Giving Credit where Credit is Due

You know, I feel bad for our husbands.  

We wives have the wide wonderful world of Pinterest to help 

improve our marriages and they're left on their own.  

For example, a few weeks ago I found this link to "14 Days of Love" from the Dating Divas.  

Seeing that it was fairly easy and inexpensive, I decided to do it for Ryan.  It's been awhile since I've done a romantic gesture like this and I knew he would appreciate it very much.  With all the items purchased, and some colored cardstock in hand I went to work to make my own tags.

 

Simple, right? I've been giving one a day to Ryan and his reaction did not disappoint.  

He LOVES finding them!

But, there's a problem.  He now feels guilty for not doing something cute like that for me.  I told him not to fret too much because I had help (thank you, Dating Divas!).  But he won't give it up.  He's spent days at work talking to his coworkers and trying to plan fun dates and fun gifts for me. 

Last night I went to a friend's house to watch Pitch Perfect (she saw my last post and decided it was time to see it again!).  Ryan was supposed to be writing his second essay for his residency application.  I got home only to discover he hadn't.  He had once again been racking his brain all night trying to decide what to do for me.  

See, we have it so easy? 

He's now spent many many important hours trying to come up with something on his own!

Of course his hard work is paying off and I've begun his Valentine's Scavenger Hunt.

I got these texts last night as my first clues:

The first one was easy.  Popcorn hidden with our DVDs.

But I'm now going to let you guys guess #2.  I could NOT figure it out.  

I had to had lots of help (hence the second text).

Good Luck!

Interview at Joann Fabrics

If you haven't seen Pitch Perfect, you MUST.  I saw it 6 times in a matter of a month or so.  Now that I've had a break, I really want to watch it again.

 Also, thanks to my bestie, I've been listening to this song on repeat all day.  Can't get enough!

Dropping Names

So you know how Ryan goes to Duke? Well, it's kind of a big name school, in case you didn't know. We know, because we pay for the big name.  Besides hoping for a good education and great basketball games, we were really counting on that name coming in handy when looking for a job back in Omaha and trying to compete with the PT programs at UNMC and Creighton. 

I don't know if I mentioned this, but Ryan wants to get an orthopedic residency at Creighton in the fall (it's a one-year specialization type thingy).  We heard through the grapevine that they like to stick with their own graduates which makes us a liiiiittle nervous.  But we think Duke came through for us!  Ryan emailed the head guy dude with some questions and he seemed genuinely excited and honored that a Duke graduate would be applying for their residency.  He basically promised him an interview before even receiving his application.  SCORE.  Little do they know, this is what is behind the Duke name.

 

But how can you not fall in love with that face? Ryan rocks at interviews. 

It's suddenly getting real! Eek, we are so excited to come home!

"I'm happy"

Do you ever have those moments when out of the blue you realize you're truly happy? I had one today and unfortunately they don't come often enough (for me at least).

I was sitting on this swing in "our" backyard just watching Ryno play with the neighbor dogs. It was 50 degrees, blue sunny skies and he was having the time of his life. Out of nowhere a big smile came across my face and I stopped for a minute to realize that no matter what else was going on in my life, I was happy.

I have the perfect little family for me right now. Although Ryno is scared of people and garages and balloons and trash cans and bikes and motorcycles and weird noises and pretty much everything, he is the perfect fit for Ryan and I. The fuzz ball follows me everywhere I go and I wouldn't have it any other way. And although Ryan was gone for 16 hours straight on Monday and has been leaving me most evenings to play basketball after 12 hours at work, he scrambled to get the dishes done this morning so he wouldn't leave me with a full sink. He expresses gratitude for every little thing I do. He tip-toes around in the morning, letting me sleep in while he leaves for work at 7 am. He doesn't care if I don't get a darn thing done by the time he comes home. He just loves being with me.

I live in an absolutely gorgeous state with beautiful weather. So although I was frustrated that I had to walk a lot on my "run" today, I was outside in shorts and t-shirt at the beginning of February to run through a forest and along a creek. I can sit outside right now wearing this amazing outfit and not care. I can also sit inside and feel like I'm in the forest, thanks to the ridiculous amount of leaves Ryno tracks in.

All in all, life is good and it was just such a great moment to sit there this morning and think, "I'm happy."

