HAPPY NEW YEAR....almost!

It's hard to believe it's been 5 months since we were married. I thought instead of writing I would just share some pictures to sum up the last few months. Enjoy!

BSG in the fall:

Grandma's 86th b.day

Wedding Celebration in BSG

HALLOWEEN

Our first Christmas!

WOW! 2010 has been such an emotional year for us! There have been some sad moments, but God and our family brought us through it. Luckily we had some very exciting moments too--our engagement and our wedding! The happiest day of my life...so far...at least until we have children!

I know next year will hold many more memories for us as we make our life together. So goodbye 2010 it's been wonderful and I'll never forget you, but I'm ready to see what 2011 holds!

PS: I'll try to do better at updating this thing next year! :)

We are MARRIED!

Yes I know we've been married a month. Yes I know I should have updated before now, but I've not had time to because I've been enjoying married life! It's wonderful. It's everything I've dreamed of and MORE! Our wedding was perfect...well perfect for us! If anything really went wrong we had no idea about it. I do have to send out a huge thank you to my bridesmaids for being by my side all day! I love you girls and you helped make our day more special. I love each and every one of you dearly and I'm so blessed to have you in my life. I know that Justin feels the same way about his groomsmen too--but boys don't share their feelings like us girls do! ;)

Incase you weren't at the wedding--which if you weren't invited and thought you should have been I'm sorry. Our list kept growing and growing and my parents aren't millionaires so we had to draw a line somewhere. I would love to have invited everyone who has ever been a part of our lives...but in the end we just couldn't afford to. Here is a run down of our wedding day from my point of view--which will probably be the only view you get b/c Justin doesn't blog!

The morning of our wedding I woke up at my parent's house--it was important for me to spend my last night as a single girl at home with my mom and dad. I woke up around 4:45 and layed there for awhile and when I finally did get up I found a letter from my mom. She had slide it under my door the night before. As I sat in my bedroom reading that letter I cried. Happy tears of course--almost bitter sweet. Here I was on my wedding day, sitting in the room where I grew up playing barbies, cabbage patch dolls, rainbow brite, talking on the phone to old friends who I have lost touch with, hiding from my brother, crying myself to sleep after the boy didn't call, after the break up with the boy in high school I just knew was "the one", and finally moving out for college. As I was reading this letter I saw it all though my mom's eyes and realized that one day (hopefully) I would write a letter like this to my little girl. Little girl...sounds funny to call myself that when I'm 30 years old, but that's what I am to my mom and dad. I always will be and I don't mind that at all. Ok back to that morning...after reading the letter and crying I decided to go outside and enjoy the sunrise. My dad was downstairs already and mom was still asleep. By this time it was around 5:30. At first I just went outside and sat in the swing that now hangs on our old swing set frame. The sky turned this amazing red/pink color and it made me think of the sunrise as God's love embracing the world. I knew then-and I knew before but I think God needed to remind me that as much as I love Justin, God loves us both so much more! I said a prayer that day for my future husband and our lives together. That was the first time I had watched the sunrise in a long time and I soaked up every minute of it. After enjoying the sunrise I decided to swing on Peighton's tree swing dad put for her in the same spot our old swing used to be. Little did I know that my mom and dad were watching me--after a slight freak out that I had run away when they couldn't find me in the house. I then decided to shoot some basketball. Something I used to do a lot of back in the day with my dad and brother. After shooting for a few minutes my dad comes out to join me. Looking back and after a few people commented it really was a "Father of the Bride" moment. Just my dad and me like old days playing a game of HORSE. I have never beaten my dad at this game. NEVER. He beat me the first game. I beat him the second game. So of course we can not end in a tie so we played one more round and I won. I think he let me beat him, but does it really matter? My last morning as a single girl was spent with my earthly daddy and my Heavenly Father. To me nothing is better and I will never forget that morning. I know I'll cherish it forever.

Mom captured it on camera! :) Thanks mom!

Moving on to our hair appointment--4 of my girls went with me to get our hair done in Dublin. Lori is amazing! She used a curling iron to curl my massive head of hair and it looked beautiful! All the girls looked beautiful! It finally started to sink in that I was finally the Bride when Lori put the hairpiece in my hair. I have been a bridesmaid so many times it really was a dream come true to be the bride!

