thankful hearts

Happy Birthday, Jim! Today is my father-in-law's birthday (he's 60 something... 64 maybe? but you would never know it!) and today is also the first time I've ever referred to him as my father-in-law. Weird. It stinks to live far apart from family, but it especially stinks on birthdays and holidays. I hate that I'll mostly forget that today is his special day because we won't get to celebrate it with him. Beth will deliver our group gift (a digital picture frame with pictures already installed :)), and I'm anxious to find out what he thinks!

There have been so many wonderful things going on lately, yet every time I've sat down to write on this thing, my mind has drawn a blank. I guess I'll just touch on everything a bit... (just to warn you, this may get long and boring).

I, like every working person in America, wish every weekend was 3 days! It just makes life better! We had a fabulous long weekend being with our friends. Friday night we had dinner and hung out with the Rochas and thus began our Rocha-infested (sorry, I couldn't resist the play on words! no negative connotation intended :)) weekend! Saturday Keith rescued me and watched the Ohio State game with Dave at Buffalo Wild Wings (though- do not fear, the lady called yesterday to inform us that we now receive the Big Ten Network. Thank goodness. I was having a hard time sleeping at night :)) and I hung out with Becca for a little bit to help work on things for Kate's room. Oh, and while we're on that subject, I ought to inform you that David and I have been dubbed (by ourselves, no less) "Auntie Em" and "Uncy Dave". We are just so excited to have become such good friends with Becca and Keith and we cannot wait to share in the joy of watching Kate be born (not literally) and grow up! David cannot wait to teach her how to water ski :). Saturday night we had such a fun dinner with two of our favorite families: the Jenkins and Harrisons. It was so good to see them and catch up! We love them!

Whew, that paragraph was getting kind of long. I'll start a new one just so your eyes can rest (since after all, we only just finished Saturday!).

Sunday was our August birthday celebration for Alex, Sarah, David and me and it was so fun! Post-celebration, we went out on the Bryant's boat for a brief trip. I skied pretty decently (which is a new thing) and David got up on a wake board on his first attempt! We hope we can squeeze some more time in out there before the weather gets too cold!

Monday was soo fabulous. We slept in late (well, about 8), David made me breakfast in bed and then we had the whole day at our disposal! What a great invention that Labor Day is! David & Keith went to the driving range for the morning and then we headed to the Rocha's for a pool party cookout! We met some great new people and really had a good time!

Now, man, aren't you regretting even attempting to read this post? I guess my writer's block is healed. Lucky you.

Last night I got to spend the evening with my dear Sarah, and it was great (sorry, I don't have a song for great). We have kind of dropped the ball on talking through our Bible study book, but we had quality conversations that totally made up for it. Becca came over when she got out of her learning-how-to-be-a-mommy-and-make-sure-my-child-eats class, and our good talks just continued. By the time David got home (from his new Bible study group), we both were just brimming with excitement over our amazing friendships. A-MAZING. I can't even explain how huge of a blessing it is to have moved to a new town and be immediately immersed in probably the most authentic friendships I've ever had with girls- and the same is true for David, just with boys. It's just incredible how the Lord has prepared all of us for these relationships- we are each so unique, yet perfectly similar such that we all fit together seamlessly.

I have really been challenged by Becca & Sarah lately in a couple of key areas that I consistently struggle with, but usually don't intentionally work on (being judgemental, complacency, and loving David in the most Christ-like way possible). It's amazing how these sins have really surfaced lately, and I have really faced my convictions because I know I have that accountability. Whew. God is cool (and sneaky, right S? :)).

All of this to say, the Geyers are just blown away with thankful hearts.

a few new favs

Jordan and Henry Saas are amazing friends from Oxford who have a gift with photography. They spent the entire time at our wedding and reception taking fun (mostly candid) pictures of everyone having so much fun. I'm realizing that it's going to get kind of sad when all of the wedding photos are done trickling in! I will need to start doing some exciting things so I'll still have fun pictures! But for now... here are a few of my new favorite photos from the Saas men:

I LOVE this picture! How cute is David's dad?! Beth, you're cute too :)

I love my honorary cousins! Our parents all went to college together and I have forever called them "Uncle Greg" and "Aunt Bev"... always. Katie and Laura are precious, and I can't wait to see them all again at Katie's wedding in the spring!

Ellie Jenkins... what a doll baby. A sweaty, bored little doll baby!

Seriously? Please, Fischer, try to be just a little bit cuter... oh wait, it's not possible.

