Hunting Season

This weekend was the opening weekend for deer hunting season.  I've always considered myself not much of a hunter, until this past week.  I was officially initiated to Central Texas...  

Wednesday night as Tyler finished up stuff at our church I decided to head home since we took different cars.  The road we take back to our apartment is a two lane road, until we hit the highway.  Well just before I hit the highway a full-grown doe, ran out in-front of my car.  Without anytime to react my car, which was going around 40 - 45 mph, hit the deer.  

I'm a Dallas girl.  I've lived there 23 of my 27 years of life.  Meaning - I had no idea what to do if I were to hit a deer.  We never had to worry about deer in suburbia.  So to spare you the details, I kept driving.  I know, I'm a terrible person.  In a state of shock and panic I had no idea what to do...so I kept going.  I hit the deer, ran over the deer and didn't pull over until I came to a gas station where I could see what the 100-200 pound deer did to my car.  

I've include a picture of my poor Mazda.  Although it messed it up pretty good, I consider myself a very lucky girl.  It could have been much, much worse. The deer could have popped up on my hood and gone through my windshield, which could have seriously injured me.  

I'm thankful that my car was still drivable after the accident, that I walked away completely un-injured and that I have car insurance.  Right now I'm rockin' a rental while the Mazda is in the shop.  

Waiting for Fall

So tonight during the baseball playoffs I decided to play around on our blog to check out new updates.  So, here I am two hours later after re-designing the blog.  Hope you all like it!  I really had no idea what I was doing but enjoyed learning as I went.  Not to mention, I also learned how to follow people.  It's funny how the simple things can hang us up sometimes.

So I know technically fall is here, but I don't really consider it to be fall until I am able to wear scarves.  So here I am holding out for some cooler weather.  Although it's nice having 80 degree weather, I'd like to enter back into the land of scarves, sweaters and boots.  Who's with me?

I got your comments from last week and I will take pictures of our place this week and post them for all of you to see...

Summer has come and gone

So last time I updated we had only lived in Austin for a few weeks, it has nearly been four months now...crazy.  The apartment is fully decorated, Tyler has settled into his new job nicely and now after taking some time off I am officially on the job hunt. 

A few highlights from our summer were going on a mission trip to Progresso, a beach trip to Port Aransas and a family vacation to Playa del Carmen...

Our church took a group of about 25 people to Progresso.  We had the opportunity to build an additional bedroom and bathroom for a mother and her two children who were living in a one-room house.  We also held a vacation bible school for the children in the neighborhood.  It was such a humbling experience being able to help out this family.  Julia (the mom) made our whole team tamales and they are by far the best tamales I’ve ever had!

In Port Aransas we took our church youth group on a beach trip.  We enjoyed watching students feed seagulls french fries on the balcony of the original Whataburger.  They also took mud baths in a sandy beach hole.  It was hilarious to say the least.

We went to Playa del Carmen with Tyler’s family for a week.  It was my first time to Mexico, with the exception of my two visits across the border forever ago.  The resort was beautiful and we had such a great time.  My favorite part was planking in playa…don’t ask questions. Haha.

Sweet Home Austin

We've officially been Austinites for two weeks now.  Hard to believe.  Almost every box has been unpacked...Wahoo! Our apartment is starting to look like people actually live here, instead of a land of cardboard.  Everyone has been super nice in our complex.  We're really interested to meet our neighbors above us and their small children or large dogs.  We're pretty sure they have racing contests from one side of the apartment to the other.  Tyler thinks their herding buffalo...who knows.

Since we got here things have been anything but dull.  For the past two weeks, while Tyler goes to work I have stayed home, unpacked and decorated.  And maybe I've occasionally made my way to the pool and the mall :).  We also floated the river with some people for our first time last weekend.  Loved it!! We made the short 20 minute drive to San Marcos to float the river by Texas State.  I have to say it was a great way to spend the afternoon in 100+ degree heat.

