the three year anniversary.

it was 1 week ago today that i got to officially celebrate my 3 year anniversary with my love:) we did do most of our celebrating the weekend before since we only really see each other late at night when comes home during the week. so lets rewind to that saturday...

after a 12 miler that morning, a long nap, and the normal saturday errands we were finally ready to celebrate! richard kept telling me we had somewhere to be on the strip at 730p so we needed to dinner early. so we decided to on red lobster (after many hints from him about crab legs) and it was just as good as always! and seriously who can resist those cheesy bisquits:) we hightailed it out of there later than he was hoping because he got caught up talking to the waiter about who knows what.

now i was sure this whole time i knew we were going to see a cirque de solei show. richard talks about wanting to see one often (i do too) but i was really hoping for something different. as were driving i notice we keep passing all the ones i was pretty sure he wants to see. we pull into caesars and again i am sure i know what we are going to see, celine dion. i love her, its true, but i have seen her once already. she was amazing just not what i was hoping for. then he totally surprises me with il divo playing that night instead!! they are an amazing opera/pop/broadway type foursome from all over the world, literally. they had an amazing orchestra for this us tour and it was so different than i even imagined. i had seen commercials that they were coming to town and told richard i would love to see them, but it was something i never expected! seriously people, if you havent heard of them or have skipped out on seeing them you need to asap.

afterward we walked around for a bit stopping in the nike store to check out the olympic stuff in which i proceeded to buy another tank top (but i am in love). next we stopped at the cheesecake factory to take home some dessert. i was wayyy too full after dinner to have anything, but a few hours later i was ready for something sweet :) we took it home and enjoyed it in our pjs after a insanely long line to get out of the caesars parking lot. check out my absolute favorite song by them :)

sunday i slept as long as possible and then we decided to venture out to see the new spiderman movie. omg was it good! kinda long, but you dont really notice until you get out of the movie and look at the time. the theater was pretty empty which was nice and we could pick our seats. that night we picked up pei wei on the way home and i noticed i had only really eaten 2 meals at home all weekend. something i was definitely ok with :)

as wednesday came i started to get a little nervous in giving richard his present. you see i wasnt totally sure what to get him until early the week before. and when i tried to add on in the nike store he immediately said no, i apparently had told him no clothes. then i really started to get nervous. he was very set in that he didnt want it until our actual day, which really meant he couldnt have it until he got home that night. waiting seemed to take forever! earlier that day when i returned to work from lunch i had the most beautiful pink roses waiting for me :) they smelled fantastic!

be-a-utiful.

finally richard came home and immediately tore into his present sitting on the couch. the smile on his face when he realized it was the shoes he had been eyeing from adidas for the last month made the wait definitely worth it. i knew i had made the right choice.

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we have come a long way, he and i. there have been ups and downs, crazy adventures, changes for us both, and more laughs than either of us knew when we started this thing 3 years ago. happy anniversary to us!

love. love.

the day of mushy, gushy love stuff

happy valentines day! i know it was yesterday but i couldn't tell you all about the day before it happened, duh. we did an extended day of love because of work schedules and it being on a tuesday. which was of course is ok with me :)

we decided to really celebrate sunday because it was the only day we actually had to ourselves. it was very low-key and that was plenty good with me. in the spirit of valentines day richard let me pick a girly movie to go see and then we were going to dinner after. i had told him weeks before that i wanted to see the vow and he had agreed, but i kinda kept waiting for him to take it back haha. i mean it is really girly. he stuck to his word and after a very lazy morning of sleeping in (i love sundays) we headed over to town square to catch the last matinee of the day.

