Ready...Set...GO!!

Oh my goodness...I have really been slacking on updating the blog lately but life has been a little crazy since my last post. Right after I got engaged (WOOOOOOOOOOO) I started right back in the swing of things with athletic training. I have been helping out with pre-season football camp for the last two weeks and it has been INSANE! Most of my mornings either started at 5:30am or 6am and go until about 7pm on regular days and 10:30pm on two-a-days. Welcome back! Haha. Oh well, the experience for the most part has been very good and beneficial for my education so I can't complain too much.

School is starting up this Monday (yikes!) and I don't feel prepared at all! Usually I'm the type of person who has everything organized and ready to go a week before school starts. Not this year! I've been so busy with football camp, wedding stuff, and work training that I haven't even had time to clean my room! :( But that's not stopping my excitement! I have been a little stressed on how I'm going to be able to balance everyting I have going on this year but for the most part I'm mainly excited! It's my Senior year of college and I'm going to make the best of every experience! :)

Here's to the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year!
Here we go..... :)







Really quickly, I realized I never posted a picture of my engagement ring so here it is. ;)

Pictures from the Engagement

Hello! Here are the pictures I promised! Hope you all enjoy :)


Our first picture as an engaged couple! :)


What a lucky girl I am!








Jon wanted a kissing picture


David, our entertainment :)






Jon and his best buds


Me and the boys

The Engagement Story

As many of you probably know...

I AM ENGAGED!!! :) On August 8th, 2010 at around 11:15AM Jonathan David Kerby asked me to be his wife, and I, with tears in my eyes, said YES! :)

Many of you have been asking about the complete story and since I don't (although I wish I did) have enough time to call each person and tell them, I am sharing the story here! Also, this way to I can post pictures. However, my camera died yesterday and I haven't been home yet to get the charger so look forward to pictures on the next blog. ;)

Alright...where to begin... :)
Sunday morning I woke up and was pretty tired from the night before. Jon and I had gone to Ft. Collins with our friends Ryan and Courtney (who are also engaged) and Dana and Bryce (who were recently married in July). So needless to say I didn't get a whole lot of sleep the night before and was a little cranky while getting ready. Jon came over in the morning to pick me up for church but before we left I made us tropical protein smoothies for breakfast. Yum! (I don't know why, but I always like to throw in the food references when I write my blogs haha)
We got to church at about 9:45am (church started at 10am) so I could have time to just pray and get in the presence of God before the service started. Little did I know, but Jon had actually been on planning to ask me before church but the place was already pretty crowded 15 minutes before so he decided to wait until after. While we were sitting in church listening to the scripture readings, Jon took off my purity/graduation ring my parents had given me and started playing with it. It's a blue sapphire ring that I wear on my middle finger on my right hand. He's done this at church before so it didn't throw me off at all. After looking at it and hanging on to it for a while he put it back on my finger. Towards the end of church he took it off again and once again it didn't really throw me off. I did notice however that he put the ring in his shirt pocket, but in my mind I thought he probably just didn't have time to put it back on my finger and didn't want to lose it.
After church ended, I usually stay seated for a while and just pray on my own before I leave. Jon joined with me and he led us in a sweet prayer. He asked God to protect our relationship and always keep Jesus at the center. Afterwards, we got up and headed out of the church. As we're walking to the car I realized he hadn't given me my ring back. This is how the conversation proceded...

Me: "Can I have my ring back?"
Jon: "What?"
I reach into the pocket I saw him put my ring into but didn't pull out a blue sapphire ring. Nope, I pulled out a diamond ring! I only got a glance of the diamond before I quickly scared myself and said,
"Ah! That's not my ring!" and put it back in his pocket.
Jon: "That is your ring."
At this point I started to tear up a little and Jon came over and gave me a big hug. Then he pulled away, got down on one knee on the sidewalk by his car, gently grabbed my left hand and said, "Noel, will you marry me?"
Shaking a little, with tears in my eyes (I did not full out cry, I was very proud of myself haha) I said, "Yes."
And for the next few hours I barely took my eyes off my left hand. :)



Once we got back in the car, Jon had told me he had a whole day planned out for us and that we needed to go back to my house so I could pack my clothes. I quickly threw my overnight necessities in my bag, wrote my roomates a message on the white board that I was engaged, and left to go enjoy a day with husband to be! :)
It's about an hour and 15 minute drive from Greeley to Evergreen so Jon and I just got to enjoy each others company and delight in the fact that we are now one step closer to being married! I also started calling and texting family and friends to let them know the good news. Once we got to Evergreen, Jon and I stopped at a King Soopers to pick up some food for lunch. Jon told me that we were going to be having a 5 course meal for dinner somewhere so we needed to eat a light lunch. We ended up picking out an Australian cheese, fruit, crackers, and iced tea. We ate our lunch off a trail in the mountains while I continued to call my close friends to let them know the details.
Next, we headed to Evergreen Lake. I had always wanted to go paddle boating ever since we were driving by the lake one time and I saw people on the lake trying it. So, like the good boyfriend he is (or should I say fiance!) he took me on my first paddle boating experience! SO FUN! Very relaxing but you can also get quite the workout too depending on how fast you want to paddle. :)


Afterwards, we headed to Jon's brother's house first to see his new puppy and then to his sister's house to share in the excitement of the engagement!