This last one is my favorite one in ALL of their pictures. Denise, it is SUCH a beautiful picture of you and Amy Grace (and Darby) are just precious. This is frame-worthy for sure :)

Here's the facebook album with the rest of them (sorry for always referring you to facebook, but that's where all the pictures are): http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2057800&l=d2b33&id=41800263

23

So, I am 23 today. Not a big deal because well, 23 isn't really that much different than 22 and I'm such a youngin' that I feel like everyone else is already 23. Since the birthday itself isn't much to talk about, I decided that today's post will be a list of 23 things about me:

In no particular order...
1. I am a sinner, saved by grace
2. I don't like green foods
3. My skin is fragrance-resistant
4. I am a list-making fiend
5. My favorite childhood memory is selling hickory nuts
6. I graduated with 32 other people in my senior class in high school
7. I am a hypochondriac
8. I have over-active salivary glands (see #7)
9. I really enjoy the company of adults- some times more than that of my peers
10. My idea of a perfect vacation is tons of reading and sleeping
11. ...But I am a homebody
12. I am a horrible decision maker and rely solely on my sister's decisiveness
13. In a past life I was a cheerleader (well, in this life, but it seems like it was a lifetime ago)
14. My favorite punctuation mark is the colon
15. I broke my hand on an 8 year-old girl's face
16. I want a malti-poo and might steal Matt Wilson's if he goes on vacation
17. I had 5 roommates in 4 semesters my first two years of college, but I promise I'm not a bad person
18. I hate cancer
19. My greatest accomplishment in life thus far is running a half marathon (without training)
20. I am a Type A, first born child to the "t"
21. I love Chattanooga and am amazed at how quickly it has become our home
22. I want to be a mentor
23. I love calling David my husband

Man, that was fun. Be looking for the continuation of that list because now I'm really cranking them out :)

It's raining men

Ok, so it's not actually raining men, but it is raining. I realized as I drove to work this morning that today is the first time it has rained since David and I have been married. The reason this is noteworthy is because the rain makes me desperately want to be home cuddled up in a blanket, watching a good movie with my husband! It's still really fun to call him that :).

Sorry I have become a bad blogger! I was talking to Becca last night about how I've kind of become a blog snob... I don't really want to post anything at all if it isn't exciting news, a momentous event, or at least if there aren't pictures associated. I think I've gotten spoiled because I have had lots of all of the above lately- which have made for a good blog! Regardless, I am thankful, so, so thankful, that life is slowing down a little bit.

So, in thinking about it, I don't really have any new news. However, David does, so it makes sense that I'll share his:

• David started grad school at UTC last week for his MBA, and he seems to think the class shouldn't be too bad. Also, it's great that Jason is in his class so they can hang out (or at least sit next to each other). Since he's just taking one class right now he only has to go on Monday nights, and that is a good thing!


• David is getting a group of guys together to start meeting together as a Bible study. He's gotten jealous of the "Newcleus" and taken matters into his own hands :). They are meeting tomorrow night at the Rocha's and hopefully we'll all be able to meet at the same time.


• David is 23! Saturday was his birthday and it was a really nice day. We didn't do anything special- mostly because we are "celebrated" out. My birthday is tomorrow and I'll honestly be ok if everyone forgets about it. I did make David his favorite- banana pudding- and we watched John Bryant play football at Baylor. David had a good day, and that was the important thing!

I am so proud of David, and so thrilled to be his wife! It's been so much fun getting to know him better over the past two weeks, and we love being roommates! He is my bestest good friend and I'm so blessed. And, while we're on the topic of David... check him out in his grilling attire:

What a stud! And a good grill master, I must admit.

In other news... our bedding arrived! After debating back and forth about so many different bedding options, my sister finally helped me decide (go figure, Ashley helped me make a decision) on this lovely set:

We love it, and it's so nice to have our home coming all together!

Ok, that's all for now... thanks for tuning in :)

honeymoon pictures

I was going to blog about our honeymoon, but I decided there are way too many pictures and things to tell. So, here are the 2 links to the albums on facebook so you can check them all out!

Part Uno: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2057302&l=b34ff&id=41800263

Part Dos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2057303&l=4c5d0&id=41800263

Enjoy!

