Happy Valentine’s Day!

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! This post is coming a little later than usual, but oh well.

I wasn’t sure if I was going to post today because of reasons stated in my last post, but I couldn’t resist!

I wish I could have been able to write the posts I wanted to about Valentine’s Day before this, but oh well, I will write them at some point. 🙂

So I’ll be honest, Valentine’s Day isn’t my favorite holiday. Probably because I think it’s a made up holiday so that stores can make money. But, I still enjoy today. 🙂 I think it’s so important, actually it’s most important, that people show love to the special people in their life year around, not just on today. That doesn’t mean celebrating today with that special person is wrong either though.

Ryan and I prefer to keep Valentine’s Day low key and not spend too much money. After all, my birthday is in three days, so that’s way more important to me than Valentine’s Day. 😉 But we still have plans to make tonight a fun, romantic, inexpensive date night. 🙂

I will go pick us up dinner at a restaurant Ryan has been wanting to try that is known for it’s burgers, fries,  and shakes. A.K.A. Ryan’s favorite kind of restaurant. When I am out picking up dinner, Ryan is going to make sure everything is perfect at home for a romantic, date night dinner at home. This is a perfect, low key Valentine’s Date for us. We would much rather do this than go out to an expensive restaurant that is extremely crowded and wait forever to be seated. Um, no thanks. We will stay at home and be comfortable. 🙂

I can almost guarantee I will be wearing fuzzy socks on this date. #totallynormal

I am also excited for the rest of this weekend! Like I have mentioned, my birthday is this Saturday, so this weekend we are celebrating that with my family.

Tomorrow morning Ryan and I are volunteering with a group from our church to do some type of canned food drive or something. (I’m not totally sure what we will be doing; I guess I will find out tomorrow!) Then tomorrow night Ryan and I are having dinner with my parents, brother, and SIL to celebrate my big day. I think we are all staying the night with my parents because Sunday we are having a big lunch with the rest of my family to celebrate my birthday and my little cousin’s 8th birthday, which was earlier this month. Here’s the whole group who should be at our Sunday lunch!

Plus my other set of grandparents who aren’t in this picture, but here they are below.

I am so excited for the birthday celebrations to begin!

Lucky for me though, the celebrations won’t end this weekend! Ryan and I will go out to eat by ourselves next weekend to celebrate my birthday! Since my birthday is on a Monday and I will have work the next day, I told Ryan I would rather us go out on a weekend so we won’t have to worry about working the next day. I also don’t mind extending my birthday celebrations. 😉

So there’s a little bit of what I will be up to this Valentine’s/birthday weekend! Oh I will also be fitting in a 17 mile run at some point! This will be the longest distance for me to ever run; I’m pretty excited!

Finally, I have to end by wishing my amazing husband/Valentine/best friend an amazing day!

      

Questions:

1. What are your thoughts about Valentine’s Day?

2. Do you have any plans for tonight or this weekend?

3. Tell me something you are loving lately!

The Best Day of My Life: Wedding Ceremony

Last week I shared some pictures from our wedding day, the pre-ceremony pictures, and today I will share the rest of the pictures from our wedding ceremony! Like I said before, this was, without a doubt, the best day of my life! If I tried to describe the whole day, I don’t think my words would do this wonderful day justice, so I will let the pictures tell the story. But because I am me and can never shut up, I will probably still write a few things. 😉

Ryan escorted his mom, and my big brother, Ben, escorted my parents.

My bridesmaids prayed with me before the ceremony began.

Our sweet nieces.

 

This was Ryan’s face when he first saw me walking down the aisle with my Dad. I love these shots. 🙂

Our first kiss as a married couple!

In case you can’t tell, I was the happiest woman in the world at this moment! 🙂

Leaving the chapel as Mr. and Mrs.!

We had a big wedding party, seven bridesmaids, seven groomsmen, two ushers, two flower girls, and three ring bearers. But I wouldn’t have had it any other way. 🙂

Again, to keep this post from being incredibly long, I am going to end it here. Sorry to keep dragging out the wedding posts, but I will do another post that will recap the reception. I figured that would be better than having a novel for a post. 😉

I hope you all have a great day today! 🙂

2013: The Best Year of My Life

I can’t believe it is the last day of 2013. This year has without a doubt been the most crazy, fun, busy, life-changing year I have ever had! There were some happy times, some tough, non-happy times, and then there were some AMAZING times! I have grown a lot spiritually this year, and I have definitely matured. I’m going to take some time to recap this spectacular year that is almost over.

January I started this blog! Hard to believe it has almost been a whole year! At first, I didn’t blog often and I didn’t tell many people about this blog. I didn’t comment on other blogs because I was embarrassed if people saw my blog. I eventually started reaching out to other bloggers, and I was surprised when people started reading my posts! I have so much to learn about blogging, but I really do love it! Most of all, I love all of the people I have met through blogging; it is really such a neat community!

I had several wonderful wedding showers (shower #1, showers #2&3, and shower #4) that some different special people in my life hosted for me.

