Anniversary

5 years ago...on this very day (Saturday the 14th)...we became a couple! Ryan had asked me to be his date for the Sweetheart dance our Senior year of high school. (which just so happened to be Valentine's Day) I nervously said "yes" and the planning began. He came with me to Bloomington to find a dress....and he picked out the one! I wore a black halter dress with pink accents and he wore a dress shirt, gray slacks and a pink tie.

I had to cheer at the Friday night basketball game, so we decided to hang out before. He surprised me with a vase of red roses and a note that read "this is for you." how romantic.....

He wanted it to be special and gave the flowers the night before because he would be giving me other flowers for the dance the next day. It was a great surprise.

We still talk about how I thought the night wasn't even going to happen. My mom had plans with friends for that night as well. Ryan was running a little late to pick me up and I began to worry. When the phone rang, my mom answered it and totally convinced me Ryan wasn't going to show. She said things like, "awww...", "okay, we understand", "thanks for letting us know".....I stood there with a blank/upset stare.....She didn't realize that I thought she was talking to Ryan and once I had asked her she thought it was pretty funny. It ended up being one of her friends that were sick and couldn't make it out. PHEW!!! And around that time, my prince charming arrived :)

He looked as handsome as could be! We met around 12 other friends and rode an SUV limo to Alexander's Steakhouse for supper. After the dance, we drove to his house then mine to get ready for the after parties. As soon as we left the high school he said he had a good time and he hoped someday we would be boyfriend and girlfriend......"yes" I said.....then he said, "how about that be right now?" I immediately said YES and then sat in awkward silence.......I wanted to shout for JOY! I knew he would be the one I would want to spend the rest of my life with......


He fits in so well with my family. I couldn't live without him. Although, we get in arguments every once in a while........we both know how much we love each other ♥

Some things about our relationship you may or may not know:

- Ryan introduced me to salt and vinegar chips.....i'm ADDICTED!

- I try to claim I introduced him to putting pepper on EVERYTHING, but he disagrees....

- i l.o.v.e. when Ryan wears a hat and really flattens his hair....

- Whenever we are eating in a town we are unfamiliar with, we try to eat at a local restaurant....(sometimes I'm a little iffy on the places he chooses and may throw a fit, but end up loving it in the end...shhh...don't tell!)

- Our 4th of July tradition is to visit as many flea markets as possible

- We can't wait to buy dogs once we are married!

- Our song is "First Day of My Life" by Bright Eyes

- We have a notebook that (slowly, but surely) documents our relationship from the first time we met, until now...

- Our first kiss was before we were even together....scandalous..i know

- It seems as if everywhere we travel, we seem to get lost...and I tend to think it's amusing! Ryan doesn't as you can tell in the picture....

- We both worked at Steak 'n Shake together

- Our wedding is 4 months away...eeeeekkk :)

We didn't get to spend the night together because he had to work, so tomorrow we are spending the whole day in Bloomington. We're going to register, go shopping, and go out for supper together. Can't Wait!!

love.you.ryan

NIU 2-14-08

A year ago today I received a call from one of my classmates to make sure I was alright. I had no idea what she was talking about, then she continued to say there had been a shooting in Cole Hall. Luckily, I had class early that morning and was safe at my apartment. Ryan was over at the time and our hearts sank. We didn't believe it at first, so we looked at the school website and it confirmed what we had heard. One of my roommates was home and I told her the news. We knew our other roommate had class in a building close to where the shootings had occurred. Once the news spread, it was hard to get a call through to anyone. I got ahold of my dad and let him know that we were alright. I told him to tell mom and family. Ryan and I looked out my apartment window and could hear and see the helicopters flying around town. I was hoping and praying that everyone was safe on campus.

Ryan and I sat in disbelief....we watched the news to follow along with what was happening....then we were shocked to see one of our good friends from work being interviewed as one of the students in the room. She made it out alright, but hearing her story later sent chills up my spine and I'm so happy she made it out alright.

When Christie, our other roommate, came home she entered the living room in tears......She had seen everything happen outside their classroom window. She too, couldn't get ahold of anyone at the time. Mary and I were relieved to see her come home alright.

The year before this happened, the shooting at V-Tech occurred. I always thought it would never happen to me. Although, I wasn't in harms way, it was still a tough thing to be apart of. A couple years before I had a class in this exact room and it's eerie to think, "what if it would have happened then?"

My thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of those students who passed away or had to live this tragic event. GO HUSKIES!!!

RAW is 2!!

Holy Cow I can't believe it, Reagan turns 2 today! It seems like yesterday when Grandpa Meiner called me early in the morning to tell me that Ash was in the hospital!!! Since then he's learned to crawl, walk, drive a jet ski, talk, sleep in a big boy bed (at least I'm pretty sure he's staying in it all night), race turtles in Nisswa, cook with mommy, put un-wanted things in the toilet, play with daddy, and I'm sure many, many more things everyday!! Here are some cute/funny pictures of Reagan I've collected over the years....(well over the past 2 years, jeez...I made it sound like he was my childhood friend from kindergarten)

Sleeping Beauty

decorating christmas cookies :)

Looks thrilled

And if you haven't checked out the lovely dentist picture take a look (From A to Z). He looks so happy that mom took him to the dentist and is taking pictures.....

happY hapPY haPPY hAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY REAGAN!

Football & Flowergirls

Lots of excitement has happened the past couple of weeks.....We wanted to spend some time with Deric and Tyler, so we headed down to Bloomington for some spicy wings, beer (bear foot wine...mmm) and football. We ate at Wings etc.. in Bloomington. It was our first time there and thought it was pretty good. I wasn't too adventurous and got the usual buffalo chicken sandwich. Ryan got wings and we shared deep fried pickles (Delong's still has the best). It was fun hanging out with his brothers on just a regular night and not a holiday.

Last week my mom and I met our two flower girls and their mom's at Bobbie's Bridal in Bloomington. The other weekend I had found the perfect dress for them and we needed to get those crucial measurements....bust, waist, and height :)

These are the cutest girls in the world and I know they will do a fabulous job at the wedding. You'll have to wait and see them at the wedding to know what their dresses look like :)

And finally..........WAY TO GO STEELERS!!! Yes I've become a steelers fan and they won the Superbowl!

We watched the game over at Ryan's house and William came over for the second time. (last year he was there when Ryan proposed!) We ordered wings, breadsticks, and nachos from Joe's. We voted on the best commercials and decided Doritos were the funniest! Here are some pictures of us with our kickin' 3-D glasses for the special commercial (although we didn't think it was too 3-D)

I would LOVE to see a Bruce Springsteen concert. I thought his half time performance was great!!! :)