1, 2, 3, 4, tell me that you love me more...

(The title is taken from a Feist song in case you were wondering!)

Well, yesterday Nicholas and I marked our first six months together as a married couple...and what a fun and busy six months it has been!  I spent all day at the

studio and when I returned home at about 9:30pm I found Nicholas waiting with some beautiful irises!  It completely caught me off-guard, thus I awarded him with another "Husband of the Year" point. :)

I am looking forward to tonight for our real celebration- an old fashioned date complete with dinner and a movie.  I have been wanting to see "17 Again" for weeks and Nick promised to take me tonight.  

Until then, however, I have been enjoying a lazy day in the apartment.  It is threatening to storm- thunder, lightning, and really dark clouds- and so I have resolved to staying in today.  I put on my "greys" (lounge pants) and my old Foo Fighters t-shirt and have been crafting all morning; I like to tell myself that this is my reward for getting so much done earlier in the week!  (Plus I did run 5 miles this morning...so that merits a reward, right?)

On another note, we have been quite busy lately (perhaps another reason I am enjoying my down time today so much!)  Nicholas has been crazy-busy with work for the last few weeks trying to close out both month-end and quarter-end.  I am thankful that it is over and now I get to see him in daylight again!  

We also went camping for the Easter weekend- check my mom or Amy's blog for more on that.   It was fun, but rainy

 so we didn't get to spend as long as we would have liked enjoying our new camping gear; that just means planning another camping trip sometime!  (Which is fine with me- I figured out how to make fruit-filled empanadas over the campfire...yummy!)

Nick's oldest sister Erin had her first baby- a little boy named Andrew Joshua- this last Wednesday and so we have been having fun talking with them and anxiously awaiting

 more and more pictures.  We are just so happy that everything went well and we have a healthy new mom, dad, and baby in the family!

Other highlights from the last couple of weeks include the following:  I had a few busy days getting a larger-than-normal edition of DanceBeat ready to send to the publishers earlier-than-normal; I re-organized our closet and made my first wreath when a burst of spring-cleaning-fever hit me; Nicholas and I saw a doctor for a checkup (we were both awarded a clean bill of health) and are heading to the dentist this weekend; Radlee (my car) got an oil change, wash & vacuum, and new serpentine belt; I had a mini-shopping spree at Banana Republic (thanks to great deals and the priesthood session of conference!); Nick and I celebrated his day off for Good Friday with a barbeque and a few episodes of The Office; and I have been working on keeping my miles to 8-minutes a piece.  

Wish us luck tonight that we don't get carried away in a flood while we are out on the town!

Until next time...

A few good days...

Friday night Nicholas and I decided to do something a little different.  Redbox is fun, but we wanted something a little more active than just watching a flick.  I found out that we could go ice skating at a place not too far from our apartment and so we headed out once Nick got home from work on Friday for the rink's "Friday Night Live".

It was pretty funny- we were definitely the oldest ones there with the exception of a few parents.  It took us way back to middle school :)  Since it was the special "Friday Night Live" and not just an open skate, the lights were turned down low and they had a strobe light going.  They also had a fog machine and hip music playing pretty loud.  They also played a few games and had some races on the ice.  It took us awhile to leave the wall, but we soon were practicing stopping like they do in hockey (Nick) and going backwards (Alex).  It was definitely a funny thing to do, but we had a great time and I never fell (and Nick only did a few times! ;)

Thursday night I didn't have any lessons and was excited to spend a night at home.  I begged Nick to come home from work at a reasonable time and promised that I would make dinner and help him with work afterwards.  I made us steak and mashed potatoes and asparagus and we both thought it was far too pretty to eat; luckily we were both starving and dug in as soon as I took a picture to document that I did at one time cook a meal that looked delicious.

And it was delicious!  The steak was very very very good and asparagus just can't be beat!  Nick cleaned up and then we got to work...I am very good at putting ledgers in order and such.  We finished off the night with a homemade chocolate shake and called it a night.  What a fun couple of days!

Somethin' 'bout the southlands in the springtime...

Nicholas and I drove home from San Antonio on the scenic route and enjoyed the hills, trees, and blue skies.  Mostly, however we enjoyed the Texas Bluebonnets which were beginning to bloom.  It isn't their peak yet and so they were still a bit sparse, but I made us pull over none the less to take Nick's picture for his first springtime in Texas.  In the spot we stopped, we even caught a few Indian Paintbrush as well (the reddish/orange ones).

For any of you who aren't familiar with bluebonnets, they just grow wild around here.  We just pulled right off the side of the highway and took our pictures with cars whizzing right past us- in fact my parents went by us and honked!  

Even without stopping to see the flowers, our trip took a little longer than expected.  I was not doing my job as a navigator and we missed two turns.  The first time my mom called us and informed us that she had seen us keep going when they turned off in San Marcos- we hurried and flipped a u-turn and met them at the gas station a few minutes later.  However, we failed to get on the right road again and pretty soon Nick asked me "Aren't we supposed to be on 21 because all I see are signs that say 80."  Nuts.  I decided that instead of turn around that I would just take a little old road and catch up to the highway in Bastrop.  We had a great time going through some pretty tiny towns and past quite a few farms and such.  Mostly we just had a great time being together (that is, after I finished the blanket I was crocheting and filed my nails and was actually paying attention!).

We are looking forward to our Easter camping trip where we will return to the hills and trees of Bastrop...and perhaps we will get a few more pictures in Brenham (the bluebonnet capitol of Texas!)

Pictures are 1. Just a very fitting Texas scene...no bluebonnets but I thought it was too perfect of a shot to leave uncaptured 2. Nicholas in the bluebonnets  3. An Indian paintbrush among the bluebonnets (which are the state flower and illegal to pick)  and 4. Nick sitting in the flowers.