Thursday, August 14, 2008

The Man

So, since Justin's name is in the title of this blog, I figure I should finally introduce him to you. He DID post yesterday, right? So here are the stats:
His family is from Iowa, but he grew up in Raleigh, NC.
He has 2 wonderful parents, an older brother, an older sister, a sister in law and a brother in law.
He was a teaching fellow at Appalachian State University (Go 'Neers!) and now is an elementary school teacher. Last year he taught a 4th and 5th grade combo class at a Montessori School. This year he will be teaching 2nd grade at a traditional school.
He is an Appalachian Trail Thru Hiker, which means that he walked all 2,174 miles from Springer Mountain, Georgia to Mt. Katahdin, Maine. He carried everything in a pack on his back, and did it in 4.5 months (the average thru-hike takes around 6 months). He is pretty amazing :) Also, he is a earth-friendly tree hugger at heart.
He is so funny, sweet, and he really knows EVERYTHING. Great to have on your Trivial Pursuit team! He plays a billion instruments, and loves apples when it comes to fruit or electronics. He loves people, is a great listener, and is very good at rolling with the punches of life. I could keep going and going and going, but why do that when I could show you pictures?
Here he is at the halfway point of the Appalachian Trail (you can see how skinny he is - he lost about 30-40 lbs on his hike!)
Here he is with a baby chick at the State Fair (we both LOVE the state fair)...
Us with my parents...
Him asking me to marry him... his hair looks extra fluffy in this pic. And Phoebe says Hi, too :)
and again...I have limited photos of him on this computer, but hopefully he can post more often and show you a little more of his life. You all will love him, he's great.

8 comments:

Liz Harrell said...

He has the patience to teach children and he hikes!? Yikes...that's impressive. :)

Anonymous said...

Well, aren't you two blond and cute?

How'd he manage to have paparazzi during his proposal??

Jen - Balancing Beauty and Bedlam said...

What a guy....he sounds perfect (I mean...he is, I am sure.)
I want to know who took the unbelievable proposal pic.)

Jennifer P. said...

He sounds like a great guy--and looks like he's probably everyone's favorite teacher! Thanks for letting us get to know the soon to be Mr. Lauren :)!

Kristen said...

I saw your save-the-date card at my parents' house this week. It's beautiful! Love it.

Heather said...

He looks like a very happy guy! I love the picture of him proposing. I had a friend who hiked the Appalachian trail. Yep, it took her 6 months. It's quite an accomplishment!!

Lee said...

What was Justin's thru-hiker trail name? I read a phenominal book by Indiana Jean who thru-hiked several years ago. (Jean Deeds, Indianapolis area). Congratulations, Justin! When will both of you be hitting the trail?

I linked to you from June's site. She's right. You are adorably blonde. Both of you.

Looking forward to getting to know you via cyber space.

Jen - Balancing Beauty and Bedlam said...

i CAN'T BELIEVE i MISSED YOU! Oops...turn caps lock off...much better. That would have been way too funny to have connected during our Good Will hunting expedition. I got a great shelf, lampshade, and skirt, but other than that I am a little irrated with how high they are marking the furniture things. Ever since they revamped the store, they are pricing junk at ridiculous prices (except for the cherry wood book shelves...did you see those? $30/bucks - that was a deal but knew hubby would kill me if I came back with those before I found room for the other things that I bought over the last few yard sale weeks.)