san antonio

this past weekend, we took a quick trip up to san antonio!  we stayed with dustin's aunt & uncle and had a great time hanging out with their fam and seeing the city.  

the douglas family's cat "fuzz" 

she sleeps in this basket and likes to eat chips! awesome.

the alamo! i always imagined it bigger...

there were lots of cool old cannons around the alamo.  

this is the famous "river walk" in san antonio

really pretty and lots of cool restaurants along the river.  we had fun walking along and got some yummy blue bell ice cream cones.

dustin and i went to six flags - fiesta texas! we looove roller coasters and had the best day! we rode all the big rides - even the scream (like the rocket at lagoon) which i was terrified of! (no me gusta vertical drops :$)  the park wasn't super crowded and the heat wasn't that bad either.  for lunch we shared a funnel cake. yum.

the goliath!

hey handsome

my favorite ride was the superman!  it was crazy.

after six flags, we met up with dustin's cousin and new wife for dinner at olive garden and then headed back to corpus.  short and sweet little getaway but we had fun checking out san antonio.  

i love this aspect of his job - that we get to experience new places. together.

the day we got engaged...

one year ago today the man of my dreams proposed to me!

we were on a cruise in the caribbean with my family.  (my dad must have had a REALLY good feeling about this boy since he invited him to come and bought the tickets after we had only been dating a month!)

it was thursday - the last formal night of the cruise.  we were dressed up all fancy and he looked so handsome in his blue tie with his dark hair and tan skin.  after dinner, we went to a show with the fam and then the two of us went for a walk along the top deck.

we ended up at the front of the ship in the "serenity" lounge area - adults only.  we found a secluded area of the deck and sat on some blue lounge chairs.  the moon was big and bright and it was a warm evening with a slight breeze.  we sat there for a while, talking, and then he excused himself, saying he needed to use the bathroom.  i remember sitting there, staring out at the ocean and wondering what was taking him so long.  i was worried that he was feeling sea sick (like i had the first few nights of the trip!).

when he came back he was holding one red rose.  he smiled at me and then walked over to me and had me stand up (at this point in time i had a suspicion of what was coming but was sooo surprised).  he poured out his heart to me and told me how much he loved me and how he wanted to spend forever with me.  then he got down on one knee and pulled out a small box with a ring inside and asked me to marry him! i said YES YES YES! i might have said it more than three times...  he put the ring on my finger and we kissed and kissed and he spun me around.  some people nearby noticed what was happening and cheered for us and clapped.  it was a beautiful, surreal moment and i was so happy!

after celebrating by ourselves and relishing the moment, we went down to my parent's room and shared the good news!  (dustin had talked with my dad and asked permission the night before..) after that, my brother tanner went with us to get ice cream cones.  :)

the main reason i was so surprised was that we had already decided to get married, but we hadn't had the chance to go ring shopping since dustin was working in oklahoma for the summer.  dustin explained that the ring he gave me was a "placeholder" he had bought in okc, because he still wanted to go ring shopping with me.  it was a beautiful sterling silver ring with little diamonds in the middle and on the sides.  i still have it and wear it often.  we went ring shopping the next day on the island of st. kitt's and he bought my ring that day!

i'll never forget the day we got engaged in the middle of the caribbean sea.  it was perfect.  love being married to the man of my dreams.   here's some of my favorite photos from the cruise:

under the sea

this past weekend mr. harper and i went to the texas state aquarium!  it's right here in corpus, and overlooks the ocean.  we had a fabulous time walking around and looking at all the fish, creepy eels and sharks, and the awesome dolphins! oh and the turtles!

funny story - you have to pay $5 for parking and they give you a token to open the gate to get out of the parking lot.  well when we were trying to leave, this truck in front of us was taking for-ev-er at the gate.  finally, he put on his reverse lights, and we backed up and he drove off somewhere.  we pulled up to the gate and inserted our token, but the gate wouldn't open!  dustin pushed the button to make it come back out, and five quarters came out!  so the dumb truck in front of us was trying to use quarters - which consequently jammed the machine. we didn't want to pay another $5 to get another token and try another gate, so we left off-roading style and drove over the huge barricade/curb thing onto the street haha... go subaru!

 in front of the USS lexington 

run run run

with all my free time this summer, i've been working out and running more - slooowly increasing the distance and speed.  i'm not much of a runner but i want to get better, faster, and up my endurance level.  i love the feeling of running while blasting some good music - it makes me feel strong and grateful for my healthy body.  i think i might get some new cute running shoes...that would be extra motivation right?

so i just registered for this 5k! it's august 25, a week after we'll be back from texas.  my boss told me about it and i think it sounds so fun!  anyone want to join?... 

The 5k with a cherry on top…literally. The idea is simple, run a 5k and score a sweet treat. And simply enough, who doesn't want to run for ice cream? I run, you run, we all run for ice cream.

sea turtles

yesterday we saw 75 baby sea turtles released into the ocean! we woke up at 6am and drove 45 mins to malaquite beach on padre island.  turtles lay their nests here and then when the eggs hatch, park rangers/marine biologists/volunteers help them make their big journey into the ocean!  an awesome experience with our vivint friends taylor, emily, taylor, and trent. totally worth waking up ridiculously early. :)

i didn't realize how small they would be! babies!

i wasn't trying to get a picture of this lady's behind - she was just in the way!  they have the nets and the sticks with flags to keep sea gulls away from the turtles - they like to eat them. sad! 

the turtles making their way to the big blue!

beautiful beach

they release the turtles early in the morning, because they look for the sun.  we were told not to wear white, because it might confuse the turtles (i guess they would think we were the sun?...)

my husband bought me a cute bag :)