Day 302, December 17th

Saturday we had quite a full day.  We woke up, went to the gym to get Ryan's mind right and then got ready for the day.  Afternoon found us in Tempe, meeting up with Tommy and Kristin to grab a drink and some snacks before they headed to the ASU basketball game.  It was a nice afternoon chill sess, and then Ryan and I went to World Market, drove around Arcadia and then headed home. 
We took a catnap, and then got ready and headed out to Amy and Heath's Christmas party.  We had a great night with our friends, sad Jen didn't arrive like she did last year, but a fun night indeed.  We pretty much closed that party down!! Can't believe Christmas is next week! Wowza...

Day 301, December 16th

Friday night I headed over to my mom's house and we hit the town shopping.  I went after work, so like, 5:30 and my mom and Rick had already had dinner!!! How old are they?!?!?!
So, after a few stores, my mom went and sat with me while I ate dinner at a normal time.  We made a pretty good dent in our shopping list, finished my sister's presents and helped my mom with some ideas for me and Ryan.
After shopping I headed home, Ryan was out with Brandon, so I did some dishes and then hung out on the couch until Ryan was ready for his cab, which was me, to come pick him up.  I got him home safely, and then forced him to sleep, and fell asleep myself.  Wild stuff.

Day 300, December 15th

Thursday night, Ryan and I had a nice little date night.  We headed out to Oregano's and had a seriously nice night.  We were sort of in celebration/hopeful mode about some changes coming in our life, so decided to head out on the town! No visit to Oregano's is complete without a pizooki! So delicious! We also finalized our Christmas shopping still to do, and got ready for the next 10 days!!

Day 299, December 14th

Wednesday, Ryan and I went to the gym, then headed home made dinner and hunkered down for the night. After we ate dinner, Ryan and I put together the Christmas cards.  I stuffed and sealed while he addressed them.  It was a lovely little night, getting our first annual Christmas cards out into the world!

Day 298, December 13th

On Tuesday I got our Christmas photo all fancied up on a Christmas card.  After I finished up at Walgreens, I headed home and really didn't do a whole lot! Ryan was out for the evening, so I hung out with Gus and Max until he came home. After going back to work today, our regular routine fell back in place!

Day 297, December 12th

Monday was nice.  I took the day off from work, had lunch with Julia before she started her road trip home to Minnesota, went grocery shopping and got some present wrapping done! All in all, it was a productive day.

I was hosting Book Club that evening, so the ladies were coming over to discuss everything besides the book! Ryan's sister Adrienne is in the club, and the only one who has kids, so things like getting a babysitter is something she thinks about, something we don't even have a clue about! Ryan and I had the genius idea to have her bring the kids, and he'd take them out to a movie while we occupied the house. 

It was a win win...babysitter for the kids, and something for Ryan to do!  We had a great time at Book Club and Ryan had fun with the kids out at the movies.  They went to see The Muppet Movie, which I'm sure Ryan was super excited about!

Day 296, December 11th

Sunday was our family photo shoot. Since it is our first Christmas as a married couple I figured we must send out a cheesy Christmas photo card.  We get so many of families with their children so we decided just because our kids have four legs doesn't mean they shouldn't be featured!!
Trying to take photos with animals is not easy...it's even harder with cats!! At least with dogs you can force them to lie down and most likely they will listen, that is not the case for cats.  This photo captures how we spent most of the shoot, annoyed with our children, trying to bribe them to take a few more photos.
It was a lovely photo shoot, Mary was kind enough to take on the challenge, and in the end we actually got some cute shots. 
After the photos were taken, Gus and Max hid from us for a few hours, we got some stuff done around the house and made dinner.  It was a fun Sunday and a nice end to the weekend.

Day 295, December 10th

The Arizona Cardinals opened up their practice on Sunday for a few kids from JDRF, so I woke up early and headed out to hang with the kids and the players.  It was a fun morning, getting to see the inside of the locker room, gym and finally getting to watch a little of practice.  After practice the players signed footballs for all the kids! Because we are too cute to boot, my favorite kiddo and I wore matching shirts!! :)

After the practice, I went home, Ryan and I decorated the Christmas tree and then got ready and headed over to my mom's house for her Christmas Open House.  We had yummy food and spent the evening getting into the Christmas spirit.

After the party, we headed out to Toby Keith's I Love this Bar to say goodbye to Julia before she headed off to Minnesota.  She got a job back home so she was leaving us for cold weather!

It was a long, crazy, but fun day!!

Day 294, December 9th

It is so nutso how quickly weekends can fill up with things to do! As we headed into the Christmas season, we practically had every day filled until 2012! So Friday night, after work Ryan and I headed out to pick up our Christmas Tree.  For someone who had a tiny, fake light up tree for years, it was odd to me how particular Ryan was about where we get out tree from.  There is a nursery one mile from our house that sells trees, but for Ryan, that wasn't good enough, we had to go to a legitimate Tree Lot.  So we headed to Quik Trip, got hot chocolate, and then hit the town to find the perfect tree.  The first place we went to, did not have the perfect tree, so our quest continued.  Luckily, the second stop did, and the owners were adorable.  They drove down here from Green Bay and just sleep in their RV on the lot.  Not my idea of a fun December, but to each their own.  Having two besties from Wisconsin, I tried to bond as much as I could with the wife while the husband helped Ryan with the tree.

Ryan got that tree on top of Big Blue, and we headed home.  We didn't actually set the tree up, just put it in its stand, gave it some water, and then headed to bed since I had work in the morning.  If you could call what I was going to work...

Day 293, December 8th

Thursday I was the the Board Meeting/Holiday party for work while Ryan headed up to his parent's house to help serve for their annual Our Lady of Guadalupe Dinner.  This was the second year my dad and Sara attended the dinner and I think they again had a wonderful time.  I suggested to them that they do some sort of similar dinner to raise money for the church building fund...so we'll see if they do!

Ryan got home pretty late, but brought some fancy and delicious leftovers with him! We had quite fancy meals for the next day or two!

Day 292, December 7th

So we had a bit of a crisis a few weeks back when we got home from Mexico.  We headed to Costco to buy chicken and when we went to pay they told me my dad took me off the account.  You can imagine my disbelief and udder sadness that he'd take me off without telling me.  Well, what actually happened was he tried to change my last name and the Costco people deleted me all together.  So I was huffy and upset for no real reason.  So it all worked out and I finally headed to Costco today to stock up.  
Since it had been so long and I was so excited to have my membership back I stocked up on several large items! It felt wonderful to be back in my favorite warehouse store again!  And to have frozen chicken and a month supply of sweet potatoes!

Day 291, December 6th

Tuesday was my last day of classes, and so yay, I got my degree!! Ryan and I went to Aunt Chilada's to celebrate and I busted out my cap from the first time around to officially say yay!  I didn't wear it the whole time, only long enough to take a photo...I did hope the waiter would see me and offer me a free dessert but he didn't so we had dinner and then headed home for a computer free night on the couch.  I am so looking forward to not having to do homework for awhile until I dive into the Masters program!  And now I'll have more time to focus on the blog too!!