I am... ENGAGED!

On August 18, 2013, Andrew got down on one knee and popped the question, and with my whole heart I said yes!

Now before I dive into the romantic proposal story, I need to give a little back story first.

When Andrew and I were in the beginning stages of our relationship, before we were officially dating, almost on the daily I would go over to his house and we would go on these long walks with his dog Sadie. Our walks would last a good hour or two, and that is really when we both began falling hard for each other. We would spend the time talking and laughing, and learning so much about the other person. These walks are some of the sweetest memories I have with Andrew - the first time we held hands, shy glances in his directions, the butterflies I got every he would look at me, and I really got to know the person that he was and all about his family. It was on one of these walks that he asked me to be his girlfriend.

To Andrew, it seemed only appropriate that it was on one of these walks that he asked me to be his wife.

It was a Sunday afternoon, and the weather was decent enough, it had just finished raining the night before but it was a pretty, sunny afternoon. Andrew's parents were out of town and he showed me a text from his dad, suggesting we take Sadie on a walk [which was of course staged, I found that out later]. We walked up and down the road with Sadie roaming about, smelling all the new smells, as Andrew and I held hands. This walk was very reminiscent about all the walks we used to take, and how they formed the beginning of our relationship and the sweet memories. We shared how we used to feel on walks and laughed at some of the memories of being so shy and excited and how we have grown and changed together, and how far we had come. Looking back, I should have known what was coming, Andrew was being very affectionate which isn't rare just slightly unusual.

When we got back to his house, we were just hanging out in the yard with Sadie. I suggested going inside but Andrew had other plans. Before I knew it, he was down on one knee. Andrew poured his heart out about how much he loved me and our walks, how much I mean to him, about how he wants to spend the rest of his life with me, and then said,

      "Michelle Louise Bullard, will you marry me?"

Through the happy tears, I said yes and threw my arms around his neck.

We spent the afternoon calling our parents, grandparents, siblings, and close friends. Every time I retold the engagement story I started crying all over again. I'm going to be a mess when we actually get married!

Happy as can be!

My beautiful ring

Sad to See You Go, Sweet Summertime

I think it's safe to say, that fall has hit us here in Fairbanks. The leaves are starting to turn yellow, it's been raining the last two day with rain in the forecast for the next week, and the weather has started to feel chilly. Hopefully we will get a couple more nice days, but our midnight sun is gone until next year. **sad face**

What I am happy to see go, however, are summer classes! I am so excited that this is the LAST summer that I'll have to go through the pains of a summer class. I take my last final, trigonometry, this afternoon. The class hasn't been that hard, but the final is comprehensive so I've been putting more study time into than I usually would. I'll have about a two week break until the fall semester starts. Woohoo!

I know you're probably wondering....what has Michelle been up to lately?! And the answer is not much, but there have been significant events since I last blogged so here we go....

Sharon's Bachelorette Party! That was a fun time, got a little crazy, but that's what is required before your best friend gets hitched!

Maid-of-Honor, slightly toasted

Bride-to-Be with her best girl friends!

 As you can assume, the next weekend was the rehearsal dinner and wedding. There were laughs, tears, aww moments, and so much more. I hope you had the wedding of your dreams, Lovern! I love you dearly. Enjoy a few photos.

BTB & MOH/BFOTB

Bridal Party and Flower Girls, moments before walking down the aisle

Newlyweds, their photographer was amazing! And Sharon looked so beautiful!

My hot date!

This was such a fun day that I will always remember, it was so full of love and memories, old and new.

A couple days after the wedding, I met up with Andrew in Anchorage where he was umpiring. The weather was surprisingly nice for A-town, and we got some shopping done, and two trips to the Olive Garden!! 

 On the drive home from Anchorage, I got a surprising phone call from a local CPA firm that I interviewed with last October. They were still interested in having me work for them, so I went into their office to chat last week. I was offered, and then accepted, an internship, and I start work the end of the month!! I will miss working at BLM, they were always so supportive of my crazy school schedule, but I cannot wait to start working in the accounting field and putting these last 4 years of college to good use! Wish me luck!

One of the best parts of the summer, was when Ava and Ainslie came up for a visit. Ava is Andrew's brand new niece, and she came up with her momma to meet the family. Babies are such a blessing, no matter how they come into this world! I hope I'll be this little girls Auntie someday <3 She was just the sweetest thing, and her uncle and I just fell in love with this precious little baby.

Ava meeting Santa

Uncle Andrew and Ava in Santa's sleigh, Ava was hungry.

Feeding the sweet little angel

Head shot! Hers is so pretty

They left last week, with Matthew leaving for school too. When the family left town, Andrew and I hit the fair. It wasn't a huge deal, being that it's practically the same each year, but here our traditional photo button!