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the theater was a pretty full, lots of couples lol. it was really good and i definitely cried. hopeless romantic, what can i say. plus we saw good previews, a new nicholas sparks movie that richard is not super excited about lol and a really funny one with jason segal and emily blunt, that one he actually suggested we should see.

we had decided on cheesecake factory for dinner since we hadn't been in a really long time and by the time we got there i was starving. it was almost 8p and i was ready for dinner. i even branched out and got something new (that's a big deal, i tend to order my usual, whatever that is at that particular restaurant)! of course saving room for cheesecake to take home with me.

yum yum!

once full from dinner we just went home and watched the bachelor. serious bonus of living together, when you have nothing else to do you can always just stay home or go early and still be together. it was the perfect way to end the weekend and celebrate the day of love!

i had bought richards gift on a whim thursday evening last week. i was trying to rack my brain hard for ideas, boy are really hard to buy valentines gifts for! after wandering around kohls on my lunch break i went into the kitchen section and saw a small deep fryer. now the entire time we have been dating he has been dreaming about owning one. he always talks about it in a longing way when we go into the kitchen places. so i went back to work and read some reviews to find that people didnt have great things to say about it. instead i did some more research and decided to go to target on the way home. i found a great brand, double the size, and on sale for the same price, sold! friday evening i took it into work with me to hide it under my desk all weekend because there wasnt anywhere to store it at home. 

monday night richard informs me that i have to wait for my present until valentines night when he gets home because he has to go out and get it during the day. needless to say i was not super excited about this idea. i was at the point where i was questioning (come on you all do it) about getting the right thing. plus this meant i had to wait until at least 11p before he got home anyway. 

valentines day seemed to go by very quickly and i only saw richard for a few minutes in the morning. long enough to wish each other "happy valentines day" and be off to work. afterwards i came home and decided i was actually going to wrap the sucker, it was huge, to pass my time till he got home. that night he came busting in the door ready for something haha. his gift was sitting on the ottoman, there was no hiding it, and he wanted to open it right away. as soon as he tore into it i saw his face light up and get so excited! i knew i had the right gift. and then he went into listing all the things he could now deep-fry, it was hilarious.

told you it was a big one!

finally it was my turn and after closing my eyes for awhile and hearing him scavenge all over the apartment i opened them to wayyy more then i was expecting! first there was a card (last year, no card, not ok) that was sooo cute and funny. and there were flowers! he has been getting my hints more and more ;) i got another princess towards completing my train, shes beautiful of course. and to top it all off...real chocolate! i had hinted suggested asked for real chocolate this year. as much as i like hersheys and ghiradelli, i wanted the good stuff. the things you cant buy at target or the grocery store. and man did he come through! chocolate-covered strawberries and a hand picked box of ethel m chocolates, my favorite. let me tell you, they are amazing! i will make those last as longggg as possible. 

aurora:)

any card that starts out with "hey, gorgeous"
is ok in my book!

this was a great valentines day for us! after all the holiday craziness, i loved how low-key it was and it was just the 2 of us. plus we got to stretch it out as long as we wanted :) i am seriously the luckiest girl, baby i love you.

the christmas story-the 2nd chapter.

i know i am a little late on this, theres been a lot going on with holidays/work/training/life in general. plus i wanted to make sure i put my full time into it. christmas is a super special holiday to me. i have loved it forever and even my 3 seasons in retail couldnt shake my true love for it. i love to decorate and shop and give and be involved in traditions. it makes my heart warm and fuzzy for days:)

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this was richard and i's 2nd christmas together so this time we already had the basics. we got to focus more of our money on the gifts and the season this year rather than the apartment. the 2nd year also meant there were some traditions in place for ourselves. for example christmas pjs, we'll get to that story.

i had changed my mind on what to buy richard quite a few times but always came back to the same basics. he had been telling me for weeks that he wanted clothes, which i was very excited about because hello im a girl:) but they arent the funnest christmas gifts to buy. the other issue was that he loves express, i means loves. he will find things in there that i also love on him but express is expensive. one can not buy their entire wardrobe in there on a reasonable budget. the problem is he falls in love there and wont shop anywhere else. so my plan was to buy a few there and then hope he liked the other great things i found. when the extra money i had set aside for something else fell through i was actually able to score great deals during 1 of there holiday sales! i knew he would love it and its what he really wanted.