I also noticed that the landscape is quite different down here.  When they say the hill country, they mean it.  To give you some background, I've only lived in Dallas and Lubbock.  Two amazingly flat places. You can see downtown Dallas from like 10 miles away...not so much here.  While driving to the Barton Creek Mall this week I had a momentary freak out moment where all I could see were hills and no mall.  Come to find out, the mall is on a hill. Problem solved, although frightening at the moment when you have no idea where you are.

We've also done our best to try good local food down here.  Dan's Hamburger's = delicious. Kirby's Lane queso = delicious.  Amy's Mexican Vanilla Ice Cream = mmm, delicious.  More to come in my next update!

- Meghan

Austin Bound

So it's officially public.  We are moving to Austin in June.  Some of you have known for awhile and some of you are just finding out.  We hate to leave our family and friends, but we really feel like this is where God is leading us.

This move is bitter-sweet for us.  We are excited to move to a new place, but we're sad to leave everything we know and love in Dallas. We have been so blessed to have such a great community of friends around us and you have each impacted us greatly.   

As two Red Raiders it won't be easy moving to Longhorn country. Although we are certain that we will receive grief, we will wear our red and black with pride.  And will just say no to burnt orange.  Plus it doesn't hurt that Tech plays Texas in Austin this fall. 

A few weeks ago we went down to Austin and put a deposit down on an apartment.  After looking at more apartments than we care to remember, we finally found one that worked for us.  I am so excited to decorate, especially since I wasn't able to do everything I wanted in the apartment we live in currently.  

Thanks to several Austin fans we are excited to try all the local food places like Salt Lick, Kerby's Lane, and many more!  Plus, with all of the live music that Austin has we look forward to exploring our new home.  And really, how can you not be excited about a place that has signs like this...

The big "C"

"Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." - 1 Peter 5:7

As some of you know my grandmother's (Nanny) cancer came back in the fall of 2010.   She beat breast cancer two years ago, but we got the news about it coming back a few months before Tyler and I's wedding.  Devastation can't begin to descibe the way I felt when my parents told me.  But my family tried to stay strong and positive until we knew more.  A doctor found a spot on her skull.  After surgery the doctor recommended chemo and radiation to get the spots they could not remove.

Thursday afternoon my Mom called me and told me that Nanny's test results came in and the cancer has NOT spread, the spots she had have SHRUNK and her back (that she broke) is HEALING.  Praise God! The treatment is working! I can't tell you how exciting this news was.  It is truly an answered prayer. My Nanny is such a rockstar and if anyone can beat cancer it's her!  She is a true inspiration.

Through this experience God has shown me his faithfulness and how powerful prayer is.  We are continuing to pray that the treatment keeps working and that Nanny stays strong through this process.  My prayer tonight is that if you are going through a tough time that you can trust Jesus and tell him what you're going through.

One more thing:
In honor of mother's day this weekend I just want to say how thankful I am to have such a wonderful and loving mother and grandmother!  You both are amazing women and your strength and dedication to our family means more to me than I can express.  I love you both so much and hope to be half the mothers you were one day.

<3 Meghan

Prayer is Powerful

A friend of mine shared this video about Prayer with me tonight.  Great video, take a few minutes to check it out...

Etsy.com

Have you heard of etsy.com?  I may be behind, but this weekend I found the most amazing website!  It's an online site that you can buy and sell things that are handmade, vintage, etc.  So genius!  I especially love this since I'm in the middle of decorating our apartment right now.  I've been searching for a few unique items for our home and I think this is the PERFECT place.  I'm sure I will be spending a long time on this site over the next few months.  Here are a few things I found that are so cute...

60 Days

So here we are two months into marriage.  Yes, two months already!  Life has been anything but boring the last two months.  We almost have everything done in our apartment.  We got a new bed!  That was fun, and very adult too I might add.  As our first big purchase as a married couple we bought a King sized mattress.  Luckily I already had a frame since the store wanted my first born for the mattress.  I love the bed though.  I have to say it's better then the full size we slept on for the first month we were married.