Birthday Redo

As Facebook informed the world, my birthday was on Wednesday. Even though Ryan and I's resolution is to do more to celebrate the holidays, birthdays just aren't much fun around here with just the two of us. We bought me new running shoes for my birthday on a post-thanksgiving sale so I've had my gift for months. We're also trying to save money to buy a house so I insisted Ryan not buy me any other gifts. I didn't care, really.

Ryan did sing me "happy birthday" when his alarm went off (okay after he was finally awake enough and had hit snooze twice). He can't sing worth a lick and he knows it but it's the thought that counts! He let me sleep in and quietly slipped away to work. My friend Maile took me out to a great lunch and I was having a chill but good day.

Then Mother Nature decided to be cruel. A full week late, Auntie Flo decided to come to town, crushing once again my monthly hope of pregnancy. Happy Birthday, huh? Knowing I was in a rough state, Ryan by-passed stopping to get me anything for my birthday and came right home. One year older also is a terrible reminder than I'm now 26 and childless and most of you are my age or younger with 1-3 children. Awesome. Needless to say, I needed a birthday do-over.

So yesterday, Ryan came home looking like this:

And he found the perfect card for this year!

But like I said, I have one rough (sometimes really rough) day a month and move on. Yesterday I had a nice chat with Alison who lives upstairs, Maile stopped by and so did our friend Cabrina for a puppy play date. Everything is back to normal and it's time to move on! Here's to a great weekend! And the cutest puppy in the whole world who brings me happiness no matter what. Everyone needs a puppy. Never thought I would say it, but he is the best!!

Have you ever....?

Have you ever been woken up in the middle of the night with a bloody nose? Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night because your husband smacked you in the face? Yeah, that happened two nights ago.

Have you ever packed a car in 11 degree weather, driven across the country and celebrated at the sight of 43 degree?  We did.

Have you ever seen schools (even universities) announce they are shutting down TOMORROW because the prediction of a little snow? Well, that tomorrow is now today, the snow came and things are a mess.  Amateurs.

We're off to a great start here in North Carolina!!

But really, we are.  We once again are blessed with an amazing place to stay.  It's again in a friend's basement but this time we even have our own kitchen.  And Ryno has neighbor dogs to play with in addition to the adorable cockapoo (cocker spaniel-poodle mix) that lives upstairs.  We have two cars again.  We already went to a birthday party the night we arrived and were able to see good friends.  There is already a Duke Basketball game tomorrow that we will hopefully be attending.  We're going back to our old ward (congregation) where we will get to see a lot of old friends.

All in all, we're pretty happy to be back.  But we're also excited to leave again. :)

Whirlwind December

We're over halfway through January so I thought, "Hey, what better time to post pictures from last month, right?"
 Right.  So here you go.  Our month of December...

We love the temple here in Omaha.  It's "our" temple (where we got married).  We were able to go with family twice this month! Our nephew Braden turned 12 and was able to do baptisms for the dead for the first time.  My younger sister, Shelby, went through for herself and it was a whole family affair.  (For more information on what I'm talking about, click here and here)

 

We went to the tree lighting at Boys Town with Rob and Melissa (she works there).

 

 I was able to hang my stockings for the first time.  I still love them!

 

Our power was out for almost 24 hours so what did we do? Make finger puppets, of course!

 

Poor Ryno got embarrassed when we brushed his hair and he ended up with a halfro.

 

There is always some of this every month...

I organized a night out to go see Beauty and the Beast at the Orpheum theater with some of my best girlfriends.  

I'm thinking this needs to happen waaaay more often!

   

We celebrated Christmas with the fam.

And took our annual Ugly Sweater photo.

Ryan and I also go out looking at Christmas lights each Christmas Eve.
We recruited my mom and dad this year and found this gem of a house:

In looking through baby books I discovered that my niece looks exactly like me. 

Since those of you who have met Ryno know him as a bump on a log, this is what he's really like when he's not terrified of the world around him.  This little pup was loving fetch in the snow.  But as you can see, his tracking skills are terrible.  He would NEVER survive in the wild.

 

To finish off the year, we spent a lot of time with these two and the rest of their family (darn Kristina, you left before we could have photographic proof that I actually know you!)

Dontcha love Ryno's scarf? He's so hipster.