New Jersey!

This is a long overdue post, but at the end of October the family took off for New Jersey to surprise my Grandpa Joe for his 80th birthday! Nathan had the pleasure of coming along and meeting the family! It was an absolutely wonderful weekend and, of course, everyone fell in love with Nathan! It was so much fun to be able to show Nathan all of the fun places Tony and I went during our summers growing up. We even had the chance to hit two other states in the 3 days we were there! We went to Philly for dinner at this awesome diner our first night and drove through New York the last day, just to give Nathan a little taste of the big city we all love so much! I can't wait to go back and show him around one of the greatest cities on earth! So, without further ado, here are some pictures from the trip!

The Boardwalk on the Jersey shore. Tony and I visited here almost every summer growing up. It's where I honed my ridiculously amazing whack-a-frog skills!

With my dad's parents. That's my Grandpa Fred and my Grandma Rose! The men! This is my Uncle Sandy, my dad, Tony, the birthday boy (my Grandpa Joe), and Nathan. We're waiting to go into breakfast. This restaurant had like 200 omelettes on their menu (no joke!) If there's one thing the Ruggeri/Calatozzo clan knows how to do, it's eat!! The girls! Well, minus my mom. She somehow managed to stay out of every single picture. This is me with my Grandma Annette and my Aunt Diane. Can't beat fall in the northeast!

Say hello to Miss Bella!

A week ago Nathan and I were driving by Petco and saw an adoption sign outside. We went in and discovered that they were having a kitty adoption that weekend. After playing with the kittens for a little while, we got the urge to look at some puppies. My mom said that a new pet store called PetLand had just opened, but we shouldn't go because we would fall in love with one of the puppies. We, of course, went anyway and after playing with a few puppies, they brought out the cutest little white ball of fur. We instantly fell in love! We honestly went in with the intention of just looking at puppies and we walked out with Bella! She is a white maltese and she weighs 3.5 pounds. She is the cutest little thing, super super cuddly, and we love her to death! We have spent the last week working hard on potty training. She has already visited both sets of grandparents and successfully marked her territory in each house. My parents and Nathan's parents will be very happy to know that we have come a very long way in 1 week! Bella now goes on the newspaper and then stands and patiently waits for her treat! She is the cutest little puppy! We'll have to make sure she gets a chance to meet everyone during the holidays!

Thank you!

November 11th never used to mean much to me. Growing up I honestly didn't know it was a special day. I mean we didn't even get a day off of school and you ALWAYS get a day off of school for the special holidays, right? Wrong! It wasn't until I was in college that I realized the significance of this seemingly insignificant day. My mom called me on November 11, 2002 and asked me to call my grandfather. His birthday was at the end of October, so I asked what the call was about. She told me that it was Veteran's Day and that I should call him and say thanks. It was at that moment that I realized the important day that I had overlooked for all those years. So every year on Veteran's Day I stop for a moment and reflect on all of the brave men I have in my life that fought so hard to preserve the only way of life I have ever known. This Veteran's Day carries with it even more significance as Nathan's brother Steve landed safely in the United States yesterday after 14 months in Iraq. To him I say with complete sincerity, thank you for all that you do and for the sacrifices you have made for this country. I would also like to take this time to thank my Grandpa Joe, a veteran of the Korean War, my Grandpa Fred, a veteran of World War II, and my late great-Uncle Pat, also a veteran of World War II. Although I have not had much of an opportunity to discuss the wars in depth with my grandfathers, I had a unique opportunity to discuss wartime experiences with my Uncle Pat before he passed away. My freshman year of college I was asked to write a profile on someone that I considered to be a hero. After my mom explained all that my Uncle Pat had done and seen in his three years in the service I knew, without a doubt, that he truly fit the bill. My Uncle Pat and Aunt Emily represented true love in every sense of the word. My Aunt Emily passed away last year and my Uncle Pat was never the same. He soon followed, passing away in late December so that he could spend Christmas with his beloved Emily. So on this day, Veteran's Day, I honor his memory by sharing the story of Uncle Pat and his heroics. The profile I wrote about him was published in a college textbook. If you care to read his story you can find it here:

http://college.cengage.com/english/blau/writing_works/1e/resources/wor/wor11.html

Again, thank you to all of those who fought, and continue to fight, to preserve our way of life and our freedom. Everyone, no matter how busy you are, should take a moment today to offer them thanks.

