7.5 Years

Five years ago today, Nic and I were sealed for time and all eternity. When I stop and think about everything that happened during our relationship prior to getting married, it really makes me realize that the Lord truly intervened in our relationship. Especially from the start.

Nic and I met in July of 2002 (7.5 years ago). At first I thought he was a jerk and I heard that he had a "history" so I decided to "play" him. But after a while I found that I just couldn't do it. He was too nice of a guy. About two months after dating, I decided to heed the counsel of one of my Young Women's advisers that had counseled us (when we began dating) to pray about the boys that we were dating, to know if they were ones we should be dating. While I was praying I got the VERY distinct answer that I could marry Nic. I totally stopped during my prayer. Marriage was the LAST thing that I was thinking about, I was freaked out. How in the world was I supposed to bring this up to a guy that I had been dating only for a couple of months?!

We had a lot of ups and downs during our dating years. Sometimes we would be together, sometimes we wouldn't be. We were much like Ross and Rachel ("We were on a break!"). I think my friends just stopped trying to figure out if we were or weren't together. Even when we weren't together, Nic was still around. He was my best friend.

I'm so grateful for Nic. He is truly my everything. Here is a list of 5 reason I love my hubby:

1) He makes me feel like a queen. He has never spoken to me with a harsh tone-not even when he's upset (which, honestly hardly ever happens). He always treats me with love and respect.

2) He thinks I'm a good cook. I can make anything and he thinks it's the best thing every. I'm not lacking in my culinary skills by any means, but sometimes some things are better than others. But no matter what, it's always: "Thanks babe. That was so good."

3) He encourages me. When I have thought about doing something and had doubts he has been there to tell me that I can do it. He's always letting me know that I can achieve anything I put my mind to.

4) He is affectionate. I love that we can fall asleep cuddled together or just holding hands.

5) His faith and testimony. It seems that no matter what trials have happened in our life, he will be the first one to say: "We have to have faith. The Lord will provide." He's unshakable when hard times fall upon us. He is my rock.

I love you Nicolas Ryan! Here's to another five (or 7.5) years.

'Nuf Said

More to come!

I'm working on a "Year in Review" but I'm totally blogged out for the day. Check back within the next week.

Peace out y'all!

Hair!

Gimme head with hair
Long beautiful hair
Shining, gleaming,
Streaming, flaxen, waxen

I am a hair freak! I love changing it. Sticking with one hair-style and color is totally NOT me. My stylist always jokes with me that I change my hair so much that Nic must feel like he gets a new woman every two months, and funny enough that's what Nic often jokes about.

I think it all started back in the summer of '98 when I went to Belgium and came back (to my mom's surprise) with blonde in my hair. I've had long hair, short hair and super short hair. I've had blonde, carmel, and platinum blonde in my hair. Recently I've FINALLY been able to have my hair exactly how I want it. And I think this style and color is here to stay (with some subtle changes of course). Here's the evolution of my hair within the last year(s).

Short and sassy

Rocker look: light to dark-little longer

Blonde and wavy

Blonde with a flip

Not my real hair. Just fun to throw in.

Now, here is what I call my hair liberation and I TOTALLY love it!!! I went red. The picture on top is a vibrant fire engine red AND I got bangs for the first time in a really, really, REALLY long time. At first, I felt like a little girl but they grew on me. I loved the vibrant color but it started fading to pink and a nasty lookin' orangy pink-not what I wanted. So, I had to go back to my stylist and go for a more subtle red (picture on the bottom). I still like it, but I want the "pop" back. Maybe when I'm working again and can afford the upkeep I'll go back. But for now, it will do.

Like I said I LOVE this new color and it's here to stay. Sorry mama, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do :)

The Last 10 years

Since it's the beginning of a new decade, I decided to hit on some of my highlights from the last 10 years. Enjoy!

2000-Moved to Rexburg to attend BYU-Idaho. Though I wasn't too excited about attending a church school, it was the best decision I ever made. Said good-bye to my grandma, Rosario.

2001-Made the decision for the fall semester of '01 to move into a house where I knew NO ONE. It was a little scary and nerve racking at first, but I don't regret it one bit. The girls I met are my very best friends. Laughter and tears we survived it all.

2002-Moved to Boise with the intention of finishing my education. I took a break. . .a very long break. Met a boy (or two or three) but only one truly caught my attention, right babe: ;)

2003-Can you believe I can't think of anything for 2003??? I'm sure it was full of surprises though. It seems my life is NEVER boring.

2004-Got engaged and started planning a wedding.

2005-Got married!

2006-Tried to start a family. Found out it would be harder than anticipated, especially emotionally.

2007-Went on a cruise. It was WONDERFUL!!! Longing to go on another one. Maybe in a few years.

2008-Became homeowners.

2009-Became paper pregnant. Quit my job and made the decision to go back to school.

I can't wait to see what the next 10 years bring us!

The dawn of a new decade

Happy New Year!! Wow, it's crazy to think that 2009 has come and gone. But there are so many new things waiting for Nic and I this year and we are very excited.


We spent New Year's Eve with our friends the Fenns. It was filled with games, food, fun and new friends. We played games right up until 10 minutes before the stroke of midnight. And then we rang in the new year with Ryan Seacrest and Dick Clark. It's so sad to see Dick Clark after his stroke. Here are some pictures from our night of ringing in the New Year. Happy New Year everyone!

Christmas, Christmas time is here!

This Christmas we headed home to California. The original plan was to leave at 5 am, but we didn't end up leaving until 8am. Delay was due in part to me NOT sleeping and trying to finish Christmas presents, Nic only getting 3 hours of sleep and still having to pack. Every time we head down to Cali I say I'm going to get my packing done early and it NEVER happens. *Sigh* All is well.

Heading down, we got to stop in Lincoln and pick my niece (Jacob's daughter) Mia. Unlike most times she was happy to see us, we were greeted with hugs! I'm sure her mom did a lot of prepping with her. Laurel is really nice about letting us picking up Mia to bring her down to Merced to spend some time with her while we are in town. I'm so grateful for that. Mia is growing up sooo much. She is very independent and wants to do things all by herself. Mia and Nic got to be best buds. It was so cute to see her cuddle on Nic and want to spend some time with him. I can't wait for Nic to be able to do that with our kids-some day. We got to have two Christmas' with Mia. Well, more like Mia got to have two Christmas'. One was with us before she left to go back home and the other one was with her mom on Christmas Day. The last day there it was getting hard for her (being away from your other family for five days can be rough), so I told her that I ran into Santa Claus and he told me that she had been such a good girl that she got have two Christmas'. She was a excited but we had to make a call to Santa (aka Nic) so he could tell her himself.

My mom tells me that she loves it when Nic and I come home because all my siblings make sure to come over. One night the kids were in the front room playing a game and I asked my mom if her and dad wanted to come play. She said no, "I'm just enjoying hearing you guys laugh in the other room."

We took our Wii down and it was a HUGE hit! The first night we rocked out to Rock Band. My mom rocked out until 11:30 pm (waaay past her bedtime) and us kids stayed up until about 2 AM playing. It was fun. A couple of days later we bought Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 and that game NEVER went off. Our last night there Jacob wanted to have a championship match! Jacob's girlfriend Summer is usually pretty quiet, but when were were playing-I never heard her talk so much. I lot of smack talk too! If you haven't played this game, I suggest you do. Some of the concepts are gross (a burping contest where you try to destroy the city) but it's so much fun.

Christmas Eve we made tamales (with A Christmas Story playing in the back ground) and everyone helped this year. My mom wasn't used to having so many hands helped she would have to tell us to take a break. She still refused to let me help roll, even though I've made tamales several times on my own. Maybe in two years I'll be grown up enough to help. Oh! And to those of you that called me a tamale Nazi last year, I'm not nearly as bad as my mama. Trust me.

This year I must have been a very good girl because I got what I wanted for Christmas. A wok and a sewing machine. Well, technically I got a traveling case for my sewing machine and the machine its self will be here on Monday. When Nic put my present under the tree, I (thought I ) knew what it was, but he refused to let me hold it. Christmas morning I opened it and I was a little confused. Nic got a laugh out of my confusion. I also got two movies that I absolutely LOVE. The first one was from my brother Ricky-The Last Dragon. It is totally cheesy but it's so good. And Nic bought me Santa Claus the Movie. To me, this movie is the only Christmas movie that captures the magicalness (is that a word) of Christmas. I LOVED this movie growing up. Nic and I bought it a couple of years ago but we lost it. So I was REALLY excited when I got it this year. If you haven't seen this movie, you need to. It's great. The best Christmas present given Christmas Day? Ricky have Jacob a pair of Transformers underwear. I knew what it was before he opened it and had to do my best not to laugh.

Christmas night we went to go see Sherlock Holmes. It was good, but not the best movie I've seen. It's just nice to see that Robert Downey, JR turned his life of self-destruction around and is now successful. After the movie, everyone came back to my parents so we could play Cranium (my niece Brandie's request). My team totally dominated and we won.