Valentines Day, an Anniversary and a great long weekend

Like I have mentioned before. I love February since Ryan and I have been together. 

We have Valentines Day, our anniversary, a long weekend and its always the time here in Utah where the weather starts to pretend to get nice even just for a couple days before it snows you in again. 

And that's okay. 

This February is no different!

We just had a fabulous week that began with Valentines Day. 

Ryan and I both realized this was going to be our last Valentines Day without kids and that felt really weird. But awesome at the same time. So we both secretly planned out the perfect things for one another. 

I got him a pound of chocolate from See's Candies and filled it with his 2 favorite ones. And I put Batman valentines all over the bathroom since he wakes up much earlier than I do so he would see them. Oh and did I mention that Ryan bought us tickets to see Bon Jovi in April for my present?? Because it is the best present ever! We are super excited and I know our baby will just love it. 

Anyway, I came home from work to roses and petals EVERYWHERE along with candles and fruit and a cheese tray. It was absolutely perfect. I love my husband.

However, there is always a glitch for us on Valentines Day. So, for the past couple years I have planned on making Ryan his favorite dinner at home for us. This year was no different. We had plans to go to the temple the same night with the Elders from our ward and also a new convert. So, I get everything ready and put the food in the oven. Little did we realize that our over has decided to not heat up as much even though it says its at 425. In other words, it was broken. Last year, dinner was a failure, it burned and tasted weird because our oven was too hot. This year, it wouldn't cook to save our lives. 

Valentines Day resolution, we should probably order take out next year... 

But of course, Ryan being the amazing guy that he is, didn't skip a beat and we headed off to the temple without eating and had an amazing time doing some work for my ancestors with our newest ward member. 

Overall, I definitely would not ever change a minute of any of our Valentine's Days together so far. 

Now to our anniversary weekend!

We planned to go to Salt Lake for a night for our anniversary. I booked us a beautiful room at Little America (definitely recommend it) and we headed up there Friday after work. Needless to say, the Little America has amazing rooms. I didn't take a picture because I forgot but let's just say they are huge and classy. Loved it!
Well since I am prego to boot, I still can be picky about food. Meat and I have become only distant acquaintances and all I want is cheese and fruit. So, it's a fiasco trying to figure out dinners. Anyways, I made a bunch of semi reservations and lists of places we could go. Ryan and I decided the night before that we would do Indian food. By the way, Himalayan Kitchen in SLC is my favorite place for it in the city. But back to our dinner plans. Well on the ride up to SLC, Ryan said he didn't want Indian food anymore. We both wanted either Peruvian or papusas. I know, we are strange. But we began searching. And I am SOOO glad we did. We found the most awesome place to eat that you have never heard of in SLC before. It's called Del Mar al Lago and it is a fantastic Peruvian cevicheria. They have amazing menu selections and GIANT portions for fantastic prices. Ryan and I ordered enough food for at least 4 people because we weren't expecting the big portions. We started out with some amazing papa a la huancaina (so creamy and good) and some platanos fritos (to die for). Ryan got a ceviche tasting platter for his meal. It was 3 different kinds of ceviche and it was definitely enough to feed a family of four and I got some great lomo saltado. Delicious food. Yum. If any of you would like to experience some of earth's greatest food, let us know, Ryan and I will gladly go with you :)
Well we ate til we were bursting and still took a ton home with us and decided to wisely walk off a few pounds around City Creek. It was a lovely night with just a bit of a nip in the air and we had a great time doing a little bit of shopping and lots of talking just the two of us. I love my husband.
Then we headed back to the hotel where Ryan was anxiously awaiting to finish eating his chocolates and opened up a bottle of Martinelli's and found a movie to watch as we just took time to relax.
Side note: never watch P.S. I Love You while you are pregnant and it's your anniversary. You will be a sobbing mess for hours. And your husband will laugh at you. But on the other side of this side note, it does make you realize how amazing your spouse is, so I guess it's okay. Just be warned.
So we laughed and cried and fell asleep finally and then woke up to a beautiful morning in the city and decided to fill ourselves up to the brim again by partaking in the magic that is the Little America breakfast buffet. I could happily become 387 lbs at this buffet. It is the perfect way to spend a morning to fill yourself up for the rest of your week.
Well then we checked out and headed back down to P-town for the rest of our Saturday. We stopped by a wrestling tournament (if you know Ryan and I you understand that this makes us insanely happy) and we did a little bit of research for one of Ryan's classes. Then we met up with one of Ry's mission buddies for lunch (definitely was still stuffed from breakfast) and then we got back home to unwind. Ryan's brother and sister in law were in town so we saw them for a little while and then it was back to the grind of Sunday and being busy with church!
But thankfully we had Monday off (heavens blessing). Well it was the big day that we decided to get some bedroom furniture for the baby. And after only about 3 pregnancy meltdowns later, I finally could decide on one and we got it ordered! Yay! So about a week from today we will have our baby's room pretty much set up! Woo hoo!
In all these past few days have shown me just how lucky I am to be married to Ryan. He has been such an amazing trooper and friend to me throughout the past two years and even though I may drive him absolutely insane some days (especially now with these hormones) the fact that he can come to me and hug me and still say he loves me through it all, I can say that he's a keeper and I would be lost without him.
I am so excited for this year and all the infinite years to come together and I wouldn't trade it for the world. 

