Got It!

Ryan has been in the same position at work for a few years. He's learned a lot, been exposed to a lot of people, and it has been a good job for him. But he recently applied for a new position, which if he got would be a promotion. He's applied for jobs in the past that I have not been thrilled about - but this one I like! I only see pluses to it.
Abby sometimes send him emails with pictures at work. The day he interviewed she sent these:

With someone so cute cheering you on how can you go wrong? He of course got the job, and we're super excited. We had a celebratory day. In the morning we went to the splash park...

Then after naps we went to the zoo...

And then out to eat for a celebratory dinner at Pappadeaux

 

 

Yay for reasons to celebrate!

More flowers, more pretty

Abby and I decided that for Father's Day we wanted to give Ryan/Dad a photo collage of pictures of Abby in various types of wildflowers. So we went on a mission to find several wildflower fields, each containing different kinds of flowers. We drove a lot, took lots of pictures, and were just about done when I realized my camera did not have a memory card in it - none of the pictures had been recorded :(.
So another day we tried again. This time since we knew where the fields were there was less driving. I think we got some good ones.

 

 

 

Want to know which pictures ended up in the collage?

10 years strong - Happy Anniversary to us!

10 years ago Ryan and I got married - it was Friday the 13th, a lucky day for us! We got married in St. George, UT. Both sets of my grandparents, my parents, and all 6 of my sisters were sealed in the same room - we wanted to be part of the tradition too! It was beautiful and wonderful. After our sealing (wedding) we took a few pictures with our guests and wedding party then headed to the park nearby for a wedding luncheon - we had a picninc, which was fun. My grandparetnts lived in St. George while I was growing up and they often took us to the visitors center at the temple and to that park. Being there made me feel close to my grandparents who had passed away. After the picninc Ryan and I took a ton more pictures, tehn headed to my family cabin at Cedar Breaks. The next day we drove down to Las Vegas just in time for our reception in my parent's backyard (another family tradition.) Again it was beautiful and wonderful. We spent the night in Las Vegas then went on an 8 day honeymoon to San Diego. We thought it was perfect. The day after our honeymoon we moved to Texas and have been enjoying our lives together ever since.
This year our anniversary landed on a Thursday, so Ryan was at work all day. But we had our friend Cindy Goodwin come over and play with Abby that evening while we went to dinner at the Hibachi Grill. It was a lot of fun and quite tasty. And Abby really liked Cindy, so that was great as well. We should have had Cindy take a picture of us before she left, but she didn't, so all we have is our self-portraits :).
The following Saturday we took Abby up to be with her grandparents and then went on a day-long date. First we went to the temple and did sealings (we do every year). Then we went to dinner at a Brazilian Grill (yum!), then went to a play. It was a great date, and a great anniversary.
Ryan and I are not big gift givers - we don't have a lot of things that we want and genearlly choose to spend our money on trips, but Ryan surprised me with a beautiful painting of the St. George temple and surrounding landscape (it now hangs in our room). My gift was not so romantic - I gave him a ladder, he's been wanting one for a long time. Our main gift for this year, though, will be a trip to Kenya we will be enjoying later this year - we're pretty excited for that!

 

 

Another Free Museum

We made use of our free museum entrance with our Bank of America credit cards again. This time at the new Perot Science Museum in Dallas - it was AWESOME!!! We didn't even get to see or do everything there because it was too big, but we loved it. You should go, you'll love it too. Get a Bank of America credit card and go the first Saturday of the month. For some reason we didn't take many pictures there and none show how awesome it was - I guess we were having too much fun just enjoying it. But take my word for it, it is fantastic.

Mother's Day

Overall I was able to have joy and be happy most of the time we struggled with not having children. But some days were harder than others. Mother's Day sometimes presented a challenge to my happiness. Most of the time I could focus on the amazing women in my life (particularly my own mom) and be happy, but there was usually at least a few minutes each Mother's Day that I ached. Now that I have Abby I don't have that same ache any more, but I am very aware of the amazing women that I know that are still childless, even though they would do almost anything to change that, and I ache for them. Still, I am so grateful for my incredible Abby, that I get to be a mom, and for Cheyenne for making it possible for me!

And I'm grateful to Ryan for making me an awesome breakfast and for being Abby's incredible dad!