No Bake Cookies

If you like chocolate and peanut butter, you have got to try these! Friends love when I make these and often request them. It is so easy and takes very little time!

Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup Nestle cocoa
1/2 cup milk
1 stick butter
3 cups oatmeal
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 tsp. vanilla





Directions:
1. Lay wax paper out along the counter.
2. Mix sugar, cocoa, milk and butter in a big pot. I usually mix the sugar, cocoa and milk together and then just drop the stick of butter in.

3. Put over med-high heat and stir frequently until it boils.

4. Let it boil for 1 minute. This part is important. If it boils too long or too short it can make the consistency more runny or more dry.
5. Remove from heat. Add in the oatmeal, peanut butter and vanilla. 

6. Drop by spoonfuls onto the wax paper.
7. Let it cool for at least 30 minutes.

8. Enjoy!

The Proposal

Jeremy proposed to me two years ago today, on August 22, 2012, so I figure it is the perfect time to share our proposal story.

I guess I should preface this with some background on one of Texas A&M's traditions-- The Century Tree. There is this beautiful, big tree in the middle of campus and it is said that if you walk under it with someone, you will be together forever. If you walk under it alone, you will be alone forever. Needless to say, you barely ever find people walking under it, especially alone! It's also the tree that we used to meet by in between classes while we were there. We used to always joke about walking under it, but it never happened. I mean, it was a BIG deal if you did. Here is a picture: 

So I remember that day perfectly. We moved his brother Jordan into his apartment with his mom and dad. I mentioned getting dinner later but they said that they had to head back to Tyler. I thought nothing of it. Jeremy dropped me off at my apartment to change and then I headed over to his house so we could figure out our plans. Once I got to his house, he suggested we take Maci on a walk around campus. We had been talking about doing this for awhile so I agreed and off we went.

As we were walking down Military Walk (toward the center of campus), Jeremy suggested that we walk under The Century Tree together. Knowing how serious we were, I agreed. I gave him one condition though: That we really would have to be together forever. He, of course, agreed. As we got closer to the tree I could see that something was set up on the bench under it. I started to get excited because I've always wanted to see a proposal! The thought never even crossed my mind that I would be the one getting proposed to. As we got closer, I realized it was a Benjamin Knox picture (Benjamin Knox is an awesome Aggie artist that Jeremy and I love). I started to drag Jeremy under the tree to see what it was. So romantic, right? When I got to the picture, this is what I saw:

While I was first looking at it, I STILL thought this was for someone else. It wasn't until I saw the dog in the picture, and noticed that Jeremy was no longer standing beside me, that I realized it was all for me! It took me a few seconds to turn around but when I did I saw my sweet man down on one knee holding a beautiful diamond ring. I honestly don't remember what he said. I don't even remember what I said. But after I said yes, he asked if he could pray for us. He said it was the first thing he wanted us to do as an engaged couple. He stood up and began to pray and when we were done I looked up to see this:

My family, his family and two of my best friends! What a blessing! They were hiding and watching the whole thing. Jeremy's brother was also hiding and taking pictures of it. It was amazing! We then took some more pictures and headed over to Benjamin Knox's wine gallery where we thanked him for the picture and had some champagne. I absolutely love that Jeremy had this picture done as a part of our proposal.  It is something I will cherish forever. 

Here are some more pictures of our memorable day:

Walking to the tree

Our moms hiding from us- they did not want to spoil the surprise!

The proposal

Jeremy praying while our family walked up to surprise me

Checking out the ring

Our sweet family and friends

Champagne toasts and Benjamin Knox

Ten

Since this is only my second post, I thought I would share 10 facts about Jeremy and myself. Here we go!

1.       We love Jesus.
2.       We were married straight out of college.

3.       We bought our first house this year—right in time for our one year anniversary!

4.       We love to play games together in our free time.

5.       We are huge foodies. We especially love treating ourselves to fancy dinners when we can.

6.       We have a little fur baby, Maci, who is a two year old Jack Russell. She kind of rules our house.

7.       We love to travel and have a bucket list of trips we would like to go on.

8.       We are complete opposites sometimes! Because of this, we learn a lot from each other.

9.       We went to and met at the greatest university in the world—Texas A&M! Whoop!

10.   We live in North Dallas.

How We Met

It was August 13, 2010, I was a sophomore who had just been admitted to Texas A&M as a transfer student and was headed to T-Camp with a high-school friend. T-Camp is a lot like Fish Camp but for transfer students. It is basically a weekend of learning about our beloved, new university including all of the history and traditions. It is a great opportunity to meet people in the same exact position as you.

Now for those who don’t know me, I used to be pretty shy at first. So the idea of going to camp with a ton of people I did not know was pretty scary. That’s why I was very excited to have my friend with me. Unfortunately, a few weeks before camp, we learned that we were going to be on different teams while we were there. Queue nerves and anxiety.  As soon as we got there and checked in, we were split up. Everything we did was planned. We did not get to pick what bus we rode on to camp, what cabin we stayed in, what team we were on. What I was absolutely terrified of turned out to be one of my biggest blessings.

It was time to load the buses and I was assigned bus 1. As I headed to the bus, there were a few people ahead of me. They were talking and introducing themselves. They seemed so comfortable with the idea of meeting/befriending so many strangers. So I decided that I wanted to meet them. There was a girl walking right beside me so I decided to introduce myself. Her name was Hattie. We got onto the bus and decided to sit next to each other. It felt good to know that I knew one person. I could get through a weekend with one person to lean on. It was kind of a security thing for the both of us. We had a few people to the side of us and then two boys diagonal from us. One of those boys was Jeremy. We were all talking and having a lot of fun (to my surprise!) and about half way through the bus ride Jeremy decided to move into the seat right in front of me and Hattie. The three of us hit it off. You know when you meet someone and it feels like you’ve known them your whole life? That was us. And the best part was the feeling was 100% mutual. After that ride we were basically connected at the hip for the rest of the weekend.

Now Hattie had (and still has) a long-term boyfriend from back home so Jeremy and I were the only singles. It’s funny when we talk about it now because we both felt the same way. We were so attracted to one another, but didn’t want to come off that way. So we would both try to play the hard to get game. We made sure we didn’t eat too many meals together—I mean after all, we didn’t want each other to think we were creepy! And Jeremy tells me that he would run to catch up to me sometimes and then pretend like he just happened to walk right by me. Oh the things you do when you like someone.

When we got back from camp, me, Hattie and Jeremy kept in touch until they both moved to College Station. And by kept in touch, I mean we texted every day for hours. I loved it. Things unfolded and we decided to start dating.

So here I am, four years later, with Jeremy as my husband and Hattie as my best friend. These two have influenced my life in so many ways. I thank God that he put me on bus 1 that weekend. It changed my life.

For fun, here are some pictures from the weekend we met: