Oh that I may rejoice!

We got TONS of rain this past weekend and it was so, so wonderful. We kept our front door open as it poured down all Saturday afternoon and through the night. The temperatures are slowly but surely lowering, and dare I say it, it's almost feeling like autumn!

I have completed my first true crochet project. I don't really consider the few scarves that I've made anything big... but I made the CUTEST baby beanie hat for my great niece! I actually made 2, the first one wasn't terrible, but not as perfect as I wanted it to be. Of course, it's too small for my 3 month old great niece, but I think it will be perfect in January when Ashley has her little bundle of joy, Kylie. Speaking of Kylie, Ashley's baby shower is coming up! I'm excited to help plan and organize it... it's so much fun to be able to plan and craft all things baby without actually feeling the responsibility of parenthood.

I should totally post these pictures that I keep promising... like my apartment with pictures on the walls, our sponsored child from Haiti, Rose, and this hat that I crocheted. I promise, I will get around to it! I'm hoping that Ryan and I will get iPhones soon so uploading photos to the computer will be that much simpler.

Oh! And I think I'm finally getting the hang of this couponing thing. Like I've said before, I'm no extreme couponer... I just use a Sunday newspaper insert and occasionally some I'll find on the internet. I did, however, save nearly 28 dollars the other night at H-E-B! That's definitely the most I've ever saved with my coupons, but I also saved 19 last night. I'm getting pretty excited about this. :)

I love saving money... especially because I'm not exactly bringing a whole lot of it to the table right now. 18 hours a week at minimum wage just isn't cutting it anymore. I'll be SO SO SO ready to graduate and get a new job.

Tomorrow is my mommy's birthday. I love her so much.Definitely wouldn't trade her for anyone else's mommy. Ryan and I are taking her to lunch to celebrate. It should be a fun time. :)

Ryan and I are also going to Dallas this weekend for a friends wedding. It will be great to visit with my in-laws for a few days.

I think I'm finally out of my "funk." I'm enjoying life again... things are looking up. and up. and up. Praise the Lord.

I'm a married woman!

This is my third week as a true grown up. I'm living in an apartment... with my HUSBAND! It feels so natural, so... perfect.

Our wedding in itself was perfect. I honestly can't remember how many times we've used that word, perfect, to describe the day. We drove to Abilene on our wedding night to stay in a hotel before driving to the DFW airport the next day, and the whole time we were grinning from ear to ear, repeating "Gosh, that was perfect... I wouldn't change a thing."

This being said, we DID get pulled over that night... for going 72 in a 65 (night time). Thank the Lord our friends had written "Just Married" on our windows, or the deputy might not have believed us.

No worries, we just got a warning. :)

Looking back, there were a few minor details that I was stressing over on our big day, but I just LOVE how everything unfolded. Simply beautiful. Just like I had always imagined.

Our honeymoon was beyond awesome! We went to Las Vegas (we both turned 21 in May, so this was perfect timing)! I had never been before, so just walking the strip and seeing all of the buildings, fountains, etc, was incredibly neat. Ryan was excited to gamble, but once we actually got down to it, we lost money way too quickly. We decided to have 40 bucks a piece to gamble at our own leisure, and I think I ended up losing a total of 10 on a slot machine and keeping my 30. Ryan, on the other hand, lost 20-30 real quick on one game of black jack, and decided to quit while he still had some money. He did, however, win $156 on a slot machine off of ONE spin that cost 40 cents while we were waiting for our dinner reservations... VERY cool. I swear, you would have thought we won at least $1000 with the way we reacted. It was such a blast. :)

Exactly a week after our wedding (the day after we got home from the honeymoon), my niece Ashley got married... to a gentleman named... RYAN. Yes, we both married Ryans. They are expecting a baby in January. So exciting... this means me and MY Ryan can hold off on the whole baby thing for a while and play with theirs! ;)

Speaking of babies... my nephew Jason and his wife Laura had their baby girl Layla on the 13th. I haven't been over to see her yet, because I won't be able to refrain from loving on her, and Ryan has been pretty sick for the past week or so and I don't want to give her anything... especially with her being 3-4 weeks premature.

I have found that I'm not as good of a cook as I'd hoped to be... but I'm having so much fun trying. It's always fun to have dinner ready for Ryan as he gets home from work (even though it IS at 9:30pm).

We still don't have the apartment as clean as I'd like it... but I mean, really, it's taken weeks just to get all the boxes from our wedding gifts out of here! Still in the process of moving the last of my stuff over here from my parents house... and we will hopefully have that completed this weekend.

I'm missing my mom and dad, and my fat little dog... but Ryan and I visit them often. I'm not sure if my dog will ever forgive me for moving out, but she's always excited to see us when we stop by.

I love my parents so much... and I'm so grateful for the way they raised me; knowing I deserved nothing less than perfect. And I thank God every day that Ryan fits that description.

I can honestly say I love my life right now... and I wouldn't change a thing.

hammies!

Ryan and I went and got the hamsters from my sister's house yesterday. My nephew Daniel picked them up and looked at their bellies and said "yep, these are girls."

So... Ryan and I left, not thinking about it... and on the car ride to the pet store, I said "babe... doesn't it look like the hamsters have... some extra baggage" haha... and he was like "well, I don't know really..."

Well I had to know, because I was going to name them... so we took them into the pet store with us and found this uniquely dressed woman cleaning out some rat cages, and I was like "I NEED YOUR HELP! I NEED TO KNOW THE SEX OF MY HAMSTERS!"

By the way, this woman was probably in her late 40's sporting a female mullet with multiple piercings in her ears. Just thought you should know that... anyway... She opened the cage and picked them up and said "those are little boys."

UGHHH I wanted girls, because boys pee everywhere and are stinky... but Ryan and I had already fallen in love with these two, and I wasn't about to go back and attempt to convince my 10 year old nephew that he really has no clue what the word "gender" means.

So, Ryan and I bought them food at the store and came home.

I decided on the names Spanky and Porky because I think they are the funnest names from the Little Rascals movie. =]

Spanky is crrrrazy! He's pretty good at climbing all over the cage, and he kind of bullies Porky. Porky is a gimp for now, his front right paw seems to be hurt, but not too bad... he just avoids walking on it. Other than that, it looks fine.

They're typical boys... we've had to break up a couple of fights... which leads me to believe we'll have to separate them when they get older.


LIFE AWAY FROM THE HAMSTERS....


Ryan and I went to Brother Kevin's softball game last night. His team lost, so he was kinda bummed and we didn't go bowling. Instead, we went back to Kevin and Amy's house and Kevin grilled us mini burgers! They were delicious. While we ate we watched America's Got Talent. We had a good time.

Ryan really enjoyed spending time with baby Gage. He keeps telling me how much he loves babies... I'll have to watch him or he might steal one from the church nursery!


Well, a lady from my office is out tomorrow so I have to be there at 8 instead of 1.... I better head off.

<3