J+L

It's Winter time finally! Snow days!

2012-01-18T18:19:00.000-08:00

We finally got some snow this year! We were on a storm watch for 3 days but today it finally hit us...and of course when it snows everything closes down in Seattle.We woke up to over 9 1/2 inches of snow this morning. We slept in alittle and Josh made us a yummy breakfast. Then we decided to try our hand at dehyrating some fruit; all we have ever tried was jerky. It turned out great! The apples with cinnamon filled the house with the most amazing aroma throughout the whole day. This year the snow was so perfect for building a snowman we just could'nt resisit. We made a snow-woman and we think she turned out pretty darn good.

Peanut has been having so much fun in the snow lately, he prances through it and it's the cutest thing. He's almost 6 months now and almost 10lbs, I can't believe it...almost full grown. He has been such a good dog. He's been interesting with the cats and we are still unsure of how they will get along long term. Peanut has always loved chasing them but lately he has started to playfully bite them (since he's still teething) and just lay on top of them until they somehow get away. There relationship is interesting to say the least. We will see.

To catch up, we had a great christmas and new year! We loved spending time with Brittany and the kids while they were here right before christmas. Brittany was practically 9months prego at the time and has since given birth to our newest nephew Conner! We can't wait to meet him! We layed low this christmas and new year just enjoying time with our family alot and on new years getting together with some friends to play games and bring in the new year. The past year Josh has been getting more and more into boxing, training with a friend and co-league who used to be semi-pro. So his gifts consisted mainly of boxing gear. My parents splurged and got us an awesome, beautiful, will last forever, made in the USA vacumn a RICCOR...it. is. AWESOME! who knew I would get excited to get a vacumn ever in my life. Well it happened. Josh also gave me the most plush, soft bath robe in the world. This is not any ordinary robe because full body towel robes are literally next to impossible to find and I have been needing one forever! So..thanks babe!

All and all... the Ryen life is good. Happy new year!

Loving the season! Welcome to Fall!

2011-11-06T11:36:00.000-08:00

Josh and I carved pumpkins this year and actually had a really good time, believe it or not Josh had NEVER carved pumpkins! CRAZY! I had'nt since I was probably 16 or so, I forgot how time time consuming it is! lol I was alot of fun though and the pumpkins turned out great! On Halloween we got a couple trick or treaters, we ate pizza and watched scary movies, kinda lame since it was a monday night..

I love this time of year, the crisp air and the trees all changing colors. It so beautiful! I hope everyone is enjoying the season! Happy Fall Everyone!

Meet Peanut!

2011-11-06T11:27:00.000-08:00

Peanut is our 3 month old Jack Russell Terrier born on Aug 4th 2011. He currently weighs 5lbs and is cute and cuddly.Josh had been wanting a dog for quite awhile and I was'nt really sold on one and even on the way to pick him up I was unsure...but 6 hours, a ferry ride, and a speeding ticket later we got this little guy home and was worth every bit! He is full of energy, very loving and loyal. He's practically potty trained and knows how to sit and come! And we have only had him for two weeks! Jack Russell's are so smart! He is the perfect addition to our family and are loving having him around.

BOO!

2011-10-10T21:05:00.000-07:00

To kick off the spoky season Josh and I drove down to my bestest friend Sarah's house to go to a haunted corn maze! So fun! It was alittle foggy and drizzling which added to the excitement. I am always jumpy and got pretty scared quite few times. Sarah took some pictures of the event. I'm learning if we don't document, it's like it never happened. We love Halloween as it is after all the month we met. It was Oct '08 3 years ago. I had been spending some time with a co-worker every now and again after work, one that funny enough I did'nt even really like..and Josh felt the same way! Anyway Josh just happened to be stop by with another girl on the night I happened to be hanging out with them. When he walked in I took one look at him I thought omg this guy is crazy. He had on baggy black sweat suit with a wife beater underneath and big gold chains. While I was thinking this he made his way over to where I was sitting on the couch not really paying attention to him and he practically sat on me and said "why you not smiling?" lol I just thought "this guy better get away from me, who does he think he is?!!"I found out later Josh had dressed up like a ganster since he been at a Halloween party before he came over. DUH! haha A couple days later was Halloween and I went to a Halloween party with these same friends who just happened to be picking up Josh to go to the party as well. (Josh was dressed like a HOT army man.)When we got to his house instead of Josh riding with his friends he choose to ride with me when I asked him why he did that he said "why be squished in th back seat when I can enjoy the company of a pretty girl like you in your car?" At the party he flirted with all the girls and I was so jealous he was'nt by my side the whole night...lol he made the right decision though by the end of the party. Ever since I've been hooked, He is my best friend and I'm so happy he is apart of my life.

Josh had a birthday!

2011-09-25T03:54:00.000-07:00

Josh got spoiled the WHOLE month of August, by both my parents and his! I swear they love him more than me and this birthday was a perfect example of this. My parents took us to a delicious brazilian steakhouse (which he was in heaven;hello all you can eat meat!) which he loved! He also got to go to North Carolina and spend 4 days with his best friend and his parents who are now in living in India for buisness! He had a blast playing golf in the Hurricane, going to the beach, bowling and just enjoying being away from work and his wife too ;) Due to bad and limited planning time I did'nt get to go because I wanted to be at my cousin Corey and Liz's wedding;I did not realize we had planned Josh's trip the same weekend. It was really fun to see all the family! I know he wished he could have been there but he had a blast spending time on the eastcoast!

ALSO for his birthday, we took a trip to leavenworth, the drive was really pretty and relaxing. Once we got there we did alot of window shopping, we ate gelato and loved the taffy shop.It was a beautiful day..and SO HOT!We then came home and had a bbq and dance party, by dance party I mean I was dancing and everyone was watching me. hhaha

I hope my hubby knows how much I love and appreciate him! I hope you had a wonderful birthday month! Happy Birthday Babe!
P.S. I learn something new about Josh everyday...Josh loves Ice cream but hates cake so I thought ICE CREAM CAKE! PERFECT! wrong. He hates ice cream cake too. (too bad it was yummy).... ;)

New house, New job, A Vacation + 2 years!!

2011-08-13T22:30:00.000-07:00

My House is still a work in progress so bare with me...

Open Living and Dining room with kitchen to the left side

Bonus Room/Exersize Room

Great Backyard

Josh and I finally moved!!! We moved into a beautiful 1350sq ft rambler! It has 3 bedrooms, a bonus room and huge back yard! We are so far are loving having no attached neighbors and living in a much better area. We can blast our surround sound all we want, open our blinds without people seeing in, and have lots of space! I have learned to really appreciate beautiful flowers since at the moment I seem to be unable to grow any. And the value of grass you can actually walk in. I have taken on "yard duty" since I was raised in a family where my yard always looked nice, and I get alot of satifaction from seeing such a beautiful end result. We are looking forward to the memories we will have in this home. Our first real home together.
I started a new job for a chiropractic office which is giving me loads and loads of experience and I am hoping will open more doors for me in the future with the experience I gain here. The hours are not as ideal as I thought 11-7 sometimes 8 puts me home after my hubby which makes it hard to cook dinner and spend time with the person that means everything. But were plugging along hoping it's a means to an end and will all be worth it in the end. It's about time I know what it's like to work a 40 hour week. It is challanging but I'm learning alot.
We celebrated our 2 year anniversary already! I can't believe it's been 2 years since our "I do's".Being married has been the best thing that has ever happened to me and I have loved every minute even those some of those minutes were challanging, life is worth living with Josh by my side. He is an amazing man and I am so lucky to be his wife.

The weekend of our anniversary we went to a family reunion in McCall, ID. We drove up on wed afternoon the 8 hour drive and got in about midnight. We woke up on thursday to a day full of boating! We rented a pontoon and jet boat it was soo much fun! We could drive the boats right up to the sandy beach and go swimming, the weather was PERFECT! The water was amazing, we tubed and even wake boarded, I tried to get up and almost did but by the time I got the hang of it my arms hurt so bad I could barely bend them. Friday the guys went golfing and the girls went to a shop that made pottery and jewerly. I painted Josh something for his birthday which just got shipped to me and looks amazing! I'm really excited to give it to him next weekend. I can't believe its so soon! So then that night we went to the best ice cream place in the world. Homemade ice cream with mountain size scoops! It was delicious and well worth the wait ( the line was around the corner). Saturday we went white river rafting which was sooo fun! We got to go through some level 4 rapids, push each other out of the boat, jump out and swim, enjoy the sun and best of all being together! Sunday we started driving back, we stopped and brundage mountain and rode the gondolla ride up the mountain and took pictures at the top. We drove the 5 hours to Cour'd lane, ID to make it to the long awaited Wolf lodge steakhouse! We waited an hour for them to open then ate the most delicious steaks you have ever tasted. Heaven in your mouth! Last time we were there I made Josh share with me the 40oz Rancher. Yes 40oz of meat and he wanted it all to himself. So this time I promised him he could order that and I would get something else. HE ATE THE WHOLE THING IN ONE SITTING!

It was literally melt in your mouth so it was not to hard. Josh says "he has a special place for steak in his stomach" boy is that true! haha. We finished driving home, and was exhausted and eager to get to bed for an early morning! I was about to go to bed and Josh turns to me and says "babe guess what?! We don't have to work tomorrow! You did'nt really think I would'nt spend all day with you on our anniversary did you?" I was so happy he went through all the trouble to talk to my boss and get me another day off of work and then surprise me! We spent the day relaxing, we took a walk, went to a movie and dinner of course and just enjoyed being together and winding down from the very eventful weekend we had together. It was a wonderful time I am sure we will remember for years and years to come.....Happy 2 years to my sweetheart. xoxox.

More Pictures of our Trip....

This is the cute fox that hung out with us...

The lodge we stayed in

On our way up the gondola ride, very fun but also alittle scary being so high up.

We had such a beautiful view on top of brundage mountain did'nt we?

The Famous Wolf lodge, our favorite place

Keri ate with some indians that were there instead of us...

It sure was a great trip!

New start.

2011-06-06T20:38:00.000-07:00

I finally quit The Cheesecake Factory after 3 long years! It still does'nt really feel real...maybe because I had already been taking a break from it since I got into my car accident. I was off for a month and then came back and put in my two weeks...God really does work in misterious ways. I have been praying I would be able to find something else to get me out of serving. And then just like that a blessing in disguise. I was rear ended pretty hard and was out of work for about a month and in the midst of it all was offered a job as a chiropractic assistant. It's alot harder work than I expected for an "office job" but I hope that once I understand the "details" of this job it will become second nature to me like every other job I've obtained. Josh and I are ajusting to the new schedule since I don't get home till 7 mon-fri so he gets to cook dinner and clean up a bit before I get home, the roles are reversed! I do miss all my free time and this job takes most of it but hopefully at some point I will find a happy medium.

Josh and I are enjoying having the weekends off together, this past weekend we spent in snohomish with Josh's grandma. Our first destination was my first swap meet then we made our way over to an outdoor antique strip mall; the biggest one I have ever seen! Saturday was absoulutly beautiful so we enjoyed spending it outside and spending time with family. Memorial day weekend we spent relaxing at home as it was the first full week at my new job, we went on a wonderful hike though to Twin falls in North Bend, it poured on us but was worth the adventure together. We hope to do another this weekend.

The days seem to be bluring together and I'm exhausted but thought I would write and update a bit.. Happy Summer! (if we get one ;)

Then and now...Valentines day and new adventures...

2011-02-24T13:59:00.000-08:00

Its been so long since I have written and I have not because well.. for awhile there I didn't find anything we were doing all that interesting. Once again we have decided to stay in our current apartment. I redid the living room as a reward for staying. lol...josh bought me new black leather couch's for Christmas so that helped the "look" and I spoiled him with a new big screen TV. So we will probably not be getting each other presents for the next 10 years trying to recover from how much we spent this last Christmas. lol...
Josh and I are slowly but surely taking steps to make sure that Josh's tool gets on the market if its the last thing we do. There is just so much to do and know before you can even get the tool patented. Not to mention the money out of pocket it takes for a couple pieces of paper. Like $6,000 and that is super cheap supposedly for a patent. Not to mention all the money it will cost to build the tool. Yikes! We may be living in a box for awhile. hehe Josh has had two mentors helping him along the way...hopefully he will continue to be helped through this very confusing process...I want to help but I know nothing about tools and patents. I am hopeful this will work out and at the very least have the tool for josh to use!
I am getting back into couponing, since I was on medifast I did not feel much like shopping for food I could not eat. But I trying to get back into the swing of things. Josh for Valentine's day helped with this. I wanted a peg board thing to hang all the items I got that need to be hung up (yes like in the store) I did'nt know what it was called but josh did and I had only mentioned it once before. lol he told the guys at work what he had got me and they thought he was crazy. lol he replied "You don't know my wife she will LOVE it" lol and I do! I was so excited about it! I feel so much more organized. Check it out!

That night we had our amazing version of "death by steak" or steak with a blue cheese onion cheese sauce. We used pepperjack cheese instead of blue cheese though bbq'd by josh and I treated up to chocolate fondue that was soooo good!!!!!!!!!We just made way to much!!

We started a new side buisness. Buying a selling used furniture and making it look new again. I love love love it so far...exept for dealing with the weird people on craiglist. I hate all the spamers. Like last night I probably e-mail back and forth with this older couple or so I thought for over 2 hours. They even went as far to pretend they didnt know how to use paypal and paid the wrong e-mail address lindseyryan@hotmail.com ryan with an A instead of ryen with an E. Then accuse me of getting the payment. It was very suspcious. So I decided phone calls are the only thing I will accept from now on. Anyway, so far it has been something so fun for me to keep busy with and make us some extra money. I hope to eventually just do this full time. I love it.

We are selling stuff like this...that keep in mind before they looked like this they needed ALOT of TLC!!! Now look at them...

Random thoughts.

2010-11-17T15:39:00.000-08:00

I just got home from work and had seen that one of my best friends updated her blog which reminded me to update mine even though nothing significant has happened. I was telling Josh we need children for this reason.
Anyway, I've been feeling really really good lately. I started a weight loss program called medifast..you eat 5 of their meals per day and a "lean and green" of your choice per day. Lean being something like chicken and a green vegetable. I LOVE IT! I have lost 9 pounds already and I've only been on it 8 days! Not only doing I have a ton more energy but I'm much happier as is anyone who looses weight. I've struggled with my weight my whole life...being up and down and finally I am on something that is actually teaching me what I need to do to loose weight and it really is to eat. Eating 30 minutes after you wake up starts your metabolism..(I never ate breakfast) and then eating smaller portioned meals every two to three hours while your awake keeps your metabolism going. I'm also much more conconcious about what I used to put in my mouth without even thinking; like most of us do. Weekends are definitely the hardest because it's the most social time to go out and eat with friends. I can still do it but the weekend is a much less structured time then durning the week. It is kinda pricy but for the results you get and the life changing habits you form it is worth every penny. And I count all my penny's so it has to be good stuff. :)

I'm so excited for the holidays...it does'nt feel like it though this year. It does'nt really feel like anyone is in the holiday spirit quite yet which is dissappointing but I did have a guest at my table today tell me to have a good thanksgiving and although a small gesture really made me feel good. It is time to start saying Happy Holidays, Happy thanksgiving, and smiling more. I always try to be nice to everyone but I am going to try to be that much happier and nicer to people this holiday season there is much to be thankful for and although times may be hard for alot of people right now it can get alittle better with everyone showing alittle kindness this holiday season.
Josh and I are going out of town for Thanksgiving and then before we know it off to Florida for Christmas and New years..it is his families year to have us and it will be my first year away from mine for christmas. It's exciting to leave for two weeks and have our little get away but I will be missing my family alot. While we are there we will hopefully be going to Disneyworld. Josh has told me we must but its so expensive to go and I can think of alot of other things to do in Florida with that money. Anyway, when we get back we will be looking for a new apartment which I am SOOO Happy about! I have for the most part enjoyed living where we are at and the rent has been also very nice but its time to move up and out of renton. We hope to move closer to Josh's work so North Seattle area close to Greenlake. I love greenlake it is sooo pretty and I would love running there. Ballard is also a nice area. Anyway I have already made this much longer than I had planned but know that the Ryen's are well. We are happy to alive and healthy and thankful for all of our family and friends. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Beth’s Cafe and The locks in Ballard

2010-10-09T23:30:00.001-07:00

Today was a super fun day! It’s unusual for me to have a Saturday off from work so we wanted to make the most of it. Josh and my dad had gone to this pretty famous diner in Ballard called “Beth’s Cafe” it has a 12 egg omelet with limitless hash browns that could potentially feed probably 5 people. They are famous for their eggs and have been featured on Man vrs. Food and other misc shows. Anyway we decided we would go there to eat for breakfast and looking past the fact that it may not have been the most sanitary restaurant to eat the food tasted great! lol I hope we don’t regret it later. :) Anyway then we went over to the Ballard locks which a very cool place around this time because the salmon are swimming up to spawn. Some of them are just huge! Today we also saw a sea lion! I have never seen one before up close like that and it’s always great to see them in the “wild” instead of at the zoo. We then came home and enjoyed some killer ribs. Broiled for 4 hours and put on the BBQ and just fell off the bone! So good. I give myself props. (Josh too since he worked the BBQ)

*Sorry no pictures we forgot the camera. We seem to never be prepared. :(

Let me introduce you to...

2010-09-26T22:02:00.000-07:00

Our cats Lilly (white) and Elle mae (black) which I never post pictures of because well they just are'nt all that intresting but Lilly decided to run away the other day and we realized just how much we love OUR cats (not cats imparticular) and needed to take some pictures of them. Btw Lilly is fine she made us miserable for about a day while we didn't know where she was but luckily she had scratched on the back door of our neighbors two doors down and they took her in until they knew who to contact.

I FINALLY saw a GIRAFFE!!

2010-09-26T21:48:00.000-07:00

Woodland Park Zoo!

We have been wanting to go since we started dating because Josh could not believe I had not ever seen a giraffe up close before (that I can remember). It's really challanging to do things together because Josh and I rarely have a day that one of us is not working but we managed on saturday to wake up early enough to enjoy a couple hours of the zoo! Which is HUGE btw! We did'nt realize how big it was or how tired we were going to be after we went! We saw some really BIG snakes and cool things like the pinguins and zeebras. It was also awesome to see these HUGE brown bears and a Lion and Tigers OH MY! I'm not sure if we would go again until we have kids because there are alot of animals that you don't have to pay 17.00 to see and the ones worth seeing are'nt doing anything but sleeping or hiding because, well, they probably don't want to be at the zoo. But overall very fun experience and loved being with my husband.

There were A TON of these turtles just swimming around eating.

This was not the biggest snake we saw but because of the lighting it was hard to get a good picture but boy to snakes super creep me out!

haha The flamingo's were so cool I had never seen these either with the exception of on mobile home lawns.

The Giraffe's!!!

We don't know for sure who's eggs these were but are'nt these HUGE!

Do you see the other Hippo just hanging out under the water...we thought that was very cool!

The lions never did anything cool they just laid there but we did see a Mountain lion while we were there and it was jumping all over the place even on the roof we were under! Creepy!

This guy was cool but obviously alittle camera shy. These poor animals though they probably hate it there. :(

Our bedroom mini makeover! :)

2010-08-11T20:15:00.000-07:00

I have been DYING to do a mini make-over on our masterbedroom since we got married and finally after a year it has been done. I would have painted as well but I don't think we will be living in this complex much longer. My best friend sarah and I are killer when it comes to decorating together and this picture does not do it justice. But I just love it. Its so much brighter and welcoming...not that I want anyone to really go into the master bedroom but anyway....hehe love it!

Please excuse the decor I think this is the only picture I have of the old bedroom. Josh did that for valentines day.

We made it! Celebrating our first year of Marriage!

2010-08-03T21:28:00.000-07:00

Sorry I have not written lately, besides finding myself very preoccupied and busy doing I'm not sure what I have found myself very uninspired to write on my blog. I have actually somewhat been trying to ignore the fact that I have one. So here I sit writing to overcome this feeling and get back on the blog banwagon. So...

Josh and I just celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary. I sure cannot believe it have been already a year time has flown by so fast and this past weekend has brought back so many fond memories of our beautiful wedding last summer and our honeymoon as well. We both wish would could have gone back to Florida for our anniversary and celebrated but we are going for Christmas this year for 2 weeks so I guess we will try to celebrate somewhat then. Meanwhile I took a stab at actually planning our Romantic Weekend getaway to beautiful Seattle. Haha I short 45 minutes away. (hey whatever counts) Josh's brother Jeremy is staying with us forawhile and while we love having him around it was nice to be by ourselves with no obligations or others around us. We really needed the time to reconnect since this year has been very crazy. So as you can see below I pulled out all the cards as Josh usually does for any special occasion for me. Including a Whirlpool suite, rose pedals and lots of candles, romantic music, lots of chocolate kisses, and of course a romantic heart shaped pizza to enjoy. We also got to taste our year old cake....It was DELICIOUS! I was so surprised! We are blessed to have mothers who took extra care of wrapping it for us so it would taste just the way it did on our wedding day. It was a wonderful weeked with Josh. He is the light of my life and brings laughter and Joy to an otherwise boring world. I thank god for him everyday. I love you Josh.

Another month bites the dust...

2010-06-08T00:59:00.000-07:00

Here I am again...time keeps flying by and its almost my birthday! Just two weeks! We have been staying busy working trying to spend any spare moment going to do more fun things the most recent being bowling...he won of course but we both suck with a high of like 80. I am most excited though because we got a new bed finally!! Kinda a early birthday present for both of us. Its a temper pedic...between that and new 500ct sheets it's the best bed I have EVER slept in Josh and I took a nice long nap today to try it out so I know.
I have been thinking alot about how much life has changed in the past few years lately...I knew it would change but boy the experience of it all has been an adventure. A good adventure. I'm learning alot about myself and how to live and breathe being a family now; a unit and not just all about myself. It's exahasting at times but completly worth it. I have no idea how i'm going to manage with kids as well! Haha Josh is enough! But I sure love him I can't wait till we have a family. (no not soon) Life just flys by though that is for sure. Josh and I are approaching our one year anniversary already! I just can't believe it. Anyway, so a new bed thats about as exciting as it gets here in the Ryen home. Oh besides my car being keyed a few days ago. errrr...but we won't get into that. lol...I'm going to bed Ill try to write more often.

April is over!

2010-04-30T12:57:00.000-07:00

So April is over and may is almost here...I can't believe how fast time flys by! I will be 21 in less than 2 months people! I have no reason to really be excited I don't drink or gamble but I guess it's exciting that I have been alive for more than 20 years. Anyway enough about my age. I'm home sick at the moment and pretty bored...I'm trying to keep myself busy on the computer so I can get better. I'm meanwhile coughing up a lung or two.

I wanted to update everyone on how easter went this year...This was the first year Josh and I actually had an easter egg hunt. Last year my parents attempted to do one but the dogs managed to get into the eggs and eat all of the chocolate, of course they left all the money (kinda surprising) but my parents took that back and we had no easter egg hunt. Sad huh. So this year was just me and josh against keri. The hunt consisted of dad giving keri a bunch of clues as to where the eggs were, Josh wasn't very helpful in finding the eggs (he can't grasp as to why we run around the yard like crazy people to find eggs with money in it)and I was running around trying to find all of the obvious ones. Keri and Brittany both use violence to win the "big money egg" two years now I have been crippled by them and unable to find the winning egg. But I'm not mad, it's on like donky kong next year! Josh will also be ready you can be sure of that! So keri won this year. I have yet to find the money egg in my 18 years or so of looking on easter...It will happen though I just know it...even if I am the last hunter.

Snowqualmie Falls

2010-04-19T16:10:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, I woke up expecting to work but to my surprise someone picked up my shift for me and Josh and I were able to spend the whole day together! (this is super rare since I work weekends mostly and he works days) Josh and I have been trying to be more active and we both love the outdoors. It was a beautiful day and we have been talking about going hiking. So Josh decided to take me to snowqualmie falls and climb down the mountain to the bottom to see the falls! I thought it was the perfect workout because it started out super easy just going down a 1/2 mile hill but then after we enjoyed the falls and the surroundings going back up the hill was super hard; for me anyway. hehe. It was my kind of work out because you only had one option and that was to go up the hill..... there was no giving up.Josh is in alot better shape than I expected and so I was very much alone feeling quite pathetic stopping every 50 feet or so to stop the intense burning in my legs. Overall though the whole day was very enjoyable and look forward to another challenge like that again.

NEW coupon blog!

2010-04-16T02:29:00.000-07:00

So I have realized this blog is going to be taken over by my coupon adventures and that I needed to start a new one to keep that from happening. So if you want to follow me one coupon adventure at a time the address is....
www.coupontosave.blogspot.com

I also have links to the real coupon queen websites if you want to take on "couponing". So in the meanwhile, I have been slacking on blogging because honestly nothing really exciting is going on with Josh or I. We are working hard, enjoying being married and best friends and looking forward to where life takes us next. Hopefully somewhere new and exciting. I'm looking for some change in my life but I'm not sure what that is going to mean quite yet.

Just a thought..

2010-04-01T23:08:00.000-07:00

So I've just gotten home from work i'm bummed because Josh is already sleeping and I hate coming home and having no one to talk to. Especially since I wanted to do some sort of april fools joke to him. I still might wake him up to do one, but that would be kinda mean. Anyway, so lately everyone knows I am starting to get kinda crazy with coupons. I just got to thinking how worth is it to keep doing couponing and is it really saving me that much money. The way I see it relistically i'm still spending the same amount of money but i'm getting ALOT more, but somewhat alot of junk food. Josh likes it but I don't really like having it around the house. I do have enough cereal to last us a very long time and my "stockpile" is going really well. I'm still trying to figure out where to put everything. Anyway, I'm sorry my blog seems so boring. Probably because at the moment, my life is kinda boring. This is my new hobby Josh and I are trying to meet more friends because since we've gotten married it seems we have none anymore. So Josh and I are working alot since we are saving saving saving to hopefully buy a house sometime next year. (I wish) But we should have enough saved if we wanted to buy one. :) We really want to move to the eastcoast to buy a house and settle down but it's hard when our jobs and families are here so we will see, who knows what the future holds. I can't believe it's already April and Josh and I have almost been married a year. Josh purposed this time last year. It brings back good memories. I love him so much.

Lifestyle change.

2010-03-11T22:38:00.000-08:00

We have purchased an elliptical!! We are excited to get it put together and ready to use it. Both Josh and I need to exercise and start living a healthier life. I'm sure this is our starting point. I have decided this will be in our living room until I loose 20lbs and from there I can decide if I want to move it to the spare bedroom. :) Anyway it will hopefully be a great investment in our health for the next 10-15 years. Ellipticals have sure come a along way. Ours does not make one sound! Its amazing. I love it!

X6200 Folding with Deluxe console

The X6200 is our top-of-the line elliptical model, featuring a large, stable frame design with patented folding pedal arms that allow compact storage. The long pedal arms with pivoting footplates and 19.75-inch stride give the X6200 its superior motion, while the variable-durometer footpads and multi-position handgrips give you a comfortable workout no matter how long you exercise.

My husband is the VALENTINE KING!!

2010-02-18T12:56:00.000-08:00

When I walked in the door from a very very long day at work (yes, I had to work on valentine's day) this "T-shirt and Jeans" were hung up on the lamp as I walked in it said "Put me on and then walk to the tv".

Once I walked over the tv there was another little post-it note on the vcr saying "Push Play". When you pushed the play button the best part of the movie The Wedding Singer came on when he sang to her on the airplane. It's one of Josh and my songs. Durning the middle of the song he came out and finished listening to the song with me.

Josh then took me over to a little display on the table with the biggest card on it I had ever seen. Inside he had wrote a note to me with the little candy hearts. It was so sweet and so romantic.

And lastly, he took me into our room and this was what was waiting for me. WHAT MAN THINKS OF THIS?? He had made our blankets shaped into hearts!!!! AND candle light all over the room with romantic music playing. He put so much time and energy into this...and even went as far as to take all these pictures so I could show off how wonderful he is. I have the best husband in the whole world. I love him so much, he is my everything, my rock, and my forever valentine.

The Holidays are over...

2010-01-27T22:34:00.000-08:00

Well, Josh and I are now back into the daily grind of married life and everything that goes with it. For the past 8 months its been go go go with planning the wedding, getting married, going on our honeymoon and then with all the holidays Josh and I are trying to figure out what to do with our lives besides work! We are finding that this whole "grown up" thing is'nt that fun after all especially when it comes to filling taxes, Josh and I both expected a very nice return this year and were very dissappointed to find out we were'nt getting even half of what we thought we were. Dang government takes all your money when you get married. We are trying to save up enough to buy Josh a new car cash his "free" car won't go into reverse or any other gear exept drive. hehe. poor thing. :( He's such a good man, just a few months ago the transmission in my honda went out and I went and bought a new car. I'm very impatient. But, Josh is much smarter then me and is willing to wait for what he really wants. Hopefully he will have his car but Feburary. Were kinda debating to let it die or try to trade it in...I think were going to start car shopping on sunday.

So I know I wrote in an earlier blog about my wedding video being shot in resoultion but guess what!!! It was'nt I don't know what happened but the rough draft dvd that the videographer gave me was awful but when I got my money back and took the "raw footage" to a place who converted it to a dvd the footage was fine. You can imagine how thankful I was but seriously what a bunch of dummies Lumina photography is. If they would have tried to help in any way they would have figured it out themselves and probably got some if not all of their money! Some buisnesses just can't take responsiblity for their mistakes and unfourtunatly Lumina Photography is one of them.

Anyway other then those things the Ryen household is doing very well. We signed another lease here in lovely renton since our rent only went up 15.00 it made since to just stay put and save more money. The apartment complex is getting remodeled meanwhile and so that will be nice once it's all done. Were sad to hear Josh's parents are moving to Texas in less then a month. Those two are always moving on short notice...but we love em anyway. I guess it's time we share them...hehe. We will see them Christmas as Josh and I plan to venture out their for a week or two. Life is going by so fast, I just can't believe how time flys by. It's amazing to look back on my life and see how far I've come in my life. I'm sure its the same for Josh as well. We have both made some bad decisions but in the end the man upstairs was sure looking out for us and we both are very thankful for where we have ended up.

Wedding Video!!!

2010-01-12T01:50:00.000-08:00

Everyone was SOO excited to get our wedding video back from the videographer after a VERY LONG 6 month wait. Unfortunatly he shot the whole wedding in low resoultion and so it is very blurry but for those of you unable to make it this will give you a blurry glimpse into our special day! :) I'm trying to upload it as soon as possible!....

Josh and Lindsey's Christmas and Happy New year!

2010-01-12T01:43:00.000-08:00

Josh and I had a wonderful first christmas together. The Rich family got us for the holidays this year; we will be attempting to switch every other year. It will be hard to not see my family for Christmas especially since all my siblings are there and I hardly get to see them but it is the same senerio for Josh, most of his family lives on the East coast. Marriage is all about compromise and Josh is so great with my side of the family. He fits right in, I just knew he was the man for me when he could dish out just as much as take all the pranks and jokes my family loves to play on him.

Josh and I kinda splurged this year spending way to much money on each other and so did my parents they bought all of the wives in my family a KITCHEN AIDE STAND MIXER!!! I LOVE mine. I use it all the time and it makes me feel like a real "cook". It is my new years resolution to not only try to cook very delicious food that my husband will eat but also healthy food! Josh and I both need to loose some weight and start eating better. The Kitchen aide is sure an inspiration. I'm in love!..

Josh got me a very nice camera for Christmas, my sister and everyone else it seems has been getting in to photography and that has always been something i've been intrested in, so I thought "why not?" and asked for it for Christmas. Its not a fancy SLR (professional camera) but its a step down for a more user friendly device. It is tricky though I def have to read ALL the directions to make sure my pictures come out. Here are some that I took of the delicious shepards pie and pudding dessert I made. Both were SOO Yummy!

THE OTHER LOVE OF MY LIFE!!!

What a beautiful tree!!!!

2009-12-03T22:38:00.000-08:00

YAH!! I am so excited to finally have the Christmas tree all done! My Grandma gave Josh and I her old Christmas tree this year and today we picked up some ornaments so we could decorate it. I also spent a good portion of the day wrapping presents. Im pretty much done. :) It was my goal to have all my christmas presents done early this year and to not procrastnate. I am SOO excited for christmas. Especially because it will be Josh and my first together. Im so excited to see Brittany and Shaun and my little neice and nephew. Its such a magical time of year; it instanly brings happiness to Josh and I and hopefully to the people around us. We want to wish everyone a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

I am thankful for...

2009-11-21T12:26:00.000-08:00

I just thought I would take a minute to tell everyone the things I am thankful for since thanksgiving is right around the corner...

1. First of all I am so thankful for my family. I have been blessed with a very loving, kind, and giving family. They have taught me so much and i'm so thankful for the bond that we now have with each other. I look forward to it getting stronger as the years go by.

2. I'm so thankful I have met such a wonderful man to marry and start a family with. He is always finding ways to help people in whatever they need before he ever thinks of himself. He is so kind and loving. Im just so thankful god blessed me with him in my life.

3.And lastly, I'm am so thankful that I have a roof over my head, and both my husband and I have jobs. There are so many people this season without work and means to feed their families. I pray that god will bless there families to not go without.

Anyway that was my 2cents for today. I truly feel blessed to be where I am right now in my life.

Halloween! AND ♥Anniversary♥

2009-11-15T23:26:00.000-08:00

Yes, That was Josh this last halloween!!! I know he was so scary. Haha we had a VERY good halloween. Josh and I went over to my best friend Sarah's house (pictured <<) who lives in Olympia (also where Josh's parents live) and spent halloween night there. We started the night easy we went out to applebees all dressed up. Josh was so scary; as in the picture and sarah was a very pretty bird--which at the moment is escaping my mind. I was'nt dressed up, I know-lame. Anyway, so we did that and on the way back decided to go scare Josh's folks which we successfully did and very well at that. Josh kept opening there garage door and hiding until he finally popped out and scared the daylights out of them both.( poor things they both were in their jemmies. We finished the night by me playing mommy driving them both around the neighborhoods to treat-or-treat. I think they thought Josh might have been mentally retarded as he never talked and Sarah was sweet enough to go up to the door with them. They scored on candy!!! haha. We were enjoying that, having fun and of course-me being the cultz I am--- hit my head on a treadmill!!! They spent the rest of the night convincing me I was'nt going to die and that I did'nt need stitches. It sure felt bigger then it was. hehe. So that was our evening.

♥The night before Josh and I celebrated our 1 year knowing each other. Last year on halloween was really the first time we had our first "date". We both went to a halloween party with mutual friends. Anyway Happy 1 Year Anniversary baby! I love you!♥

Its official!

2009-10-20T21:31:00.000-07:00

I am now LEGALLY

Mrs. Lindsey Renee Ryen!!!

I went to the social security office today and changed it finally. whoops! Josh kept calling me Miss Rich it feels so good to be legally Lindsey Ryen now. Im still practicing my signature it definitley needs some tweaking. It's weird to think I am legally no longer "Lindsey Rich". Its going to take some getting used to but I'm so happy to be married to Josh and apart of his wonderful family. He is everything I wanted and more and I thank god daily for him in my life.

FOR SALE---UPDATE: SOLD!!!!

2009-10-15T09:09:00.000-07:00

Depressing as it is, I have to get rid of my girly bed. It is so cute and I wish I could keep it but we have a queen now and since we will be moving in march most likely to a one bedroom my bed has to go. :( Lol okay so other then that, life is going really well for Josh and I. Josh is working extremely hard and just as impressive as ever. He also was offered a side job on saturdays for his parents apartment complex pressure washing. :) I on the other hand have not been so lucky, it has been SOO slow at the cheesecake factory, last week I worked 9 hours! It will be busy closer to the end of Oct but it's sure hard getting to that point! Go out to eat people!!haha BUT, thankfully I have such a wonderful husband who can provide for both of us. He is so great I love him so much.

As for moving, YES! Finally we are planning to move in March. We are not moving far away perphaps to kirkland or bellevue. Although Josh would prefer it be North Carolina. I want to start looking now since March will be here before you know it and the holidays eat up alot of time Nov and Dec will hardly count! I'm so excited to move, this was my first place and I have alot of memories here including some bad roomates, and creepy neighbors. I'd like to keep that here and move into an apartment my husband and I can finally call our own. HOME!

Creative Halloween

2009-10-13T16:55:00.000-07:00

(I did not take the above picture but I thought it was creative)
I cannot believe it is already mid-October and Josh and I have been married for over two months now. What can I say time flys by when your having fun. Josh and I met last year on Halloween so we have been trying to decide what to do for it since it will be our 1 year marker. Maybe a nice dinner out, maybe just sit at home eating as much candy as possible and a scary movie, or of course go to a halloween party. I guess alot will depend on if I get the night off or not. We will be extremly slow at the Cheesecake factory where I work so I hope I don't. Anyway we have been trying to brainstorm CHEAP ideas for costumes and I came across this website which had some funny very inexpensive costume's that you could whip up in about 10 seconds, most things you would have around your house. :) Im going to show this sight to josh when he gets home and we will decide then. I will post our decision after halloween. Here is the website if anyone wants to check it out. Here are a few of the ideas though....

http://www.costumeideazone.com/

First Class Male

*Buy some stamps and paste them on your face or glue some onto an old shirt.

Leafblower

*Wear a baseball cap with a leaf dangling down in front of your face. When someone asks what you are, blow on the leaf.

Mastercard Ad

*Wear whatever clothing you choose. Attach a sign to your back that says "Shirt: $30...Jeans: $50...Shoes: $70......Halloween costume that took minimal effort: Priceless.

♥Our Honeymoon to the eastcoast!!♥

2009-09-28T23:10:00.000-07:00

We were so happy to be off to Florida and on our way to a long two week ocean filled vacation! So we were headed to Palm Beach for the first week.We loved being in Florida! We loved the sunshine and most of all the water! The ocean is beautiful there, its not like washington ocean. You can actually swim in it and its WARM! We spent the first week in palm beach shores at a marriot resort right on the ocean and it was heaven. Then we rented a car for the second week to drive up to North Carolina, where Josh is from to meet the rest of his family and friends that were unable to come to the wedding. We also visited Ripley's belive it or not musemn that both josh and I really enjoyed.To finish our honeymoon Christi (Josh's sister) was kind enough to let us come stay with her family, also a resort right on the beach! ( I KNOW THEY LIVE THERE) We loved spending time with our little neices! We can't wait to go back to Florida and re-live this experience again!

The newest addition to our family!

2009-09-28T22:50:00.000-07:00

Alright so I decided to give honda one more chance and I spent the most money ever on this nice little car. Which I now call "beauty" hehe. Its a fully loaded, 2007 honda accord ex-l. The ONLY reason I got this car was because it still has a nice long warranty on it NOT because I trust honda. Anyway, of course I sound very bitter right now but its only because I feel like I just lost a couple thousand dollars to something that was'nt my fault. Anyway just my recommendation don't buy a honda between the years of 2000-2005. But, I guess after all I did have a happy ending it was just ended with a much higher price tag. $$$

I hate HONDA!

2009-09-16T20:02:00.000-07:00

So my 2001 honda accord is a HUGE issue right now, the transmission went out on it along with numerous other things such as the airbags won't deploy and somthing wrong with the ignition; only to find out it was a recall trasmission from honda. BUT because I was'nt the original owner I never got sent the recall notice. So now I am 3 months over my warranty with no car and potentially -3,000 in the hole for a new transmission on top of the money I still owe on purchasing the car. My family has been awesome letting me borrow their car for the time being while we try to get honda to pay for this. It just makes me so mad that because they made the transmission wrong its MY fault and I have to pay for it. Maybe it was bad judgement on my part and I should have known to look into any recalls for the car before I bought it but never the less unforuntatly I will not be buying another honda EVER again for their lack of customer service thus far and for the obvious fact that this was there fault and they are not fixing the problem. Why does transmission always seem to put bad reps on cars. I thought Honda was suppose to be a repretable dealer. Anyway thanks for reading, I just needed to get this off my chest. :)

She got the shot!!!

2009-09-10T23:02:00.001-07:00

I CANNOT BELIVE IT!

I am the happiest bride in the world. I was panicing because no one got a good shot of both Josh and I leaving the reception until I saw this that my wonderful sister in law Jocelyn took. Its perfect and I absoulutley love it. Thank goodness for friends and family to rely on for more pictures when the photographer won't stay an extra hour or two. The other pictures are also from Jocelyn and there are some really cute candid's of the reception. Thank you Jocelyn!

Josh's Birthday in Florida!

