Bests of 2009

As 2009 comes to a close, here is my/our top 5 list of wonderful things that happened in 2009. . .

5. Summering in EP
This one is a my top five things (Ryan obviously did not live in EP this summer) but because of wedding plans and everything we had going on I chose to spend most of my summer at home in Eden Prairie with my parents and my sister. It was so fun to spend one last summer with my family and accomplish everything we needed to with the wedding.

4. Twins Opening Day
My parents have season tickets to the Twins and they could not use their tickets for opening day so Ryan and I took off from work early and went to the game. We went to a few more games this season but had fun being there for the final opening day in the Metrodome.

3. Celebrating Weddings and Babies of Friends
2009 blessed us with lots of great friends getting married and/or having babies. We love to celebrate with our friends and rejoice with each blessing of a new birth. Congratulations to everyone we know that had a baby or got married in 2009!

2. Financial Peace University
I think if you ask either one of us you will hear that this was by far the best choice we made this fall. If you have not checked it out or heard of Dave Ramsey check him out by clicking on his name. We have a vision for where we are going and feel more confident and prepared for whatever God chooses to send our way. We are living like nobody else so that someday we can live like nobody else!

1. Our Wedding/Honeymoon
(Shocking I know) Getting to spend time together every day and being married has been the best part of 2009 for us so far. We also had a blast in Mexico and someday would like to go back.

Things we are looking forward to in 2010 include: more weddings (7 at last count) and babies for friends, a possible move, a trip with the white family?, more adventures, and new recipes :)

Christmas 2009

Christmas 2009 was a success regardless of the HUGE snowstorm that left tons of people unable to get places and the Euken Farm without power. Christmas Eve I headed to Ryan's parents house in the early afternoon to avoid the snow and Ryan met me there later in the afternoon. We went to church and watched the Christmas pageant (super cute). Then we went back and opened presents. Christmas morning sent Ryan and his dad outside to push snow for a few hours and then Grandma, Grandpa, Grandma, Jim, Shari, and Josh came over. We ate TONS of yummy food and played some fun games. Saturday we headed to the cities (braving the YUCKY roads) to see my family. We had lots of fun playing games, meeting Aimee's new boyfriend (mourning the loss of fun), playing wii Mario, shopping, and just visiting. Thank you to everyone who made our Christmas so fun! We are blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful people and have such amazing families. We hope that your Christmas was just as blessed as ours.

Here's To You

Yearly Christmas pageant! I can't tell you how many stories I have heard about Christmas pageants going around school the last few weeks. Brings me back to this little girl wearing her dad's shirt backwards. . .

Frosting 101

A few weeks ago I baked my cut out cookies and (much to Ryan's dismay) put them in the freezer. (I have slowly been baking and freezing my cookies so that I don't have to do it all at once, he keeps wondering if they will EVER come out) Ryan was helping me (even though he informed me he would not ask me to marry him again. . .) pick out cookie cutters and we found the BIG gingerbread cutters and we decided that it would be fun to make a boy cookie and a girl cookie and decorate them. Here is a beforeand here is a during ( notice the tongue)Here is the after :)

Here is what we learned:
1. Ryan struggles with rule #1 frosting (your hands should never enter your mouth) and would never make it in Fran's kitchen.
2. Pink and blue do not make red like the box says, they make a ugly reddish brownish color!
3. Ryan really only wants to help to eat the little bite size cookies and appreciates it if you do one every three or four cookies so he is not "bored"
4. At some point you need to stop taking pictures and eat the cookies!

I am very very very thankful that my husband is so helpful! I could never have made all of the cookies I did to give to some of our friends if it was not for his help cleaning the kitchen! also, mom, I need a meringue lesson, mine are as flat as pancakes but taste yummy :)

DIY Redo and Christmas

So right after I blogged I looked at the pictures and decided that #1 my wreath needed more ornaments and #2 my tree was crooked and ugly. The wreath took about 5 seconds to spruce up, the tree on the other hand was rather putzy and if you don't look too close, it is kind of cute, if you look too close you see that the perfectionist in me did not win on this project :) I found some little ball things at the craft store that I was able to stick in there to fill the open space and a cute silver star to go on top.

We also got our tree up and decorated last weekend and I even got to bring some of my nutcrackers back with me to decorate our apartment. Here are a few shots of those too. . . Our tree does have blue and white lights on it, you just can't see them real well
Now I am working on baking cookies that freeze and still wanting to make christmas cards for people to earn a little extra money. As Dave Ramsey would say, I am looking to work in my strength :)