Trying to be Crafty

I love my calling!!! I love the girls, I love teaching, I love having the social interaction, and I love learning when I plan the lessons. Yesterday I spent the whole day with my mother-n-law shopping to make these cute little journals. I think I thought of this idea from your ward sabrina... but I can't remember. Anyways, we had so much fun making these cute journals for all my girls. I will bring them every sunday and the girls can write down any promptings they have or glue handouts or quotes inside. Needless to say... I worked on these journals and my lesson from noon to midnight haha but it was worth it!

MIA Hubby

I miss Ryan! Monday was his first day of work and guess what?? They asked him to go out of town already! He left this morning and I miss him already haha. He has to drive to Florida and then to AZ to deliver equipment to a huge sales pitch. He is perfect for this part of the job because he loves driving. Well they told him yesterday that he needed to drive from Arizona back to Florida next weekend. I was so sad to be without him for two weekends.. I know I'm pathetic haha! But guess what?? His company called him and told him they wanted to fly me out to Florida next week, all expenses paid for. So next Friday I will be here....

I can't wait to be here with you Ryan!!

A Reason to Celebrate

It has been the most amazing week!!! I had a wonderful birthday... it started out with me going to work and my preschoolers all had pretend microphones and sang happy birthday to me. All the parents brought presents, balloons, flowers, and cupcakes! I was so surprised... how sweet.. they all spoiled me!! Then I went out to dinner with the hubby and my adopted children for the week... summer and connor (my mother and father in law were out of town). Then of course I got to go shopping. The next day I went to YW activities and we put together Christmas packages for missionaries and it was so uplifting to do a service activity. When I got home a got a call from Ryan saying he had gotten a job offer!!! I didn't believe him because he didn't have any interviews or anything so I didn't think it was possible to get a job from a company that you never interviewed for or sent a resume to. Well I found out that our bishop bought a company called N4D and decided to hire Ryan in the Operations part of the job. Ryan went to his bishopric meeting and Bishop just said, "Hey you are hired... you start monday". Can you imagine getting this kind of news without even expecting it??!! I went out and bought some sparkling cider to celebrate!!! He starts tomorrow and we don't really know much more. He will basically be doing all the every day things that helps the company run. The company is really interesting... you should check it out at N4D.com. I know that Heavenly Father truly was mindful of Ryan and I and I am so thankful that Ryan has been so faithful in these times of needs even when I doubted! On Friday at work we had a Halloween party and parade. I wish I could show you pictures of how cute my kiddos looked but there is a picture of me and the other teacher I work with... I just love her!! Then Saturday we had the ward trunk or treat... we ate chili, donuts and passed out candy. It was fun except it was raining and a little cold but I can't complain coming from Rexburg haha. Oh yeah and Ryan is lame and dressed up as Dave (it's from the Office... super lame right??) Anyways... sorry this is so long I just had to tell you how blessed and happy we are. It truly is amazing how trials make you grow closer to your spouse and to Heavenly Father!
P.S I am pathetic... I am in love with David Archulet's Christmas album... I never listen to Christmas music until midnight on Thanksgiving. However, I love, love, love his Christmas cd and I just want to listen to it all day long... you should get it!!!

We Got a Job!!!!!!!!

Last night at 9 we found out that Ryan got a job, a job that we didn't even know was coming! We couldn't be more happy and feel more blessed. Finally the 6 months of waiting for a job has ended and we will have some stability! I will give you more details soon!!!

Changes

Ryan and I have been serving in the Primary at church for almost 6 months now... needless to say it has been the hardest calling I have ever had if you can believe it. You would think, oh I work with preschoolers every day, this should be easy for me and it seems like no matter what ward i am in i am always in primary. Well ryan and I were in different classes and I had the 5 year olds. I love them they are just a very difficult class and some sundays I come home almost in tears! I am just so drained from being with other people's children every day of the week!!! Anyways the last month or so I have enjoyed my calling much more and even planned a fun little Halloween party for my kids. Of course, just when you get comfortable where you are at, something new comes your way!! Last week I was called into YW! I will be working with the beehives and I can't wait. After I was called, Ryan a few days later was asked to meet with someone from the stake. He has been called to be the ward Executive Secretary. He was set apart today by a counselor in the stake presidency and it was a beautiful blessing. Ryan is the youngest guy working in the Bishopric so I know that he is going to learn a ton from our great bishop! I am so proud of him to be living a worthy life that he can take this big calling! We are both excited about these new changes and know that the Lord is blessing us. I already know that I will never see my hubby because today was the first day and I have hardly seen him.. he has been gone ALL day, I miss him already!!! I feel so blessed to have a worthy priesthood holder as my husband. Today was my last day in primary and it was so bitter sweet. They were so cute and loving to me. One mom said that her daughter had tears in her eyes when she found out I wasn't going to be her teacher anymore :( I'm going to miss them!!! Below are pictures of my cute kiddos at the Halloween party!

Missin You Like Candy

Just thought that I should inform you that I went on a candy diet for a month... that's right folks I can accomplish anything now... if I can say no to candy for a month... i can conquer the world! haha the reason for this diet is because ryan drinks too much diet coke so i said if he would go on a diet from his favorite food then i would do the same! hehe i am so sneaky! Needless to say... we both feel very accomplished and healthier (Except for the fact that i have eaten enough candy the last few days to make up for the whole month that i missed out haha)

I Love the Fall!!

