What Am I Thankful For?

After reading Kara's blog, I decided to follow suit.

1. My wonderful husband Ryan. He is truly my best friend. He brings so much joy and love in to my life. I really am blessed to be his wife.

2. My mom and dad. They are so good to me and my sisters. We are very lucky to have such selfless parents that have worked hard to give us the best lives possible. They did such a great job and I know that God really blessed us with best parents.

3. My sisters. They are really the best friends a girl can ask for. I can go to them with anything and they will always be there.

4. The rest of my family and family-in laws. They are all so supportive, loving, and I feel so blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful people.

5. My friends, old and new. When I look around me and see all the wonderful friends I have had at my side throughout my life I know that I truly am lucky. Each one is special to me is their individual ways and I cannot imagine my life without them.

6. My health. This is something that often take for granted. I am so thankful for my good health and for blessings of good health of my family and friends.

7. Employment. In this day and age this is something that I must never take for granted. I am so glad to have a good job and that Ryan does also.

I really go on and on once I start thinking about this, but I won't. :)

I am really excited to host my first holiday at our house.

The menu for tomorrow is:
7 Layer Salad
Turkey
Dressing
Mashed Potatoes w/ Gravy
Sweet Potatoes w/ Brown Sugar and Marshmallows
Asparagus
Green Bean Casserole
Mac n Cheese
Pasta Con Broccoli
Bean Salad
Rolls
Pumpkin Pie
Chocolate Cream Pie
Chocolate Sheet Cake

Let's hope everything is edible!!! Good thing my mom has agreed to supervise!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!

No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems

As of Friday afternoon, Ryan and I are officially boat owners! I am excited and Ryan is SO excited. He has always wanted a boat and after much debate and searching for over a year we decided what the heck. We got a great deal and we figured it is best to do this before we have children and it is harder to get away on the weekends. The pic above is our actual boat. It is a 2005 28"Rinker with a little over 100 hours on it. The decal on the side is being removed, we like it better with out and we are adding a sport arch in the spring. So this summer will be filled with lots of boating adventures at the Lake of the Ozarks. We have a 2 bedroom condo rented for the summer and now I can hardly wait for this winter to be over so we can enjoy our new toy (as Ryan calls it)!

On another note....yay for a short work week!

Just One More...

Just two more hours of work left and then it is cleaning time for me. I am going to go crazy cleaning our house this afternoon and evening. I have been so busy with school and everything else lately that our house has not had a deep cleaning for awhile. I would really like to put this off for a few more weeks until my classes are done, but since I will be hosting my first EVER thanksgiving dinner cleaning is a must. I am excited and a little freaked out all at once. Anyone that knows me well, knows that I am not much of a cook. I actually enjoy doing it, but the problem is that I like to cook new things and Ryan is a very picky eater. He hardly eats anything, so it is not much fun for me to cook the same old things all the time. I definitely will cook more once we have little ones, that way I don't feel like I am wasting the effort all on me. Maybe one day I will get Ryan to expand his horizons a little too. I have not decided exactly what the menu will be besides the basics, so any input would really be appreciated. I am completing my menu this weekend and going shopping on Sunday. My mom is coming over Thursday morning to help me since this is my first time cooking a turkey and stuffing. I guess she wants to make sure we have an edible dinner. ;) So we will be having brunch at Ryan's family and then all my family is making the trip from Illinois to our house for dinner. I am so excited to show them our new basement set up and for once Ryan and I will not be running around all day from house to house.

On another note I have some exciting news I will share next time I blog, so until then, have a great weekend!

Finally!!!

If you read my blog back in June, I mentioned all of the things that we still would like to do to our house. One of the main things that needed work is the basement. While it is finished we still did not have a couch. Well, this week finally decided on something and we received it yesterday. We have it all set up and it feels great to get this off of our to do list. The set we got is above. Sorry I cannot figure out how to get it to go in the body of blog where I want it. Alaina I need some blogging lessons. :)

Also, since my last blog we have set up our spare bedroom and I bought a few things to hang on the walls. Now I just need to get Ryan to hang them up. Our bedroom has new curtains and is the one room that is 100% done to my taste. In the living room I have a few things on the wall now, I plan to ask for some other items I have had my eye on for xmas. After that the living room will also be done. The kitchen just needs a few finishing touches, but nothing major. The next major project will be the bar area in the basement and basement bathroom, which we are completely redoing. We plan to get these projects going in January. After that only one thing left and that is ripping up all of our carpet and refinishing the hardwood floors underneath. The hardwood is beautiful and original from when the house was built over 5o years ago, but has been covered for most part because carpet was in style all these years. I am really pumped and cannot wait until we have the hardwood floors exposed! I am anticipating the day when all our home improvement projects will be completed. Oh the joys of home ownership!