Lori trying her best to make me beautiful!

Paige getting all dolled up!


Erin, Karen, and Sarah looking all beautiful!

After we had our hair done we headed to the church to get ready since John and Cindy (our photographers) were going to start shooting group shots at 2 and we still had to do our make up and get dressed! I had my make up done by Liz Shaver--a friend of my mom's who sells Mary Kay. I think she did a great job and I still looked like myself and it was very natural. Everyone kept asking me if I was nervous, but I really wasn't. I was going to be marrying my best friend why should I be nervous? I finally got into my dress and we had our pics made and as the seconds ticked by I started to get excited! I wanted to see Justin. Hear is voice and become his wife! From 2-4:30 seemed to take forever! It was finally time for us to walk over to the sanctuary. It was HOT. We stood outside for a few minutes before we moved into the vestibule. When it was my turn to go down the asile they closed the doors so I could move over to the doorway and the harpist started playing the bridal march. It sounded beautiful and all I could think was open the doors already I want to see my future husband! IT seemed to take forever because dad and brenda were fixing my massive train (it was like 7 ft or more). When the doors opened and I saw Justin all I remember thinking was I'm the luckiest girl in the world! I don't remember walking down that long asile I was focused on Justin and of couse I got a little teary eyed--especially when I realized that Justin was on the verge of tears too. It came time for my dad to give me away--which is something he had been saying for a few months that he didn't think he could do it--and even told my brother the day of the wedding to be on standby to walk me down the asile b/c he wasn't sure he could do it. I'm a daddy's girl incase you haven't figured it out yet! Well he did it and did it without crying, but during the ceremony I did hear some crying and I found out later it was my dad. The best words of the whole day were when the preacher said "I now pronounce you husband and wife". This was the moment I had been waiting and praying for my whole life.

After the ceremony we rode in a white limo to RU to Muse Hall for our reception. It was beautiful. We danced some--the dj and music is a whole different story--we were not happy with it at all. But it was still fun and it was nice to get a chance to speak to everyone who came to share our day with us. I hated we didn't get to talk to everyone for very long, but as I said before we had over 200 people there to talk to. If we didn't speak to you I'm sorry! We really do appreciate you being there!

We left the reception running though sparklers--and no one got burned! Our car was covered with TP and condoms and the car was filled with balloons--regular balloons and animal shaped balloons. (which made for some fun on the drive to Charlotte the next day) From RU we headed to the Inn at VT and our honeymoon began! :) The next morning we had breakfast at Panara Bread and headed to mom's for a brunch with our families and to open the wedding gifts so our families could see all the wonderful things we got. From there we drove to Charlotte to spend the night and ended up having dinner with Paige and Josh. It was a nice surprise and we had fun hanging out with them. The next morning we flew to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic for our honeymoon, but that's a whole other blog! Let's just say it was heaven on earth! We had an amazing time and did not want to leave.

Since we have been home and getting into the swing of things as a married couple things have been wonderful! Of couse we have our quirks we are each getting used to, but I wouldn't change a thing! I hope we are always this happy and in love and I know that as long as we keep God in the center of our marriage we will be. We have started reading the Bible together from the beginning each night before going to sleep. We are also reading a devotional called the Love Dare that was given to us by Lisa and Kevin who also got married this summer! We are only a few days in but I think it's going to be a good devotional for us. It will challenge us and bring us closer together as we grow in our marriage during the coming year.

On a side note I want say that our photographers were amazing!!! I would recommend them to anyone! His name is John McCormick. I will link his website below and you can go look at our wedding pics if you would like. When you get to his website follow these steps to see our pics:

1. Click on weddings
2. Click on "your stuff"

3. Click on Justin and Sheri

4. Enjoy! There are over 700 pics so prop up your feet and enjoy!

5. You can also look at my wedding portraits if you want from that same page-- instead of clicking on Justin and Sheri you can enter the password sherim in the box for Sheri Miller.

Here's the website: http://www.johnmccormickphotography.com/

Wedding Week

It's here! Finally! After 5 months of planning it's actually here! So many things to get done this week and most of it can't be done until Thursday or Friday.