On some Fridays I go babysit the kids I used to nanny. I love it because my sis-n-law and hubby come with me and we always do a dessert and craft. This week I decided to do Fall related things. We went to the store and bought warm doughnuts and apple cider and then made pumpkin jars. They were so cute and turned out amazing. All you do is get a jar, paint the outside with glue and put orange streamer/crepe paper on it. Then cut out black construction paper and make a cute face. I got battery candles so they were safer and put them in the jar and they turned out really cute!!!

On Saturday we drove for an hour to this amazing pumpkin patch and I loved every minute of it... i was like a little kid again!!! I have never seen so many pumpkins in my life. My mother-n-law bought one of those amazing huge cinderella pumpkins... it is probably like 50 pounds. We also got cute white pumpkins that we are going to paint and make cute! It was actually a really cold weekend and I loved it. We bought amazingly fresh pumpkin bread and hot apple cider at the pumpkin patch too. I love the Fall!!

No Vacation Pictures??? What??

I know can you believe it... I'm not posting vacation pictures haha. Just wanted to update you on our lives right now. It may sound a little depressing but I promise that our spirits are still high and we feel blessed every day. Well it has almost been officially 6 months since we have been in GA and still living with Ryan's family. I still am working at the preschool and every day there is something new going on. I just recently got a new child in my class who has severe special needs but the parents won't acknowledge that their child has special needs. The child is very violent and strong and doesn't know how to communicate. It is so challenging but I do feel closest to my Savior on days where I hear the child laugh or see some progress made. My job is stressful and draining and I continually feel that I have to pay my dues since I am still the newest employee and I can't wait for the day that I can have my own preschool! Ryan is still working on roofs. We are so lucky that he has had this job because it has been so hard for Ryan to find any other job. Last week he had an interview with Traveler's Insurance and we have to wait till later this week to hear if he is going to get a 2nd interview. So we could use your thoughts and prayers this week!!! On another note... we have no friends haha. We are such losers. Every where we go I'm like "Oh they look young, I wonder if we could be friends with them, haha!" So if anyone has some extra cash... come visit me!!!!!!!!! Ryan and I are really fun people I promise... here are some funny pictures to proove it haha.

(Haha maybe these pictures are why we don't have friends.)

Our Bell Fix

I feel so bad because I haven't posted these pictures yet! About a month ago we went and saw the Bells down in Macon... it's about a 2 hour drive for us. They were so nice to have us and they planned a fun Saturday out on the lake. Before we went however they took me to a Waffle House. It was my 1st trip to one of those. If you don't know about the south.. there is almost a waffle house on every corner haha. Unfortunately my camera ran out of batteries before I could take any pictures there. After the lake we had a yummy BBQ. We are going to have to plan another one!! P.S- to everyone that views our blog, I swear we don't always go on trips it's just been the last month I promise we really do work hard most of the time. In fact I haven't seen Ryan hardly at all this week because we both have been working so much. Maybe I should do a post about how miserable work is so everyone can stop giving me a hard time about our vacations. :)

We're Back

It was way too hard for me to pick pictures from our trip to San Diego so sorry there are so many!!! We left last Thursday and just got back today. It was amazing and I miss my family so much. It was a crazy filled vacation but we loved every minute of it. We met up with my parents on Thursday at the San Diego airport and got to our amazing hotel, we had an awesome view right from our window of the water! We got to go to the beach and ride waves, celebrated my grandma's birthday, ate Mexican food, went to the San Diego temple to see my cousin sealed to her husband (which was an amazing experience), went to the San Diego Zoo, went site seeing, swam at my Uncle Roger's beautiful pool and played on his pickleball court, watched BYU beat Oklamhoma wahoo, ate at in-n-out, and basically just had a blast with my family and especially my parents. Thanks mom and dad we love you!!

Just My Luck

The swine flu has finally broken out at my preschool... I'm flying to San Diego in a day... this could be problematic!

Good-bye My Love!

Last weekend Kaylie and I decided that we needed to have one last hoorah before she and Jordan left to Utah and Idaho. We drove to the Cheesecake factory but we were too cheap to eat there so we ordered cheesecake to go and then ate at the mall which was closing. haha It ended up being really fun as you can see us all jumping in front of the elevator! Needless to say... Jordan and Kaylie are gone now and I miss them already! Good luck at school kaylie, say hi to good ol' rexburg for me, wish we could be there with you :) and Jordan congrats on the engagement! Brooke we are so excited to have you in our family!!

This is the Life

The Cushman family does an annual trip down to Florida, close to Panama City or Destin. We were lucky this year to be able to go for a whole week and it was AMAZING. My bro-n-law and his adorable girlfriend got to come too!! Seriously... if you ever want to go on vacation, this is the way to go. We rented a house and it had a huge community pool, right across the street was the beach. We went on bike rides, shopped, ate, played games, watched movies, made yummy tropical fruit drinks and swam all day everyday! The water was amazing... I didn't even feel like I was in the U.S anymore and the sand was so white and fine. All I can say is that I miss it already and I have only been home for a day. Thanks momma and papa Cush!

It's a Miracle!!

If you can believe it... my dad made it through his other surgery. It sounded like it was the worst experience ever for him, pain wise but here is the amazing news. So the doctors had told my dad that 99% my dad had colon cancer.. well get this my dad happened to be in the 1%. They did a biopsy on the tumor in his colon and it wasn't cancerous!!! We truly feel that it is a miracle. I know that all of the prayers and fasting that took place for my dad made this possible. I have so much gratitude to my Heavenly Father. This experience has really taught me to never take anything for granted! Hang in there pops... we hope for a quick recovery!

