simple

coffee shakes

skipping rocks

wading

practically swimming

finding pretty stones

walking

talking

taking pictures

picking treats

sandy toes

sometimes the simplest things are the sweetest things.

its been a year! whaaaat?

August 8, 2009

incredible.

it's been ONE year since we said "i do!"

whaaaat?!

i can't believe it.

i'm so thrilled-it's been the best year of my life thus far!

lots has happened,

to celebrate our sweet first anniversary (since we only have ONE of those in our lives!) we went on a mini vacation.

originally, pre-flood, we had planned to go to Colorado and spend five days up in the mountains and do all sorts of outdoorsy things.

post flood, however, we decided we couldn't do that.

so we decided on a mini vacation up in Minneapolis, MN to see the Mall of America!

we have alot of things to replace because of the flood, so we did just that on that fun lil trip up to there.

ok, be ready, because you're about to be hit with a flood load of pictures. excuse the pun.

on the drive up, we stopped by the largest candy store in Minnesota.

bright colors and candy galore!

how.

this store had all these different apples that you could sample.

did i sample them?

by golly, of course i did!

mmm....

how perfect do these look?

i love looking through country stores with homemade everything.

the rest of the drive up, we were munching on our yummy treats.

and then we made it into the city!!!

we stayed in downtown minneapolis, which brought me back to memories of downtown Chicago.

it was like a miniature version of dear dear Chicago.

we kept reminiscing to our city days.

I miss it.

all the fast paced living, things to do, people to see, places to go.

I think i'll always love the city life.

Minneapolis was sweet. lots of neat shops, and familiar dee-licious restaurants.

mmmm. we were spoiled for a weekend.

we stayed at the Westin-the pool and hot tub was absolutely perfect for post-shopping feet pain;).

our bathroom was pretty sweet.

and the mirror with the light made me feel like a movie star everytime i looked in it.

that evening, we went out to dinner at a place called the Newsroom.

it was a neat lil restaurant, kinda old looking, with newspapers everywhere you looked.

the next day, we hit MOA-MALL OF AMERICA!

(which by the way is on my bucket list, and is now labeled as [COMPLETED]

in case you're wondering, it is completely possible to see the entire Mall of America in one day.

we spent 12.5 hours in that mall.

and can i brag about my husband for one quick second?

he was so much fun to shop with.

all 12.5 hours of it.

amazing.

i love him.

the Nickelodeon Universe amusement park was pretty impressive. 7 acres of amusement inside a mall.

and of course, every big mall has a good lego store.

this is by far the biggest one i've seen:)

everyone big and small can have fun at the lego store.

aha! i spy my stud!

we found a store called "Happy Feet."

guess what they sell?

we picked up some slippers.

they made ryan's feet happy.

happy, chubby, colorful slippers, anyone?

yes, please.

i see him again! He got some really sweeeet outfits at JCrew.

sigh. what a cutie.

this lil guy was floating around.

i had to get a picture of him.

he's ryan's favorite cartoon right now.

whoops, i mean, anime. not cartoon;).

oh, here's a nice memory.

ryan picked up my camera and took pics while i was sitting here on the phone.

i got a phone call in the middle of shopping from my seester, ilene.

i look all intense, but i'm actually really happy.

SHE'S ENGAGED PEOPLES! EEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

when she told me, i started jumping up and down, screaming, "eeeeee!!!"

and then i started crying.

really hard.

cuz i was so freaking happy.

my husband had no idea what was going on at this point.

he just knew his wife went all crazy in the middle of the mall.

so he steered me over to this seat.

I'M SO SO HAPPY FOR THEM.

after our shopping, we went to this sushi place called Crave.

oh. my. word.

kill me now.

it was amazing.

i haven't had food that amazing since last summer in chicago.

i was blown away by the magnificent taste of it all.