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as christmas got closer presents started to arrive under the tree and this year a few of mine where under there before christmas eve! we shopped for each other and friends and families, this year was actually a really fun shopping year! we also for the 1st time made a christmas card to send to friends and family. i (the hopeless romantic) have always dreamt about it for years and ran out of time last year, so i made sure this season it was a priority. it came out amazing!

finally it was christmas weekend and we were making final plans. we spend christmas eve at our house making pizza and watching love actually (yay!) after richard got home from work, then wake up on christmas do our own thing and head over to my parents house before everyone else got there to do a family christmas. great plan! even if my family kept trying to change things. i did my long run saturday and met tiffany to exchange presents as richard left for work. we came home later that evening and i got to cook dinner and he fell asleep while we watched the movie. afterward as i was heading to bed i tried to give richard his pjs so he could wake up and wear them on christmas, big mistake. he got pretty mad that i had told him we were doing a gift christmas eve (even though i did the exact same thing last year) and he didnt have anything for me to open. i kept telling him that wasnt the point, i already had my pjs, it was his turn. we finally compromised on that would be the 1st gift he opened so he could put them on (boys!).

christmas morning came and richard was actually up before the alarm! i had set it for 9a so we could make breakfast and have plenty of time for presents before going to my parents. as soon as i was up richard wanted to open presents. i told him no way, we could do stockings and then ill make breakfast then we can open the rest. that was a no go. so i made breakfast then we opened it all. except he kept trying to make stockings last, again, no way!

as soon as richard opened his stocking he wanted to bust out his drill, he finally had drillbits! and i laughed hysterically when i found ghost in mine:) we both also found candy and christmas cards. we started opening the gifts and i got to add to my princess train, a harry potter cookbook based on food they ate in the series (so cool), plus i finally got to start my 1st 2 seasons of gilmore girls!! richard loved his clothes, got to change his xbox to a tron box and a hilarious new towel so he knows which end to use. now, in my stocking there was something wrapped in ribbon that richard kept hiding.

my silly gift, hehe.

richards silly gift, hehe.

after almost everything was unwrapped he grabbed my ipad to load wsomething but it wouldnt work so he turned on my laptop to load something. i got to open my mysteriously wrapped ribbon package to reveal a huge surprise,2 tickets to phantom of the opera on jan 7th!!!!! i have always wanted to see this show on the strip! i saw it in new york years ago and have heard fantastic things about the vegas one. i think i only mentioned once that i wanted to see it and he remembered:)

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we cleaned up our wrapping paper mess and got ready to go over to my parents house to continue christmas. once we got there they had already done their christmas and the boys were already upstairs getting my dads new xbox set up. mom and i convinced them to come downstairs so we could do our christmas. after reading our picture books and giving my family their pjs, we got to the fun stuff. richard bought my mom the steve jobs biography and she hid it right away from my dad. he bought my dad a straight razor professional shave which he talked about it all day long. kyle got his own xbox skin that im pretty sure richard was just as excited to put on. i actually bought my dad one as well, all the boys got one:) kyle and i bought my mom a hot stone massage/pedicure plus my dad added an extra one so she could take a friend! i gave kyle a super funny big rig alarm with a truck driver that yells at you to wake up haha!

my parents were very gracious to us and gave richard gift cards to express plus a cool crockpot cookbook! they gave me my black boots i had been hoping for, a beautiful purple sweater and a white button up shirt i had my eye on. plus we got an awesome blender for our apartment:) it was a very successful christmas! i didnt take nearly enough pictures, i just got so excited.

our friends came over and we enjoyed lots of food, even if it was in shifts haha. we ended the evening by heading to our annual movie. my mom and brother decided on we bought a zoo, now originally richard was not at all excited about this choice. but he was a great sport and the movie turned out really good! he even recommended it to a friend of ours the next week:)

christmas goulash!