St. Simon Islands

Happy late 4th of July to everyone! Ryan and I had the awesome opportunity to go with our friends from college, Justin, Tallie, and their baby to their family's house on St. Simon Island, off the coast of Georgia. The house was huge and so beautiful... it even had an elevator. We went on Thursday night. On Friday we went to the beach and then the pool in their backyard and then went to their little village, went out to eat, shopped, walked along the pier and saw dolphins!!! and then made homeade strawberry ice cream and played games. On the 4th we went to the beach again and the pool, then we had an awesome BBQ and I made my mom's amazing 4th of July dessert... yum :) Then we went down to the beach again and watched a firework show on the beach. It was such a fun get away and so cheap. It was so fun to be with our friends too! We just love them and feel like family!!! Thanks you guys.

Thank You Thank You Thank You

Thank you all so much who kept my family in your thoughts and prayers. As previously mentioned on my father's day post... my dad is now fighting colon cancer. Last week was the hardest week of my life. We were all waiting for my dad to go into surgery on friday to get a part of his lung removed to see if the cancer had spread throughout his whole body. Everyday last week I think I cried at least once and felt sick to my stomach all day. I think my whole family felt the exact same way! Well Friday finally came around and I took half the day off. I got the call from my mom that my dad made it through the surgery and that the lump in his lungs was not cancer. I can't tell you how light I felt at that moment... a heavy burden lifted. I didn't know whether to cry or laugh... so I did both!! I love my daddy so much... he means the world to me. He is being so tough after his surgery!!! Now next week he still has to get major surgery on his colon. He has to get 2 or 3 feet of intestine taken out. Poor guy!! But I have never felt so grateful to my Heavenly Father in my whole life. Just last night Ryan and I read a talk about faith and prayer by Pres. Monson for family home evening. I love when he wrote "There is no more beautiful sight in all this world than to see a family praying together. There is real meaning behind the oft-quoted- The family that prays together stays together." Even though I wasn't with all of my family... we did do a fast and prayer for my dad and I felt so close to my family even 100s of miles a way. I never want to go another day again without telling my parents that I love them and never go a day without praying to my Heavenly Father thanking Him for my family and friends. Thank you!

Happy Daddy's Day!

Dear Daddy-0!
I love you so much and I hope that Father's Day was amazing for you even though none of your kids could share it with you. I just wanted you to know that I think you are the best dad ever. I just love everything about you. You are such a great example to all of us. I wish I could see you more because I miss you and mom so very much. I love that we have such a great relationship. I can't imagine life without you. I love you daddy. Happy Father's day!

P.S- To those who don't know my amazing dad has now been diagnosed with Colon Cancer after fighting Prostate cancer for 2 years. Please pray for my dad this week as we hopefully will find out if the cancer has spread :( I love you dad. Our prayers are with you.

The Perks to Moving...

I had to wait to write this post for a month because I had to let myself cool down after this frustrating experience! Sorry to anyone who chooses to read this but my sister told me to blog this story. So when I first moved to Georgia I thought I would be a good person and get a Georgia license within the 1st week of moving here. Ryan and I made the trip to the DMV and were friendly greeted by a man who said that my social security card and Idaho driver's license wouldn't work to get a new license. Apparently they don't believe my government issued social security card that my last name really is Cushman. They sent me home to get my marriage license. It turns out that I had just moved here and had no idea where I had packed it. A couple of weeks later I found it and decided to venture out again to the dmv.. this time by myself... bad idea. I went right before work and of course there were crazy lines and all sorts of weird, freaky people. I was rudly greeted by the front lady. I felt like I was having to ask a huge favor from this lady to get a license... geez did she forget that she does work at a DMV?? She looked at my marriage license for 5 minutes thinking it was fake or something then she didn't believe that I really lived here. What the heck! Some how I managed to get past her only to experience much worse. I got to the counter finally after my number was called and I was greeted by an elderly lady. She too looked at my marriage license for forever and then continued to fill my paper work out. I thought everything was going fine until she said.. well something isn't going through right and I am going out to lunch so I will pass your info. onto someone else. Great!! Of course I had to wait forever for someone to actually look at my info. again. I was greeted by another man who said... well looks like you won't be getting a license today. "What??? After all of that?" When I asked why he said that Idaho had issues with my previous license. He then began to question me... do you have a ticket you haven't paid... "No, I have never been pulled over before!" he then accused me that I must have been drunk driving.. do I look like the kind who would get plastered with alcohol??? He gave me a number to call. So I walked out of the DMV so mad!!! I called Idaho and found out that they had cancelled my license for some strange reason.. I got it cleared up and went right back into the DMV. I went to the same guy that I was with just 5 minutes before... he said he needed to take care of everyone else before me. Are you serious??? I finally got to the counter and he called Idaho to make sure I really cleared everythin up... like I would lie about that... that took 20 minutes! Then he was like ok... let's get your paper work. And to make things worse... he can't find my paperwork that he had just had! At this point I was so mad that I was almost crying becuase I was trying to hold back any mean words I had because I hate confrontation I even began to shake a little bit. After the whole office went looking for my paper work they found it in the W's.... since Cushman could be confused with Williams or Wood.... naturally... he filled out my paper work until he got to my marriage license and realized that the old lady that helped me before didn't even write down the right info. from my license. Ugh! Then finally everything was completed and the picture and payment only took 5 minutes. Needless to say... I never want to go to a DMV or move again! It was a horrible experience and I just felt that I needed to vent haha. At least now I can laught about it.