Now here's where the best part begins...


Jon had told me we were going to a fancy dinner and since he had gotten pretty sweaty from the paddle boating, he wanted to go home and change his shirt first so he didn't stink during dinner. While we're on the dirt road (his parents live in the mountains) leading up to his long driveway, he looks over at me and says, "Oh by the way, my mom said she has a surprise for you but wants you to close your eyes all the way from the driveway to the house." I thought it was kind of silly to close my eyes from there to there (seeing as there driveway is pretty long) but said ok.
We pulled to a stop and Jon said, "Wait here, I'll come around and open your door for you." He opened my door, helped me out, and started walking me towards what I was pretty sure was the door. The next thing I hear is "Ok Noel you can open your eyes."
I opened my eyes and was greeted by Jon's 3 best friends Jake, Nathan, and David, his mom taking pictures, and his Dad smiling in the background. Jake was completely dressed up in a chef's outfit and Nathan and David were dressed up in suit and tie. Welcome to the restaurant! :)


Nathan (our waiter) then led us out the gazebo that overlooks the mountains. It was about 7:30pm so the sun was just getting ready to set. There was a table set for two and a fire going in the fireplace. Let me just say...Jon swept me off my feet! He had planned everything out so that we could enjoy the sunset, fire, a quiet dinner, and delicious food! David, (Jon's best friend and incredibly gifted musician) even played acoustic guitar for us in the background. The whole atmosphere was PERFECT!
After we finished eating, Jon's parents said a special blessing of engagement over us. It was a perfect way to end such a wonderful and memorable day!


I am so incredibly thankful for the man God has blessed me with and can't wait to spend the rest of my life with him!

I love you Jon and thank you for such a special, memorable, and romantic engagement! :)

Birthday Weekend Fun!

Whew! What a busy but extremely fun weekend I had these past four days celebrating the big 2-1!! I thought I'd go ahead and start this off with a quick shout out to all the people who helped celebrate my birthday! Mom, Dad, Jon, Jon, Amy, Andrew, Dee, Brian, Ned, Susan, and Diane! Thanks guys for making this such a memorable birthday! :)

Alrighty, let's start off with Friday. I woke up at 6:30 in the morning (don't ask me why, I was planning on sleeping in!)to a wonderful and sweet birthday note written by Jon. I then watched Spongebob Squarepants (never too old for that right?), ate breakfast, took a shower and got ready for a fun day with my favorite guy. :) We started off with coffee in Evergreen and got take-out for lunch from one of Jon's favorite restaurants Saigon Landing. We then headed to St. Mary's Glacier and enjoyed our picnic. Here's a quick picture. I would HIGHLY recommend visiting the Glacier (especially if you live in Colorado). It is only a 3/4 mile hike (a little rocky but nothing too hard) and the views are absolutely beautiful!

After the Glacier, we headed to Black Hawk for me to experience my first time gambling. Let me put it simply...I HATE GAMBLING!!! Haha it stresses me out so much! Why anyone would take joy in letting a machine eat your money is beyond me. Need less to say I only won 15 cents. Haha oh well. However, I did get carded for the first time which felt very monumental for some reason. :)

After my unfortunate casino experience, Jon and I headed back to his house to enjoy a delicious birthday dinner with his parents. Jon cooked my favorite; coconut shrimp, seasoned broccoli (actually I cooked that), and homemade sweet potato fries. And for dessert, a yummy angel food cake with fresh strawberries and light whipped cream! :) Mmm Mmm! We also had a white merlot with dinner and a mudslide for dessert (Kahlua, vodka, and Irish creme)! It was wonderful!

Saturday, Jon had to work from 9am-12:30pm so I decided to read a little, catch up with a friend, watch some TV, surf the internet, work out, and then took a nap outside on the patio. Once Jon got off work, we headed down to Colorado Springs to celebrate my birthday with my family! :) My mom had picked up some delicious food to make chicken fajitas. Yummo! She also arranged for a photo scavenger hunt with the parents on one team and the kids (or should I say young adults haha) on the other. Here are a few pictures.






After the scavenger hunt, we went back to the house to enjoy cake, ice cream, and presents. My biggest present I got this year was from my parents! A new camera!! :)
Here's what it looks like!


Sunday, after church and eating lunch with my mom at the hospital (where she works), we went to see the new movie Inception. GO SEE IT! :) If you like mind-bending movies, you'll definitely enjoy it!

And now here we are on Monday already! I have to head back to good ole Greeley tomorrow for work. This is my official last week at the front desk! YAY!! However, the craziness of football camp and athletic training just begin this week! It's going to be a crazy ride but I'm ready to dive right in to my SENIOR year! Let the games begin! :)