April Update

Today is my birthday! I'm the big 2-6. We celebrated my birthday yesterday since Ryan's parents were in town. Thank you for the gifts! They gave me seeds to start a garden and President Monson's biography. I opened my mom's gift yesterday too. She gave me a purse and a kangaroo keeper and an Olive Garden gift card. Ironically we ate there Saturday night with Ryan's parents before I opened the gift :( They flew into town Saturday to be here for Ryan's ordination and it was nice to have our first guests.  We had to get our guest bathroom ready so I bought this shower curtain and think it looks great. Unfortunately, it was a short trip and they left Sunday night. They flew standby and weren't able to make the flight so they ended up renting a car and driving all through the night. I felt so bad, but I'm glad they got home safe and were able to spend some time with us. Ryan's gone on business until Thursday night, so I get to spend my birthday all alone! I'm grateful for the phone calls, texts and all the facebook messages, I feel loved. It's a beautiful 65 today and I'm grateful for that. I'm not however, grateful for the $1000 tax bill I had to mail today.

I had two more job interviews last week. Hopefully I can hear back this week on those.

I stopped by the local Goodwill and was pleasantly surprised to find lots of good deals!
I got 3 Twilight books for $3.99 each in great condition. I got a few cds, a few more books, a DVD and this   laptop bag for Ryan for $3.99.

I got my NM driver's license and car license. I could renew for 4 years or 8. I just did 4 since we probably won't be here longer than that.

Just some cool art work downtown.

Since I stay home with my kitties all day, this is what I see.

Last week we had a storm and it snowed! It was really windy yesterday and Saturday and we had planned to go to the zoo, but stayed home instead because of the crappy weather. I felt bad that we couldn't show his parents some sites around town.

 I love when Ryan helps with dinner. He's a much better cook than me. We made some bbq pizza the other night.

 I've been enjoying my free birthday coupons:

Schlotsky's

Baskin Robbins

I also went to Jason's Deli. 

Ryan noticed some cockroaches in our garage so we bought some traps and they have been working. The thought is disgusting though and I hope we never find any in the house. The pest control is coming tomorrow to spray.

We're trying to finalize our plans to visit Utah in June. We're excited to go back and visit friends/family.

We'll keep you all posted!

What's Happening Wednesday

01.  We saw Hunger Games on Friday. I loved it! Ryan, not so much. He hasn't read the books and kept asking me what was going to happen. He said it was too realistic that he didn't like it. It doesn't make sense to me, I dunno.
02. We tried out a new restaurant called Boston's and we really liked it. I got the double decker club and Ryan got the BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwich.
03. A family in the ward invited us for dinner and games. We had a blast! Played some rock band and I tried my hand at a dance game on the Kinect.
04. I got called to be the Cub Master and a primary teacher. They didn't waste anytime getting us working.
05. I had a job interview Monday that went really well. They called back today and I have a second interview tomorrow morning. I really hope I get the job.
06. Today's my MIL's birthday, happy birthday Debbie! Talk to you soon.
07. I visited the Animal Humane today to volunteer. They have a pretty intense process that I have to go through that includes a 1-2 month training and a 6 month commitment. I'll start training in June.
08. We just got back from the Stake President's office. Ryan got called to be the 2nd Couselor in the Bishopric. He's had a feeling all month that this would happen. He's going to be very busy, but he's excited for the experience.
09. People here drive so fast. If you're going 10 over, it's not fast enough.
10. No one uses their blinkers and they don't know how to merge. It's pretty rough out there on the freeway. According to Men's Health Magazine Albuquerque ranked #90 out of 100 cities on the worst driver's list. The key factors include the total number of fatal accidents and fatal crashes caused by speeding. We got a D-

What's Happening Wednesday

01. Ryan just got done being sick, now I am. This hardly ever happens.
02. Bought some amazing all natural moisturizer at Whole Foods called Desert Essence. My skin's never felt better.
03. Stuff has been disappearing lately. Papers, shoes, its' really starting to drive us crazy. Apparently I need to be more organized.
04. Went out to eat twice last week, La Frontera and a great place in Bountiful. both Mexican Restaurants, my favorite food.
05. Visited Jessica and Aaron and there little baby who is so strong! He turns his body and is very wiggly.
06.  Had a great time with my parent's Sunday night watching football and playing 5 crowns.
07.  Happy Birthday to my brother-in-law Johnny!
08. We have two more birthday's in the family Sunday.
09. Really need to get my wedding ring cleaned.
10. I've almost finished off a huge jar of chocolate covered sunflower seeds we got for Christmas by myself. Lucky for me Ryan doesn't really like sweets, not lucky for my body.

Jane turns 4

We played at the park with the Rose family for Jane's birthday.

 Jane opening gifts

 so happy to get her tiger!

 family picture

 sweet birthday girl

My birthday!

My birthday was wonderful this year! It was on a Saturday AND it didn't snow, so I call that a success.

We woke up and went to Denny's for breakfast. I used my free grand slam coupon.

Oh, here was my free stuff from last year

and this year...

so fun!
I had to put it in order and plan out my days. Most coupons are good for a few weeks before and after my birthday. Post on that coming later...

We came home, took a nap then used some previous movie credits to go see "source code," which was pretty good.
Then we met up with Syd for dinner at Red Robin. I had a free burger and a gift card so our meal was free!

After dinner we took trax downtown to the Off Broadway Theater and went to the improv show "Laughing Stock." I've been watching old re-runs of "Whose Line is it Anyway" lately and was really in the mood for some laughs.

Then, of course we ended the night at Iceberg where I got my free birthday shake! I was a little disappointed with my shake choice though. I got peach and it tasted like vanilla with a few peach chunks along the way ;(

It was a great day and now I'm a quarter of a century old...

Ryan's birthday weekend

Ryan turned 27 last week! To celebrate I surprised him with a stay at the Ellerbeck Mansion Bed & Breakfast. We checked in then went to PF Chang's for dinner. Afterwards I surprised him with this:

Jk, JK. He wished! No, but he did get to drive it for the weekend. I gave him a golf gift certificate which is almost as nice ;) The B&B was so great! They had free drinks and popcorn.

We stayed in the "Spring Breeze" room.

On our balcony

We went and got Ryan's free shake at Iceberg (chocolate chip this time, yum)

and when we came back our bed was turned down and we had chocolates!

We got to choose our breakfast time and meal the next morning so we got this:

pancakes, bacon and fruit.

The house was gorgeous and it was a nice little getaway or "staycation" if you will.

(pictures from the web site)

Ryan took the next day off from work and that night we celebrated by going swimming with his family at his brother's house.

 

It's always a party when you get to celebrate with your twin!

Saturday we went to his sister's volleyball tournament, which they won, and that night we went to a Bee's game.

We planned to go to my parent's house Sunday, but my mom called and said my sister had a kidney stone so we moved the party to her house. luckily she passed the stone the night before so we could all enjoy the celebration (and get to hold Henry all day).

Ryan wasn't feeling well the whole weekend but he didn't let it spoil the plans. I love you babe!