Engaged!!

I wanted to share the exciting news that Amanda, our sister and daughter is ENGAGED!!!

FAMILY!

I know this may be a little to cheesy or sentimental for most of you but I want you to know how much I love family! It is hard to be so far away from family this is why I am so excited that we will have family here now, thats right, right here in good old Virginia. I know you are are all so jealous! No official announcement was made about Dad's new job so I figured I would fill the void, even though I am sure most of you knew this long before I did. Dad has a new job (he can fill you in on the exciting stuff, I am just glad its close by.)
We had the privilege to have him over for lunch on Sunday... ok so now your jealous! I believe if I am not mistaken Mom and Tavy should be joining us as soon as the school year is all finished up! YAY for family! YAY for built in babysitters!! If you are not jealous yet let me just outline a few highlights of having family live close by.

1. Babysitting! (I may have mentioned this one already)
2. You can see them when you want to and for as long or short and needed!
3. No expensive holiday plane tickets! (no excuse for not showing up either)
4. Built in Friends. If you are ever short of something to do on a Friday night you can always go hang out at their house so you feel like you have a social life!!!
5. Sunday Dinners (that is if Dad decides he wants to cook for us, because we don't want to break tradition and me actually cook for him... you can ask him for details!) Maybe we will just have to wait for Mom to move up here!
6. Comfort, its nice to know there is someone around you can call if something ever happens and they will be there at a moments notice.
7. Did I mention having a free babysitter?

So despite the fact that you all think I am being very sarcastic, I am not, and I am very excited about this new development. I am sure Scott and Celeste will miss them all dearly but I'm sure they will get over it eventually! I want to say welcome Dad, and soon to be Mom and Tavy, to our part of the world!

Now I know you are jealous!

Y'alls Family Reunion

And I can say that it's y'alls because I'm still not part of the family...yet.

It is OFFICIAL!
The Second Biennial Blackwelder Reunion is
July 10th - 14th
@
Meeman - Shelby State Park
in
Memphis, TN.

Clear your calendars and plan to attend for lots of FUN & EXCITEMENT!!!!!!!

More information to follow, send RSVP's & questions to Leigh - jadamandleigh@aol.comInfo will be posted on the family website @ http://groups.msn.com/Family-APB(Note: It is members only - apply for membership if not a current member - I can assure your acceptance!) Send Danielle Cogbill me current pictures PLEASE! (daniellecogbill@hotmail.com)

What does "biennial" mean? It sounds like some sort of procedure....

I know, Emily, it's about time!

Well, Emily has been on my case long enough that I figured the least I could do is to post on the blog with some updates...

As you all saw, Celeste and I took engagement pictures and are working on getting the invitations out. The two she sent out were a couple of goofy ones...well, I want to post a couple of my favorite.

I wanted to find a way to send these two out with the invitations, but Celeste and I determined they wouldn't be the best pictures for that purpose. So, pretty much, you'll just have to wait and see the pictures we chose.

We took the pictures outside the Utah County Mental Hospital...I thought that was pretty funny. I think they turned out great. I like the plain white backgrounds in most of them...and the trees are nice too.

In other news, if you all don't know, I got in a car accident in which my beautiful Sentra was totaled...luckily no one was hurt. I mean, I jumped out of the car steaming mad without a second thought after the crash. I was a little sore afterward, but nothing too bad. I guess you're probably wondering how it happened, so I guess I can tell you.

I was driving back from the International Auto Expo (go figure!) held in Sandy. Now, it had snowed the night before, but the snow had been cleared from the roads the whole day. It was around three in the afternoon and I was traveling south on State St in Provo when it happened. I was approaching an intersection where, for whatever reason, traffic was backed up in the left lane. I was in the center lane going 35 mph because there was no one in front of me (posted speed limit was 45, so I thought I was still being safe...). As I started passing the backed up traffic in the left lane I noticed someone 6 or 7 cars ahead of my position pulling into the center lane (my lane) from the left. I hit the brakes as hard as I would have needed to in order to stop (which was lot regardless of the road conditions) and my car slid into his...he had a Chevy Avalanche, so my car went under his and you can see the damage. Then as we slid to a stop, a third vehicle hit my back bumper and she went into the wall on the right side of the road. Luckily, between all of us there were no injuries and we all walked away fairly unshaken.

Needless to say, my car was totaled and my insurance company (Geico) has taken care of me well to this point.

