Going to the chapel...again...

Caitlin and Karl got married this weekend. It was a beautiful wedding! It's amazing how two weddings can be so different. She had it at Timarron Country Club, the ceremony was outdoors over the water and the reception included a buffet dinner and LOTS of dancing. Caitlin, of course, looked beautiful and I am so excited to have Karl officially apart of the family now! They are currently enjoying their honeymoon on the Virgin Islands. Below are just a few pictures from their big celebration!

Caitlin's last dinner at home as a "Heine" girl

We had a luau. For me they threw a fiesta...we might run out of options before it's all over with!

Me with the bride at the bridesmaids luncheon

We were assigned the young married/soon-to-be married table at the rehearsal dinner which took place at Kirby's steakhouse. It was delicious!

All the sisters, once again!

The beautiful couple - Mr. & Mrs. Karl Kurz

The whole family! I think we have doubled in size in a matter of a few short months!

There are so many boys now! (Gramps is happy, though!)

Where the ceremony took place, looking out from the reception hall
(sorry it's kinda out of order)

Going to the chapel...

Here are some of the official pictures from our wedding! It has taken me hours to go through them and pick out/download the ones I like (good thing I'm not currently working)...so sorry there are so many, I just couldn't decide! If you are looking for a photographer in DFW area, Amber Richardson-Evers of Lifestyle Photography did an amazing job!

Getting ready!

(Right before the 2 longest hours of my life)

Me with all my Heine familia

Adjusting the birdcage veil

My handsome groom :)

Couldn't have asked for a better ceremony venue

My "Gramps" gave me away

Our first kiss as husband and wife!!

Yay! We are married!

Our first moment alone as Mr. & Mrs. Moore

(this is one of my all-time favorites)

Our first dance

(trying not to trip over my dress or each other's feet)

On to the honeymoon!

(see the post below for that one) :)

New Beginnings

I am officially no longer a "Heine", but now a "Moore" (well, as soon as I figure out how to change my name on everything)...but in theory I am. :) And I am married to the most amazing man - definitely worth the wait!

Just married over 2 1/2 short weeks ago! It was a beautiful wedding and better than I ever anticipated. Though it seemed to go so fast, it almost feels like I showed up, said a few words and left. I wish I had more pictures to post for you, but I'm just going to have to steal a few from facebook friends until we get the ones from the photographer back.
Then I went on the best honeymoon. We went to this little fishing village of Zihuatanejo, Mexico. Our week included a couple massages, a free penthouse upgrade, some horseback riding, getting hit by a hurricane, ATVs, zip lines, a couple boats (which included much needed buckets for the ill) and the best dinner atmosphere and food on the beach each night. I wouldn't mind celebrating every anniversary there. :)

When we arrived back in Houston, Matt was able to take a week off of work and we worked on our first home. Ok, so Matt lived there previous to even meeting me, but he was gracious enough to let me put some personal touches on the place to make it ours. Here are the first couple rooms "re-done". Amazing what a couple coats of paint can do!

Our new dining room set (room not painted...yet:) )

And now next week, I get to head back to Fort Worth to celebrate Caitlin's new beginnings with Karl! Crazy summer...

15 more days!

Time flies! I didn't think it would ever get here and now it's just 2 short weeks away. Last weekend I moved all my stuff into Matt's house. One never realizes how much crap they have until they have to move it - a wise proverb once learned. But we successfully moved all my stuff into the back bedroom of Matt's house in just one short day. It worked out well to marry a man with a large truck. I was severely disappointed in myself when I realized that I had boxes upon boxes of who knows what stacked up, when I prided myself on being simplistic and not having a lot...dang it. Needless to say, the following day I threw out (aka-donated) so much stuff that I had been saving til the day I got a house. A little ironic. I sure am glad that I have been hauling that stuff around for the past several years and oh so many moves!

But I do have to say that moving everything to Matt's made me get so excited! I think until now getting married was so far off and was just a waiting game. I realized that in just a few more weeks I get to be married to an incredible man! And I cannot wait to build a home with him! I've looked forward to that since I was a little girl. I no longer just rent out a bedroom, now I get to actually build a home for my family. :) I'm a little excited. Matt is too...just not so much about all the decorating ideas I have in store for his bachelor pad. But I think he'll grow to like it. :)

Now my days are filled with trips to Hobby Lobby, making plans and filling in all the details. Though I can't really say I'm relaxing on my summer vacation, it sure is better than work. I'll take this any day!

the Good Things in Life

I get to be married one month from today to my best friend.
I had 100% of my students pass their first TAKS test.
I only have 6 days of work left...until August.
I'm going to see my grandparents whom I haven't seen in half a decade on Friday.
I have a four day weekend in two days.
The Lord has been very faithful and blessed me beyond belief,
and He provides me strength and support when I need it.
I get to share and build my first home with a man who has sacrificed and saved to prepare for his future family.
I have a dog who cracks me up and has gotten over her puppy days and become very loyal.
The traffic has been nothing the last month to and from work (it's like a burden lifted in itself - knock on wood).
And did I mention that in 31 days I get to share with loved ones the simple, beautiful, exactly how I wanted wedding to an incredible man? :)

I consider myself cautious...

