Jimmy's R.N. Graduation

When Jimmy and I were first engaged, both our families kept saying to us, "Be prepared.  It's very stressful to be in school and being married will just add to that stress." 

At first, I was very upset by the statements, or even just the warnings.  I thought, "You don't know us.  We're so in love that this time in our marriage will just seem busy, not stressful."  About two months after we were married, living together, and trying to mesh our lives,  I realized their warnings weren't out of line statements, they were true.

Now that we've been married for almost 2.5 years, we look back on the time in our relationship and marriage when Jimmy was in nursing school and truly wonder how we did it?  How we survived?  How we're still in love and not shattered with stress and anxiety.  Experiencing R.N. school as a married couple was the hardest time in our relationship so far.  

With all that being said, it was time to celebrate!  Jimmy was graduating with his R.N. degree and that meant no more clinical hours, late nights, paper writing, or worrying about tests.  From here on out, he would be operating in his profession as a real nurse and I couldn't have been more proud of him!

Most of Jimmy's family and my parents all met at the Lafayette Hotel for dinner before his graduation ceremony.  

Yes, Jimbo was the only male in the class, but he held his own and was a favorite among all the other ladies.  His laugh was contagious! 

Oh' we are smiling from ear to ear!

Jimmy with his grandparents, Dave and Deloris, but we both just call them "Mamaw and Pawpa."

My parents were there to take in the big day and congratulate their son-in-law his great accomplishment.

Jimmy and his mom have a special relationship.

He's the youngest of three boys, attended college (undergrad and nursing school) at Marietta Community College, where she is a educator and lab teacher.  In her former years, she worked in the lab at their local hospital.  I like to believe that she was the one who instilled the love of medicine and patient care into her son. 

Jimmy with both of his parents, Dan and Julia Will.  

A.K.A., the best in-laws ever!

As I said above, Jimmy has two brothers and both of them have always been there to get James out of trouble, advise him on life lessons, and help steer him in the right direction.  Jon - the middle Will boy - and James have always been close and it was so nice of him to have driven 2 hours one-way to be there for his little brother's big day!

This day was the beginning of Jimmy's R.N. career with Holzer Hospital.  He worked there prior to obtaining his R.N. degree was an L.P.N., but now serves as a Team Leader at the Meigs Holzer branch in the Urgent Care.  In September, he'll transfer to their brand new free-standing ER and embrace a three days a week schedule!  

I am so, so proud of who he has become through his profession and let's just say, it's never without hilarious stories!

Our Two-Year Surprise

A special day rolled around and we were awoken by my panic-stricken brother.

  See, he and his wife, Molli, were expecting their first born and she was scheduled to be induced the following week.  Well, Miss Maliney was ready to meet the world and her chosen day just happened to be Jimmy and I's anniversary day!

Meet our niece, Milaney Lucille Markham 

And here's Jimmy being Jimmy!

Pictured is my brother on the left, our pastor in the middle, and Molli's dad on the right.  

They're all so taken aback by how perfect she is!

Now it's Uncle Jimmy's turn to hold this precious baby.  

What a wonderful day it was!  

It was so exciting to see my brother become a daddy, my sister become a mommy (what she's always wanted to be) and our family gain a precious little girl!  Let's just say that she's the best dressed kid ever, is consistently the happiest baby I've ever been around, and between both Molli's and our family, this little girl has stolen everyone's hearts and will never be short of smooshy-kisses!

From the hospital, we continued with our original plan of how we were going to celebrate our special day - revisit where it all began :)

Since we were close to this KK donut shop - and in celebration of our wedding day where we had doughnuts rather than cake - we had to stop!  It just so happened to be when the 'HOT' sign was on too :)

Jimmy and I's love was realized at Husson's Pizza Shop.  We were sitting at the table below, staring into each other's eyes, my legs overtop of his, holding hands, talking about our day and where we wanted to go Christmas shopping afterward when the pizza delivery guy walks in the front door.  He proceeds to the back, throws down his delivery bag, and starts to curse.  Before we knew it, there was a full-blown fight sizzling and one of the kitchen staff yelled, "If you two don't calm down, they're going to see this on the cameras and we're all going to be fired.  Settle down!"  Well the instigator - the delivery guy - storms out screaming a cuss word about the place of business and as he swings open the entrance/exit door, he says, "See ya tomorrow."  Once the door closed shut, Jimmy and I looked at one another and started dying laughing. It was a scene we'll never forget.  

If you ever want to know how to cozy up to Jimmy, just buy him a pizza.   You'll be the best of friends from then on out!

After filling up on pizza, we headed to the Habitat ReStore where we looked for a few items that were needed for our rental flip house [blog post to come soon].  With us, it's all about the priorities no matter how unique the day is!

Love Letters

It doesn't matter if your married or not, in a relationship or not, it's always great to hear these three little words, "I love you."

One morning, I woke up to this card and, yes, I cried after reading it.  

Jimmy is a very practical guy and doesn't think ahead much, but when he does, he surprises me beyond belief!  He placed this card on our 'front rom' antique couch where he knew I would spend most of the day working on transcripts.  

It's the little things that count....

A little motorcycle trip.....

There's no better feeling that being behind my man.  I love motorcycle trips and this just happened to be the last one we were able to take before the weather got too cold.  

This trip was take on October 11th and we started out at home (Ravenswood, WV) and traveled the backroads to Spencer, WV for the Black Walnut Festival.  

For some reason, the Black Walnut Festival has always been a never-miss kind of event for me!  I had the privilege to be crown the BWF Queen in 2005 and receive 4th Runner-Up at the Association of Fairs and Festivals pageant with that title!  The festival is just one of those great food, great people, great entertainment kind of festivals and it's always been a yearly event that my family rarely misses!

If you're a faithful reader, you already know that the way to Jimmy's heart starts with the letter "P" - PIZZA!  So what did he have to have as soon as we arrived and parked?

I do have a confession to make.  

Not only did I want Jimmy to see what I loved so much about this particular festival, but there is one food vendor that only comes to three WV festivals and the BWF just happens to be one of them!

It's fried potatoes with unions, peppers, and cheese all mixed together.  

Let's just say, it was de-vine!

As we watched the 2 hour parade at our traditional location, I wanted to document our time with photos and Jimmy helped create the memory by being himself... oh, boy!

He does make me laugh though!

From Spencer, we headed to my best friend's sons first birthday party in Charleston, WV.  We went the backroads, but realized at the party that we were leaving kind of late and had to take the interstate for about 1.15 hours, headed to Jimmy's parents for a BBQ night.  After getting off the interstate and traveling the backroads for another 45 minutes, our rears were hurting and we were happy to have a place to rest and relax....and a vehicle to drive home!  

Motorcycle trips are times we cherish.  

We talk, we reminisce about old times, check out the scenery, and just spend time together without any technical devices; just our thoughts and conversation.  

Priceless.

Hubby's First Combine Corn Production