Which brings me to my next topic...my new car. Because I got a really good deal on my Sentra, I actually owed less on the car than it was worth, so I am going to get some money back from the insurance company after they pay off the remainder of my car loan. This caused me to start thinking about what I should do about a new car. While I had the option to wait until I move to Florida to buy a new one, I decided this wouldn't work because I would have to find a way to get my stuff to Florida when I graduate and I don't think flying would allow me enough room to fit everything (to which Phil and Emily can attest...that I have a lot of stuff). I thought about it and decided to make a decision that would benefit me for a long time, so I decided to upgrade a little. I got a little bigger car, with more interior space, and a bigger but still practical size engine.

Because I'm not working much at the moment, I had to fight for financing, but because of my job after I graduate and the money I got from Geico, I was able to make it work to where I make the same exact payment I made with my Sentra and I didn't have to put anything down. So, anyway, I realize these are extraneous details that y'all probably don't care about, but I'm kinda proud that it has all worked out as well as it has, and I dare-say this crash has been a little bit of a blessing in disguise...although I wouldn't recommend the hassle and headache involved to anyone. So here are some pictures of the new car:

I know it looks really fancy, but I got a really good deal on it, so I'm really not paying all that much more than I was before. That's another story; the owner of the dealer where I purchased the car just happened to be the only one there when I came to look at it and we chatted a bit and he talked about the time he spent as a Bishop of one of the student wards at BYU and then he told me what he could do with the price of the car and since I had been looking around, I knew it was a great price. All I had to do was drive it a couple of times and I was sold...that's all I got. I'm sure my mom and Celeste can talk more about the wedding plans if anyone is interested, but I will leave all of that to them.

Thanks Emily for staying on my case...I guess I wrote a little more than I expected, so I would say that I've pretty much taken care of my share of blogs for a couple years! Whaddya think? :)

I love you all, I'm doing well, and looking forward to seeing you all as the year goes on.

Hot Nearlyweds

I've decided to pick up the slack for my extremely busy fiance (he doesn't even have time to eat these days) and post some pictures that Emily has been waiting to see for over a month.

These were just two of the rejects (the photos, not the people in them) from our engagement picture photo shoot.

Scott's been working out...can you tell?

My signature Blue Steel look.

...I'm probably going to regret posting these. Anyway, I just hope the wedding pictures turn out better.

Maybe this will help!

I added all of you to the comment email list so anytime there is a comment on the blog you will get an email! Maybe this will make it more fun and keep everyone informed a little better! Like a reminder! I love you all and hope you had a great Valentines day!

Valentines Day!

I was trying to get a cute valentines day picture to post but she wasn't cooperating! I figured I would just share the whole series because it was pretty funny in its self. Love you guys hope you have a great Day!

Happy Valentines Day!!!

Happy Birthday Dad!

I just wanted to say happy birthday to Dad and let him know how much we enjoy spending time with him! Thank you for your love and support! Some of my favorite things about Don are, that he loves to be with his family, I love to watch him with Madison, you can see the love he has for her when he lets her drool all over him!

I also enjoy talking to him one on one when I get the chance! Thanks for everything and I hope you have a wonderful Birthday!

Love Emily

Hey, just wanted to let yall know that you missed my latest production. I was Miss Vidalia, part of a duo of entertainers on the Hawaiien Cruise Ship U.S.S. Nosinka. It was an adult activity for our ward, a murder mystery night, and I was fabulous if I do say so myself! I got to wear sparkles and glitter and leopard skin and I even found an overskirt of black giraffe! WOOWEE! I was hot! I think your Dad was horrified but it was really fun to do. Wish you could have all been there. I'll send pictures if anyone took some. Love, Mom

Ugly Sweater!

Mandy may be the only one to truly appreciate this picture, however I wanted to share the irony of this situation with the whole family!

If you will notice the hideous picture that Mandy shared in her most recent post of me, this picture was taken in a dressing room while we were at a clothing store. I had picked up what I thought was the most hideous piece of clothing in the store just to be funny, that is why we took a picture of it in the first place!

To my surprise and utter amusement just last night while at the grocery store you will not believe what I happened to see!


This picture is taken with my phone and the lady did not know I was taking it but I just had to do it and share how hilarious I thought this was!

Anyhow just thought I would share my delight to hopefully put a smile on your face today!

Im all for second chances!

I guess I give in as I did get a positive response from my last petition for posts! But I am still expecting at least one post from you boys, Scott I think you get a pass since you did email me! But Phil, Grandpa Don and Aaron you guys don't get off so easy! I know Aaron and Dad you guys at least have pictures you could share! Ok now I'm done, I will stop nagging I promise!

I thought this was pretty cool! I thought you guys might enjoy this!

I know I already showed this video to some of you but I thought it was really cool! Madison has started crawling or at least she gets it now. She moves her hands and knees at the same time in a forward motion! So I guess you can call it crawling. She is getting better and better everyday! This video was right after she did it the first time! I was really excited!