Ryan’s grandmother passed away at the age of 95. (I think, might have been 94). This was a hard time, but we knew she lived a good life. This happened before we got married, and was a reminder to me of how we will always be there for each other in the good times and the bad.

Ryan graduated from college!

My brother graduated with his Masters!

Ryan and I got our first rent house together!

I got to marry my best friend!!!!!!! This was definitely the highlight of the year, and it will always be the best day of my life! (I PROMISE I will do a recap of our wedding someday!)

Ryan and I went on our honeymoon, which was the vacation of a LIFETIME! (I will eventually post about this too!)

Ryan got his first job….he hated it. This was a hard time for us, but we learned so much through this time. We both drew closer to the Lord, and looking back, we see His hand over the whole situation. The Lord knew exactly what He was doing, and of course His plan was much better than ours.

Ryan got a second job, and he LOVES IT! This was such an answered prayer and a huge blessing!

My big bro got married to the love of his life! Finally Kaleigh became my sister-in-law, because in reality, she has basically been my sister for like the last 7 years or something. 🙂 I couldn’t be happier for Ben and Kaleigh!!

I graduated college!

I got my first teaching job that I start next week!

Wow, I almost didn’t realize how busy this year was until I sat down and wrote about it. It’s safe to say this was definitely a year for the books. 😉 I am thankful for everything that happened, and most thankful for the husband I have to share life with. I can’t wait to see what 2014 brings!

I hope you all have a wonderful New Years Eve! Ryan and I will be the crazy ones staying at home and celebrating just the two of us We will have dinner, play games, and if we are feeling really crazy maybe even watch a movie. What can I say, we know how to party. 😉  It will be a perfect night I’m sure!

Questions:

1. What happened to you in 2013?

2. What are you looking forward to in 2014?

3. Any plans for tonight? 

Christmas 2013 Part 1

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and were able to spend lots of time with family! My Christmas was fabulous, and we aren’t even done celebrating yet! Instead of making one super long post about our Christmas celebration, I thought I would break it up. This part will be about me and Ryan’s Christmas together that we did on the 23rd (part 1), part 2 will be a recap of celebrating with my side of the family, and part 3 will be a recap of celebrating with Ryan’s side of the family. We are heading out this afternoon when Ryan gets off to go to his parents’ house and spend the weekend there celebrating. I love how long our Christmas celebrations last!

Ryan and I celebrated Monday night, on the 23rd, as the last date of the 12 dates of Christmas and it was so wonderful! I know some of you may not understand why we chose to celebrate on a day other than Christmas or Christmas Eve, but we knew we would be with our family both of these days, and we wanted a day to celebrate just us. It was really so nice, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. We were able to focus on each other completely, and our celebration was much more intimate and relaxed.

Confession: This picture was actually taken on Christmas Eve at my parents’ house. When Ryan and I celebrated on the 23rd I didn’t exactly get ready (aka, I didn’t do my hair and I was wearing sweats and a t-shirt), so I decided to share a picture where we looked a little more presentable. 🙂

Before we ate we looked through our stockings to see what Santa brought us. You see, Santa is a very smart man and obviously knew Ryan and I were celebrating two days early, so when Ryan was at work he sneaked in and filled up our stockings with goodies! He must have done this when I was at the grocery store…

As you can see, Ryan’s stocking is overflowing so Santa couldn’t fit his cheetos in his stocking, so he just set it on top. Santa is a problem solver.

Excuse my foot, but here is some of what was in Ryan’s stocking. He got some much needed dress socks, cheetos, a candle, and a small football that isn’t in the picture.

I got Christmas ornaments, two KIND bars, a candle (that isn’t in the picture), and a set for doing my nails. Maybe this will help me actually paint my nails… Oh, and there is the football that wasn’t in the picture with Ryan’s stocking!

After we went through stockings we read the Christmas story in the bible, and then enjoyed a candlelit dinner.

Sidenote: I LOVE having the Spode Christmas plates that I got as a graduation gift!

For dinner, we had the most romantic food possible: homemade pizza on sweet potato crust.

Can you guess whose half has the veggies and whose half does not? 😉

We did the same thing as we did for our sweet potato protein packed pizza, except we didn’t add chicken this time.

After dinner we exchanged gifts.

We moved the gifts from under the tree to under our “fireplace”. 😉

I got Ryan an AV cord, which apparently goes from his playstation to our television, so that whenever we watch shows from Netflix it will show up clearer than before. I also got him some of these prana zion pants that are for climbing, hiking, and camping, but they didn’t get here in time so I had to print off the receipt and I wrapped that for him. He was still super excited to know they would be coming soon! Finally, his favorite gift I got him was an ipad! He was so surprised when he opened this; the look on his face was priceless! I love giving people gifts that they love and are totally surprised about! It has been hard to get him away from his ipad ever since he opened it. 😉 I was really only able to get this because I got a really good deal on it. One of my parents’ neighbors didn’t want it anymore, so he sold it to me for a really affordable price. Score!

Ryan did awesome and once again proved he knows me better than I know myself.

