Last day of Stay-cay

Tonight is my last day of my "staycation". I was able to take last weekend off of work, in order to be in a friends wedding, and coincidentally have had 8 days off in a row. Unfortunately the stay-cay started off with me getting my period, which Ryan and I were hoping wouldn't come for another 9 months or so. However, we've resolved that a baby will come some time, and that at least we're now better able to plan our trip to visit Gabe and Ana in Hawaii.
The weekend portion of the stay-cay was nice. Our friends Matt and Rachel got married, and I got my bridesmaid dress hemmed at around 2am the night before the wedding. It wasn't perfect, but no one seemed to notice, and the wedding was beautiful. I'm happy for the newly weds, and was glad that the weather held out for them.
On Saturday, we met up with some of my old college friends who had a bachelor/bachelorette party at a Brewers game. Ryan and I went, had a good time, and were thankful to have family in town to watch Melodie for the day. It was nice to have some "alone"/date time together.
Sunday was also nice, after church and Ryan finishing his finals we headed out for some "Young-style" camping. We met up with Ryan's parents at their campsite, let Melodie get nice and dirty, made some orange cakes and drove home to sleep in our own beds and take our own showers while his parent's "roughed" it in their pop-up. We ended up going back for the whole day today, and had a great time. I was so impressed with Melodie. We set up the Jeep as her personal pack-n-play, leaving all the windows open. She took one really good nap, but then got too excited about her "new bed", and wouldn't go down after that. But she was a trooper and didn't get fussy until we were getting ready to leave and packing up. What a little champ! Our three-a-day napper only took one and woke up an hour early, and was nothing but a delight the whole day. I got some pretty funny pictures of her on my phone that I need to post, but I'll save that for a time when I'm not so tired.
After dropping my sister-in-law off at her place we got home, and Melodie was still awake, so I threw her in the tub for a quick bath. She thought it was pretty cool. When I brought her upstairs for bed she shocked me by...gasp...CUDDLING with me! I ate it up and we cuddled for about fifteen minutes before she starting pointing at things in her room/wanting to get down and play. (I think she was a little delirious!) Finally I was able to catch up on my all to over due blog before headed back for three in a row tomorrow.

My favorites

So, it's been quite awhile since I've blogged on something fun and exciting.  So I decided to put together a quick list of my favorites.  What are some of your favorites?

Candle Scent:  Hands down it's gotta be Pumpkin Spice by Yankee Candle.  I love the smell, and wish I could burn it all the time.  I wonder if I'd ever get sick of it.

Photographer:  Rachel Henderson.  Rachel photographed Ryan and my engagement photos and wedding.  Not only did we get a steal of a deal, but we also got AMAZING pictures.  I love the stories she tells with her photographs.  They're so much more than just pictures

Mountain:  Mt Sherman.  Yes, I do have a favorite mountain.  Why?  Because for my cousin Marni's wedding, I hiked up it with a few cousins and siblings.  I thought I'd die, and despite attempts from my sister to get me to go back, I didn't.  We all finished, and can now say we've climbed a bona-fide 14'er.

Picture of Melodie:  I mean seriously...

Picture of my sister and me:  This one, for the random reason that we kept making the same weird faces without seeing what the other was doing.  And we look so freakishly alike!

Family Photo:  Nothing better than a good day at "Be-U-ti-ful Miller Park!"

Job thus far:  Labor and Delivery.  It's emotionally taxing, but worth it.

Car: Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo with a silver bottom.  No leather interior for me people.

Flower: Tulip.  Ryan has it made.  He knows two things about flowers.  One, I HATE carnations, and two, I LOVE tulips.

Vacation spot: Hawaii.  We went there on our honeymoon and had a fantastic time.  I'd move there in an instant if we could.  Where in Hawaii?  Kona, for sure.

Book: Frank Peretti's This Present Darkness, and Piercing the Darkness.  So I guess technically it'd be my favorite series.

Current American Idol contestant:  Danny Gokey.  Like the singing, like the glasses.

Pants:  Old Navy's "The Flirt" jeans.  I like how they fit, and how they make me look.

Shoes:  My brown pumas that I got a couple of years ago

Professional athlete:  Lindsay Tarpley.  We used to play together.  She's a classy lady.

Sports team and player:  Milwaukee Brewers, and Jason Kendall.  I can't WAIT for the season to start!

Married

Yesterday Jo and Sunder FINALLY tied the knot! Ryan and I were both in the wedding, and had a great time celebrating with them as they got married. Sunder and Jo have known eachother for the the last five years after they met during a Youth with a Mission (YWAM) missions trip JoAnna took while in college. Jo was in India last year having an extravagant engagement ceremony when Melodie was born, and 11 months later their long distance and term dating came to an end as they said "I do".
Things went fairly well, although I did loose Jo's ring, which is a VERY long story, and the cake place lost her cake, which was much easier remedied. Hopefully the ring turns up very soon.
Despite the couple set-backs, the day was a blast, and both of them looked amazing. It was so much fun to be a part of.

Long time

It's been a long time since I've posted. As always, it's because a lot has been going on. But, I plan on posting more regularly, as it's so much fun to look at Melodie's posts throughout the last year and see how much she's grown.
As for things that are new? Ryan won Christmas this year. We have a pseudo competition every year in which we try to "win" Christmas by getting a more thoughtful gift for one another. He did well, and I was impressed. I am now also getting in shape with our new wii fit, and loving it. If anyone out there has mario cart, the challenge is on, let me know when we can race each other.
Another new thing is that my sleep cycle is COMPLETELY messed up. I've started working weekend night only shifts. Which really entails Friday and Saturday night with one other night (for me preferrably Thursday because then I have three in a row) during the week. I really like it, and love my co-workers, but my body is still adjusting to the new schedule. I wonder how long it'll take.
Ryan recently quit his job at Oscars. I'm thrilled, because it was more of a stresser than a good thing for us. He's now on the hunt for a new/office job. So please keep us in your prayers that something will come his way soon.
Melodie is getting big as ever. She's jabbering a lot, and is FINALLY crawling! Thursday night she decided to go for it, and despite an upset tummy, she figured out how to crawl....and now we're in trouble. I can only imagine that it'll be a few short days until she's "sprint crawling" around the house. Baby proofiing, here we come.
As for me other than work, I am getting over one bad stomach bug. I went in to the doctor on Thursday and ended up having to get 2 liters of IV fluids in me because I was so dehydrated. I'm finally starting to feel better, and I'm looking forward to trying to eat and drink something besides ritz crackers and gatorade. It should be a fun.