This is simply a picture of the cutest puppy in the world. Not mine, but I am so happy to babysit :)

Excitement for February!

February is one of my favorite months of the year. There is always so much to look forward to with Ryan and I wish that this wasn't the short month of the year. 

This year it is no different! Ryan and I will be celebrating our two year anniversary and Valentine's Day in the same week. We have a long weekend (hallelujah) for President's Day. And we should find out at the end of the month whether we are going to have a little David or a Riley! We are so excited to find out if we are having a boy or a girl. Ryan and I have been thinking its a boy some days and a girl other days. We are definitely dying to find out already so we can start actually getting things other than furniture! 

Either way, I love this month and I cannot wait to see the changes that are coming to our family.

Pregnant Life

First of all, let me just say that I really LOVE being pregnant.
I am poised and ready to go when it comes to this baby. July still feels like an eternity away.

There is only one caveat... I really miss food :(

So far, I haven't had any crazy cravings for anything. Just really love cheese and fruit right now. Although I definitely did just have a craving for those nasty terrible nachos that you get at baseball games... I gave into that one :) I do have to say, I never thought I would dislike food so much. I expected the queasiness but man, for someone who loves food and cooking as much as I do, this is much harder to deal with. It has started to ease up somewhat but I am really looking forward to having an appetite again. Sorry to my neighbors who might have heard me the other night dying outside my front door as I walked in and smelled the remnants of dinner. I can't control my nose or my stomach. I belong in a nursing home.
Note to self: Begin a nursing type home for pregnant women. You will make millions. But also suffer the wrath of never ending hormones.

I had my first real pregnant sleep this long weekend when I slept for 12 long and glorious hours. It was amazing. Ryan was so happy to have me sleep in. He's the best. I seriously did not want to come back to work. I loved being at home. I am so excited for maternity leave :)

Ryan has been awesome dealing with my lack of cooking and multitude of food aversions and my constant rush to the bathroom. He's a real trooper. So are the plastic bags that I always have on hand nowadays. I am a bag lady.
 And it is nice to be kind of able to cook again. I want to love being in my kitchen again. However, that whole love/hate relationship with food changes hour by hour still so most nights, it's a lot of me holding my breath while cooking and having the stove fan going full blast. It's just oh so much fun and Ryan is ready for me to cook normally again. He's tired of my lame excuses for dinner. My words, not his.