Waiting on my programs to arrive is the most stressful part of the week! They were shipped from Oregon late Friday night via USPS...who thinks they will arrive in time for the wedding Saturday at 4:30? We might be folding programs in our dresses the day of the wedding!



I had my portraits done a couple of weeks ago at my grandmother's house on one of the hottest days we've had this summer. It was around 95 degrees! With all the layers of my dress I was roasting but the pics turned out pretty good. My dress was a little tight when I picked it up for the portraits b/c they took it in too much, but they let it back out--but not quite enough! ugh so frustrating so that means salads and lots of pushups this week to try to lose weight and tone my arms/back!



Thursday we plan to go to RU and put some lights up in the banquet hall. Then to the church to set up the tables and stuff for the rehearsal dinner and drop some stuff off that we might need on Saturday.



My MOH/Cousin Paige planned a girls day for me and some of my friends last Saturday. We started the day by hiking to the cascades--in the rain--but it was still a lot of fun! We went shopping for a bit, then met some more friends for dinner at Sals in Blacksburg, then headed back to Paige's house for some fun games. :) It was a great girls day and I'm so lucky to have such awesome friends! :)

On the hike up!

We made it to the top and had lunch in the rain!

We made it back to our car--a little wet and dirty--but no accidents!

So Many Showers!

Wow it's been awhile since I've blogged as Erin H. so nicely reminded me tonight when she told me to update this thing! Even though she is probably my only reader and already knows what has been going on in my life and with all the wedding planning I'll update anyway...


I have only posted about 2 showers that we have had--one at Nesselrod on the New and the other a surprise shower thrown by Erin and our third grade classes. Well we have also had 6 other showers! That's right 6. What can I say we are loved and very blessed! Here's a quick rundown of the 6 showers I have not mentioned already.


1) Lingerie Shower given by Erin and my cousin Patti. Bless their hearts they seached everywhere to find a place to have the shower that had a room with a door that could be closed. Mainly in part because this was a joint shower. My friend Lisa who is getting married 2 weeks after me is extremely shy and will blush at just about anything. So of course they knew that Lisa would probably be red faced the entire night. Luckily they were able to book a room at the Farm House in Christiansburg. I love this place! Several people had prior engagments and couldn't make it and we missed them very much! The girls did a great job with the shower. We had blast..I won't go into much detail but here are a few highlights of the night: a game that involved pantyhose, a carrot, and a milk carton, panties ranging from very skimpy to very large, handcuffs that got stuck on me, sexy lingerie, and cartoon love coupons which could possibly be labled as cartoon porn. (Lisa's words not mine!)



2) Bridal Brunch given by my great aunt and 2 cousins on my dad's side of the family. This was mainly for my bridesmaids, aunts, our moms, and grandmas. This was a girls only event. Everything was very nice. We drove to Galax to my cousin's home where we chatted and had 4 different types of quiche ( Ihope I spelled that right...).


3) Church shower--This was given by the women at the church where I grew up attending and have recently started going back again because Justin likes it. It reminds him of his church back home. He's very traditional so my church fits him. I love it there too b/c it's home and the people are family--literaly b/c I'm related to 1/2 of the members and the ones I'm not technically related to I love like family. They have supported me, prayed for me, and loved me since I was a baby. Anyway...back to the shower. We had a nice potluck dinner after church and then Justin and I opened our gifts. We got lots of really nice things--some off our registry and some not. We almost have all of our Fiestaware place settings! I think we are only one short. One special gift I got caught me off guard. Erin H. came to this shower b/c she couldn't make it my first shower at Nesslerod b/c her sweet Brenna was being dedicated at church. She had asked me earlier at school for my engagment picture cd. I had no clue what she was up to but she had a calendar made for us with all of our engagement pics. The calendar also includes our families b.days, anniversaries, our first date, and when we got engaged. The second part of her gift however is what got me. I recognized the box as soon as I saw it. Let me back track a couple of years to when Erin got married--around Christmas after Erin and Jonathan got married she had told us at work that she wanted to find a first christmas ornament for their tree. Well we draw names at work so we don't have to spend a fortune buying everyone a gift. Well Susan got Erin's name. So of couse Momma Susan had been listening to Erin and picked out a beautiful Christmas tree ornament for Erin. Erin of course freaked out when she opened it and now it means even more to her since we lost Momma Susan last summer to breast cancer. So when I opened Erin's gift it was the exact same ornament that Susan had ordered her 2 years early. I don't know why I got so emotional when I opened it but I just started crying and it took me awhile to calm down. I think at that moment I realized how much I had missed Susan this year and how much I wanted to share my happiness with her. She would have loved Justin and I wish he would have gotten to know her because she was a wonderful friend and "momma" to all of her "daughters" at work. So a special thank you to Erin for the ornament b/c not only will I think of one of my best friends when I see it on my tree each year but I'll remember Momma Susan too. ok...let me dry my tears so I can finish this blog!