And this... is AMERICAN IDOL!!!!

YAY!!! I am so excited for my not so secret crush, Kris Allen. I totally had convinced myself that Adam was going to win... and he didn't hooray. Sorry to all those Adam fans but I couldn't stand his voice. I thought the finale was amazing.. I wasn't even like.. get on with it... when will they ever call the winner... I was very entertained. Good season!... now what am I going to do with my life?? Haha never fear... so you think you can dance starts tonight!!

Welcome to the ATL

I know right... I have been awesome at blogging the last few days:) Well I told you that I would post on what is going on in our lives right now, so here it is. After a 3-day drive ...

We arrived here...

After graduation... we rented a truck... packed all of our things (thanks mom and dad!!!!) and drove out to Georgia. It was the funnest road trip ever. Poor Ryan had to drive the truck and trailer with his car while Kaylie and I rocked out to music all day. We laughed, we cried, we laughed so hard that we cried... lets just say it was bonding time for us. Great memories!! Well we arrived here almost 4 weeks ago and this is what we have been up to...

Ok... actually this was just one night but we got to go to a Braves game and it was really fun. But what we really have been doing is...

Working!!! Ryan has been searching for a job in the financial service industry but in the mean time him and his dad have been working on roofs for people in the Atlanta area who have hail damage. They should be able to make great money this summer and we are so excited to start setting aside money for a house! They work all day long 6 days a week and are starting to become real rednecks hehe. I have been working part time for the family I nannied for last summer. I was planning to work for them all summer long until I got a job at a preschool only 2 mintues from where I live (by the way.. with my in-laws :) I am so excited and can't wait to start next monday. They also provide full benefits and a 401K plan. The Lord is blessing Ryan and I in so many ways and we are so grateful. We will keep you posted on everything:)

Hey Mama

Happy Mother's Day Mama! I know I wasn't there on your special day but I wanted you to know that I thought about you ALL day. I got all teary at church during all of the talks because I thought about how great you are as a mother and friend. I love this picture of you because even though I can't remember all the fun things we did when I was really young... I can only imagine we were crazy together! Thanks for being the best mommy ever. I will always be yours and dad's little baby. Happy Mother's Day!

Graduates of 2009!

I'm back folks and a lot has happened since my last post. I did get my wisdom teeth out a week before graduation. Everything went fine after the fact that I passed out and started to convulse. Haha but other than that it was smooth sailing, no bruising or swolenness! Both of our parents came into town for our graduation which was so fun! Ryan and I graduated together on April 10, 2009 from Brigham Young University Idaho, wahoo!!!!! It was such an amazing experience. We got to hear from President Clark and Elder Anderson. It was so nice of Ryan to graduate with me at my graduation for preschool education. Ryan graduated in business with an emphasis in Finance and a minor in Russian and I graduated in Professional Preschool Education. I am going to miss school so much, isn't that strange?? I already am like... what I'm not going back to Idaho??? Well after graduation Ryan and I had the amazing opportunity to go to the temple with both of our parents. My parents brought family names and we all got to do sealings together. It was such a spiritual experience! After that we met up with our siblings at the Olive Garden and chowed down on some awesome Italian food. After that, Ben and Erin were nice enough to allow us all I think it was 13 of us, to their house to play Cranium. What's a family get together with no competitive game to play?? Might I add that the girls finally beat the boys!!! The next day Ben and Erin had a huge BBQ at their house for us. The food was amazing especially those ribs Ben!! After stuffing ourselves again we went and played some pickleball... wish I had pictures :( Then afterwards.. what do you think we did?? We stuffed ourselves again with ice cream from Leatherbees. It was one of the most memorable weekends ever. We really appreciate everyone that came out to be there and Ben and Erin and Tyson for everything they did for us. We love you guys!!! More posts to come to update you on what's going on in our lives now!

Thanks for my barbie shoes mom!

Thanks Mom and Dad!! We couldn't have done it without you. We love you.

Can you believe my dad took this picture of the temple?? It looks like a post card!

Drama, Drama, Drama

So here it is... after all of that drama... here is my new hair! Sorry that it isn't a very good picture. i had to take it myself and also if you are thinking, why does her face look so funny? That's because you see, apparently you are supposed to get these teeth taken out called wisdom teeth because other wise they get infected and make your whole face swollen. That's right, today I have an unexpected appointment to get my wisdom teeth out. Just a week before graduation. eeek!! Haha got to love drama!

Lighten up!

Thanks to those who commented on my blog... after much thought...I have decided to go with a lighter more natural brown tomorrow! Yay!!! One of the contributing factors is that ryan picked up our graduation robes on Friday and they are black. I don't want to look gothic!! So we will strip the color from my hair and re-color it. I hope all my hair doesn't fall out from damaging it so much! After this hopefully I will not have to color it for a long time (doubtful since I love blonde! :) Hopefully I will stop talking about my hair as much now!! I feel so vain!

On a side note.. I am so proud of Ryan this semester and can't wait to graduate with him in 3 weeks!

A Shock to the System!