It's Official

We didn't have a lot of time to get it done, but after a change of heart on the location and camping out in front of the registration office for 3 hours, we can now make it official! Nathan and I will be getting married on February 13, 2010 at Perkins Chapel at SMU!!! We are so excited to finally be able to make the date and the church official!! Perkins Chapel is absolutely beautiful and we believe it fits us really well! The people at SMU have been fantastic and it was well worth getting up early and camping out by their office all morning! Now if this seems weird, please understand that Perkins Chapel is very popular among the Dallas folk. Nathan and I heard stories of people waiting outside the office for 6 hours on the day they started taking reservations for their wedding month and still not getting their date! Lucky for us we're having a winter wedding, so 3 hours was all it took. Of course, not a single other person showed up to wait in line during those 3 hours, but I still think it was well worth it in order to secure this beautiful church! We are so blessed to have such loving family and friends and we can't wait for you all to share this wonderful day with us! Let the countdown begin! Only 467 days until we're married :)

Race for the Cure

Every year my mom and I and a couple friends walk in the Race for the Cure. It is an incredible opportunity to celebrate those women who have won their fight against breast cancer as well as honor those that were taken from us entirely too soon. It is unbelievable how many lives this disease has touched. 32,000 people were a part of the event this year and almost every single one of them walked in honor of at least one person who has fought this terrible disease and 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year. The numbers are staggering. In fact, most people reading this have had their lives touched by breast cancer in some way, I know Nathan and I both have. If you have never been a part of a Race for the Cure event, I urge you to sign up next year! Although, it was a women-only event in the past, men are now encouraged to participate. After all, they are all affected as well. If you don't want to walk, then you can register and come take part in the festivities. All the registration money goes to finding a cure for breast cancer. It would be well worth your time, I promise you. The whole morning is a great big celebration of life! The survivors wear pink shirts and it is absolutely incredible to see all of these strong women in one place. It's experiences like these that really put me in my place and make me think about all of the insignificant complaints I have from day to day. To see all those women in pink shirts who have fought or are fighting this disease with grace and dignity is eye opening. I only wish that I had their strength. It is truly inspiring.

Go Cougs!!

On October 16th the BYU soccer and football teams came to Texas to play TCU. Nathan and I spent an incredibly fun day in Fort Worth with the Nelsons and the rest of the BYU family! We got to go to Rachel's soccer game, which is always fun for me. They won a close game 1-0 even though they played most of the second half a man down! Take that Horned Frogs!

Right after Rachel agreed to be a bridesmaid

in our wedding!

After lunch with the Nelsons, Nathan and I went to the Fort Worth zoo to kill a little time before the football game. If you haven't been to the Fort Worth zoo, I suggest you go pronto! It was so much fun! The lions and tigers both just had cubs, we got to see the penguins (my favorite) and, although I couldn't look, Nathan was mesmerized by the bald eagle tearing apart some sort of rodent. I know he was mesmerized because when I downloaded all of my pictures, there were about 6 of the bloody massacre. Yuck!

I was really excited to hear the lion roar! Nathan thinks

he was just coughing...

After fun at the zoo we went on to the football game. Boston University doesn't have a football team, so I haven't had many opportunities to take in a college football game. Even though BYU lost, it was soooo much fun! It's such an incredible atmosphere! Both teams have their traditional cheers, everyone is so into the game, and the cheerleaders (especially the BYU cheerleaders) have some pretty incredible tricks up their sleeves!! Overall, it was a truly fantastic and fun day!

Pregame Ritual

Big, bad FOCCUS!

So, for those of you that don't know, I'm Catholic and it has always been a dream of mine to get married in the Catholic church. This, however, is not a quick and simple process. In order for the church to agree to marry us, we have to go through something called Pre-Cana. Pre-Cana consists of going through what I would call couples counseling with the priest, a family planning meeting, a conflict management seminar, and something the church is calling 'Engaged Encounter Weekend' (thank goodness I have such a patient and loving fiance!). However, before the church confirms our date and we can do any of that, we have to take a test; the FOCCUS test (Facilitating Open Couple Communication, Understanding & Study). I have heard from other couples that it is actually kind of fun, although I typically wouldn't use the word "fun" to describe a 190-question test! The test deals with everything from family issues to drinking and gambling to careers. They take the results and incorporate them into our counseling sessions so that we can talk through any areas in which we might have differing opinions. I guess it actually sounds kinda cool. Nathan and I have never really talked about some of the issues, so it might be interesting to see his views on something like gambling. Anyway, the big test date is tomorrow night (October 9th). Everyone wish us luck! We'll post again once we find out our results!

Side Note: We are not officially divulging the name of the church we would like to get married in until they have confirmed our date, so as not to jinx it (I know everyone is sooo crushed)! But, that is a picture of the church above. For those that know which church that is, you're a step ahead of everyone else!