Happy Birthday, Ryan.

Yesterday we celebrated Ryan’s big 2-6!  

During his morning meeting I decorated his van all bday style. He was pretty excited to drive around the DC ghetto with a car like this…

I even decorated the inside and left him a lil gift. Do you recognize the bag?

After work, we went to our new favorite restaurant - Bonefish Grill. It is divine. Everything about it. Divine.

{Ry trying to open up his birthday present that I majorly overly taped with packing tape. I’m cruel like that. Notice the wrapping paper. Newspaper. Very thrifty.}

After dinner, we invited all of Ryan’s guys and their wives our freakin’ amazing friends over for cake.

{DQ birthday cake. Can’t get much better than that fudgy crunchy middle. Oh my.}

Then we all headed to the 12:01am showing of Transformers (Ry’s one birthday desire). I admit it. I slept through half of it. And Ryan…just parts of the last battle scene. We’re all paying for it today. But it was a lot of fun!

Thanks to everyone who partied with us and sacrificed their precious sleep to fulfill Ryan’s crazy birthday wish [Transformers at midnight].

This birthday won’t be forgotten…

Testing Testing 1-2-3

I’m testing out this cool AMAZING program I discovered.

I think I might be in love!

Check out Live Writer and you’ll probably fall in love too.

i heart ny too!

ry and i were lucky enough to escape for a few days last week and bask in the glory of new york. it really is one of my favorite places. we are super grateful for our wonderful friends, the stokes, for putting up with us for a few days. we always love hanging out with them!! this new york trip was more about the food than the touristy thing. it was so much fun!

Our Itinerary

Day 1
1. walk from times square to chinatown...a whopping 3.5 miles. on the way, check out koreatown, greenwich village and soho.

2. walk up canal st. and get attacked by the chinese people saying "purse, handbag, chanel, gucci, coach"

3. find a restaurant and eat something weird. how about jellyfish...it actually wasn't that bad.

4. ride the subway back up to times square and wait in line for 1 hr for discount broadway show tickets.

5. find a very yummy, expensive chocolate store (la maison du chocolat) and be in heaven.

6. eat at John's Pizzeria!!! (our fave)

7. go to our discounted broadway show Rock of Ages and laugh our butts off!

Day 2

1. eat poutine and belgian fries and a million yummy dipping sauces at Pommes Frites in East Village and fall in love.
2. follow up with dessert at my california discovery, Pinkberry, and watch all the strangely dressed hippie-like people out the window. oh it was heaven!!!

3. go back to chinatown and watch all the weird people walking around including this man with a live florescent orange rat on his shoulder. weird!

4. follow the chinese ladies saying "purse, handbag, chanel, gucci, coach" into secret back rooms and vans and haggle for rip-off designer purses until your adrenaline is higher than it should be. {now this was fun!}

5. buy a coach purse for almost half what they were asking. success!

6. ride the subway back to times square and show off our new bags. *Lindsey-I need the pic of us with our new purses!!!*7. introduce the stokes to the beauty of John's pizzeria.

8. take a group shot in times square

9. go back to the stokes' and eat ice cream, watch valkyrie and sleep!

Day 3

1. eat breakfast at sarabeth's (yummy). eat so much that it's uncomfortable to walk.

2. take a stroll through central park, cuddle on a big hard rock and love life!

3. go back to la maison du chocolat and devour the creamy ganache goodness.

4. ride the train back to the stokes' and take a much needed recovery nap.

5. hang out with the stokes'. (why don't we have more pics with you guys???)

i have to say...life can't get much better than this!

can it?

i heart dc

i just realized that in the midst of trying to become a better blogger (ya, i was trying!)...i got lost somewhere in cyberspace and joined the ranks of the it's-summer-and-i'm-clearly-not-going-to-make-time-for-blogging bloggers.

i admit, it's rejuvenating. but it's time to jump back on the blogging bandwagon.

so here's a quick picture update on what's been going on in dc.

NASA VISITOR'S CENTER

MEMORIAL DAY PARADE

MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

Kapri and I (February babies) with our ginormous amethyst

SCENTSY WORLD TOUR

There was a Scentsy convention in dc and I met the owners Orville and Heidi!

Have I mentioned lately how much I love Scentsy?