4) My school shower--our school doesn't do anything really fancy for weddings or babies but they do honor us which I think is really sweet. Since Lisa and I are both getting married we had another joint shower! :) I'm so happy to be sharing this time with one of best friends! The "Sunshine Comittee" at work brings a cake and sweets for us to munch on thoughout the day and people bring gifts in and leave for us. I feel so blessed to work with such wonderful people. We received so many nice gifts and lots of giftcards! I brought everything home so Justin and I could open them together. :) I hate to hog everything when it's his day too.




5)Miller cookout. Of course the Miller side had to have their turn in celebrating our upcoming marriage too! I think we hit all sides of my family and his family is going to celebrate after the wedding. Anyway, so a few of my dad's cousins decided to have a mini family reunion/cookout/wedding shower for us. We had the party at Don and Becky Straley's house in Eggleston. They have a big house with a large yard on a farm. The perfect setting for a cookout! We had such a good time catching up with each other--some of the people I only see once a year if that! It seems like the only time we ever get together anymore is at a funeral. It was nice to see everyone for a happy occasion for once. We really appreciate all the nice gifts and giftcards we received there! We are truly loved.



6) Last but not least, Justin's office threw us a shower. It was supposed to be a surprise. However, Justin being the snoop that he is saw it on a calendar. I then let Carrie Beth know (one of the girls he works with who was planning it). So then they think he doesn't know I'm coming--but he really does--but I play along that he doesn't know I'll be there--until after the shower they we came clean that he knew about me. What we didn't know was that his brother, Josh, had arranged for one of his best friends from back home to come in for the shower to surprise him. Justin and I both were very shocked to see Daniel walk through the door! We were also very surprised to find out that the people Justin works with had gone together and given us $500. Wow! Yes! $500! See Justin had not hidden the fact that he really really really wanted a big screen tv. So their original plan was to buy us a tv. However, they know that Justin is rather picky and would probably want to pick it out himself so they decided to just give us the cash so he could pick it out himself. So that's exactly what we did. Justin, Josh, Daniel, and me all headed to Wal-Mart to the electronics section. It didn't take him long to find the one he wanted since he had been researching them online for about a month! We left there with a 42" Vizio LCD HD 1080 something blah blah blah....I know nothing about what these letters or numbers mean. All I know is that right now I'm sitting on my couch watching a very nice big screen tv! :)



So that sums up the 6 showers we have had so far. Right now Justin is having his "bachelor's day" with most of his groomsmen. They spent the day fishing, grilling out, and are now playing poker until who knows when! Fishing, eating, and poker--Justin's favorite things. I'm just happy he's not getting drunk and having half naked girls crawl all over him since that's what most guys seem to do for their bachelor parties! I really do have a great guy and I count my blessings everyday. I've waited a long time for my prince but he's finally here and I couldn't be happier!




Oh and good news! I have my dress--but that's a another saga! Hopefully I'll have my portraits taken this coming week! I have lots more to write but I'm tired of staring at my computer screen! Here are a few pics from a few of our showers to close out this extremely long blog! Guess that's what I get for waiting so long to post! I'll try to do better from now on! Enjoy the pics:

This is an apron my Grandma made me for the Miller shower.

Church shower: Justin's mom Vicky, Justin, Me, and my mom Liz

Me crying over the Christmas ornament




Bridal Bruch in Galax

Paige, me, and Erin

I told you I got stuck!

