I can see the light!

Finally! I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! :) I am officially more than half way done with grad school. At this point I am in week 4 of 10 then I have a finals week and my comprehensive exam (which is a big deal) then I get a week off for spring break and then its back for the last 10 week hurrah! Then it's graduation time on June 14, 2009-and this one will actually feel like a graduation :)

After graduation Brooke, mom, and I get to go to Costa Rica as an alternative senior trip for Brooke- Mom & I being chaperones. Upon my return back to the U.S. I will be moving back home with the family while awaiting my fiance to come back from training (the day before our wedding). Shortly after the wedding we (Matthew & I) will be making our big move to Ft. Carson, Colorado.

I am very excited for all the "light" soon to come! Being done with grad school, traveling, spending time at home with the family, playing with my little niece Jessa, and my wedding day! Lots of new/great/big things to come within the next 8 months--2009---what a year!

Going to the Chapel

"Bells will ring,the sun will shine. Whooooa, I'll be his and he'll be mine. We'll love until, the end of time and we'll never be lonely anymore. Because we're going to the chapel and we're, gonna get married. Goin' to the chapel and we're, gonna get married. Gee, I really love you and we're, gonna get married. Goin' to the chapel of love."

But before all this happens- we've got the wedding planning to do! Good news is- plans are finally starting to fall in place! To get an update on where we're at in the planning process you can visit our wedding website at www.theknot.com/ourwedding/taraspaeth&matthewstrohman just email me for the password and you can visit the site at anytime :)

Kitty Kitty Kitty

The newest addition to the 5391 household is little Patton II! We got him from a litter of kittens at my Grandma Spaeth's house- he's about 17 weeks old and him and Elliot are working on adjusting to having someone new around. At first they wanted nothing to do with each other but over the past few days they have began to play and even cuddle!! Elliot is our little white kitty (we've had him since June) and Patton is our little gray kitty (whom we just got a week ago).

Random facts:
I named Elliot and he is named after the dragon from the movie, Pete's Dragon- one of my childhood favorites.
Matthew named Patton and he is named after General George S. Patton- a famous U.S. Army officer.

Elliot and Patton cuddling--

It's a Girl!

Heather just found out last Thursday (Dec 18) that she will be having a...GIRL!! The three of us girls went with her to find out the exciting news- I think everyone was hoping for a girl and that's what we were told we're going to get! :) My niece (Jessa) is on the way, now I'm hoping for a nephew from the other side of the family!!

Baby shopping shall begin (as if I haven't already started that- ha!)

Aunt Tara & Uncle Matt x2

Matthew and I just recently found out that we are going to be an aunt and uncle times two!! Matthew's brother and sister-in-law just found out that they are expecting. Due date is sometime late July early August.

Since I will be getting a niece or nephew from both my side of the family and Matthew's around the same time-I personally want a niece from one and a nephew from the other so that I can buy for both little girls and little boys! :) I think Matthew mentioned a nephew. I'm not sure what this mommy & daddy are hoping for, but (Jennifer) Grandma Strohman swears she knows it will be a girl! We'll see if she's right or not...only time will tell :)

Exciting news; the only sad thing is that this is another baby that Matthew and I will be far away from once we move to Colorado in September. We'll have one in Ohio about 22-24 hrs away from us and one in Oregon that will also be about 22-24 hrs away.

"Will you marry me?"

November 23, 2008 (Brooke's 18th Birthday) started out as a regular Sunday afternoon. Matthew and I decided to go geocaching- (to learn about geocaching click here). We were going to go find a couple caches and then go and meet up with a few friends to watch the Columbus Crew play in the MLS Cup. It was nothing out of the ordinary and I was just going with the flow of the day. We decided to head to the cache down by Griggs reservoir first, we drove back to a little parking area and then walked back a little trail in search of the cache. The cache was hidden up a little slope underneath the trunk of a tree that had fallen down covered up by bark. I was the one to spot the cache- I turned around to let Matthew know that I had found it. I was standing up on the little slope and he was just a few feet away from me and down a slight bit. I had asked him if he brought anything to switch out something in the cache with- his first response was "No, I forgot" (even though I had reminded him 10 minutes ago when we left the apartment) he then said, "well actually I might have something." The next thing I knew I was crouched down and he was in front of me on one knee with the most beautiful ring ever and asked "Tara Dawn, will you marry me?"

I was in shock! I looked at him and then at the ring, then back at him and then at the ring again. All the while thoughts were running through my head saying: "Oh my gosh is this really happening?" "This can't be happening!" "Matthew Strohman is seriously sitting in front of me with a ring!" "The ring is so pretty & so big!!" "Oh my gosh this is really happening!!" "Shoot, I'm supposed to answer him!"---so I looked up at him gave him a kiss and said "YES!"

He said it felt like 10 minutes before I finally answered him, it was probably more like 30 seconds. But nonetheless I said yes. He put the ring on my finger and we just took it all in for a moment. I then put the cache back in its place (and accidentally dug my beautiful new ring in the mud) and we headed back to the jeep to call our family and friends to share the good news.

We were in the woods without a camera so we have no pictures of the actual engagement but I will add a few pictures of my ring for those of you who haven't seen it yet.

"If it weren't for trucks we wouldn't have tailgates"

There's been lots of smiles around our apartment lately- because we just got a TRUCK! After lots of wanting and a few months of looking we finally decided on a black F150 :) Matthew enjoys driving it and I enjoy riding in it. I've only driven it once so far- it's just a little bit bigger than my car so I get a little nervous. Nonetheless I love and and so does he- so glad we have it!!

Below are pictures of our new addition: