Life Lately...

The past few weekends have been very enjoyable with friends, family, house work, and quality husband-wife time. Ryan and I catch ourselves saying over and over, "I love our life". God has blessed us so much and we continue each day to be reminded of how content we are with where things are in our lives. Our God is an awesome God! :)

Ok here are a few pictures to re-cap the last few weeks of life:

I threw some-what of a surprise birthday party for Ryan and his co-workers, their wives (my friends) and their children. We had a fun day watching the Masters, cooking out, eating cake, and playing outside. Here is a quick snapshot of all the kids...Ryan is going to be a great GREAT dad! But not for a LONG time :) This picture makes me laugh...

I surprised Ryan on his actual birthday and had a professional painting of our boys made for him! He loved it and it was hung before the day was over. We are not those kind of people that are OBSESSED with our dogs, meaning life goes on even though we have 2 boys in our backyard...so we put it in a discreet spot in our bedroom so we could enjoy it, so others don't question our priorities :)

This past weekend, we had another garage sale...yes I said it, ANOTHER...I somehow got put in charge of our neighborhood garage sale and it was a big success. Here is mom helping load up a desk...she is the QUEEN of garage sales :) Mom and dad came to visit for the sale, and while mom and I made money, Ryan and my dad played golf...We enjoyed fun drinks and dinner with them the night before, too. It was a great weekend with my parents and I am so glad they came!

We finished the weekend by painting our shutters and front door, going to see the movie date night and enjoying some quality time together. :) I woke up Monday morning to run and couldnt get out the front door! It had dried shut! Don't worry, Ryan fixed it, after my ENTIRE side is bruised from trying get it open! ;)

Let's Get it On...

Ha, I knew the title of this blogpost would make you want to read it! I just had to start off this EASTER blog post with my most FAVORITE Easter Commercial. It is where the chocolate easter bunny is staring at a jar of peanut butter and the song 'let's get it on' is playing in the background of the commercial. That is the whole commercial, but I just think it is hysterical...have yall seen it?

Ok, so the Easter Bunny delivered not only baskets, but also a wonderful EASTER weekend! I will be honest, we normally dread weekends to B'ham NOT becuase we dont want to be there, but just becuase we go 90-nothing and we are always going from place to place and we come back from the weekend exhausted...but this weekend was WONDERFUL! We started off by meeting my parents, brother, and cousin at dinner then headed off to the wonderful Church of the Highlands for their Easter/Good Friday service. Then we spent the night at my parents house...just to rest a few hours before the big day...Oh yes, we had a garage sale! If you know me, well, I LOVE THESE! Here is a snapshot from one of our busiest moments from Molly who joined in on the fun!

I left the garage sale and my dear friend, Kelly, came to get me and we went to my favorite B'ham bbq place, Full Moon. I loved catching up with her and we always talk non-stop and have so much to talk about...speaking of, Kelly call me so we can finish our convos!

After lunch, I went to see the play '13' downtown. One of the sweet girls that sang in my wedding was in it, and loved seeing her and her mom! LOVE THE BARLOWS!

Ryan picked me up from there after a fun day of golf with some fraternity brothers and we headed to my 2nd family, Ryan's parents house. We had a great Easter dinner with them and my new brother and sister-in-law. They are expecting a baby and I am so excited to be an aunt! They had their first ultra-sound this week and everything seems to be going great! I am so happy for them!

We went Easter Sunday to our church where both Ryan and I grew up! It was really neat to run into our high school sunday school leaders, where we both were in that class and didnt know one day we would be husband and wife! God is sneaky! After church we left to meet my family at the country club and celebrate my dad's birthday! I surprised him with cake and singing..he hates that, but was a good sport! It was a very memorable weekend as our first married Easter! We are loving life!

(Cousin Andrew on left, Ryan, me, Easter bunny, mom, brother Travis, Birthday man Dad!)

Happy Easter Everyone! He is Risen!

Best part of teaching: Spring BREAK! :)

I laugh at the title of this blog post, because I taught for 2.5 weeks and I already get a week break! ha! I am using the break to catch up on rest, clean (ok I lied, we got a MUCH needed maid), work at Shoe Fly (still LOVING it), and of course, RE-DECORATE!

Here is how the week has panned out so far:

-1st, my WONDERFUL mom came up for a visit! She actually worked with me at the store, which was so fun to do together! Of course she shopped and tried on clothes as we worked! :)

-Then YAY for Sunday Ryan was home from Whistler! Poor guy after a week of an all expense paid trip he had to go back to work :( However, on his defense, not only did he have bad jet-lag and a delayed flight, but also the time change didnt help. I still think he is recovering! All this to say he deserved a break, but I am so glad he is back and in all in one piece! This was the longest we have been apart since the big wedding day!

-For my bithday my mom bought me some amazing sconces and I have been racking my brain on where to put them. Sweet Mary Katherine (Ryan's co-workers, wife) came over with her cute little girl to help me! Candy occupied Emma, while MK and I made a great change in our room with the sconces! We moved the mirror and hung it on the wall and thanks to her I would have NEVER thought of that! I LOVE IT now, it seems like we have much more room!

The sconce on the left side of the bed is hard to see but its there! Thanks Mom, I LOVE the new look in our room! Now off to work...

What a meaningful Wedding gift!

My sweet grandmother spent almost a year making this quilt for me out of my old sorority t-shirts. I am so thankful for her hardwork and time spent and wanted to share it with you! I sleep with it everynight! :)

Sorry for the long pause in postings...I have officially started teaching again, this time 3rd grade! I am at an AMAZING school and am so excited to have this opportunity! God is so good! Ryan leaves for Whistler a week from today and will be skiing for work (yeah right, for work???) for the week! I am so happy for him that he gets to do that!

Speaking of Ryan, we have been married for 101 days today! Best days of my life!

Perfect weekend, to an unpleasant ending...

So the weekend could not have been anymore fun and gone any better! Ryan and I had a great weekend spending some quality time together NOT in Huntsville! Friday started with us driving to B'ham and we met Ryan's parents for dinner at our favorite bbq place, the one and only, Jim N' Nicks! Yum! The Harbucks are such wonderful inlaws to have and we enjoyed our time with them as always! They are the most giving and loving in-laws I could ask for! So, minus the traffic, we headed to to the Brad Paisley, Miranda Lambert, and Justin Moore concert . Remember traffic??? Well, becuase of it, we missed Justin Moore :(. We were actually looking forward to both opening acts because we love their music, but oh well! The concert was amazing and we had such a great time!

The night started off with me wearing my new shoes from the cute boutique I work at! They were half off! Come visit us for cute clothing and shoes!

The one and only Brad Paisley! My 4th time to see him!

Then Saturday morning, we headed off to the marriage retreat called "Ignite"at Church of the Highlands. t was so excited it about for many reasons. 1) What a great way to start off our marriage 2) It was GREAT quality time with Ryan 3) it was HILARIOUS and kept our attention the entire time 4)The food was amazing, ha! Tazikis, Chick-fil-a, Olexa's, etc. YUM! and 5) God will continue to be the focus of our marriage. We are already looking forward to going to the one next year! 1st week in February 2011!

Ryan and I both really, really enjoyed it and I am so glad we went! There are too many reasons why we loved it....Ted Cunningham and Gary Smalley are WONDERFUL speakers, anytime you get a chance to see or hear them, GO! It is so worth it! They have great books out too!

Here is cute Ryan at the conference, showing off the notebook we got! :)

After the concert, we got to go spend some time with my sweet dad who I miss so much every day! (Mom was out of town with her mom and sister on a cruise, no fair) From there we went to a fun dinner with my new in-laws, Ryan's brother Garrett and his wife, Martha at Mafiotsa's (sp?) in Crestline Village. Alan (Garrett's best friend of high school) and his new wife, Bevin, came too! We had a great time eating yummy food, conversing, laughing, and listening to the great band! Thanks Harbucks for surprising us and paying for our food! Sad, I don't have a picture from that night....next time!

