So....we dove into planning alright.......

Wow I can't believe it is already Thanksgiving! Time is just flying by. ALOT has happened in the past 3 months.

So its now FOUR months to the BIG DAY and we have everything pretty much wrapped up!

• We just finalized everything with the Venues about two weeks ago. 
• I had my first Dress fitting last week and it is ready to be picked up anytime. 
• We had our engagement pictures taken on Halloween and we are still waiting to get them back. 
• The Flowers have been ordered.
• 2 out of 3 bridesmaid dresses are ordered! 

I'm getting really anxious to see everything together. I'm not really sure how I feel about spending all this money and ordering all these custom things and not getting to see them until March. Its almost torture!

Now we just need to get the invitations out within the month and then just sit back and wait for March!


The latest and biggest news however is that FDH and I just bought a house! Yea we were a little crazy for buying a house in the middle of planning a wedding.... we didn't realize how crazy tho, until we were in the middle of it! We moved in just this past weekend so we now have a new home!! YAY!  It was a very fast process from the beginning to the end. We went under contract in second week of October and we Closed last week! It was INSANE!!! We are SO glad that it is over though!  No we have room to house everyone the week before the wedding, lol.

Well, now it Holiday Season.... So time is going to fly by even faster!   

Thats all for now!

Diving into the Planning!

Its been so crazy around here with all the planning that I really haven't had time to get on here like I wanted to!

Anyways, since my last post, we pretty much started planning the wedding right away. We decided on a date pretty much the night we got Engaged. We decided on March 26, 2011.

My parents came up the next weekend and we went and looked at venues and we had one decided on and pretty much booked by the time they left on Sunday. We decided on the Holiday Inn at The Campus. They had too much of a sweet deal to pass up. But the big bonus was that they take care of set up and clean up and if we reserve a room for the Sunday Brunch then they even take care of the presents at the end of the night. So when the reception is done all we have to do is go upstairs to our rooms!

Next we decided on a Church for the ceremony. Since we really don't have a church home here in Manhattan, we decided to ask my parents Preacher from Sedan to do the ceremony for us. So all we had to do was decided on where we wanted it. I called two churches in town that we had been to and asked for some information. One church told me to call them back in October, and the other was willing to work with me right way. Since I was not willing to wait to start major planning until the 6 month mark, we decided on the University Christian Church. It is a very cute and simple Church and we look forward to working with the Staff.

The very next weekend my mom and I went to just start looking at dresses, and the Fourth dress I tried on was THE ONE! I was really not expecting to find my dress that day and especially not that fast! But I did while we were there my mom found her dress too! It was such a fun trip and a very productive one too!

Colors were picked before I had even gotten the ring, LOL. We are going with Navy Blue and Hot Pink. I love the two colors together! After finding my dress, we can't use White everything has to be Ivory so all together everything looks great!

Last week my mom came up again and we went and talked to a Florist. I'm pretty sure we are going to go with her, however I'm still waiting to get my quote back. That evening we met with a potential Photographer. FDH and I liked her so much that I wrote out the deposit check right there and signed the contract so now we have our photographer! And, Tuesday we dropped off our deposit and contract for the DJ!

Just yesterday we ordered the Flower girls' dresses from Dillard's. They are ADORABLE!! And my bridesmaids and I have a date set at the end of September to go dress shopping for them!d

Everything is just falling into place perfectly! I'm so excited! Most everyone keeps telling me that I've really gotten an early start...but I've only got 7months left! Anyways as we get closer I will probably post some spoiler pictures!

He Proposed!!!

So on Tuesday, July 27th, Chris took me out to dinner at Carlos O'Kelley's Mexican Restaurant. When we finished eating he suggested that we go to the lake since we hadn't been there since it flooded. So we headed to the observation point at the lake. We were sitting on a rock bench for a while just watching a boat on the water. I said I was ready to go. He stood up and said well, then turned around, pulled the ring out of his pocket, got down on one knee and asked if I would marry him! I cried and said YES! After I calmed down enough to talk I asked him when he talked to my dad. He then told me that the previous Monday when he had told me that he was working for his sister, he had actually gone to my hometown to see my parents. My hometown is a 3.5hour drive! I never even suspected it! I was SO surprised!

Poem for my Deputy

Every night I lay in bed,

I pray for you and tears are shed.

I think about how proud I am,

to be in love with such a special man!

As you guard the streets by moonlight,

I hope and pray you'll come home tonight.

I wait for the day I will wear the ring,

and find out the happiness that being your wife brings!

I am sure it will be hard worrying night and day,

but it’s the price I’m willing to pay!

I can accept your chancy job and put our love to the test,

because of all the men out there, YOU are the very best!