The last month has been a little zany for us.  We were involved in two Disciple Nows, one at the end of February and one the first week of March.  The one in February was in Muleshoe, at Rachael's church and I had such a blast hanging out with her all weekend.  It was like old times when we used to live together.  The band at the D-Now was awesome too.  I was blown away by their talent and professionalism, especially since they're only in High School.  I highly recommend you check them out, their name is Thirty Nine Thoughts.  We hope they come out to Dallas soon so we can see them play again.  Seriously they are that good.

I also got to go to Houston last month to go to a dress fitting for Whitney.  I was so excited that I got to see her in her dress.  Her dress is breathtaking and Justin won't know what to do with himself whenever he sees her on their wedding day in September.  Their wedding will be here before I know it, only six months away now!  Then Tyler and I also visited Austin a few weeks ago.  We had so much fun.  I tried Amy's Ice Cream, which is a big local ice cream place there.  So good.  We also hit up some outlet malls, which of course I loved.

So I've already posted wedding photos to facebook and am about to post pictures from our honeymoon.  Until I do, I thought I'd share a few photos here.  The cup is made out of bamboo and the guy made it for us right on the beach.  Then the other picture is us right off the beach at our resort.  As you can see, the water was crystal clear.  I miss Jamaica already!

*Happy Love Day*

Happy Valentines Day everyone!  Today Tyler and I celebrated our first Valentine's Day as husband and wife.  It was fabulous.

As I look back on our relationship and our first month of marriage, I can't help but to think of the first song we danced to at our wedding - God Gave Me You by Dave Barnes.  I truly believe that God gave me Tyler to be my forever valentine.  I look forward to celebrating each one with him.  I've attached the video of the song for all of y'all to enjoy.  I hope you all have a wonderful day with all of your loved ones.

Love,
Mrs. Gatewood

It's official - we're Mr. and Mrs. Gatewood!

It's hard to believe that this weekend we will be married for four weeks.  We've almost been married a whole month!  Where did time go?  We've spent the last few weeks organizing our apartment and trying to stay well.  Yes, most of you know that both of us got sick after we got back from the honeymoon.  Not fun at all, but hey at least it didn't happen when we were in Jamaica!

I will update you all on the wedding and the honeymoon soon, with pictures of course!  Just wanted to post something late tonight since it had been so long.

Until next time...
Mrs. Meghan Gatewood

6 Days...

How did we go from 82 to 6?  That's strange.  It's crazy how time flies.

So here we are, wedding week.  We've spent the last nine months planning this shin-dig and now it's here.  I cannot wait to see everyone!  I'm so excited to see all of our families that are coming in town just to see us get married.  Y'all are awesome!  I'm especially pumped for all my Alabama family, whom have never been to Texas, come check out the Lone Star State! Y'all are gonna love it!

Last week I had my final fitting for my dress and had the crazy realization that Tyler is actually going to see me in it in a week.  I'm so excited to show him!  Only 6 more days until I do!!

So a few updates since our last post:
- Tyler had his bachelor party this past weekend.  Him and some buddies rented out a cabin and just hung out all weekend.  I heard it was a blast.
- My bachelorette party is this week!  Can't wait to have a night on the town with my girls!  We are going to have so much fun.
- We got our wedding bands!  Tyler picks up my ring tomorrow and I have his all ready to go here.
- I got my bridal portraits done! It was by-far one of my favorite things that I've done so far during our engagement.  It was so fun to just spin play in my dress for the afternoon.  At one point my 5-year-old inner princess came out while spinning in a field.  You'll see a few of the great photos my photographer took at our reception.
- We got our marriage license!  Ah!!
- Thanks to the fabulous Whitney Thomas I finally got my rehearsal dinner dress :)

Now it's time to finish up the final details and pack for Jamaica!

Big thanks to everyone who's supported us, prayed for us and have made our engagement extra special. I know Tyler and I both feel truly blessed to have such an amazing friends and family.  We could NOT have gotten all of this done without you.  In a few days we will all get to celebrate together!

See you this weekend!

- the future Mrs. Gatewood :)