So I know you are thinking, what was bad about this weekend?? Well Sunday rolled around and I felt awful!!!! Body aches, head hurting, throat hurting, nausea, EVERYTHING you name it, I had it! Needless to say, yesterday I went the doctor got 2 shots in my hip, 6 prescriptions, and a 3 hour wait, and now I am good to go! NO FLU, Thank the LORD!

Big Decision!

Wow, this past weekend was very fun yet very stressful! I went to Birmingham, while Ryan hunted with co-workers, to see sweet Ann Reese, one of my best friend's new baby. It was so fun to get to hang out with Amy and get some quality time with the baby!

I also went to Miss Olympian to see Anna Grace Barlow compete in Miss Olympian (she sang in my wedding) She did WONDERFUL and I am so happy and proud of her! Then Sunday I got to go to see Buddy Holly with the Barlow Family. They are so good to me and I loved getting some time with them! This is Aliza Kate while we were waiting on the pageant..she had come from a dance competition with lots of makeup! She is a mess! LOVE her!

So I know you are thinking, wow that sounds like fun, what was the big decision!!?? Well LONG story short, I got a job offer Sunday. Just some background info: I am currently substitute teaching in Huntsville, working at a clothing boutique, starting a maternity leave in March until May in 3rd grade at a local school, and babysitting. I am staying very busy...So with that said, when I got offered the job, I was COMPLETELY stressed...I really want a full time commitment. I feel like it would help keep my life a little more structured and help not feel like I am going 90 to nothing each day. BUT, on the other hand I LOVE making my own schedule and I really am enjoying the boutique, its fun and stress free! Plus I really didnt want to back out of the commitments I had already made...So with LOTS of prayer I was still 50-50. I had a list of pros and cons for both...I decided to trust my wonderful husband's instinct and I turned the offer down. I know you are thinking I am crazy, but it just didnt feel right and I am relieved now that I have turned it down! I am praying that God will open other doors with these other opportunities I have...we shall see!

So even though my job is up in the air, I have to brag on Ryan! He is doing a great job with his job as assistant project manager for Harbert. He loves what he is doing and loves the people he works with! I love their wives, too! Ryan got a Christmas bonus and a slight raise as well! I am so proud of him! We cooked out steaks to celebrate! Dad always says, celebrate the big things AND the little things!

Flip this House!

So Ryan and I have grown to love HGTV...its probably the only tv show that we both agree on watching together! :) I have learned to deal with some of his shows (sports, law and order SVU, The Office, etc.) and he has learned to deal with some of mine (bachelor, biggest loser, greys anatomy, etc.) But the one we both will watch at any time is HGTV. We started watching it when Ryan was on the house hunt, but then kept watching it after that. Its like an unspoken motivation to help us do things with our house to help it improve and be somewhat of an investment! Its been fun to do together! Here are a few pictures of some things we have been working on! We have a list (you know me! :)) on the fridge of improvements we want to do...let's just hope these all get done. :)

Ryan tried to break out our guest bath mirror to put a pretty mirror instead...lets just say it still looks like this right now :) We are still working on this one :

Sweet Holli and Jay gave us this chandelier from their house (ours was an ugly outdated silver one)...I took her out to lunch because she wouldnt let me pay for it...best deal ever on a great chandelier!!!!

There was an AWFUL fluorescent light in the kitchen...we put a simple bronze fixture instead:

Molly and I surprised Ryan and painted the master bathroom while he was gone to Tampa for the Au game! Thanks Mols for your help! A true friend helps paint! :)

Ryan stained the fireplace:

Ryan painting the guest bath

Our List of things, I had to put this on here...just becuase everyone laughs at my lists :)