whole house.) When we started painting, the colors ended up being pollen yellow and a green that reminded everyone of baby poop. Not a good combination...at all! (Now realize, we had already purchased 5 gallons of the supposedly khaki color and 2 gallons of the dark green. A decently expensive mistake.) We decided to continue using the yellow (that dried looking a little more sage), but had to decide on another color for the trim. After Elizabeth and I spent about an hour in Home Depot, we came back with a sample size of dark brown. It ended up working and went back for 2 gallons. Moral of this story: before purchasing enough paint to cover an entire house, buy a sample of each color and test them out first! This will save you time, money, and a lot of stress! :)

                                   

Saturday night was my BIRTHDAY! :) So, Whitney, Elizabeth, Ben, Justin and I went downtown Clayton for some all-in-good-fun karaoke! :) I'll have to put up pictures when I get them from Whitney's camera! Justin sang "Devil Went Down to Georgia." After a stellar performance of not just singing, but dancing, too, a lady in the crowd yelled, "HE WAS THE BEST EVER!!!" haha. Oh, his many talents!

Three days after my 22nd birthday, I became a COLLEGE GRADUATE! :) 

Dad was so proud, mom even says she caught him wiping a tear from his eye! Oh, I love my dad!

Mom and dad came up early Tuesday morning before graduation to help Justin pressure wash his porch and carport (where they were trying to remove the outdoor carpet from the previous owners.) This was a lot of work and Justin and I were very thankful!

To give a recap of the commencement ceremony, at one point Justin texted me and said "I would like for you to reconsider getting your masters if it means I have to sit through another graduation."

I was excited the Tysons could make it down in the middle of the week! :) I apologized for having such a boring graduation, but Mr. Tony responded with, "I've never been to one that wasn't." So, that made me feel better! :)

Now that birthday and graduation can now be checked off my list of things to celebrate in May, I know can focus on finalizing plans for the most exciting event....OUR WEDDING! :)

In exactly two weeks, I will be Mrs. Justin Tyson! How exciting! I can't wait to see everyone! :) :)

So Long Status Quo...

As most of you now know, Justin and I are about to shake things up a bit...and MOVE! Although we realize this may seems a bit crazy considering the current housing market (and we'd have to put his up for sale), however we do have good reasons...

We both need jobs.

Justin has a job with Barlett Tree Experts in Augusta, GA and I... haven't made my final decision yet. I have a job offer, however there is one problem...it is two hours from Justin's job. If we live in the middle, the outskirts of Columbia would be our only option and we would both be commuting an hour to work each day.  (Yuck, I know)

Before we move (in 6 weeks) we need to:

• replace the rotten fascia boards on the outside of the house.
• tile the bathroom.
• make new columns for the front porch.
• close in the carport.
• put down hardwood floors in the kitchen.
• paint the cabinets and redo the cabinet doors.
• build an island for the kitchen.
• put the house up for sale,
• OH, and find a place to live....

WOW! Ok, I can't breathe anymore!
So, the next few weekends will, needless to say, be spent working on the house and getting it ready to sell. The weekend of my birthday, May 1st, several people are coming up to help make the process go a little faster!

Although this move was not in our plans and not what we were prepared for at all, we are trying to be optimistic about our new adventure....

I'll keep you updated on the quick transformation of Justin's old ranch-style house! Pictures and videos will be posted as soon as anything is accomplished!

Now to lighten the mood a little! This one's for the Tysons...

While chaperoning the 4-Hers at G-day last Saturday, I refused to take a picture with the cheerleaders...so, this is what Justin got! (For the record, "Go Gamecocks!") :)

I feel like doing the happy dance...

The stress is beginning to decrease little by little as the countdown continues!

Today brought the beginning of the end of Student Teaching! I had my last formal observation today!!! (Which was terrifying because it was at 8:15 am on the first day back from Spring Break! Intense!)

I am:
- 2 weeks and 4 days away from completing Student Teaching!
- 4 weeks and 1 day away from Graduation!
- 6 weeks and 5 days until I am Mrs. Tyson!

Woooooohoooooo!

Busy, Busy!

So, I've been warned not to let all of this attention go to my head because in a a little less than 2 months it will all be over! ...But until then... I'm enjoying all of these fancy-pants parties that revolve around me! :) heehee.

This past weekend was very busy with lots of wedding fun!

Saturday, March 27th my best friends from Georgetown, Whitney, Elizabeth, and Hillary (and their wonderful mommies) threw me a Bridal Shower!

Everything was so special. One of the most thoughtful gifts was the Sand Dollar Corsage with mine and Justin's initials and wedding date on it! Mrs. Debbie, Whitney's Mom, suggested the girls make a corsage that would double as a Christmas ornament so Justin and I will have something for our Christmas tree every year to remind us of this special time.

Whitney, my Maid-of-Honor pinning on the corsage.

My mom was all grins on Saturday, too! I think she is as happy as Justin and I am about the wedding! :)

*If you notice the cup in my mom's hand in the picture below, it is coffee punch. Elizabeth's mom made it for the shower and it was absolutely delicious, however Mrs. Lisa would not give us the recipe (I guess it is a family secret?). Well, that did not stop Mrs. Cheryl (to my mom's left)! After the shower, Mrs. Cheryl let my mom know that she had the recipe for that wonderful coffee punch! (I've included the recipe at the end!)

Who says friendships have to end with High School? By this time my face was hurting from smiling so much, but I was so happy some of my really good friends in high school could make it to help me celebrate! We get together as often as we can, or when we are all in town, but we are spread out across the state, so it is not very often that we can do this. It was so good to see some of them on Saturday!

Coffee Punch

Ingredients:

•1 gallon strong coffee

•1 3/4 cup sugar

•1 pint heavy cream

•1/2 gallon vanilla ice cream

•1/2 gallon chocolate ice cream

Directions:

1.Dissolve sugar in hot coffee and chill (for at least 45 minutes)

2.Add heavy cream. Stir well. Return to refrigerator until you are ready to serve.

3.At serving time, pour coffee mixture into punch bowl. Stir in ice cream by the scoop until blended together.

Sunday, March 28th my Aunt Kathy threw a lingerie shower at Redbone Alley in Florence. It was a very mild lingerie shower, considering my Mom, Aunts and both Grandmothers were there. ;) (However it was still a bit awkward!)

Just a thought: How do you write thank you notes to your family for lingerie? "Thank you for the (insert naught apparel here), I am sure we will enjoy it."?? ;)

Anyway, it was a wonderful time to gather and laugh with family!


Monday, March 30th was Bridal Portraits. Oh boy! Being all dressed up in my wedding dress and having my hair and make-up done made it all become real! In less than 2 months, I will be a Mrs.! :)

Mom, Whitney, and I went to Spartanburg to meet the photographer and have Bridal Portraits made at Milliken Park and on USC Upstate. The weather channel said it wasn't supposed to rain until 9pm Monday night, but I guess I should not have really been surprised when it started sprinkling on our photoshoot!

It all worked out well, though. Clouds make for great pictures and we had a lot of fun!! :)

Mom's amateur photography while driving! :)

Great Cake, Bad Frosting!

The roommates are away for the weekend. Justin is at Rock Eagle. What am I going to do?

  Today started off at Spartanburg High School at 7:30am to take two out of five parts of the Praxis II that is required to gain certification. Two dull pencils, an aching wrist, and six hours later I was finally getting in my car to leave!

 

  After spending a good portion of my day answering questions like 'what you would do if...' I was ready to do something I enjoy! Something that my stomach enjoys...too! :)

 I decided I wanted to bake something!

After much deliberation, I decided to make a three layer cake with fruit filling in between the layers! YUM! The top and bottom layer was made from the vanilla recipe below, and the middle layer is lemon! I was in a fruity mood! :)

It turned out GREAT (after a minor setback) and I thought I would share the recipe!

But before I do, I want you to help me solve a problem! Can anyone help me figure out what went wrong with my buttercream frosting? After I decorated the cake (and I even watched a youtube video for help) I decided to taste the icing...big mistake (of not tasting the icing before decorating the cake!) It tasted HORRIBLE! 

Ingredients:

 2T of Milk

2t of Vanilla

2 sticks of (unsalted) butter

4 cups of confectioners sugar.

The milk was not bad (it expires 3/16) and the butter was fresh... any guesses?

After scraping all of the disgusting buttercream frosting off of my once gorgeous cake, I decided to stick with my never-fail-me icing recipe (which I give Lindsey credit for). Thankfully the cake was not ruined because of my "you have to fit into your wedding dress, don't eat the frosting" mindset and it the recipe is worth a try!

Vanilla Layers:

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup milk

3/4 cup vegetable oil

2-1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla Meanwhile, prepare the filling.

Cooking Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).

Grease two 9-inch (23-cm) round cake pans.

In a large mixing bowl, with an electric mixer, beat sugar and eggs together until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Add flour, milk, oil, baking powder, and vanilla and beat for another minute, just until the batter is smooth and creamy. Don't overbeat. Pour batter into the prepared baking pan(s).

Bake in preheated at oven for 30 to 40 minutes or until the tops are golden and a toothpick poked into the center of the layer comes out clean. (A single rectangular pan will take longer to bake than two round ones.) Loosen the sides of the cake from the pan with a thin knife, then turn out onto a rack and peel off the paper. Let cool completely before covering with frosting, if desired.

Lemon Layers:

1-3/4 cup sifted all-purpose flour (sift prior to measuring)

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup whole milk

juice from one lemon (about 3-4 tablespoons)

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

Prepare the cake pan(s). Spray the pans with a little bit of butter flavored cooking spray.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl, combine the sifted flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

   In a bowl, combine the milk and lemon. Set aside.

   Combine the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping the bowl after each addition. With the mixer set to low, alternate adding between dry and wet ingredients starting and ending with the dry.

  Divide the mixture into the prepared pan(s) and bake until a knife inserted comes out clean. For me, using my 6 inch pan filled 3/4 the way full, it was about 35 minutes.