Fair 2013 Photo Button, #5

Our last hoorah before I start my internship and before the fall semester starts, we are heading down to Valdez to fish for some silver salmon! My dad is already down there, so we will be meeting up with him. It should be a good time, lets hope the fish are biting!!


XOXO

It's been too long, blog!

I can't believe I've gone this long without blogging...

Here is what's been going on in my life: my lovely BFF bride-to-be's wedding shower was Sunday, and it was so fun! We played a fun game, ate great food, and her sisters did an amazing job decorating and setting everything up. 

The lovely bridal party! 

The game I put together "mustache or tiara". Those game pieces were fun to make... ;) 

Next wedding fun is this weekend when we are going out for Sharon's bachelorette party!! And then in a little over a week the big day will be here. I can hardly believe it. 

Small Life Update

Not much has been going on for me lately. I'm still going through the weekly routine of work, some homework, baseball, and other things.

Some fun news, my aunt and uncle from Atlanta are in town visiting for a couple of weeks. I'm sure we will be participating in some sorts of touristy activities in and around town throughout the rest of their time here. 

CRAZY news.... my baby brother turned 21 on Monday! I am still in shock... I mean we aren't that far apart in age, only 1 year and 8 months, but to me he'll always be the 4 year old playing the Legend of Zelda and asking me to read him the character narratives throughout all the levels he went through.

Brotherly-Sisterly Love

Taking pictures together at Victoria and Jessica's birthday party

Something else I've gotten roped the pleasure of volunteering for is doing the scoreboard for American Legion varsity team. It's actually been kind of fun, but figuring out what's an error and a hit is so freaking tricky, and somewhat stressful. Luckily, I've only made a couple mistakes so far but when I do, everyone can see it! I just convince myself that no one was looking anyways, which is likely.

My view for the games, not bad! 

Finally, I will conclude this blog post with a picture of my darling Bessie. She's been sleeping on my bed lately, and tonight when I sleepily crawled into bed at 11:30 pm...I saw that she had threw up all over my sheets, leading me to have to change my sheets when I was soooo not in the mood. At least she's cute.

Here's the sheet ruiner 

Sweet Summer Time

Got me a hurr cut

And just in time for summer, look at these temps! 

Isn't that a beautiful sight? I mean come on. Fairbanks peeps all over are rejoicing that summer finally decided to make an appearance. I actually got tan lines watching baseball this weekend! That's why this picture is funny, because winter is officially over:

Thanks to my cousin for sending me that one, gave me a good laugh.

A congrats must go out to the WVHS baseball team. They got 2nd in their division so they're heading down to Anchorage for state this week. Which means I'll be boyfriend-less for like 4 days! Can't say I won't be happy when the season is over and I get my boyfriend back ;) 

Other things keeping me busy: summer classes, dog walks, bridal shower game plans, and work.

Week of Freedom

Wow, I can't believe the semester is over. This past year seems like it just flew by! However, I've really been enjoying my time without homework. Here's what I've been up to...!

Last weekend was crazy! I finished my last two finals on Friday, and was too wiped out to make it to my friends grad party that night, but I did get to my other friends graduation party on Saturday night. It was so fun celebrating with my graduating accounting friends, I know they must be feeling so elated to finishing their undergraduate degree! That being said, it was so liberating being able to watch all my buddies walk across that stage, knowing I'll be there in just one year doing the same thing!

I worked my first 40 hour week in....I don't know how long! Maybe Christmas break? Anyways, it felt awesome, and I know I'm going to be loving seeing those hours on my next paycheck.

Theodora...my dear friend since birth, basically, was in Fairbanks visiting from Arizona. It was so great to be able to get together with her and Jeana and spend some quality time catching up with each other! We were all able to go to dinner for Thai on Tuesday and met up for lunch on Thursday! :)

Theo, Michelle, & Jeana @ Thai House

Wednesday night, Andrew and I finally had a date night with no distractions... aka Michelle being so worried about homework or studying for a test, that she was actually able to enjoy the time she spent with Andrew! Imagine that ;) dinner and Glow Putt golf, something we used to do a lot before life got crazy and dates became few and far between.

SLEEP! I actually got a decent weeks worth of sleep, and watched way too much Raising Hope on Hulu. I just love that show though, Hope is adorable and that family is crazy!

Now that summer classes start on Monday, it's not going to be like this for a while, but I'm determined to be done with all my summer classes by July, because I want at least a little sense of summertime. At the moment, I'm enrolled in 3 classes, but if I think the workload for summer is a little heavy, or any classes have a big paper that I'll have to write, there's a good chance that I'll drop at least one class and only have to keep up with 2, which is completely doable.