We have also been working hard on our weekends getting organized in the baby's room! Although now for some reason Ryan thinks that because we have a big empty closet in that room that it means its for him and his suits... Not so, my dear husband. If our mothers have their way with clothing our child, we will need all the closet and dresser space possible. We have moved a few things around in there and should be getting our baby furniture in the next month or so. We have a few pieces of furniture picked out and just need to make a decision... I am just impatient and need to get it done so it doesn't drive me insane that I don't have it. It will be much more of a reality, I think, once we get that all in the room. Right now it's still kind of unreal. 

But that dream does become more real every time I look in the mirror and see my tiny little bump get bigger and bigger. And every time we go to the doctor. I love hearing my baby's heartbeat. But I especially love seeing it on the ultrasound screen. So far, the baby has been mostly blob shaped but that's fine by me. I love my little blob.

This long weekend we apparently were missing the Middle East a bunch so it seemed like everything we did was something to do with that. We went and saw Zero Dark Thirty- Excellent movie. I know it's rated R but it was absolutely amazing. We also watched 5 Broken Cameras. It's an amazing documentary about Palestine and it was filmed by a man in a village that has been fighting against Israeli settlements. It's an emotional look at the facts on the ground there and it really made me miss those wonderful people so much. I really encourage everyone to watch this documentary. It is nominated for best documentary this year and its on Netflix. 

Back to baby. It is insane to think of all the things you need for your little one! I freaked out for about a month over different brands and things. For a while whenever I was reading through reviews it was almost as if some moms are coming through the computer screen guilting me into certain products telling me that my child will die if I don't get a certain stroller. But no more! I no longer will freak out about my child's life in a stroller :) I just can't wait now for my baby showers and see what I need to get and finish doing that fun part of having a baby

On a different note, I am so over this whole cold weather nightmare that is Utah right now. I don't know when this whole 'I'm burning up' pregnancy symptom is supposed to hit, but it can come anytime. I abhor being cold. Our pipes have frozen at least five times since we have been back and no matter what we do, it keeps happening. UNCOOL. I am glad we don't have a little baby right now since no matter what we do, it will forever be cold until the weather warms up and we would be spending a hundred dollars a month on heat alone. Apparently SoCal news stations have been freaking out about their weather being in the 50's... No sympathy. Bunch of wimps.

Sorry for the random subjects of this post. But I think you can see just how sporadic a pregnant mind can be  I will be posting the first baby bump picture soon! Just have to take one!

:)

Looking back on 2012

Well 2012 has definitely been a whirlwind year for Ryan and I and we both realize that 2013 is going to be even more insane. But in a good way for sure :)

Recap of our amazing year:

I started a full time job that has been a major blessing in our lives

We moved apartments twice (and we will not be moving again...)

Ryan started working for the LDS Church as a financial analyst (another huge blessing)

Ryan started his Master's program at BYU (and got all A's his first semester!)

We have been all over the country (Southern Cali, Vegas, San Francisco, Myrtle Beach, Raleigh, etc.)

We have been to El Salvador and Peru! (Seriously miss Peru so much)

We bought a new car (since Ryan's got destroyed)

I have a new fish who I love to pieces 

We have made a million new friends that we are so grateful to know

We have both been super busy with church callings and activities

But, most of all, the greatest miracle of 2012 was finding out that our little family would be growing this year. 

I know that Ryan and I are both so grateful and humbled by the amazing life that we have together and neither of us could have imagined it to be anything different or any better.

2013 is going to be another grand year full of babies, weddings, adventures around the world and even more miracles. No future could be brighter :)

Happy New Year!

The best Christmas gift ever

I love the holidays. Thanksgiving, Christmas, Advent, New Years, you name it, I love it.

But this year it was extra special. 

If you haven't heard the news already.... We're having a baby!!

It definitely happened a whole lot faster than either of us were anticipating but the timing could not have been better. We are so happy that I am crying as I write this because I just want to have my baby now. 