So in the goal to save money, Ryan convinced me to color my hair all brown so I don't have to spend a ton of money on highlights anymore. Well I had my friend who always cuts and color my hair come over on Thursday night. I told her that I wanted my hair to be more on the red brown side then the black brown side. We ended up having to color my hair 3 times because the 1st time, my hair picked up so much red... it looked so freaky... and when it dried it was a purple-ish color.... ewwww (no offense to anyone out there who likes purple hair!) So we colored it again and there was still too much red in it. The 3rd time we colored it... it was much better but still too dramatic for my taste! I felt bad though cause I made my friend stay until like 1 in the morning and she is pregnant... I'm awful! But she gave me this special shampoo to take the red out over a span of a few weeks. So this was probably not the look I was going for... it seems way to dark and unnatural.. bummer! I see this color on other people and I am like wow that is so pretty.. but on me not so much! So what do you all think? Should I lighten it or wait it out for a while to see if it lightens naturally? Please NO comments on this post if you have issues with being honest with people that just got their hair done... I know how that goes... "Oh it looks so cute" (but really you are thinking "what the heck did they do to their hair.. it looks awful!")

Utah, Vegas, and Tyson.... sorry I am a little behind!

Wow I am so behind! To any of you who read the post titled... homeless.... no worries thanks to great family we won't be homeless... just jobless:) That's right in 4 weeks we are packing up and saying goodbye to Idaho and hello to Georgia! I am actually getting really sad as the days go by! This place is so simple and you still feel like a teenager because you are basically just expected to be a college student. This place is special to us because this is where we met and have met so many of our closest friends and my brother, his wife, and their son are here too and we probably won't see much of them when we move:( So this is what we have been doing with our time the last month or so. In February we went to Utah for some job interviews for Ryan, they went well but he wasn't interested and we couldn't really afford to not live with family right now... wow can you say poor! haha Anyways while there I got to see almost all of my friends that are in Utah right now. (oh and Alix I am still mad at you! haha just kidding) We were supposed to go to Vegas after that but we decided to save some money and just stay in Utah. So, a week later my sis-n-law and me decided to have a Vegas night of our own. I spent all day on decorations and making food. We played cards, ate, and watched What Happens in Vegas. We are such party planners, I love it! The rest of our time has been dedicated to work, school, job searching for the both of us, and how can I forget, babysitting our nephew Tyson!

Sorry to pretty much everyone else that I saw in Utah... I wasn't very good at bringing my camera with me everywhere but I had a blast seeing you!

Pay it Forward

Pay it Forward the rules 1. Be one of the first three (3) bloggers to leave a comment on this post, which then entitles you to a handmade item from me. 2. Winners, you must post this challenge on your blog, meaning that you will Pay It Forward, creating a handmade gift for the first 3 bloggers who leave a comment on YOUR post about this giveaway! 3. The gift that you send to your three Friends can be from any price range and you have 365 days to make/ship your item. This means you should be willing to maintain your blog at least until you receive your gift and have shipped your gifts. And, remember: It’s the Spirit and the Thought That Count! 4. When you receive your gift, please feel free to blog about it!! If you are not one of the Top Three Commenters on this post, you can still play along. Post it on your blog; start your own Pay It Forward chain, and encourage your blogging friends to do the same!I will need your address if you are one of the first three bloggers.hurry and leave one of the first comments!who doesn't want a rockin' handmade goodie?!

Homeless?

Just an update! We are finishing up our last semester here yay!! Ryan and I will both graduate April 10th and then the scary part! We don't know where we will be living yet?!?! It is so stressful for Ryan to be going to school and looking for a job during this time. Hopefully we can find something soon... we have about 2 more months or else we will be homeless. :) Other than that we are just enjoying the simplicity of Idaho. I am loving my job. I am convinced that being a preschool teacher is the best job ever (besides pay... but actually I am getting paid awesome condsidering it's Idaho) I am only allowed to work 20 hours which is a bummer but nice at the same time cause I still have free time... it's weird... I'm not used to having free time. What do I do with my free time? Well I try to do some productive things but I also am hooked to TLC (What Not to Wear and Jon and Kate + 8) and this HGTV Home channel. It is all about new home buyers and remodeling... some day we will be out of an apartment....sigh. Well hope life is treating you all well and if you hear about any jobs for Ryan PLEASE let us know:)

World Peace...

Miss America Pageant 2009

Hate Working Out??

So I hate working out... it's true I just can't get myself to do it. I will get on a kick where I will go running or go to the gym one time and feel all good and even come home eat a can of tuna and banana and make a list of healthy foods I will eat during the week. However, when the next morning hits I change my mind about working out when my legs are killing me and I can't laugh because my stomach muscles are too sore. I then open the cupboard and find the quickest easiest thing to eat.. therefore probably not the most healthy. So I get in this never ending cycle all the time! But are you ready for this? I am in love with a work out video! I know you are thinking that I am such a dork... but thanks to my mom I love this video... it is so cheezy and the people are really annoying but I feel awesome after I'm done. It's not a kick your butt kind of work out but it is one that gets your heart going without you feeling like you're going to die. And plus for a bonus... they play sweet 80's music with it... i mean can you really go wrong with that? So to all you other fellow friends that hate going to the gym, you should try this video! :)

Christmas and New Years With the Fam

It was so much fun to go home for a little bit and then go to Texas to be with my whole family for Christmas. It has been two years since my family has all been together. We went to Seattle and had so much snow there... it was crazy but some how managed to see Brandi (and her baby:) and Darren. We also went hot tubbing with Heather and her husband and then dared eachother to make snow angels outside in our swimsuits. It was freezing!!!! But so fun! One day there was so much snow that we stayed at home all day ate, watched movies, and played games! We drove to Portland one day and planned on spending the night but found out that the snow storm was coming so we quickly hit the Nike store where Ryan got 2 pairs of shoes for 50% and dad showed us his office there and then we drove back to Seattle all the same day!! On our 2 year anniversary we spent all day at the airport in awful lines with angry people. To make it special I gave him a kiss on the plane... and that is all we did for our anniversary this year:( In Houston we ate, played with the kids, made sugar cookies, went to Nasa and a children's museum, played pickleball, ate, shopped, went to Santa's Wonderland looking at all the pretty lights, had a chinese new year (mainly just eating chinese food:), ate, watched football, and laughed a lot. We had so much fun and miss everyone!!

