Valentine's Day with the Sweeneys

So far, this might be the only resolution that we've kept.  

I tried to make the holiday a little more special, and I do believe I succeeded.

 

I started with some homemade decorations. 

(Pardon the lighting, we live in a basement with no natural light to be found)

 In the morning I made some heart shaped pancakes! New tradition?

In the afternoon, I forced Ryno to be my little model.  I'm lucky I got this shot.  He was not having it because the neighbor dogs were out playing and I was forcing him to sit and stay.  Good boy.

 Dinner consisted of heart-shaped pizza on Ryan's new pizza pan (his Vday gift... how romantic, right?), homemade bread sticks, and cranberry ginger ale in the fancy glasses, of course.

 

 

 

 Ryno knows pizza no matter how the shape.

As much as all of this took planning and preparation, it was worth it.  It made the day way more fun!

Ryan's Scavenger Hunt

I feel bad. Ryan went through all the effort of the scavenger hunt and it just frustrated me.  

I'm very grateful, and absolutely love my hidden treats but the riddle part was borderline awful. 

First, I'm terrible at crosswords.  Totally not my thing.

Second, he and I don't think the same.  We know this.  

So what he thinks is a great hint leaves me completely clueless.

So let's see if you can guess his clues.  

If you click on the clue, it should take you to a new window with the treat that I got.

1.  If I want to "butter" you up while watching movies, I'd make this.

2. This has the term Utah Mormons used for "cool" circa 2004.  Put an "n" in it then make it plural with friends.

3. This is the laziest form of Italian-American food.

4.  Like you, these are slightly twisted and full of flavor. :)

5. In basketball, it's like saying you got blocked twice - this is a flavor.
This one really ticked me off because I could NOT get it!

6. The name of the third Rice Krispies elf, if he was sour.

7.  Like the commercial and like real life, these tasty little things give you a bloody nose one minute and a hug the next... they're like me! :)

8.  Sometimes we drive each other "crazy" on road trips.

9. Part of this can increase your libido, the other part can make you healthier...why wouldn't you combine the two?!?

10. Water can turn to wine and so can this.

So how did you do?  If you can't tell, Ryan and I buy each other food to show our love.  

His goal was to buy things that I like that aren't his favorite so that I would eat them to get fat and he wouldn't.  I think he did pretty well!  And if you haven't had those Chocolate Covered Pomegranate things from Sam's Club, you should.  They're AMAZING.  And sold in bulk which is incredibly dangerous.

Also, have you seen this. yet?
 

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!!