we headed home afterward to get in our pjs and enjoy the end of a fantastic christmas. i am sooo super excited about my phantom tickets and richard has been waking up each day trying to choose from all his new clothes choices! when we came home that night we didnt even turn the tv on and just talked and opened up to each other, it was great. we seem to have those kind of talks a little bit more often now and i really dig it. it means so much:)

the 2 year anniversary.

being the hopeless romantic that i am, i had been looking forward to our anniversary for awhile. richard actually brought up the ideas first! now by brought up ideas, i mean asked what i wanted to do. we had a bit of a different idea of what we were each thinking. i wanted to get away and stay somewhere like lake las vegas for saturday night. richard was thinking lets stay in town, take the money and see a show. i liked both ideas, i was a little more hopeful for mine because it would be a chance for both of us to relax after a crazy month and a half. i did really like the idea of seeing a cirque-du-solei show, as i had never seen one before. i just wasnt sure we were going to have the money to see one.

we do live in a pretty cool place!

the other thing i was struggling with was the gift. when you are searching for an anniversary gift it shouldnt be something they need, it should be something they want, if even that. and not something you can ask them what they want. i decided a few weeks ahead that i was going to help richard upgrade to 2011 with a new phone. he had the very first touchscreen phone from sprint and was badly in need of a new phone, plus it was time to get a new contract anyway. i had gone back and forth, because it was a little expensive. but i had saved the money and was ready to spend!

the 18th was a monday so we had decided to celebrate the weekend before our actual anniversary.  somehow i scored the weekend off so we were able to spend the whole weekend together. richard had planned out our saturday night and i was ready for an evening alone with my love. i was still trying to figure out when/how to get richard his gift. i couldnt go in and pay for it on my own because i didnt know exactly which one he wanted and i didnt have his account info. so i decided to try and have him help me figure it out before hand. well that went extremely awry.

a few days before our anniversary richards phone started to die. and by die i mean couldnt send a text unless someone else sent it first. then it went really down hill. it got to the point where his phone didnt even turn on. so he went to the sprint store to try and get a replacement, but i was afraid they would talk him into a new one. so as he was leaving that morning i had to tell him the surprise. i was a little sad to have to tell him so early, but so excited to get him something he would love. his response was the exact opposite of what i expected, he said he already knew, and i had been giving it away all week. i was super upset and felt like i should had try to keep a better secret. i also got the complete opposite of the happy/excited face. i woke up from my power nap pretty distraught and not sure he even wanted the phone. i kept feeling like my surprises just were good enough.

we decided to go to the sprint store that saturday since we were going to spend the day together. we also had to have a not so fun conversation about me wanting him to be surprised and show me that and him hoping that i can reel in the little bit of crazy girl i let out sometimes. we both realized as amazing as our relationship is and we that we do have an incredibly strong base, but there is always something to work on. now it may not be huge, because both these were not, however if you dont talk and take care of something like this quickly it can blow up into something huge.

when saturday rolled around it was perfect. we went to the sprint store and spent 2 hours finding the best phone for him. and he took me out that night for dinner and to my favorite place, the bellagio conservatory. we got to get dressed up and spent the talking and laughing together, just the 2 of us. we bonded over a death by chocolate dessert at jean phillipes behind the conservatory.

beautiful:)

seriously yum!

once we got home we spent the night curled up on the couch watching things on our dvr. when we finally decided to go to bed that night i had gone into the bathroom to brush my teeth and wash my face. after i was finished i went to crawl into bed discovering richard scrolling through all the apps on his phone saying in awe that he could never get through them all. i knew he loved the phone:)

sunday was a little up and down with the womens world cup game. and i broke my anniversary present:( i am literally the worlds biggest klutz and knocked it on the floor to see it instantly break. richard was more upset about the broken pieces then i have ever seen him. i thought he was going to storm out, he couldnt even look at me. i kept telling him i could fix it with glue, they were very clean breaks, and apologizing over and over again. he just didnt believe me and that put him in an awful mood for the game. we almost stayed home for the game because of the mornings events. finally, almost right before we left, we both stopped putting up walls and let our guards down to accept the other persons apology.