As a deputy and a boyfriend, you're handsome, smart and clever,

that’s why I will always love you, now and forever!

New Toys

It cracks me up that men are ALWAYS looking for new toys, and when they can't find anything that they want (or know that you won't let them have) they start looking for you.

Last Thursday, DBF and I were just sitting at home relaxing when he saw an ad for 0% interest for 60months on new Ford vehicles. So he gets it in his mind that I need a new car. I just bought a 2006 ford explorer in June of 2009, I don't need a new car. But somehow he got me convinced to look at a 2010 Ford Fusion. With the 0% it would lower my payments, and it is a newer car that has EVERYTHING I could ever want on it. These are the points that ultimately got me to start looking. So we looked on line and I really started to like the Fusion. So we went to the Ford Dealership here in Town they were down to just one Fusion and I hated the interior. So we went to Kansas City and I found the one that had everything from the color to the extras that I wanted. So we test drove it.... We both HATED it! So I decided that I'm sticking with my 06 Explorer that is a Very nice car until it is paid off. AND I made DBF promise that he wouldn't buy a new car until my car is paid off.

It just cracks me up how when He knows he's not getting anything new he tries to get me to buy something...

Holy Cow! Its been a YEAR?!?

Wow I can't believe it has been a year since I've posted anything. Honestly, not a lot has happened.

DBF and I just got back from our first vacation where it was just us and no one else. We decided to go camping at Wilson State Lake in Kansas. When I say camping I mean true, Tent and sleeping bag, cooking over a fire camping. It was kinda nice, really windy tho. We had 30-35mph wind gusts the whole time we were there (Monday-Wednesday night). On Wednesday we were ran out by a bad storm that came in. So we cut our vacay short by a couple days. Instead we had a Date Night Friday night, We went to Olive Garden in Manhattan for the first time since it has opened. It wasn't too bad. They had a wine for tasting that night that was out of this world. Then we followed dinner with going to see a movie. We saw Inception. It was a bad movie just made you think a lot. I didn't really care for it, I wanted to see Despicable Me, but I let DBF choose since I chose the restaurant. Then on Saturday we went to KCK to meet up with my mom who was in town for a Class Reunion. We went shopping at Legends and Went to lunch with my Grandma at Old Chicago. It was a great afternoon.

Vacation has now ended and its back to the old grind.

Next in store is more weddings.

I might get some pics posted at some point from the last year.

That's all for now!
~D

Tasha Dawn "Lage" Norris

January 21, 1985 ~ July 9, 2009

Tasha Dawn Norris. Age 24, a resident of San Miguel, California, passed away, Thursday, July 9, 2009. She is survived by her husband John Norris of the home; a daughter Jasmine Norris and a son Derrik Norris both of the home. She is also survived by her mother and step-father Michelle and Chris Ballard, Sedan, Kansas, her father Jim Lage, Joplin, Missouri, a sister Lacee Wood, Moundville, Missouri, maternal grandparents Leroy and Betty Stacey, Sedan, Kansas, paternal grandparents Farrel and Phyllis Offret Nevada, Missouri, and many aunts, uncles, and cousins. She was preceded in death by her brother, Derrick Russell Lage.

Dr. J. Dean McNamara will conduct funeral services at 10:00 a.m. Friday, July 31, 2009, at Cheney Witt Memorial Chapel with burial in the Fort Scott National Cemetery. Military Honors will be provided by the Olson Frary Burkhart V.F.W. Post #1165. The family will receive friends from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Thursday at the Cheney Witt Chapel.

http://www.ksby.com/Global/story.asp?S=10806175&nav=menu544_2

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Tasha will be greatly missed by her friends and family. Its a shame that her two kids will never get to know there mother, they will never experience her warming smile or her big heart. They will never experience her love for life no matter what the circumstances. The memories that I have will never be forgotten. She will never be forgotten. Tasha, Rest in Peace and until we meet again watch over us.

Tasha Dawn Norris

Thursday, July 9, 2009
Reported by: Ryan Foran

An investigation into a deadly shooting in San Miguel continues. The incident happened shortly after 2 p.m. on Thursday afternoon on the 500 block of 11th Street.

Investigators have not released the names of the two people involved as they are still waiting to notify the next of kin.

While there are still more questions than answers right now, we do know a man shot and killed a woman inside their apartment in San Miguel.

The man who shot the victim is telling investigators it was an accident.

Officers roped off the parking lot at the apartment complex where the shooting occurred as they started to try and put the pieces together.

Investigators say the single gunshot that was fired and killed the woman was first reported by a San Miguel fire official.

"Apparently one of the San Miguel fire inspector units had knocked on the door of a residence, one of the residents came to the door and said there had been a shooting," said San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's spokesman Rob Bryn.

