Ryan turns 30

Ryan's 30th birthday was last Monday so we celebrated the weekend before. I had been trying to think of things to do for his birthday for awhile, after all, 30 is a big one! Finally, I got it! I stole the idea from our former neighbors at Harvey Lofts and added the element of a surprise party.  I planned a surprise birthday party at our house with a bunch of Ryan's friends from college and planned a Colfax Street Scavenger Hunt.  We live a few blocks away from one of the longest streets, if not the longest continuous street, in the nation, Colfax.  It has various bars, restaurants, shops, churches, cafes, etc. for miles and miles.  I figured this would be a perfect area to have a scavenger hunt because we could walk there and walk home afterward.

Our weekend started like any other, pretty relaxed.  We hung out Saturday and watched football, went on a bike ride, made some food, nothing special.  I had been asking Ryan what he wanted to do for his birthday but I never really got a straight answer except maybe go out to eat and hang out with some friends. Weeks earlier I had gotten in touch with a bunch of his friends and asked them if they would be able to join us on Saturday night for this party.  Everyone was in so all I needed at that point was to get Ryan out of the house without him suspecting anything.  A few days earlier I had told Ryan that my girlfriends from work had invited me out to dinner on Saturday night and that I wasn't sure if I really wanted to go.  He encouraged me to go and told me his friend, Michael, had asked him to help set up for a party that was to be held on Sunday at the winery his wife worked at.  I 'decided' I'd rather go to dinner with my friends then go set up chairs at a winery so around 5:30 we both went our 'separate ways.'  Little did he know the minute he left I was turning the oven bake, whipping up his cake, making salad, fruit dip, putting out salsa and chips, decorating the house, making cape cods, and trying desperately to get it all done in an hour and a half.  Luckily Ryan P. and Summer came early to help me set up.  Joey showed up too bringing ice, which I had forgotten, and Ryan's new snowboard I bought him for his birthday.  With the help of his friends we all got it done in time, with only a little stalling on Michael and Jessica's part at the winery.

The last task I had to accomplish was to somehow try and get Jessica and Michael here before Ryan.  I asked Ryan to pick up some beer on the way home and reluctantly he said he would, even though he was sure I was closer to home than he was.  Well, he didn't end up picking any beer up and he beat Jess and Michael home.  Not knowing that when I heard who I thought was Michael and Jess come up the patio stairs I opened the door so they could quickly join us before Ryan saw them... and there was Ryan, wide eyed looking at the me like what the heck is going on.  "OH" I said, "It's Ryan! Surprise!!!" and everyone yelled surprise and Ryan walked in looking at our transformed house that had looked so normal a few hours ago.  Needless to say Michael and Jessica walked in shortly after him and explained that they kept seeing Ryan on the road and without him stopping it was impossible to beat him.  He was surprised regardless.  We had a great time sharing stories, drinking beer and cape cods, and eating food.  After awhile we divided into Blue and Pink teams and headed to Colfax with our list of pictures that needed to be taken and things that needed to be witnessed. It was a lot of fun.  After an hour and a half we all headed back home to cut the cake! It was a great night!

Year One

On October 9th, Ryan and I celebrated one year of marriage.  I cannot believe it has already been a year.  It feels like we were married only a few months ago.  I'm not sure where the time goes. Anyways, our anniversary fell on the Sunday after we got back from Mexico.  Unfortunately, I had caught some kind of bug in Mexico that didn't leave me feeling very well.  Needless to say it kept us inside for most of the day. When I woke up that Sunday Ryan surprised me with flowers, breakfast, and pumpkin cappuccinos. Yum!

It was pretty chilly outside so we snuggled up in front of the fireplace and watched a movie.  Towards the end of the day I was feeling a little bit better so we made a trip out to one of the local pumpkin patches.  It was ridiculously huge! Acres and acres of pumpkins everywhere! We bought 4 large pumpkins and a few cute small ones for inside the house.

We came home and Ryan cooked up some home made chili and bread sticks and we enjoyed a cozy dinner in front of our fire place.  We had exchanged gifts earlier that day, in which we did stick to the traditional paper presents for our first year.  It was fun thinking of creative things I could give him made of paper.  I bought us 2 tickets to the Air Force Academy football game against San Diego State University and tailgating tickets for unlimited food and beer before the game.  Ryan made me this really awesome invitation to spend a weekend with him in Aspen.  He made the invitation himself and designed it to look exactly like our house with the Denver skyline in the background.  It was awesome.

My parents bought us this gorgeous hand painted pitcher for our anniversary.  I love it.. must be the Mexican in me!

So we went to the Air Force game last Thursday. We were a little late due to traffic on the way down to Colorado Springs but we still snagged a nice portion of bbq, mac n cheese, bread, and beans. The seats we had were pretty good.  We were packed in there like sardines so second half we sat in the upper section and watched the game from above.  Air Force lost, but it was still fun to get out to the base for a home game.  My favorite part was probably the F-16 fly over before the game. Three F-16s flew over the field and then straight up into the air.  We could see their after burners.  It was awesome! It's so cool to have these jets flying so fast that they go by quietly only to be followed by their booming sound.  It's crazy! We had a great time and I'm looking forward to our weekend away together!

I brought home the top of our cake the last time I flew back to Oklahoma, so of course we had to shove some in each others mouths! It was a little freezer burnt, but the middle still tasted the same.  We had a nice bottle of wine Ry had bought me when I moved out here in June and celebrated to a great year and many more to come.

Our marriage so far has been everything I could have asked for and more.  We grow stronger and closer every day and I feel so thankful and amazed that I have found such a wonderful man. I love you Ryan Billings. Cheers to us.

I love the beaches of Mexico

Last week my parents, sister, brother, Ryan and I all traveled south to Playa del Carmen, Mexico.  A week in paradise! Now, for those of you that don't know, I am a beach person.  I absolute love the beach and I would probably try and live on it if I could. So this vacation was perfect! We stayed a Riu resort right off the beach. It was beautiful, as always!

On our first night there we decided to make reservations at their steak house, enjoy a few cocktails and catch the nightly show that the entertainers at the resort put on.

Dessert at dinner.

At the show they asked for all the kids to go up to the stage.  Josh and another girl went up and they just humiliated him by making him dance and sing on stage. He was such a trooper.

Being the onry girl that I am I volunteered my husband to participate on stage when they asked for men to volunteer themselves for a game. He went up there and played a game with 3 other guys in which you have to watch the 'leader' and do the opposite.  It was the funniest thing ever. Ryan had a sparkle cowboy hat on then off on then off, a straw in and out of his mouth and was sitting down and standing up as quickly as he could recognize what the 'leader' was doing. I took a video of it.  At this point in the video 2 men had already been eliminated.  This had probably been going on for about 5 minutes and I was absolutely hysterical...I could barely breathe. Enjoy!

(hmnm i cant ge this video to work, i'll keep on working on it)

The first full day we were there it was sunny until about 11 am.  The clouds started accumulating over the land and the storms moved in.  Before you knew it the sun had disappeared and it was pouring chilly rain drops along with winds that turned the usually peaceful Caribbean as rough as I'd ever seen it. Most of the time when things like this happen on your vacation it's kind of a bummer, however we had a blast.  We ran out onto the beach into the pouring rain and decided to play football.  We were soaked from head to toe, periodically running into the ocean water which was much warmer than the rain. All of us strutting around in sopping wet clothes with our bathing suits underneath, trying to catch a slippery football and throwing it against the wind, no one else on the beaches for miles. It was quite the sight to see.  Of course beer was involved, which stayed nice and dry under the lifeguard stand.  I wish I had pictures to show you, but of course it was an unsafe place for the camera to be.

The next day we all got up super early and hopped on a charter bus to Chichen Itza. What we were told would be about a 2.5 hour drive turned into more like a 3.5 hour drive with all the stops we took picking up other tourists. However, the charter bus was the way to go.  We had huge seats facing each other, a table in between the seats, and all inclusive snacks and beer. Chichen Itza was very cool and extremely hot! I still wonder why the Mayans chose that location in the middle of the Yucatan Peninsula when they could have been much closer to the ocean. Guess I'll never know.  Anyways, it was really cool to look at the ruins and try to obtain a slight understanding of how these people lived.

 Listening to our tour guide!

This is a huge sink hole we are standing in front of where the Mayans used to practice rituals which included killing. There have been mainly remains of men and children down there. Crazy.


After our 13 hour excursion to Chichen Itza we took naps and got ready to party! We headed across the street to our sister Riu resort to kick off the night. The sports bar was the first place we hit up.  We all took a couple of tequila shots, played some pool, unleashed our inhibitions, then headed to the discoteca (dance club).  It opened at 11 pm and we were the first ones in... we're so old! haha No one was on the dance floor so with our inhibitions lowered we took over. Everyone started to file in after awhile, but still, no one on the dance floor except for us, jumping around and dancing our butts off. Eventually others got the courage to join in but it sure took awhile.  We had a great time, and actually didn't feel bad in the morning at all! ;)

 My mom kicked all our butts in pool!

The next few days were filled with laying on the beach, drinking pina coladas, shopping at the local markets, and enjoying the beautiful scenery.  There was some kayaking, boogie boarding, volleyball, and other activities included in there somewhere. And of course we watched OU/TX on a tube TV in our room! :)

 My favorite place.

 My favorite spot.

 My favorite person.

My favorite team.




Overall it was an amazing week and I feel so lucky we got to experience it with my whole family.  Couldn't have been better!

OOOOOOOklahoma!

In August I went back to Norman for 4 days to hang out with my family and celebrate my Dad's birthday.  I had an amazing time!  Despite the treacherously hot weather Oklahoma experienced this summer I got super lucky and came back when a cool front had just moved through.  I arrived on Friday and that night went and hung out with our friends Brent and Katy.  We went to Mutt's, which is a hot dog restaurant that recently opened up on 23rd Street. It is supposedly owned by the same people who own Big Truck Tacos! It was delicious to say the least! Check out this menu!

Then of course we stopped by my favorite place Sara Sara cupcakes and got some cupcakes to bring back to Norman.  Yummm!

 I had such a good time visiting Katy and Brent and I can't wait until they come and visit us!!


In front of Sara Sara we saw this sticker on the sidewalk and I had to show it to everyone because it gave me a sense of pride that not only did we live in downtown OKC and try and practice what this sticker talks about, but we also do it here in Denver.

On Saturday I made my family eat breakfast in the backyard on our picnic table.  We had to! It was 75 degrees or so! So we enjoyed a family breakfast outside, Josh and I jumped on the trampoline, and we raced across the backyard to see who was the fastest (my brother thinks he is somehow faster than me already).  My sister and mother are always painting the fence in the backyard and this is their newest addition!

My sister worked on Sunday and so we decided to celebrate my Dad's birthday on Saturday. I threw together some homemade strawberry margs and we started the party!

 Ribs for Dad's birthday dinner!

Presents!!!!

I brought back a Colorado themed present for everyone.  My dad got some great Colorado barley wine and a saison. My sister got a webcam so we can skype, mom got miniature bottles of wine (that they sell in Target!) and my brother got an airplane and "dinosaur bones."   I also brought back some shot glasses from Winter Park.  My brother was so excited he wanted to take shots of cranberry juice with my Dad!

Here is my sister and her boyfriend, Aaron, hanging out. They're inseparable!

Here is Mom and Josh playing with our their new puppy, Spike!

The rest of the night we at cake,drank, listened to Maroon 5 in preparation for their upcoming concert and played spoons! We had a fabulous time!

Sunday was pretty chill.  There was a lot of swimming and hanging out by the pool.  Even at night!  The weather was perfect!

Overall it was a perfect weekend and I couldn't have asked for more!