NATIONALS BASEBALL GAME

If you can't tell, life is great and always an adventure!

my hardworkin', beef-and-gravy-lovin' cowboy

Remember this handsome man??

Well, he made me do this to his head again...

He's very silly! But it seems to have benefited him because...

bald head + incredible good looks + gentleman charm + mad sales skills = 4 sales in one day!!

Yes, that is correct...my hardworkin', beef-and-gravy-lovin' cowboy had 4 sales yesterday.

YOU ROCK BABE!!!!

Deep Thoughts by Jacquie

Life is full of twists and turns. It never seems to quite be what you imagined it would be. Yet it always seems to turn out so much more perfect than you could have ever imagined for yourself. Yes, it's filled with more heartache, pain and trials than you would envision. But in return there are so many more tender mercies, blessings and miracles than you could ever create for yourself.

Over the last couple weeks I have been feeling overwhelmingly blessed for the life I have. Although I never imagined my life to be where it is today, I could never have put things together so perfectly. It stands as a testimony to me that there is a God. And he knows us more perfectly than we know ourselves. And in those perfect moments he sends tender mercies to remind us that He is there and His hand is in all things. And in those quiet moments when you realize you are standing directly where He wants you to be and everything around you is exactly as it should be, you can do nothing but weep and thank God for what you have.

Here's to another chapter in my life. I call it Hope.

bye, bye Kevin

we surrendered Kevin the kidney stone to the urologist today for analysis. i've been regretting it ever since. how is my posterity to learn from this if they can't physically interact with Kevin?? it's tragic!

i seriously have this overwhelming feeling of guilt whenever anyone mentions it.
is that weird?
meh!

Boy? Girl? or...

kidney stone!?!?!

Name: Kevin the kidney stone

Born: Tuesday, May 12th at approx. 6:00pm

Weight: very light

Height: 2-3 mm

ya...that's right. i had a kidney stone. we've decided it's our new pride and joy and we carry him proudly in a ziploc bag. he's been getting alot of attention these days. i'll admit...he's not very cute and my ureter absolutely hates him. but we're happy he's out.

wanna hear the story??
i woke up at 5:30am and jumped out of bed thinking i had to urinate {seeing as that's usually the reason i'm awake before 8:00am}. i quickly realized something was eating my insides and i was in an intense amount of pain (words don't even exist to describe it). i woke ryan up with a deathly "ryan, i think i'm dying" as i hobbled from the bathroom back to the bedroom. he jumped out of bed and gave me some ibuprofen and bread. but i knew something serious was going on. i was pretty sure i was dying. and if i wasn't, i sure as heck wanted to be dead. so we headed off to the ER.

after...

• taking dumb turns via the gps
• a 2 hr wait in the ER waiting room
• puking my guts out
• cold sweats
• shaking profusely (convulsion style)
• more pain than you could ever imagine
• IV
• blood sample
• urine sample
• some drugs (unfortunately i got these after already enduring 4 hrs of pain)
• CT scan

... i was declared a victim of kidney stones.

my very attractive self, after the drugs, showing off my "pain" face

i was released from the hospital around 11:30am with plenty of drugs and passed the stone after my much needed nap.

can i just say i would NEVER NEVER wish a kidney stone on my worst enemy.



oh...and PLEASE remember to drink 8-10 glasses of water a day. PLEASE!!! {i'm not even joking}

ps. if you're wondering, the top picture of the kidney stone next to the penny is my actual kidney stone. i took that pic. cute huh?

why I love living in DC

in no particular order...

1. Trader Joe's (i could live here permanently just for this!)
2. Rita's
3. Panera Bread
4. Bonefish Grill
5. my bff Hil lives an hour away
6. my family is only 9 hrs away
7. the metro system kicks butt! (and is seriously 2 steps away from my apartment)
8. it's fun to be a minority
9. the washington post has more sunday coupons than rexburg
10. there is excellent shopping everywhere you turn (very important!)
11. there's absolutely NO excuse for "i'm bored"
12. i know my way around and i love being a tour guide (hint, hint)

gotta love it!

Correction::

I was mistaken. Ryan is actually closer to 40 sales. I think it's 40 today. WOOHOO!!! Keep em comin' babe. We're on our way to 200!!