Favorite quote from the trip-

Kolby: "Papa (grandpa) when santa comes you need to bite (beat) him up and shoot him!"

Thanks For The Memories!

Wow I can't believe it's over! Last Fall I started in the preschool program. I remember thinking that I would never be a supervisor and finish the program. Today was our last official time with all the teachers meeting together. These pictures are some pictures of some of my best friends! These are all the supervisors that worked with me this semester. Some of us have been together since last Fall! We always have so much fun together as you can tell from the pics. It's sad because most of them are walking tomorrow at graduation and leaving :( I'm graduated from the program but not walking till next semester with Ryan when he graduates. Next semester one of the other supervisors and I got hired as head teachers. We are so excited that we get to do the same thing but get paid for it!! I'm so glad that I have been able to find my passion in life and get a degree in it. I love working with the children and it brings so many blessings and funny stories into my life! Today at our meeting I was voted by the other teachers to receive the outstanding professional preschool educaiton student award. They gave me a frame with the certificate in it and will put my name up on a plaque by the preschool. The cool part is that they also gave me a gift certificate for $100 to Walmart (just in time to buy Christmas presents!) Hopefully one day I can open my own preschool and continue to do what I love most! Emily, Megan, Amy, Shila, Betty, and Hattie :)- Good luck in all that you do... one day we can all open a preschool together and be the best preschool ever. Love ya girlies and thanks for the memories!

A Post For My Other Half

If you haven't noticed... Ryan never blogs, it is always me pretending to write for the both of us. I'm lucky if he ever looks at this thing without me putting the laptop right in front of him and telling him to read it:) So I thought that I would write a sweet little post about him... maybe he will check it more often (he he he). There is no special occasion for this post it's just to let him know that I do appreciate him and love him. He puts up with my crazy moods, unexpected tears, my uncontrollable giggles, and my blabbing mouth and not too mention my annoying sleeping habits (if you know me well, you know exactly what I am talking about). Whenever we drive anywhere I talk 99.9% of the time and he may add in the other .1% on a good day. The poor guy probably gets so tired of hearing me talk ALL the time. Even though we haven't been married long (2 years in December) I can't remember one time that he has lost his temper with me. He never points out my faults! (although he should... ) I have recently made a "My Husband Loves Me Journal". I created this on my own, and each day I write something that he did to show me he loves me. Some of the more recent things that I have enjoyed are: him re-parking my car closer to campus so I don't have to walk as far after a long day, taking me to the temple on a Friday night (his 1st Friday off of work in a long time), playing Mario Cart Wii and him putting up with me being so competitive, him texting me during class saying he loves me, and his continual optimism and humor. He always has a joke no matter if I am talking about something serious or not he is always finding something witty to say. At first it bothered me but now I realize how much he chills me out. Just like Elder Worthlin talked about in Conference, that we need to laugh more, well Ryan sure knows how to make me laugh. Well this list could go on for forever. If you didn't read this whole long post I don't blame you... it is too sappy anyways haha. But I just wanted Ryan to know that I love him and am so proud of him. ( I thought I would post this picture. Here I was trying to be all cute and come to find out later, Ryan was making fun of me by doing the same pose. No longer a cute pic. but funny:) Love you Ryan!

Feeling Brave

So a friend of mine is amazing at doing hair and was trying to get a job at a hair salon so I let her play around with my hair. For her interview she had to have someone's hair to cut and it had to be a new style and not just a trim. So she chopped a bunch of my hair off and made it more of an a line. It is so much fun trying different things... who knew that with crazy curly hair you could do a stlye like this!!

Eat Mor Chikin

For my birthday we planned a small Halloween party with our friends that we always hang out with. I wanted Ryan to match my costume but he didn't want to be a cute farmer...lame! So I thought.... hmmmm... what about a cow. His response "Only if I can have utters." What a guy thing to say. Needless to say... his costume was amazing!! We made his outfit in 1 hour. I was impressed. It was a great birthday and a fun party! Happy late Halloween.

Justin, Ryan, and Jameson (dressed as pregnant Tallie)

Spring (dressed as Justin), Me, and pregnant Tallie

Loosing 4 Years of Our Lives...

One night at like 11 our best friends Jameson and Spring came over and we decided to use their deep fryer. We deep fried twinkies and snickers bars. To feel better about ourselves we ate grapes afterwards. I love how we do crazy things with them... it's always so random. We'll miss them once they move :(

Happy Birthday Ty Guy

Back in October it was our nephew's 1st birthday. My bro and sis-n-law did a whole sports theme birthday party. These were the little cupcakes we made. Ty got his own mini football cake. We were worried he wouldn't dig in but as you can see from the pics. he went right in. (Talk about the wrong colored frosting to use.)

Trying to be cute....