So this strange phenomenon has happened with me the last several months. I have been in a state of fear whenever I am alone, especially at my house (probably b/c that's the only place I'm really alone). The only other time I have been through this was when I was living in Central Asia leading a mission team and there were no more Americans in the country (because they had all been kicked out) and there were some crazy things going on in the world - so I excuse myself for that one. :) But now, I can't really explain what is going on in my head and why all of a sudden. Sometimes I think it is spiritual warfare, sometimes maybe logical and sometimes maybe I'm just crazy.

I could tell you all the random things that have happened leading up this, such as the night I woke up with a very terrible feeling or the night when someone was held up down the street from me and the victims decided to get my neighbor to call the police...but I don't like thinking about them nor would you probably enjoy reading about them.

But one rainy, flooding day that turned sunny about 2 weeks ago, I kinda had a panic attack. Angela and I were home (b/c it had conveniently flooded that day and I didn't have work) and she was packing up getting ready to leave town. I had a movie on in the living room but was up and about. We thought we heard someone knock on the door, which got our attention. The dogs started barking inside the house. Then I heard the gate open on the side of the house, looked out and it was open. Angela didn't believe me and looked outside and it was closed (about 30 sec later). So we are arguing about whether is was open or closed. Then I hear this scream...so we freak out and RUN to the bathroom frantically (why we went to the one room that had no escape, I don't know), Angela grabs a broom (again, what are we going to do with this broom you ask? I have no idea either), I grab my cell phone and immediately call 911. I think this is the first time that I had ever done that, and the response people are way too calm and ask way too many questions during an emergency! Then they hung up on me! I couldn't believe it! What if I really was in trouble and they hang up on me!? Anyways...so I call Matt, basically hyperventilating with my heart about to pound out of my chest and Angela asks me what the scream sounded like. I demonstrated for her, of course...and she stops and thinks...and says, "Laura, I think that was on the TV". WHAT!?! So we rewind the TV (thank you DVR)...

...and sure enough the scream was from the TV...

...oops.

We just bust out laughing. However, I'm still a little scared because the gate did open and close. But nonetheless, the cops were already on their way. Better safe than sorry. Did I tell the cop that the scream had come from the TV? No. Should I? Maybe, but I still felt like he shouldn't discount us as crazy ladies (ok, really only me, not so much Angela). He came, talked to the neighbors to see if they saw anything and then left. Didn't even check our backyard! Grr. Then Angela left. Leaving me all alone. Not good.

I was still really jumpy, so I left...off into the flooding.

Since then I can't seem to stay in the house by myself alone and the smallest things will freak me out. Weird, I know. But it is kinda funny when Caitlin comes home and we hear something on the front porch so we tip toe to the door to make sure it's not the boogyman.

I don't know if it's this city that scares me. Maybe I watch too much TV and news. Maybe my fear is legitimate. Maybe it's spiritual warfare trying to distract me from something. I don't know...but I really don't like it.

my 2009 (thus far)

I realize it's been over 3 months since I last posted. And after several "friendly reminders" - and a day off work due to flooding in the area (no complaints here) :) - here I go...

2009 has seemed kinda a whirlwind thus far. That's probably why I've been MIA. So, here is my attempt to catch you up a bit:

January 25: I got ENGAGED to an incredible man! You can check out the story at our wedding website http://www.mywedding.com/mattandlaurawedding/. Life has been a lot about planning, preparing and being excited about what's to come! :) (as I will try to get better about writing...that maybe all I say about this right now)

February 2: My older sister got engaged! Yep folks - that's 3/4 of the Heine girl's getting married! Crazy? yes. Never anticipated it all happening at the same time, but God works in mysterious ways! My poor mother. And as for Kelsey...well, we have a rule she can't get married for several years to come (sorry fellas!). :)

March 15: Sarah and I headed to Chicago to visit Elise. She lives in the cutest little apartment while going to law school up there. We did many of the touristy things with a wonderful guide (thanks Elise) and successfully distracted her from school work. Walked up and down Michigan Avenue and got drinks at the top of the John Hancock Center (that was my favorite part). It was cold and windy! And it is a different life taking the subway everywhere you go. No traffic which is a very nice idea! Why doesn't Houston have any kind of system like this?

April 10: Cruise with the family. The last Heine girl vacation before our last names become something else. It was a blast. We had never been on a vacation like this before with the 5 of us, nor had I been on a cruise at all. We headed to Cozumel...as great and relaxing as it was (yay for inside cabins with no windows or concept of time of day!) I think I might not be the biggest cruise person, as my favorite day was onshore when we went ATV riding and snorkeling at a private beach with a private guide (b/c everyone else in our group was too tired to go, so Caitlin, Kelsey and I got our own personal 2 guides).

April 24: Annual college roommate reunion in San Antonio. This is such a fun time to get together from all our different places - from Dallas to Houston to Washington state and married to having babies to becoming

lawyers - and catch up on life. Though it seems just yesterday, it's amazing to look back and see everything that has happened in our lives. We headed to Sea World and having out at Fiesta and the River walk.

As for what's to come, well we have a couple graduations, a few weddings, many trips out of town, showers, and did I mention summer vacation? ...just have to keep you posted (or try). :)