Bryn also told KSBY News that the victim was in her mid-twenties, and that the shooter is telling investigators the shooting was not intentional.

"The claim is that it was an accidental discharge that struck one of the people in the house."

An official from Camp Roberts tells KSBY News that the couple worked at Camp Roberts in the satellite communications division, and that the two military personnel on scene Thursday were from the Army base.

A neighbor also told KSBY News that the couple worked with her boyfriend at Camp Roberts, and that the two have young children.

"Now knowing that it was his wife, they have two kids, and it's just really hard. I don't know how they're going to deal or what's going to be going on with that," Alexis Miller said.

"I know that there are children that are a part of the family, but we believe they were in daycare," Bryn added.

An Army spokesman says the Army is not involved in the investigation but is cooperating with the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Department.

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Thursday, July 9, 2009

Reported by: Sarah Spotten

Rob Bryn with the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Department has confirmed that a woman has died after an apparent accidental shooting in San Miguel.

Sheriff's deputies and several fire departments responded to a home in the 500 block of 11th Street at about 2:15 p.m. Thursday to a report of an accidental shooting. The sheriff's department says that an man accidentally shot and killed an woman.

Authorities have not yet released the identities of the man and woman.

Investigators are still on the scene.

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Thursday, July 9, 2009

Reported by: Sarah Spotten

We are tracking a developing story this afternoon in San Miguel, where first responders are on the scene of an apparent accidental shooting.

Rob Bryn with the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Department says deputies are responding to a report of an accidental shooting that happened at about 2:15 p.m. this afternoon in the 500 block of 11th Street.

According to emergency radio, Cal Fire and San Miguel Fire and Camp Roberts Fire Department have also been sent to the scene.

__________________________________________________________________

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Reported by: Sarah Spotten

Sheriff's deputies arrest a man accused of shooting and killing his wife.

The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Department arrested 24-year-old John Norris Tuesday and charged him with involuntary manslaughter.

Norris claimed he accidentally shot his wife, 24-year-old Tasha Norris, on July 9 in their San Miguel home. He told detectives that he tripped while putting his handgun away, and the weapon discharged, killing his wife.

Norris was booked into the San Luis Obispo County Jail on $25,000 bail.

January - March

Well it has been an interesting start to the year. January was pretty uneventful, just started up taking classes again, and adjusting to a new class/sleeping schedule. In February DBF and I celebrated our 1 year. I took two Jr. High girls from the youth group to a weekend retreat. That was fun. I got to catch up with some people I haven't seen for a while. I finished the month by having my wisdom teeth out. Half way through Feb. DBF got hired on with the Sheriff's Dept. His last day at the PD will be the 13th of March so in 2 days! and he will start for the SO on Monday, the 16th. Very exciting. Currently, DBF and I are working on repainting his storage shed, and starting to get spring fever. Even though everything has been going good we have had some grief strike. We both lost family members this week. On the same day no less, and neither of us are able to make it to the funerals. But I will at least get to see my family the day after when I go back home for a friends wedding reception. It has seemed like it has been so busy, however since I wrote it all out it doesn't seem to have been that busy. LOL. Anyways, That's all I got for now.

Vacation, Christmas Celebrations, and Moving

So Christmas is long over now, thank goodness. Actually it wasn't that bad. DBF and I went on vacation with my parents to the Ozarks for my family's Christmas. We left after DBF got off work, so around 4pm on Dec. 20th, the drive down was a long one. We made it all the way to the Arkansas/Missouri line before we got lost...lol...and that is only because our handy-dandy lil GPS unit is about 10yrs old and tried to send us backroads. Last time I was in the Ozarks I was about 10yo and I for the life of me don't remember the roads being to scary, but I was terrified the rest of the way, constantly yelling at DBF to SLOW DOWN, maybe it was because it was dark, but it was SCARY! But we made it safe and sound. We arrived at the condo at about 10pm.

The first day we were there didn't go quite as planned. Its was supposed to be a relaxing/wake-up whenever/lounge-around-all-day, kind of day. Didn't quite turn out that way. We woke up at 8am to a freezing cold condo, with no electricity. So we decided to go driving around and find a place to eat. Keep in mind that the roads the night before had scared me, so it was just music to my ears to know that we were going to go drive around. Anyways, we made it back to the condo around 1pm and the electricity was back on. So Mom cooked our Christmas dinner and we had our family Christmas that night. So all in all it wasn't a bad day, just didn't get to relax like we wanted.

