Monday, January 16, 2012

by Melissa Sue Photography

I have an amazing sister-in-law that is a very talented photographer. She was so great to do our engagements and temple pictures and has been so good to take pictures for us at other important events. I don't know if I've expressed to her enough how grateful I am to her for that. So once again, thank you Mel!! I love having all the precious pictures that I have because of you! 

I wanted some updated pictures of us because to be quite honest, its been a while since we've had family pictures and I look completely different. It might be the hair...I'm not quite sure :) So, once again, sweet Mel took the time and talent to take some amazing pictures for us. Enjoy!


















and a couple silly ones....








 Thank you Mel! We love the pictures!



Sunday, January 15, 2012

Sheesh.

Alright. This is pretty ridiculous. I knew this would happen. I knew that the second I got home I would be too busy to blog…which makes me really sad because although we have been busy with school and work, we have done some really fun things that I wanted to write about! I started a note in my phone that listed all the things I wanted to blog about so that I could do it when I had more time, but that didn’t last too long. Dang. But here is what I do have as a note in my phone:

Monday night flew home. (Red-eye flights actually aren’t as terrible as I was anticipating. It was nice to have an extra day in Hawaii and then just sleep for most of the flight. AND we didn’t miss any flights! We made it home in a record-setting nine hours.)
Tuesday got home. (My sweet mom surprised me and showed up at the airport to say hello! It was so good to see her and so sweet of her to come. Thank you mom!)
Wednesday went to Lagoon. (So much fun. I’m so glad I made it home for Lagoon day with my family. I was so excited to be able to see Christen and Henry before they left for home. Side note adorable story: While we were at Lagoon I gave Henry $5 for his birthday. We were standing in a gift shop and we looked over and saw Henry handing a giant pencil to the Lagoon worker and digging the $5 out of his pocket to buy the pencil with. So cute! The kid is TWO and he knows that you have to pay for things you want! So cute. Lagoon was a lot of fun and I was so impressed with the kids for being so brave and going on all the big rides. I was expecting to be on little kid rides all day but that was not the case at all.)
Thursday left for Idaho and slept at Grandma Stevens.  (We rode the street bike up and stopped in Logan so that Ry could install a security system in Grandma Stevens house. It was so sweet for her to let us stay the night. She even made us yummy waffles for breakfast. Thank you grandma!)
Friday went four wheeling in St. Charles. (Fun. Always fun.)
Saturday picked millions of raspberries, went boating, and went to the world’s smallest demolition durby. (I now have a million frozen squashed raspberries that I need to make more jam with. Yum! Boating was a blast. I overcame my fear somewhat and went tubing. Dad may have been “nice” to me but I felt like he was going hard! I sure did get a good workout though. The demolition durby was awesome. FOUR cars. Four. Usually there are WAY more! It was still a blast though and I will always love a good demo durby.)
Sunday drove home. (Long ride. Sore butt.)
Monday ran errands and got a hamster. His name is Pepe. (For all of those who are wondering, yes, he is still alive. Although we did have a close call when someone left the cage open. Woops. Good thing we’re smart and put the cage on the ground to see if he would come back at night. He did. And Ry heard him running in his wheel and ran and closed the cage! Close call my friends.)
Tuesday – Friday Ry worked. I did who-knows-what. (This week taught me that I really need to be busy in order to not die of boredom. I guess I should be grateful for school and work.)
Friday visited Emily and her cute new babies. Had a girls night with the Webbs. Played bunco. Lost.
Saturday went dirt biking with pops and Ry. Had a bbq and movie night with Ailin and Jake.

Lupe concert:
2 people I saw pass out.
5 pounds lost by sweating.
1,973 times I checked to make sure my wedding ring was still on my finger.
543 times I checked to make sure my purse was still zipped.
3 times I caught a glimpse of Lupe. Height disadvantage.
0 songs I knew.
2 songs I am now obsessed with.
2 months that my cilia are damaged.
4 hours standing in one spot. Give or take six inches.
7 times my toes got smashed on.
I know I sound like I’m complaining, but I’m not. It was quite the event!

October 5
Lake. Cold! Coat, beanie, wet suits.”