Ok... so I am trying to update my blog to be cute like the rest of you all... it's not quite working so excuse the weird text colors as of right now... it's not working so hopefully in a few days it will look cuter than it does now:)

Hurricane Ike

Here are some pictures from this last weekend of Hurricane Ike. My sister and her family were hit by this natural disaster and luckily are safe. They haven't had power for a while and had their fence blow down but luckily were not harmed. We were worried for them especially since we couldn't talk to them on the phone but Saturday morning we found out they were ok from my parents. We love you guys and are so glad you made it through this. Hope you get power soon. Our prayers are still with those who this may have effected and their families.

I haven't blogged since before the war...

I know.... can you believe it... I'm actually blogging!!! I just decided to give you an update of what has gone on in our lives the last 4 months. Ryan got an internship in Atlanta with a Financial Company, so after school got out we drove across the country and started our summer. It was great cause Ryan's family lives there and Ryan's company paid for our own apartment which was really close to our family's house. I got a nanny job.... which was rewarding but definately the hardest job I've ever had! I have so much more appreciation for my mom :) I called her like everyday saying, "Mom I'm sorry I ever complained, I'm sorry...." I was also able to visit Seattle for maybe the last time that my parents still live there, sniff, sniff. It was so much fun to be with my parents again and have sleep overs almost everyday with my best friend, Brandi! Thanks mom and dad for spoiling me rotten, loving me and playing pickleball with me. I wish there were pictures to show you from that trip but unfortunately our camera was stolen. Ryan and I made a trip down to Florida one weekend and went to a water park and to Busch Gardens. It was so much fun and I get so giddy when I go down a roller coaster... I love that feeling. Well, Ryan and I loved this one ride and went on it like 10 times in a row, the last time we went, we got off and our camera, phones, money, licenses, everything was gone including our car keys. We ended up waiting in the parking lot till mid-night until a lock smith came. Although that put a damper on our trip, overall I still look back and thought it was a blast! But unfortunately lots of my pictures are gone :( We also got to go to Florida the end of the summer with our family. We had so much fun going to the beach everyday, laughing, eating, etc. All those that know me well, know that I love sports, well you can imagine what it is like when the olympics are on! Heaven!! I stayed up till like 2 every morning, I didn't want to miss anything. With the kids I nannied and my bro and sis-n-law, I did a mini olympics. We had so much fun racing, swimming, and wearing our medals around. We loved Atlanta, had great experiences and learned a lot. Thanks mom and dad for letting us borrow everything for our apartment. We had so much fun with you all, we miss you and love you. After we left Atlanta we drove 13 hours to Texas to visit my sister and family. As you can see from the pictures, we loved our trip there. The kids were so adorable and so much fun... Ryan and I wanted to keep them. Olivia and Ryan were in love with eachother. She wouldn't leave his side and he snuggled with her a lot... jealous! Of course Sabrina and I were crazy together, laughed constantly and in between stuffed our faces with candy and Snikerdoodles. Yum! They took us out to eat and to the beach. Thanks you guys. We love you so much and miss you. I wish we lived closer together. You're the best! After Texas we drove through the night (30 hours) to Idaho and now I am avoiding unpacking, hence I'm blogging:) Thats whats goin on in our lives. Who knows when you will hear from us again haha. But hopefully I will post before I have to post snow pictures again!

Snow Day

We decided on our day off that we should actually enjoy the snow that we seem to get every day. It was freezing but it was so much fun to be little kids again.

Rexburg Temple Open House

We are so blessed to have this beautiful temple right up the street from us. We can even see it from our apartment. We had the opportunity to go through the temple for the open house. We both agreed it was the most beautiful thing we had ever seen. It's become my new favorite temple! The Lord has blessed our lives so much.

Photo Shoot

Isn't that sunset gorgeous?! We were taking family pictures. This is in our yard in Georgia. My in-laws just finished the yard and they have a fire pit as well. It looks awsome. We had fun roasting marshmallows and sitting outside while we were there.

Our Adventure

We drove a few hours to North Carolina and went skiing with the in-laws. It was about 9 degrees when we went. It was pretty much my first time skiing and I basically thought I was going to die everytime I went down just a small slope. Oh well... it was a good experience and was still fun. I still feel like I have a bruise from falling of the ski lift haha... dang it! Ryan had a blast snowboarding, he's awsome and nothing scares him! We also had so much fun in our cabin there. We sat by the fire, ate, played games and laughed a lot!

Happy New Year!

For New Year's Eve we had some fun drinking some sparkling cider, playing trouble a million times (most of which, my younger sis-n-law beat me), and playing with sparklers outside! Across the street they had serious fireworks! I also got to watch on TV for the first time the peach falling when it turned midnight ha ha!

Ice Skating

Here we are ice skating with all of Ryan's siblings! It seemed like such a Christmas thing to do.

Christmas With the Cushmans

Well... after several months of not blogging and everyone thinking I had died... here are some pictures for you all! This was Christmas morning in Georgia!

1 Year Anniversary

On December 22nd, Ryan and I celebrated our 1 year! We first went to the Georgia temple, went Christmas shopping, went to an amazing Italian resteraunt, got our favorite piece of cheese cake from the Cheese Cake Factory, and finished the night off with the BYU bowl game. That's my kind of night! I love you Ryan!

Tyson Baby

This is our new nephew Tyson. He was born October 4, 2007. Ryan and I happened to be in Georgia when he was born. So when we got back we couldn't wait to see him! He is a beautiful boy, with lots of hair and he sleeps a lot! My brother and sister-n-law are great parents already!