a new snow white for my collection:)

we ended up meeting our friends downtown and i am so thankful we did. we got a few drinks in ourselves and had something else to focus on. the women's team ended up losing the game and it was pretty awful. but it made us get over the argument from the morning. i was pretty upset after the game and richard was right there to help me. it was so much more than a game for me.

after a rocky few days before it was a great weekend together. even with the little mishap sunday. we seem to do these little hiccups around big events. sometimes you forget how long you have been together and what that should mean until you have something like an anniversary come up. that tends to bring up serious feelings that you didnt know where there. as long as you can talk about it to each other, you can make it through anything. communication is the key:)

2 amazing years together:)

the birthday bash.

birthdays are one of my favorite times of the year.  mostly because you get to focus on one person and make sure that their day is the most special of all.  i had plans this year of doing nothing less than the best for richards birthday.  this would be my 2nd year planning his birthday festivities and i was ready for the challenge. 

boys are often not much help in birthday party planning for themselves.  they seem to have no opinion other than to have fun and be the ones to just show up.  i learned this the previous year, thank goodness i had great help.  this year seemed to be a little tougher though.  richard was definitely starting to struggle with the idea of turning 29 and i was completely unsure of how to party plan around that.  do we go big because this is the last of the 20's?  do we go small and save all the really big stuff for next year when he hits the new age group?  quite the dilemma.

earlier in the year he had told me that he would love to do something revolving around an outing for his birthday.  a concert, vacation, or a sporting event for example.  soon after we found out that flogging molly would be coming to las vegas the day after his birthday and it was a friday night.  we knew that we wanted to do something interactive during the day with the guys on saturday and then go out that night.  he had already decided to take that friday off for whatever was planned, so it was working out perfect.  after much debate and research, theres really not much to do in las vegas for locals, richard decided on paintball saturday, dinner at buca di beppo, and then heading to fremont street.  we made a reservation for dinner and were excited because with a larger group we could do family style.  and found a paintball place that was decently priced for rental, paint, and play deals. 
 
i had decided what i was going to buy richard for his birthday months ago when i was looking for valentines presents.  it was too big for the day of love and honestly not mushy enough, there i said it.  when we moved into our apartment one of the 1st things richard started lusting after was an old fashioned popcorn machine.  he wanted the red one that looked like the ones you find in a movie theater.  so i started doing my research, found a great one on amazon that i ordered 3 weeks before his birthday arrived, and had it delivered to my office so i could store it there till his birthday was here.  he had been begging me for weeks to tell him what it was, but i am an excellent secret keeper. 

richards birthday actually falls on st patricks day...its a built in party for your birthday every year!  he didnt want to go out that night, wanted to save his strength for the next night of drinking and debauchery.  i came home from body pump and gave him a small present to open in the morning.  a transformer bag full of a new workout outfit.  he had been saying for months that he wanted new workout clothes and i found the coolest pair of reversible shorts i just couldnt resist.  i told him his big present was going to be there when he gets home that night, he was just going to have to wait.  later when i got home from work i went straight into set up mode.  i had found some really cool popcorn bowls and had read the directions multiple times for set up so there would be hot popcorn when he got home.  i have to say, i was pretty proud of myself...

i also found butch.  he is a running joke after we saw an 8 year-old running around the orange county swap meet with a balloon dog.  richard thought it was the greatest thing on the planet and still brings him up at least once a week.  about 2 weeks before his birthday we found a very similar one at albertsons and richard had not stopped talking about him since. 

when he got home that night i realized i could have just bought the dog and that would have been the best present ever.  he was literally more excited about the dog than the popcorn machine. 