Yup. That’s what I have in my phone! I think that most of it is self-explanatory…except for October 5th…which was quite hilarious J Ry and I bought a couple lake toys and we decided to ditch school one *sunny* day to take them down to the lake. The funny thing is…no matter how bright that sun is, that has hardly any bearing on how warm it actually is. It was frigid. I’m starting to think that 9 o’clock in the morning is cold no matter what time of year it is. Anyways, I’ll get to the point because heaven knows I do not have time to write and write and write as much as I would love to. SO…we went to the lake, it was freezing cold. I was waiting for Ry on the dock and he comes walking down wearing a half wet suit that is WAY too small for him, a coat, a beanie, and gloves. I was confused as to whether we were going to the lake or to play in the snow! 

Anywhoo….that’s what October 5th was.

So there are a FEW things that we have done! I’m so sad I’ve done such a terrible job at blogging.

Last semester was a good one. One of the easier ones for me, but unfortunately one of the busier ones for Ry. That’s okay though. He earned a whopping $7 per “A”…AND, he got straight A’s!! That’s right, I snatched a smart one!


The end of last semester was an exciting one for me. It meant that I could take the dreaded test and start working as an RN. One month after graduation and that dreaded test is STILL lingering…torturing me. If anyone reads this, a prayer would be much appreciated! To celebrate surviving the nursing program, we had a pinning ceremony. Kind of like graduation…but just for the students in my class. Thank you to my sweet sister-in-law, Mel, I have pictures to remember this big day.













I want to thank all my friends and family who have been so supportive! You guys rock. I know I’ve been busy and missed important events or just disappeared for weeks on end, but I want you all to know that I appreciate you and love you all so much! (…and miss you!!)


Three weeks of Christmas break seemed to fly by, but it was a nice break. I was able to manipulate my work schedule to have a lot of days off in a row for Christmas and for our Anniversary, which was so nice. Ry was even able to get a week off and we celebrated our 2nd Anniversary by going to Idaho and going snowmobiling and just RELAXING. It was the best. Thank you mom and dad for a great weekend!

Here is my cheesy blurp because I’m a terrible wife and totally forgot to write a card for Ry for our anniversary…Ry, I love you more than words can express and I am beyond grateful that you are mine FOREVER! I love everything about you and I’m so excited to live life with you and raise a family with you someday (someday does NOT mean in 7 years mister). You’re going to be the quirkiest and BEST dad ever and I’m so excited for that! You have opened my eyes to so many things and have given me the privilege to meet so many wonderful people. Thank you for being the greatest example to me and to everyone around you. You are the most kind, forgiving, considerate, loving, trustworthy, reliable, selfless person I know and I hope that your good example rubs off more on me. You are always serving and giving and it humbles me. You don’t want people to know how you help them, which sometimes kills me because I want everyone to know how pure and GOOD you are. Thank you for always forgiving and forgetting when I do something mean, bratty, or dumb and for always loving me and being willing to hold me when I’m down. I find such comfort in knowing that you are always there for me when I feel that nobody else is. You know me and you know how to make me smile when all I want to do is cry. Thank you for showing me how to live. You’ve showed me that life is SO much more than work. That life is about relationships and memories. Thank you for giving me opportunities to learn something new, even when it means you have to go slow and wait for me. I love you for all your funny little habits – like not putting cups upside-down in the cupboard because you’d rather rinse dust out of your cup than lick the bottom of the cupboard, like licking the top of the toothpaste (and every condiment) so that the lid doesn’t get sticky, taking a bajillion vitamins, criticizing the heck out of movies, making the bed with one pillow in the middle of the bed for your knees, eating a bowl of cereal while you drive to school, and even having me fold your socks in half in a pair rather than rolling them together :) You make me smile Ry guy. I love when you are joking around with someone and they have no idea. I love that I can expect what’s coming (usually) because I know you. I’m so excited to keep getting to know you! I love learning new things about you and about your childhood and about what made you become the man that I am so hopelessly head over heels for. Happy Anniversary love, and here’s to MANY more to come!!

ps: Mel recently took pictures of Ry and I...but I have terrible internet and it took like an hour for the pictures above to load. So...I will put some of those up as soon as I can get access to fast internet!