The carrot game....

The two brides!

Surprise Shower!

Today was the last Friday for our students. They still have to come next week, but their last day is now Thursday. This afternoon my co-teacher Erin and one of my best friends/bridesmaids surprised me (with some help from our Family Preservation girls Catherine and Katie) with a gift from our students along w/ brownies and ice cream. I was very surprised she was able to pull this off without me figuring it out or one of the kids slipping up and saying something! However, I did wonder why the kids were having to take Mrs. Halsey so many math papers during the morning this week! Little did I know there was money hidden inside the folded math papers! They kids got me a gift certificate to use for some Pampered Chef stuff--and we all know how much I love to bake! I'm very excited to look though the catalog and pick some things out.


Of course no shower would be complete without a silly game! Erin divided the kids up into teams--2 girl teams and 2 boy teams. The mission: to create a wedding dress from toilet paper! That's right the boys had to make a wedding dress too! They were so funny to watch and they did a cute job! I had to show off their "designs" so here are a few pics of the project and final products!



This team worked so well together! I think we might have some future Project Runway contestants on our hands!

She looks a little worried about what her group is doing....




bride or mummy?



Is that a veil?



The final products


Isn't she the cutest thing?

The 2 brides!

Just for fun to show how tiny she really is!

and YES she is in third grade!

So Proud!

This post again has nothing to do with our wedding but I'm so excited about the news I got on Friday I just had to share! As most of you know my students took their Social Studies SOL test on Thursday. I was so nervous because several of my students are so unpredictable when it comes to taking tests. They are a bright group and if they actually TRY and take their time I know they could all pass everything! I have to say though when it came time for their test on Thursday they were all very focused and took their time! They even double and triple checked when they were finished! When we got the results yesterday morning I was over the moon! Every single one of my kids passed their Social Studies! 100% baby! Not only did they pass but they passed advanced! Of those advanced scores 6 of them were perfect scores of 600!! I am so proud of them! They were super excited when I told them the news at the end of the day--we are talking ear piercing screams and jumps for joy! Of course I was jumping with them! :) Granted the Social Studies test is typically the easiest of the 4 tests we take...the hardest one is next...reading! I hope these results will give them all a confidence boost for the rest of the tests.

This year we are trying something different and taking the reading tests on 2 days instead of just one. We hope this will improve their scores b/c we typically lose them after the first part of the reading test b/c we have to take a break and when they come back from the break they have lost all concentration and just want to be done. By having it on 2 different days HOPEFULLY they will be more focused on the second part! Which will lead to higher scores!

I know they can pass if only they put their mind to it and focus the whole time! This next week will be one major review session for reading, science, and math! Our next test is the day after Memorial Day--which could be bad coming back from a long break....but maybe it will be good for them to have a break to relax a bit before we finish up the testing! Only time will tell....so please just say a prayer for them and me! :)

Oh and I have to give a shout out to my third grade girls! All their kids who took the test online this week also passed! So right now we have 100%! We have to wait for the 6 paper/pencil tests to be graded before we know the official results for the entire third grade! Congrats girls! We are off to a good start! Let's keep it up!

Copycat!

I'm going to copy my friend Erin on this post...and I know she won't mind because she copied hers from someone else! :) Her post was about what it would be like if she woke up tomorrow and couldn't remember the last 3 years. So this is what I would not remember if I suddenly woke up one day and couldn't remember the last 3 years of my life.