On day two, we again woke up to no electricity. We were getting a little tired of it at this point. But we had decided the night before that we would head to Branson for the day. So it wasn't that bad. So we left at about noon to head to Branson. We went to old Branson where they just put in this really cool strip mall along with a Bass Pro Shop. It was really cool and had some good shops, I'd say we spent about 3hrs there. Then we decided to head to Silver Dollar City to see the lights. it was very pretty and very breath taking. I guess 4 million lights will do that. While we were there we saw a live version of the Christmas Story, DBF and I finally took some old time pictures (something I had wanted to do forever) and we watched glass blowing. We were getting ready to head out when we heard that the Parade of Lights was about to start so we stuck around for that, and then we got to see the dancing tree. After that we headed back to the Condo.

Day three was pretty decent too, we actually had electricity when we woke up, lol. We spent the day in Eureka Springs, and shopped, pretty much all day. I think we got back to the condo at about 5pm. We finished off the day with card games and drinking and relaxing.

Day four was the drive home, it was very uneventful.
So all in all the vacation was a success, and DBF and I survived our first road trip.

Christmas Day we spent with DBF's Mom and Stepdad. I made Christmas dinner at DBF's house and we ate once he got off work. It was a good day, spent with his family and relaxing.
The next day, Friday, was also spent with DBF's family, his Dad's side, in Salina. It was interesting. I got to meet the rest of the family, and got to spend time with DBF's Sisters and their Children. And that Wraps up our Christmas.

Saturday I began moving to my new apartment, from my house. It had to have been the worst move ever. I moved 5blocks from where I was. So I had to box stuff up just to unbox it about 10 minutes later. I took me 2 days to move, but I'm so glad I did, its a lot cheaper. Pictures will be posted at some point.

The New Year began while I was working, so nothing really to report there. I'm just looking forward to see what this year brings. 2008 was such a great year, I hope that 2009 can measure up to it.

Well thats all I got for now.
~D

Wow...Christmas already?!

Its amazing how a year can just fly by! I can't believe Christmas is a week away. Since my last post a ton has happened. In June Campus got hit by a tornado, it made for a very exciting night at work. A little later was Country Stampede, I worked Camp Parking and DBF worked as security for Pott. County, it made for a very exhausting week where we didn't see each other at all unless it was in passing. The very next week I was promoted to Sergeant for the Riley County Auxilary Police Dept. Which essentially meant that I was going to be spending a lot more time in a uniform for RCPD. We finished out the month quietly. July 4th, I worked Thunder over Manhattan for RCPD to help with traffic. On the way to our post our Aux. Car was T-boned...no one was injured but it totalled our car. I was kinda sore the next day. Other than that July was a very quiet month. August came around and classes started up, DBF and I had our first BBQ, DBF had a birthday, quit smoking, and we took a mini vacation and went to DBF's Sister's for a weekend so DBF could play in a night golf tourney, that concludes August. In September I lost my Grandmother to Pancreatic Cancer. October was by far the best month. I turned 21, the parents came up for a weekend and I joined the FBC in Wamego. For Halloween, DBF and I handed out candy. November, like always brought a lot of grief. It started out my Uncle succomed to his cancer, followed by a good friend's BF was killed in a car wreck at age 18. DBF and I spent Thanksgiving day with his family at his Aunt's house, then on Saturday DBF's sister gave birth to her second daughter. And now it is December. DBF and I leave on Saturday for a much needed vacation, we are going to the Ozarks for a week with my Family for Christmas. I'm so looking forward to it! Make sure you check back for Pictures of the trip, It is our first Vacation together I'm sure there will be lots to see!

May 13, 2008

So this year has been one if many firsts. In January, I decided to quit school at Kansas State University to work full time, and attend a Highland Community College in Wamego part time and start my life. talked to my supervisor at work, KSU Police Department, to see if I could take over the Temporary position of the night dispatcher, until they hired someone. He said he would mention it to the Captian. I heard from him about two days later, when he called me into his office on January 10th, He talked to me about my decisions and then sent me to do paper work to be the new temp. I started as the Full time temp on January 17th. I applied for the Full time Night dispatching position on January 24th. I didn't hear anything til the middle of February. When I got called to set up an Interview, on February 20 at 1:30pm. I didn't hear anything back about the job until March 5th. When Cpt. called and told me I got the job and I needed to come fill out even more paperwork and I would start as Full time on March 9th.

Not only did I get my first Full time job but I also met DBF, through a coworker, who set up a blind date for us at his superbowl party. We hit it off right away, even though it was kinda hard to go on dates or even see each other due to him being in Academy at the time. Saturday, February 2nd, We had our first date and we have been together ever since.

In April, I decided to find my own place and move out of the apartment I was sharing with a roommate when my lease was up at the end of the month. I found a two bedroom Duplex available in Wamego. And on April 12th, DBF and friend helped me move.

So....so far in 2008 I have started my career, quit K-state, began a relationship with the best guy ever, and moved out on my own. I wonder what the rest of the year is going to bring!

~D