On another note, it snowed yesterday. May 17th, and SNOW! Yeah, pretty upset about that. It's supposed to be in the 60's next week, so summer better get up here ASAP because we start losing daylight in like 34 days.

Here's looking up for better weather!!

What I'm Looking Forward To...

Well, the end is in sight. I have two more finals tomorrow morning and I'll be done with the semester! Such an awesome feeling! And now that I won't be consumed with work and class and homework, I have been thinking of everything that I'm looking forward to this summer...

Sharon and Eniwo's Wedding
My best friend's wedding is definitely at the top of my list of things I'm looking forward to this summer.  The wedding is going to be absolutely spectacular, and seeing her and Wo getting married is going to be the most monumental day in her life, and I couldn't be happier to be standing up with her on this special day.

Bridesmaid Dress Fitting
Can't wait to get that hem shortened, it's like 3 inches too long!

Getting back into the Gym and Losing 15 Pounds by Sharon's Wedding
Ok, I've been using the "busy with school, finals, and work" excuse far too often to talk myself out of having time for the gym. Come tomorrow, I am going to be MAKING time! I am also going to start weight watchers again, it worked for me before and it'll work again! I just need to commit myself fully to see the results, and with frequent visits to the gym on a weekly basis, I am hoping to be down 15 pound by Sharon's wedding. More would of course be better, but I want to set a realistic goal for myself in the 2 1/2 month time fram that I'm working with here.

Sunshine and Runs Outside
The sun has finally decided to make it's appearance here in Alaska, after setting record cold temperatures in April. Seriously, it felt like winter would NEVER end. Yuck. Thankfully, the weather in May has been sunny and gorgeous and the snow is starting to melt fast. Sharon and I have decided that we want to go on runs this summer, a way to exercise together in preparation for the wedding and getting to spend time outside. I have never liked running, but what it comes down to is that running is the best cardio and full body workout, so I am determined to learn to love it.

Baseball
Baseball, baseball, baseball. This is what consumes Andrew and his family's lives all summer. Matthew, Andrew's little brother, is playing for the Goldpanners this summer, so there will be a lot of time spent watching his games. In addition, Andrew umpires all summer long and there are many nights that I go and watch the game he is umping, just to be able to chit chat with him between innings...and he uses me to get him gatorades :) Plus, he looks good doing it!

Family Visits

It seems like summertime is the only time when family likes to visit us here in Fairbanks. Completely understandable, however. My Aunt Penny and Uncle Chuck are coming up in early June, from Georgia and they are so much fun! More family for Andrew to meet :) Another plus side, is that my aunt and uncles who snowbird in the winter are back in Fairbanks for the summer months. It's crazy how much you learn to miss these people year round, when you've grown up seeing them so frequently. Granny is coming back! I think...she changes her mind pretty frequently about coming up to Fairbanks, but I hope she does, I miss all our late night card games and having her make yummy meals almost daily.

4 Years of Love

Here comes a cheesy post, so be prepared.

Andrew and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary on Sunday, it was such a nice day spending it together and just getting to hang out. It doesn't sound like much, but being able just to spend a whole day together is rare, considering that we both work days and he coaches baseball 5 nights a week. 

Sunday morning, Andrew surprised me at my parent's house with Starbucks, an anniversary card, and flowers: Lillie's and 4 roses, one for each year. 

The Lillie's just started to really bloom today, and I'm obsessed with how gorgeous they are! 

Sunday afternoon, we went bowling together. The first summer we started dating, we went bowling ALL the time, so it was fun being at the bowling alley and having a blast competing against each other.

We ended our night with watching NCIS: Los Angeles (our newest television series) and eating Mexican food. 

In the craziness that comes with being a full time college student and it being literally 10 day away from finals, this was the perfect way to spend our 4th anniversary together. I love this man so much, he makes the simplest things so special and romantic.

Future Goals and My Final Plans to Graduation

This is it.... I have my final plans/schedules all decided, mapping out my plan to graduating from UAF with my Bachelor's Degree in Accounting! 

After posting a hilarious picture on Instagram and Facebook:

I realized that yes indeed, I do have time for that :( in fact, if I want to graduate by May 2014 with 150 credits, I have to MAKE time for "dat".

So alas, I am taking 3 classes this summer, all online.

5 classes in the fall (4 in class, 1 online).

And 3 classes in spring 2014, all online, and graduation will be in May. 

Ahhhh, the end is in sight! Ecstatic, much? Heck yes I am!  

Giving this blog thing a try...

I've never before had the urge to write a blog...mostly because I'm one of those people that thinks "who would ever want to read it?" However, in the past year I've started reading and following some blogs that my friends keep up, and recently came across some extremely useful blogs, so I figure I'll jump on this blog train and see how far I get with it. Stay tuned! :)

Oh and here's a picture of the author, for future reference!