We found out the week before Thanksgiving and it was SO HARD not to tell everyone we met immediately. We actually had dinner planned with our good friends Dan and Tia the day we found out and it was the worst thing in the world to not just run into her house and tell her. LAME.

So anyway, we were heading down to California a few days later anyway for Thanksgiving with Ryan's family and we decided that we would probably explode if we didn't tell someone. So we made a cute little card with a poem on it the Ryan wrote called Mistetoes and we gave it to Ryan's parents when we got there. It was so fun to see their reactions and to finally tell some people. 

Altogether, Thanksgiving was amazing to spend with family and to share our good news. 

We also decided to not tell my parents til we saw them in person at Christmas. So it was a very difficult few weeks for sure. It's kinad hard to hide morning sickness from everyone. Especially when it lasts all day and I can't really cook, eat or do anything. Joys of baby growing. 

We told my parents at Christmas when we saw them at Christmas and they were so excited. It's the first grandchild on our side and my parents and brother were just ecstatic. We had a great Christmas out in Myrtle Beach with my family and it was so fun to see my brother who just came back from his tour in the Navy. 

Needless to say, Ryan and I are so absolutely dying with excitement. We went in for our first appointment on December 14th and it was absolutely insane to be the one who was getting the ultrasound. We find out what we are having the beginning of the February right around our anniversary. CANNOT WAIT!!!

2013 is definitely going to be a big year for us and I just know (and hope) that time flies so we can meet our little sweet baby! Thank you 2012 for all your majesty. It's been fun

Pre-Holiday Happiness!

Well Halloween came and went. We celebrated my Dad's birthday and had some great friends over for a Halloween party.
But then it was time for the most fun of they year... This means the Christmas tree. Luckily I married a man who thinks that Thanksgiving and Christmas should both be celebrated with a Christmas tree in close proximity and so the weekend after Halloween, we set up our lovely tree and it made me so happy :)

We are so excited for Thanksgiving next week (crazy!) and to be with Ryan's family in the warm weather of Orange County. It will be nice indeed.

We are also super excited about Ryan finishing up his first semester of his Master's program and having a nice long break before he begins again. We can't wait to go to Myrtle Beach for Christmas to see my family!!

We have had some great fun with friends so far in November and we are so happy to be here in this time of our lives. Its a wonderful part of life and we are so grateful for our future together.

So bring on the holiday cheer and the Christmas music and cookies! Life does not get better!

:)

The crazy snowfall! It was amazing! 

Our delicious cookies and hot chocolate

Elmer! He is so happy!

Our Christmas tree :)

Tuesday at Work

Oh the joy of the thought of the holiday season.
It is currently freezing and windy and slightly rainy outside... And sadly I am at work and not snuggled under a blanket on my couch at home with a steaming mug of cider.
Ah well, soon enough once I am a mom, I will have that luxury.
I love this season. I love Halloween and carving pumpkins and seeing the leaves fall to the ground. (Utah isnt the east coast but I can't have everything)
I also just love that once November 1st hits, Ryan and I are busting out the Christmas tree! :) Say what you will anti-early-Christmas-joy people but I like it. And you don't have to come over if you don't.
Anyway, back to life.
We are missing Peru. A lot. And we are missing the Middle East. A lot.
But good news there, Ryan's consulting company might give him the opportunity to go to Iraq soon! (AWESOME) and I might be able to go! (EVEN MORE AWESOME)
I know we are weird but that's just what we love.
Speaking of my amazing hubby, he is so busy and working so hard on his master's. He is proving to me that he can do anything... Even that glorious PhD in a couple years.
I adore that guy. He is perfect. Especially while he watches Avengers cartoons in the morning while eating breakfast and tells me, once again, that we need to close our windows at night because its freezing here in the morning... Even though we are both fully aware that will not happen probably until we wake up to snow in our living room.
In other words, life is great.