Our Engagement

Last year, on New Years Eve, Ryan proposed to spend the rest of my life with him.  We don't have photos or video of the actual proposal, but it went something like this...

He asked,
My hands found their way to my face, the way all girls seem to respond to the good news.
I cried.  A lot.  And was overcome with emotions.
He laughed.  And smiled.  And love poured out of his heart.
I accepted.
He put the most beautiful ring on my finger.
We hugged.  And kissed.  And hugged some more.

 The biggest smiles we've ever seen

Once we arrived to our New Year's Eve party, I called my out-of-state best friends (cried some more), mom & dad, and then celebrated... x 100!

I've prayed for my husband since I was a teenager and I'm so very thankful God took care of him all this time for me.   

Happy New Year's Eve!

All my love.

National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum

The Native American printmaking exhibit was my favorite (photo - bottom left).  I learned so much!  And still wish I could learn more. Ryan liked to follow the cowboys around.  Ironically enough, there were quite a few visiting the museum.

 

So much fun!  I wish we had time to watch the western movie showing in the little theater (photo - top middle), it sounded exciting, but the museum was closing in an hour and we had much more to see.  Like visiting the feux western village set in the early 1900s, which was my second favorite exhibit.

Museum. Conquered.

A Handmade Christmas

An Ipad cover turned makeup bag:

I really liked the shape of the Ipad cover (it looks like an envelope!), but I wanted something a little smaller in size.  It turned out much better than I expected.  And the cute little tag was a free download from Creature Comforts.

Tote Bags:

I completely forgot to post about Renske's minimalist tote bag I made with Valerie a few weeks ago (check out her cute tote)!  Another fun project and our husbands got the opportunity to get the hand drills out.  I had a lot of fun making my bag that I decided to make 2 more for Christmas gifts.  I used a couple fun patterns for the inside liners, but continued with the white canvas for the outside and brown fabric as the base. 

And the first handmade gift I already posted was received with a huge smile.  She was mostly excited about the POCKETS.  Who isn't?

Eclipse

Let me go ahead and get this out of the way...this post has nothing to do with the Twilight series. My apologies to anyone who was mislead.


Last night around 2:15CST there was a full lunar eclipse that was visible to anyone in North America...who didn't have any cloud cover. If you were brave enough to join the rest of us who didn't care about showing up late to work today, you were able to catch a sight (such as the one on the left) that doesn't happen very often. In fact, a lunar eclipse occurring on the winter solstice only happens every 350 years on average. So...likely the only chance we will have in our lifetime. Also, for anyone with little light pollution, there was a small meteor shower.

Zia and I had a blast! We both put on some warm clothes and went out to lay in the grass. I tried to take a few pictures but due to my inability to operate the new DSLR in low light, none turned out.


If you are curious like me and want to look up as to why the moon turns red during an eclipse then go here to learn why this happens. I also learned how to convert universal time.

A (tad blurry) Fancy Date

It doesn't happen often, but every now and then we go on a "fancy date"...and sneak photos with our Iphones.

The Photo Swap

A Saturday photo adventure from California to Oklahoma and a few wonderful places in between... the photo swap!
 

Fayetteville, AR

Dog park (Ryan)
Oklahoma City, OK

Lake Michigan, Lincoln Park
Chicago, IL

Lincoln, NE

 Santa Monica, California (Adam)

Click on the photos for more info about our photographers.

Note: I absolutely love the difference between California & Illinois.  Holy storm, Chicago!

And anyone is welcome to join us, e-mail me your photo Sunday night and I'll post everything on Monday.  I'm already excited to see next what next week brings!

Doing It Right

For almost 5 years I have longed for two things like a baby wants milk. The first was my beautiful wife and that dream came true this year. I still can't believe that the girl of my dreams became my wife just 6 months ago. The second is my Jeep. It is big and mean and almost as beautiful as my gorgeous wife. There are times when I daydream about it and usually one night a week I am thinking about it when I fall asleep.

Side Note: Is it sad that a material item occupies this much of my mind sometimes? I find myself feeling guilty for wanting an object so much.

I recently envisioned the events surrounding my acquisition of a Rubi. After the usual 5 minutes of giddiness that even surrounds this thought, I started planning. Planning what is now known as "The Trip". This event includes the logistics of flying-to, purchasing, and driving it home. For example:

There is a perfect Rubi for sale in the Seattle area at the moment. So, I see Kendra and I flying into Seattle with loaded packs and buying it then taking the next week to drive home...to Denver of course(see picture of route)... Zia would have to stay behind because I don't think I could make her fly cargo on a plane. We would hang out around Seattle for a bit then hit the road, skipping the hotels and camping each night because we are in a freaking Jeep that can go anywhere so why would we park it in a parking lot when we can park it on a mountain!? Along the way we would see lots of friends in Cali, Utah, and Northern Colorado...maybe make an exception on the camping rule to stay at their house for the night. There will be sights to see, pictures to take, and 4x4 roads to be owned. In short, a good time would be had by all...someday.

By the way...Kendra wanted me to remind all of you shutterflys out there that you pictures for the photo project are due by Sunday night, if you want to participate next week.

Hostess Apron (part deux)

Remember the fun aprons Val and I made?

Well, I decided to make another, but this time..  BY MYSELF!  I was really happy with my accomplishment, however I missed my sewing friend greatly with her stories and amazing direction reading skills (I sew what to what?).

  

Cute and kitchen-y, right?  I especially like the pockets.

I took everyone's advice to gift a few of these guys for Christmas - this one is going to Ryan's Grandma (she doesn't read the blog).  Her favorite color is blue, she loves to bake, and is frequently spotted sporting an apron around the house.  Perfect!  I hope :)

Yes, let's

(from fifiduve)

26

(photo by Beth Retro)

I love birthdays.  For me, it's a milestone marker and I can say with great happiness that year 25 was quite the adventure.  I married the boy of my dreams, continued to build friendships to heights I never thought were possible, found new relationships within a church that wrapped it's arms around us with such love, traveled and experienced so many things I never could have dreamed, marked off a few more bucket list items, and laughed and grew and accomplished so much.  I believe birthdays are a celebration for all said things. 

With that same excitement I move on to the next set of goals and new adventures.  I can't wait to see where this next year takes me.  Where it takes all of us.

26, let's see what you got...