FAB-U-LOUS.

ah, i tried over and over again to get a pic of my eyes in this mirror.

the mirror in the bathroom put these cool lit up squares in your eyes when you looked into it.

you can kinda see it.

am i amazed with simple things?

yeah....i am.

and here is the one picture we were able to take together.

i asked a MOA volunteer to take it.

check out my new Toms.

i got the ash gray ones.

love 'em. love 'em. love 'em.

and i love the fact that a kiddo somewhere gets a pair as well.

my hubster got a pair too. olive green.

and i think i'm on my way to purchase another pair.

i love 'em that much.

there are more pics that still need to be uploaded.

i think i'll try to do that soon.

til then, hope you enjoy!

and if you do, please become a follower!

that way i can follow your blog too!

in the clouds and over the rainbow

Imagination.

when was the last time you used yours?

when was the last time the clouds in the sky became horses, babies, or elephants?

when was the last time you pretended to be a teacher, mom, or ninja?

when was the last time you imagined being somewhere or doing something different than you are right at this moment?

Imagination is the one thing that I have.

I'm good at it.

my imagination is very vivid.

I can turn many things into something else in a matter of seconds.

I can turn a play ground into a castle with princesses, princes, knights, and villains.

I can turn a porch into a house boat.

I can imagine being somewhere magical, or being a character unlike myself.

I can open a world of excitement and fun just from using my imagination.

however, there's one thing i can't imagine.

not imagining.

does that even make sense?

the more time i spend with kids,

i realize the inability kids have to use their imagination and play.

it's something different.

something unknown.

they aren't used to it.

so many kids have to grow up so much faster than they are meant to.

so many of them are already caring for their little brothers or sisters.

feeding them, carrying them, keeping them safe.

they don't pretend to grow up...they've already experienced it.

but want to know something?

they want to imagine.

they want to open the door to something new.

they want to play, pretend, use their imagination to make a castle out of a little playground.

a box into a car or plane.

play house. pet shop. fishing.

anything.

stir their imagination.

fly with them on an airplane.

visit their castle in the sky.

find a need for a new pet rhinoceros.

let them be a kid.

random Fone Fun

some moments that could only be captured with my phone.

since the my cameras were no where to be found.

but how convenient to have a camera on the phone...to pull out at an instant and "click."

it's fun to pull it out at an instant and have fun recorded:)

let's see...

random memories.

1. our first walk together in storm lake, last fall.

we had just moved here.

i was amazed with the crops and the rainbow.

2. first grocery shopping trip in Storm Lake...i believe it was our first grocery trip EVER in our married life;)
3. one of the first subbing jobs i had at the school.

i was hired to go on a nature walk with the kids.

they ended up having me play dodgeball most of the time,

and then being the caboose of the hiking group.
4. awww, i remember this one. this was during winter,

and it was my first auction i'd ever been to.

i stayed for hours to get a bid on this lap and we got it!

(and the chair. ryan loves his chair.)

i think these both made the flood? i'm not sure...

5. our home during the winter.

i do NOT look forward to these months.

first time in my life to ever dread Christmas;).

i hate the cold.

i miss the south.

6. si si and baby during one of my paperwork trips with the Teh family.

7.luis caught a bunny and all the kids passed it around.

my first instinct was, "AUGH! where's the hand sanitizer?!?!"

and then i was more like, "fine, i'll take pics, but don't give me the bunny...:)"
8. oh, haha, this is me pre haircut. i had a mullet/japanese ninja haircut.

9. right before we left for Kansas...this storm was brewing over Storm Lake.

10. at the insurance office after flooding. luis came with us and found all the thomas trains.

he had a blast.

oh and the googly eyes.:)

11. coffee/slushee date with these two:) special special young ladies.

it was a beautiful day.

12. me and Baby, isn't she darling??

13. my stud of a husband;).

14. i had to beg for this hair band back. :)

well, that's all for now. i just wanted to post these lil pics before i wiped clean my memory card in my phone.

what random phone pics do you have?