*I would not know Justin and I would wonder why there is a beautiful, shiny diamond ring on my left ring finger!
*I would not know that I would be getting married in about 2 months or who I was marrying!
*I wouldn't know that I'm going to be marrying into a wonderful Christian family.
*I wouldn't remember Heather and Jamie setting Justin and I up on our first date!
*I wouldn't remember our first date...or any date for that matter!
*I would think I still lived in Blacksburg with Erin in our cute little townhouse and not my own house!
*I would have to go though the pain of losing "Momma Susan" again.
*I wouldn't remember my amazing trip out west with my Grandma, mom, and dad.
*I would have to go through the pain of losing Justin's Papaw again.
*I would wonder why Patti is so big--and would be very surprised to learn she's pregnant and due in July since she just got married!
*I wouldn't have met the sweetest babies: Landen, Jake, Owen, Brenna, Addie, Jacob, Brady...and I'm sure there are a few more!
*I would think I just got home from amazing trip to India with Erin where I met Jonathan, Kelley, and sweet baby Kiran.
*I would wonder who Lisa, Sara, and Jessie were.
*I wouldn't remember fishing trips, lazy days on the lake with Paige, Thursday night poker, my poker boys, Rockband, or boardgame nights!
*I would wonder why Paige lives in Charlotte and is so far away!
* I would wonder why Peighton is in Kindergarten when she's only 3 years old!
*oh, and I would be really SHOCKED to learn that I was 3-0!!! How did I get that OLD?!

I would be confused about all the changes, but I would be so happy to see how my life has turned out! I have been blessed to have such amazing people in my life. I'm so excited to see what the rest of my life has in store for me!

First Bridal Shower

On Sunday, May 2nd Justin and I had our first Bridal shower. My cousin/maid of honor Paige and my sister-in-law/bridesmaid Whitney threw it for us. It was beautiful. They had it at Nesselrod on the New (a B&B in Fairlawn). It was a windy day but luckily the wind settled down during the shower. Paige and Whitney did an awesome job decorating and the food was wonderful! I could go on and on but I'll let the pics speak for themselves:

Patio at Nesselrod on the New

Mother of the Bride

Yummy and beautiful cake!

It was almost too pretty to eat!

3 generations

My bridesmaids (except for Erin)

Beer mugs for the couple who don't drink!

Justin is smiling b/c they are from his mom--they are the one thing he added to the registry!The beautiful quilt my grandma made!


We are so blessed that so many people came to the shower and gave us such wonderful gifts.

We really do appreciate everything!

moving along

It's been awhile since I blogged last but there isn't really much to report on the wedding planning! Most of the big stuff is booked/confirmed/etc. I ordered the invitations and they arrived a few days ago. So the next big task will be addressing, stuffing, and stamping all of them! That should be fun....

Justin and I had our engagement "photo shoot" the Saturday before Easter. Luckily we had beautiful weather! Mary Stafford took the pics and did a wonderful job! I highly recommend her! :) I chose to have the pics done at my Grandmother Miller's house, down by the creek, and at my Grandma Talbert's house. I wanted to do the pics outside and at places that I have wonderful memories. I'll post a few of the pics here for you to see. If you want to see them all then you'll have to look at my FB page.








I have my first shower coming up this weekend. My cousin Paige and sister-in-law Whitney are throwing it for me at Nesslerod on the New in Fairlawn. It's a B&B that is rented out on weekends usually for weddings and showers. Since the wedding season has begun the only day they could get the place was on a Sunday afternoon. Over the next 3 months I have quite a few showers planned. This one will mainly be my mom's side of the family and a few of my close friends and my bridesmaids. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone b/c it seems like the only time I see a lot of my mom's extended family is at our annual family reunion, marriages, and sadly deaths. It should be fun!

On a side note Justin and I have some sad news to share. As most of you probably know Justin's papaw has been diagnosed with cancer (again) and he is not doing very well. We went in last weekend to visit and he recognized us at first then began talking about odd things. He hasn't been eating or drinking much either. It was very hard for us to see him like this. Justin is very close to his papaw and thinks the world of him. I lost my poppy 3 years ago to cancer so I know what he's going through. Seeing his papaw brought back memories of the last weeks I spent with my Poppy and it just broke my heart all over again. I know there is nothing I can say to Justin to make this any easier on him, all I can do is be by his side and let him know I'm there and I love him. Papaw has had a good life and we know when he's ready that he will be better off than all of us. I've only known him a little over a year, but he is a strong Christian man that many people in the community and their family look up to, especially Justin and Josh. I just pray that when the time comes that a sense of peace will come over the family and comfort them. I hate to see people suffer with cancer. I have lost too many people in my life to this horrible disease. We need to, no we HAVE to find a cure. Please keep Papaw and the Jones family in your prayers over the next few weeks.