A quick review of the last year! 2009

Can you believe I haven't blogged in almost a year?!?!? Ha! I can TOTALLY believe it because I am one lazy person. Or busy...lazy would be my first pick though. Although I have been really busy this last year I think things have settled down enough to cause me to think my life is now boring. lol


I started thinking that I didn't want to forget all the little fun things that happen in our marriage and that I need to write things down. Well that's certainly what I started the blog for in the beginning-just to write.

Let's recap the past year...and get all caught up. I won't be able to recall little things but there have certainly been HUGE things happen in our life this past year. 2009 has been the busiest year of both of our lives and it was amazing and nothing less than wonderful. God has been so good and faithful.

Since last year on Jan 29, 2009:

I visited Cali in March

I got my Aggie Ring in April!!!!

My nephew was born April 13

My sister graduated in May from ORU

Todd moved from Waco and purchased a practice in July in Sherman

I graduated A&M with my HR Development degree

We got married August 29, 2009

We went to Belize on our honeymoon

Went to Hawaii in Septemeber with his new staff

I got a new job in Sherman

My sister got engaged to Daniel and they married 3 months later in December!

Let's get to it!

I went to California for Spring break in March. I went to see one of my wonderful best friends, Heather Hooks, and we drove to San Francisco to visit and shop! We also celebrated my favorite holiday...St. Patricks day. It was a wonderful vacation!

I LOVED being in the city and walking everywhere. We went to see Wicked while in San Fran (Thanks to my wonderful husband, (fiancee at the time) )and it was absolutly amazing! It was a ton of fun. The weather of course wasn't all that great but we all know that about San Fran!

One other thing that was hilarious- if I opened my mouth to talk to anyone their first question was "Where are you from?"- Me and Heather proudly represented Texas and made all of us look very intelligent!

Pretty Church with amazing sky!

Golden Gate Bridge behind me (through the fog)

I finally got my Aggie Ring in April! It was a great day, except for the horrendus rain storm. It was messy and really hard to coordinate with everyone and the weather. We finally made it to the Association and got it all done!

In Aggieland it's tradition to dunk your ring in a pitcher of beer. Dunking is defined as dropping your Aggie ring in the bottom and you can't have it back till you drink the whole pitcher by yourself. It has turned into a race and normally friends try and get their rings together so they can "dunk" together. The person that drinks theirs the fastest is the "winner"!
Note: I dunked my ring in a mug full of welch's sparkling grape juice. I felt a little bloated! It was a blast and a memory I will cherish forever!

Todd putting my ring on me

Next on the list is Connor Wayne Maiville's entry into the world. He was born on April 13, 2009. A couple of days later his daddy left for Afghanistan. We are anxioulsy awaiting his return and the move back of his family in February: Ashley (wife), Hailey and Connor (kids). We love yall and miss you so much!

Congrats to Allison for graduating with her bachelor's in Histroy from ORU. She worked hard and we are all so proud of her!!! She is an amazing sister and best friend!

As soon as we knew that God was leading Todd out of Waco, we started looking into the option of buying a practice. We didn't know what God had in store and we were pretty open to moving anywhere. We were excited but knew it would be a long transition process for us. This has been one of the biggest challenges in trusting God and waiting on Him to tell us where He wants us. We prayed for a couple of months and in His timing we were told where to go. He moved us to Sherman and we are liking it so far!

Todd in front of his new office sign

I FINALLY GRADUATED WITH MY BACHELOR'S FROM MY DREAM SCHOOL! Yes, after 7 years of school-I graduated. I spent the last 7 years in school and working my way through with two jobs, most of the time. It was tough, I was tired, but I did it! Human Resource Development was my major with a Business minor.

Pics with friends in my class! WHOOP!

Two weeks after graduation I said "I Do" to the love of my life. He is my second strength after God and without him I feel like my life would be incomplete. He made the "best day of my life" to date the most amazing and a dream come true. I love you Todd Michael Collins!

You can see more pics by Snaptacular Photos are on their blog listed below:

http://www.snaptacularphotos.com/blog/?p=291

Here are snap shots from others:

So now that were married (almost 5 months already) our life is moving right along! We enjoy our time with each other and hate when the other has to leave for any reason. We have laughed more than cried and for that I am thankful.

I can say that God has blessed me with an amazing husband who does more than he is ever asked to do and loves me as Christ loves us. What more could a girl ask for?

We are in the process of joining a church here in Sherman named Legacy Bible. The pastor and congregation are wonderful even though we are still getting to know everyone. Most of our time is tied up with Todd's office. We are making changes that we feel are for the better and the long standing future of the practice. We get the chance to build a team that we pray will stick with us as we pull together Todd's vision of his practice. It's will always be a work in progress but we have a great team with great ideas! We give all of the glory to God for all good and bad in our life. Without His guidance we would be so lost!

More to come about the honeymoon, hawaii, and my sister's wedding!