For the filling:

1 cup frozen mixed berries

1 1/2 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons cornstarch

Puree the berries in a bender until smooth.

In a small saucepan, combine all ingredients and let bubble for about 2 minutes.

Set aside to cool.

For the icing:

(the good icing!)

1 cup vegetable shortening

4 cups powdered sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon clear imitation vanilla extract

3 ounces heavy cream

  With an electric mixer, beat shortening until fluffy. Add powdered sugar and continue beating until well blended.

  Add salt, vanilla, cream of tartar and the heavy cream beating on low speed until moistened, adding a small amount of heavy cream if necessary. Beat at high speed until frosting is fluffy.

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

    Although the weather is beginning to be sunny with temperatures reaching the upper 60's, it feels like Christmas all over again! A pile of gifts in the living room, a table full of food, flower arrangements, and family...this sounds very similar to holidays at the Parrott's! What is the special occasion? I guess it could only be the beginning of wedding celebrations! :) For the record, I have a WONDERFUL family! On Sunday, my Grandma, along with several Aunts hosted my first Bridal Shower!

   To give credit where credit is due, my Great Aunt Jo (grandma's sister) made all of the flower arrangements! They were all so beautiful and very impressive! It really does not surprise me, however. All of the Mahoney ladies know all of the rules of etiquette...and gardening.

   My Aunt Jean (Mom's sister) also helped out with much of the planning! (See where I get my red hair??) She, Kathy, and Aunt Angie made the invitations, the punch, and brought the fruits and vegetables! Oh, what a party!

 

Oh and the little cake squares.... It's not a bridal shower without them! Man, I do not think I have ever realized how addicting they are until Sunday! (This is not a good thing, though...considering there is a fluffy white dress hanging in my closet that I need to fit into in a couple weeks for Bridal Portraits!)

 I was so overwhelmed (in a good way) with gifts! I wish we had taken a picture of all of them together! I told Justin that he would have to wait to find out what we got until he came home to see all of the pretty presents in person...but my excitement won out and I ended up bombarding him with all of the details of the party! Nothing about the detail-by-detail record of the day got his excitment up until he we started talking about the presents! (of course...)

I believe his excitement peeked when he heard we got the cast iron Dutch oven!!

   Thanks to these lovely ladies the shower went beautifully! Grandma Parrott, Aunt Jo Gamble, Aunt Angie, and Aunt Jean all deserve a very big hug and a million thank you's! Justin and I really appreciate all of the love and support! We love each and every one of you!!! Thanks so much, again!

New Look....New Philosophy

 "A young couple's journey through love, faith, marriage, and remodeling..."

 As we begin a new chapter in our lives, we understand that LOVE and FAITH brought us to this point, MARRIAGE! Our love for each other and our faith in the Lord has kept our relationship growing and makes it irreplacable. As we remodel the house, there will be many a blog posts about our accomplishments, but REMODELING can also be taken metaphorically. Justin and I see marriage as a major improvement in both of our lives and realize necessary changes will occur.

Through love, faith, marriage, and remodeling, we are off on a journey! A journey to honor Christ, reflect his holiness, and create a beautifully happy home together!

Way to go Cheerios!

As I was strolling down the cereal aisle the other day had to come to a sudden stop. Standing in front of the Cheerios selection, I noticed something new, something I had never realized before....

There are 10 different kinds of Cheerios. 10!

• Honey Nut
• MultiGrain
• Banana Nut
• Chocolate Cheerios
• Cheerios Crunch
• Berry Burst
• Frosted
• Apple Cinnomon
• Yogurt Burst
• Fruity

As I look through all of the choices, I can't help but think if all of these are really necessary. To me, the Fruity flavor and the Berry Burst seem like they could possibly be combined into one. And what the heck, why not make all of the cereals MultiGrain? Anyway, I move on.

 Although I may find the variety a little ridiculous and some of the flavors redundant, I do applaud them for sticking with the original flavor.

After spending a Saturday playing board games, Justin and I decided we wanted to add classic board games to our wedding registry. We went online in search of the classics, Monopoly and Scrabble. Well, like with the cheerios, there is now a huge selection of both of these games. Special editions, Movie Editions, Anniversary Editions, and the new Electronic Banking Edition Monopoly (which I still am not so sure about...).

Scrabble, even, is trying to get creative. Upwords Scrabble, Scrabble SLAM, Electronic Scrabble, Scrabble PLUS....I could continue but you get my point.

I am sure some game collectors appriciate their creativity and their ability to constantly update these already perfect games, but I just want the original, plain and simple, Park Place and Boardwalk Monopoly and Classic Scrabble, no need for fancy boards or glow in the dark pieces.

After searching online for quite some time, Justin and I were unable to find the original versions of either of these games. Apparently Wal-Mart, Target, and even the Hansbro site itself  no longer feel the need to carry the originals. It was a sad day for us!

In case you were wondering, this is why I at least applaud Cheerios for sticking with their original flavor! Way to go, Cheerios!