Home Sweet Home

Sorry it took so long for me to finally blog again. It's been a little crazy between driving endless hours, vacationing, moving and starting work/school. But here are some fun pictures from Seattle. We stayed for about 8 days and did some fun stuff. We played tons of pickelball with my parents and of course Ryan and I had to wear our matching shirts that Sabrina and Daniel gave us. We love them :) We also went to Mt. Ranier, that's where that picture comes from that you can barely see us. It was a beautiful day except for at Mt. Ranier. We drove the whole way there and were hiking it and couldn't even see it. Poor Ryan thinks we're lying that there was a huge Mt. right in front of us haha. And we got to hang out with our friends Brandi and Darren. They took us out on their boat and we got to see into Seattle and then we ate dinner out on the water. We had so much fun and can't wait to go back!

Moving on...

After living in beautiful Minnesota for over 4 months, we are finally leaving. It is so bitter-sweet because we have made some really close friends here but we are so excited to be done with this job! Tomorrow we head off back to Rexburg, ID. It will take us about 16 hours and then on Saturday we will drive to Seattle to visit my parents! It will be nice to have a week before school starts for Ryan and I to spend some time together. But to all of our Pinnacle friends... we'll miss you and stay in touch!

Twiners

This post is for Andrea!! :) So Andrea and I showed up to lunch practically wearing the same thing. So of course, us being the bloggers we are, had to take pictures!!

We got the same swim suits just a differnt pattern! I'm gonna miss going to the pool almost everyday and hanging out with the wives!

It's Raining.. It's Pouring!

Today we went to Minnesota's State Fair. We went with some Pinnacle friends! As you can see it rained the whole time while we were there but we still had a great time! We ate a lot and went on some fun rides... fun until I almost threw up from riding them haha! Luckily we didn't eat before we went on the rides :)

Pinnacle Bonfire

This was one of our last get togethers! We had a bonfire with foil dinners and of course S'mores... Yum!!!!

"Say Cheese!"

One Sunday afternoon, we all decided to go take pictures together. (Actually just the wives decided this:)

These pictures were taken at a beautiful garden just a minute away from our apartment!

Our poor husbands waited forever for us to finally get this right!

Us girls in our matching Old Navy shirts!

Pool Party!

Our apartment complex had a pool party! We had so much fun eating, winning prizes and swimming. We took this picture just to show you how much we've changed since we got married :)

Canoe Trip

Last Thursday we went on a canoe trip with our Pinnacle friends. It was one of the funnest things we've done since we've been here in Minnesota! It was nice to actually do something fun with Ryan during the day. After our 7 mile journey we of course had to stop at a DQ and get some ice cream!

Our Pinnacle friends! The boys jumped off these rocks behind us, they're crazy!

After 7 miles of this... we got pretty tired. Luckily I had Ryan to do most of the work!

Party!

All of us wives get together every Wednesday and Thursday to watch So you think you can dance. We look forward to it every week!! This particular Thursday we had a surpise party for Sasha (far left in picture)! I'm gonna miss these girls!

One of the wives, Kemper, made this amazing cake and cupcakes for the party. She is so creative!!! I want to try making this.

Something to remember

August 1, 2007

I wanted to blog this to remember how lucky we are! This happened about 2o minutes from where we live in Minnesota. Ryan was only working 10 minutes from there. What a tradgedy and our hearts go out to all those involved.

Lake Calhoun

All of us Pinnacle workers and wives get together a lot on the weekends and play games or have picnics. This was at Lake Calhoun with Minneapolis behind us!

Picnic with the gang

One of our many get togethers with our Pinnacle friends!

Thanks Kemper for taking such cool pictures!

All the guys love playing croquet! It's a nice get away from thinking of work! This was one of the many tricky shots Ryan had!

Music in Plymouth

Where we live in Minnesota, they have concerts and fireworks the 5th of July. All of us wives from Pinnacle went and then our husbands met up with us later.

4th of July

4th of July on a dinner boat in Minnesota! We went with other couples from Pinnacle Security and loved it. It was beautiful watching the fireworks over the water.

Our baby

This is our new car and my very 1st car. We call her freedom :)

Kolby and Olivia

This is our niece and nephew in Texas, we wish we could see them more! Kolby is such a good big brother to his little sister!

Don't worry she isn't ours! This is our precious little niece, Olivia. I was able to fly out to Texas in May and be with my sister and her family when she was born. I helped take care of their oldest son, Kolby, during that time as well!

Open house

4 months after we got married we had an open house in Georgia!

Honeymoon

We stayed in a beautiful resort outside of Las Vegas for our honeymoon. It was like a village of resorts! This is where we spent our 1st Christmas together.

Together for time and all eternity

We were married in the Seattle Temple and were blessed to have most of our family members there. Even though it was winter in Seattle, we luckily had nice weather, and no rain!! This was the happiest day of our lives!

Ryan's family

This is Ryan's family! I couldn't have been luckier to have such great in-laws! We can't wait for Ryan's brother to come home in October from his mission in Brazil. I haven't met him yet... crazy!!

Let's go Ohio State!

So I know we are kinda crazy, but this is my family. We are huge Ohio State football fans. We were celebrating after the biggest game ever over Michigan! I am the youngest out of the siblings!

Engagement photo shoot

September 2006

Two of our engagement pictures. We used the one on the left for our invitation. These were taken in the gardens at BYU-I.

Surprise!

August 17, 2006

Ryan proposed to me on Lake Sammamish... it was such a surprise!

Dating

So this was last summer when Ryan and I were still dating and I went to visit him in Vegas.

Las Vegas where Ryan surprised me with tickets to a Rascal Flatts concert!