2009-09-10T13:33:00.001-07:00

For Josh's birthday we slept in as much as we could and then jumped in the pool. After that, we decided to get away from the resort and do a little shopping, as well as take him to a really nice steakhouse. We choose to go to "city place" which is a beautiful outdoor mall with the only other belligio 2. It had a light show that was'nt nearly as cool as in vegas but was still neat to see. After we went shopping we went to Ruth's Chris steakhouse and enjoyed (well somewhat) our huge steaks. I just kept thinking the steaks were huge but the price tag was larger. Everything was ala cart so baked potatoes were 8.00 a peice. Anyway we left there very full and with a memory of spending the most money ever for dinner. Josh overall I think had a great birthday full of laughing, the beach, shopping and steak. I would say thats a pretty good day. :)

The Big 28!Happy Birthday baby!!!

August 1, 2009 ♥Our Wedding day! ♥

2009-09-05T16:41:00.001-07:00

2009-08-31T12:03:00.000-07:00

Josh and his neice Ava Brittany and I towards the end of the night

We've done it!!! Finally the day has come we are now the new Mr. and Mrs. Ryen!!!! We are truly love being married and everything went so beautifully. I had so much help which made it alot eaiser to relax and stay focused on what was important on that day. My sister made me stay at the hotel to get ready since it was like 90 degrees and my parents do not have any air conditioning. I am so grateful I stayed and just relaxed, trying to concentrate on what was really important on that day. I think Josh really appreciated not having a stressed out bride too. Everything looked amazing! The yard looked like something out of a magazine. BIG thanks to my parents and my husband who worked SOO hard on making the yard look the very best. Alot of hard work and sweat went a long way and I think was all worth it. I've had lots of people come up to me asking if we got married in a park because it was so pretty. Thank you much to my parents for helping us make the wedding of our dreams. And thank you soo much for everyone who helped make the day special. We love you.

Birthday fun!

2009-06-19T23:19:00.000-07:00

Josh surprised me yesterday for my birthday by staying home from work to spend the whole day with me and of course do anything I wanted. He of course already had some surprises of his own along the way one which included season passes to wild waves, something I only mentioned I would love to do with him, one or two times weeks before. We had a blast for the short time we were their since they closed at four..I can't wait till we can go again. Later that night we had our friends, Jeremy, Dezi and their new baby Jade as well as my best friend sarah over for a bbq, movie and some homemade cherry pie Sarah made me, with 20 matchsticks in the pie to wish me happy birthday, hehe its the thought that counts! Im lucky to have such great people in my life...:)

My Bridal shower June 13th, 2009

2009-06-19T22:48:00.001-07:00

Josh, Sarah and I after the bridal shower..
My Nana and Granny D
My mom, me, and my Aunts Linda and Karen My soon-to-be Grandma Ann, Mother-in-law Diane and Aunt Dawn

Me with some of my bridesmaids Andrea, Sarah, and Keri

I recieved so many wonderful gifts..Thank you soo much!

The food was delicious, thanks so much to the Katie and Susan Berman

for throwing the shower for me at their home. ♥

And of course, me and my mommy..:)

I had such a wonderful bridal shower last weekend. We had a great turn out so many people came to support me for my special day and it was so fun! It meant so much to me to have people around me that I love and to feel their support. I'm sure I will be all set when it comes to cooking, as I think SOME were trying to give me a clue as to how to start. hehe. Josh will have to bare with me through this time as I experiement with this... :)

Location and Time

2009-06-01T17:52:00.001-07:00

♥Wedding Information♥

Time: Please plan to be in your seats 15min before the CEREMONY starts at 4pm.
Dinner and Dancing to follow ceremony. Reception will start at 6pm.
The address: Rich Residence- 22331 NE 2nd St Sammamish, Wa 98074.
Please take note:the events of the evening will be taking place outside. Sunday dress is recommended.

Registered/R.S.V.P.

2009-06-01T17:50:00.000-07:00

The bride and groom are registered at:
Bed, Bath and beyond and Target.
(Links can be found above on the right hand side.)

Please R.S.V.P. the number in your party to lindseyrich@hotmail.com.

♥Some of our engagement pictures♥

2009-06-01T16:53:00.000-07:00

Josh and I are counting down the days now until we say our "I do's". There is so much going on and so many things to do I'm really glad Josh and I were able to get some professional photos taken of us at this exciting time in our life.

The Wedding party!!

2009-06-01T16:46:00.000-07:00

Maid of honor: Sarah Morris (My very best friend)

Bridesmaids: My two sisters Keri and Brittany and My cousin Andrea

Best Man: Eric (Josh's best friend)

Groomsmen: His two brothers Jeremy and James

Flower girls are going to be Ava (Josh's neice) and K.D.(My neice)

We still have not decided on a ring bearer.

♥The Proposal...Easter Sunday♥

2009-06-01T16:44:00.001-07:00

Easter sunday as soon as I get up and out of bed Josh wakes up too (somewhat unusual) He kisses me goodmorning and tells me to look down at the edge of the bed. I see an Easter basket... at this point I'm thinking ah, what a sweetheart he somehow managed to make eggs and hide them while I was sleeping! Knowing I love chocolate this is major bonus points for him...hehe I leave the room and start the guided tour of the apartment to search for eggs; some that have already been gotten into by our little cats elle and lilly. I can't stop smiling, Im almost finished when I reach one egg and Josh stops to look at me while I open it, the note inside tells me to turn around. When I do, there is an egg hanging miraclously by a string to each side of the slider glass doors which I didnt realize was there before. Josh tells me to pull on the egg before I open it. I do, and down comes a banner saying Lindsey Will you Marry me? I open the egg and there is the most beautiful ring I have ever seen tied to the string that loosened the banner. Josh comes over and puts it on my hand, kisses my ring finger and says I love you will you marry me? Of course I said yes, I am the luckiest girl! I love you Josh!

I found this video taken minutes before Josh popped the question, Its not much, its hard to see, has no sound and is only seconds long but its a memory that will stay with me forever....