Life is Good

Yes, yes it is. What an amazing August it has been! I've been putting off writing this post all day because I have no idea where to even begin! I should have been blogging all of last week just to stay caught up, but I refrained (though I did change my name and status on facebook... hey, we had internet in our room... no crime committed). If I wrote out in paragraph form everything amazing and wonderful that has taken place recently, it would be a book- a book that would be boring and you wouldn't read it. So, alas, I resort to my favorite punctuation... the beloved bullet points:

• I finished up my time at work on Tuesday (August 5... yikes that was a long time ago) and went into full-out wedding mode. I don't remember everything about Wednesday (again, it's been a while), but I do remember that it included a pretty hefty trip to Sam's and Andy & my fam arriving in town. And- Ash and Court made aprox a babillion buckeyes. Proof:

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Thursday was great. God showed up in so many unexpected ways and we were so thankful! We were able to completely set up the church and the reception hall a day early, which made the whole weekend a bazillion times less stressful. Oh, and my family (including Courtney) was wonderful. More proof:


Ok, the formatting on this blog is driving me bananas, so forgive me if from here on out it looks like poo.

• Thursday night was awesome. We had a ton of little girls and big girls at our house for the honeymoon shower where Ashley surprised me with the fact that David and I were to go to MEXICO for our honeymoon!! The Mexican-themed shower was just perfect and it was so, so much fun to spend time with everyone.
• I think I'm going to run out of words for how wonderful everything was that weekend. Forgive my redundancy, but Friday was wonderful!! The fact that the weather was beyond perfect was a gift from God. We had a blob-loving group out at CVP for the morning and it was a blast!! We sufficiently wore everyone out, and only hurt a few... Casey, Mattearley, Andy (so, the best man had a black eye... no big deal). It was an awesome day spent at our very favorite place. I think we'll have some great pictures turn up from that morning. Those of you who took a ton- send them to me :)
• Friday evening was also wonderful. We were so thankful for David's mom and everything she did to organize the dinner. We had bbq, hot dogs & hamburgers at Coolidge Park. It was the most beautiful night so everyone got to play outside and enjoy the outdoors! It was so fun greeting people as they trickled into town, and it made me really thankful to have that time with folks. Highlight: my dad's side of the family came! Grandma Elizabeth, Aunt Annie, Uncle Phil, cousins Felicity, Claire and James rented an RV and drove from Richmond, VA. It was SOOO special for them to be there! Another picture (that I stole from Claire's facebook):

• And, that picture nicely seg ways into my next topic: WEDDING DAY! Saturday was perfect. Absolutely perfect. I was so unnaturally calm because it was so good and right to know that David and I were directly in the center of God's will for us. All of the plans were done, the jobs were delegated (again, I cannot say THANK YOU enough) and the time had finally come to marry my best friend. It was the best day of my life! There are tons more pictures to come, but our fabulous friend and photographer, Laine Williams, shared a few with me already, and I'll give you a "David-and-Emily-classic" sneak peak:

We only wish we had more time to spend with each of you wonderful friends and family members who blessed us by being there. Hopefully you'll all come back and visit us in Chattanooga soon!!
Join me next time and I post about our fabulous Mexican honeymoon! (I would do it now, but there's no way I'm getting another picture on this blog without going crazy)

brimming over

What a Monday! Ashley and Courtney got in town Sunday night and we maximized our time that night! I kept them up till the wee hours of the morning just talking because I was so excited to have company- and help with wedding stuff! Unfortunately, the late night and early morning combo didn't really work out for me... I was a pile of bad mood and hormones all morning yesterday. However, my wonderful co-workers threw us a surprise shower!! It was SO sweet of everyone in my office (Development) and the Alumni office and University Relations! Unfortunately (again), I was suffering the whole time from a ridiculous migraine that caused me to excuse myself twice due to my nausea. I think I played it off pretty well during the shower, but I was feeling bad. My boss could tell I was in a bad way and she sent me home after the shower stuff wrapped up. I was SOO thankful!! I got a good nap in and was able to get a lot of productive things done at the house. Ash & Court were running errands all evening and David took Matt Pirkle with him to run even more errands, so it was nice to have a little bit of quiet time to myself before the mayhem ensues. Yesterday I was stressed and overwhelmed, but it's amazing what a good night's sleep can do! I am ready to GO! I'm soo excited about this week- and everyone that will be here to help celebrate it. God is so good.

Here are some pictures from our surprise shower at UTC:




























I'm looking rough... but it was so nice.

PS- check out Denise's blog (where I stole the title of this post from) and this super sweet post about our flower girl, Amy Grace practicing for the big day! That first picture is going in a frame, for sure!