He gave me a Camelbak backpack for running/biking/hiking, the first book of the Divergent series, the recipe book Peas and Thank you, pro compression socks, the movies “Elf” and “The Hobbit, two pairs of fleece lined leggings, and gum! All of these are perfect for me, and I am so thankful for everything. Yes, I know, he spoils me!

I can’t wait to go out for a long run with this!

The presents were nice, but they definitely weren’t what made this night so special. Our first married Christmas together was more perfect than I could have imagined, and it’s just because we were together. We ended the night playing with our new presents and just talking. Perfect date night with my husband.

Oh, and some of you have mentioned you want to do the 12 dates of Christmas next year. If you do, I want to let you know something Ryan and I decided to start doing. On day 4 of the 12 dates we were supposed to write each other a hand written note. We decided we are going to do this every year, and I’m going to get a notebook that we can keep all of our letters in every year. Since this year is coming to an end we naturally wrote about the past year, and we thought years later it would be fun to look back and read about what happened that year and what we wrote each other. We also wrote each other a handwritten note on our wedding day, and this will be the first letter I put in our notebook, followed by the letters we wrote each other this Christmas. This was Ryan’s brilliant idea, and I love it! Even if you have already been married several years, I think this would still be a fun tradition to start! I love to look back on things from the past!

Now, I need to go pack for this weekend at my in-law’s, try to fit in a workout, get my tires aired up, and maybe try to hit up a few stores for clearance Christmas items! I have a lot to do before we leave! I hope you all have a great day, and keep enjoying that family time! Don’t lose the Christmas spirit yet! 🙂

Questions:

1. Do you and your spouse or boyfriend/girlfriend like to celebrate Christmas by yourselves or with other people?

2. Tell me about your Christmas yesterday! 

3. Do you Christmas celebrations last a long time like mine? 

4. Favorite thing you ate yesterday? Mine was sausage gravy and cinnamon rolls. 🙂

Strong Legs Workout

I am loving the change of weather here in Texas! The temperatures finally aren’t freezing anymore, and by the afternoon it was in the 60s. I am planning on getting in a 7 mile run this afternoon, and I hope to throughly enjoy this beautiful weather while it lasts. This Saturday is my 15k race with my dad, so I want to be ready for that. I am only doing this race for fun, but I still want to make sure I am ready for it.

Yesterday I ran four miles and then did a leg strengthening circuit later that night. I really liked this leg workout, and even though I wouldn’t normally do this as the only workout for my day, I think it is a great addition to some cardio you have already done in your workout.

Strong Legs Circuit

• *15 squats
• 10 fire hydrants each leg
• 15 ham curls on ball
• 45 second plank
• 15 donkey kicks each leg
• 45 second wall sit
• 30 second side plank each side

I went through this circuit for a total of three times, and I could definitely feel it in my legs. The * by squats means I used weight for that exercise. I used my Bodylastics resistance band. And yes, I will be using green and red colors every time I get the chance until Christmas. 🙂

So last week when I shared my Icy Weather Holiday Workout, I asked y’all a few questions about pic monkey, and all of your suggestions were very helpful. However, I don’t think I will be able to make the pic monkey pictures bigger on my blog (or change the size of any of my pictures I put on here) until I upgrade my blog and make it my own (without wordpress.com at the end). Maybe I am wrong about changing the size of pictures; let me know if I am mistaken and if there is a way I can still change the size of images. I am obviously not technically savvy. 😉 But, I am really thinking about making my blog my own soon, what do you think?

Since the images I make on pic monkey turn out really small on my blog, I am not going to make any more cute images until I can figure out how to make the size bigger. I know there is no point in making a cute “pin worthy” image if no one can read it! So for now, y’all will just have to read my bulleted list for my workouts. Sorry!

On a different note, can y’all believe Christmas is 8 days away?? I feel like this Christmas season is just flying by! Last week I wrote that I was almost done Christmas shopping, but I haven’t done anymore since last Monday, so I still have those few gifts left to get. I am hoping to get some of those presents today and to get some wrapping done. I didn’t even get wrapping paper until yesterday, but now I am ready to start wrapping and putting presents under our tree!

Check out this super cute ornament Ryan surprised me with yesterday.

I almost cried when he gave me this; I absolutely love it!! My parents actually gave us a “First Married Christmas” ornament the day after Thanksgiving, but Ryan surprised me with a “First Engaged Christmas” ornament last year, and I was really glad that he surprised me again. 🙂

I am about to go eat breakfast though before I start my day. I am planning on sharing a fun holiday recipe with y’all soon that also makes great, affordable gifts!

Questions:

1. What part of your body do you feel that you seem to neglect the most when it comes to strength training? I feel like I don’t work on strengthening my legs the most. I guess I have a bad habit of thinking that since I already run on my legs I should work on strengthening something else, but I know strengthening my legs will just make me a better runner!

2. Tips for buying my blog so it will be my own?

3. Do you enjoy getting special ornaments? Have you got any special ornaments this year?