while all of this was going on the weekend event plans were falling apart.  some friends were weary about money, some didnt understand why were doing a whole separate day on saturday to celebrate, some thought they would be too hung over to participate, some were going out of town (for a very good reason though), and some were attending other dinners planned after this invite was sent.  it even got to a point that richard considered canceling the whole day because it seemed like more of an inconvenience to everyone rather than a fun day that was planned.

once friday arrived concert plans were coming together.  vanessa had rented a hotel room at hooters so we would have somewhere to convene, crash, and use as a home base.  a few came over to our apartment in the afternoon so we could all drive down to the strip together.  we hung out at the hotel for a few hours and the guys chomped down on wings, we were at hooters after all.  somehow, as usual, there was also beer pong involved.

finally it was time to go to mandalay bay for the concert and meet up with the rest of the concert goers.  now wrangling everyone together was quite the task and it seemed to take forever.  we made it inside where we needed wristbands for the floor and most of the group already needed more alcohol. 

ready to make our way to the floor you could feel the excitement building.  we made it for the 2nd opening band and the floor was surprisingly still a bit empty.  i was really glad!  richard had decided earlier in the week he was going to do the mosh pit.  this was his 1st big venue concert and he was really excited.  

well he made it through the 1st round and came back so exhilarated that he was instantly ready for round 2.  that one didnt go quite as well.  he came back so out of breath and just kept laying on me while trying to collect himself.  after awhile he still couldnt catch his breath and was trying to sit on the ground.  at this point we went up to the top where the snack bars were and took a break for awhile.  he still couldnt catch his breath and seemed to somehow be falling asleep at the same time.  we decided we would go back to the hotel, take a nap, catch him up, and then meet everyone back out when the concert was over.  after finally walking toward the exit he started to feel better and we ended up hanging out around the event center and had a really good talk instead.  we made it back right at the end of the concert for the last song and the encore. 

after the concert the group was all pretty drunk and it was a lot later then we had thought it was going to be so we decided to just head back to the hotel.  plus we were starving and there was a late night restaurant at the the hotel!  we started on the worlds LONGEST walk back to hooters stopping every 5 feet it seemed like and most of the group just getting really frustrated with each other.  finally making it we headed to the restaurant only to be greeted with a 30 minute wait at 1230am.  once getting a table the group was really quiet and honestly everyone just seemed mad at each other.  i dont know what happened in that last 1/2 hour, but it was a super awkward dinner.  about that time it was 2 am and it was definitely time to go home.

waking up the next day without a hangover was fantastic (thats what happens when your in training and cant drink).  it was actually a little cold and windy that day so it was nice to not be outside.  we went over to matts to hang out in the afternoon and watch a movie.  it was literally the weirdest movie i have ever seen.  it was called the game with michael douglas,  im still not even sure if i liked it.  and the whole afternoon was a little weird honestly, we kinda felt left out and there were only a few people there.

dinner that night was much smaller than expected, but the table was surrounded by great people.  we even got the waitress to sing happy birthday, against richards very strong wishes otherwise.  the best part, definitely the monster size sundae...

with the evening being rather windy fremont street was a little too much.  there was a ufc fight going on that night so that took prescient anyway.  we headed back to matts and the guys had decided to get a poker game going while the early fights were on.  richard tried to win money, but no such luck.  this was more of an early night, especially with all the craziness from the night before.

sunday evening was my turn!  i had planned a super special dinner that i was hoping he would love.  i found out over last summer that his favorite all time meal is the chicken cutlets his aunt makes.  i messaged her a few weeks back for the recipe and she was totally on board.  we woke up late that afternoon and hadnt really done much other than grocery shop, it was a great lazy kind of sunday.  i had kept the secret pretty well and was really nervous about making this dinner.  for some reason richard had decided to take a really late nap and slept through most of my cooking.  when he woke up though, he was not very impressed.  i knew that mine would never taste as good as aunt mar's, but i thought he would have been a little more excited.  i thought they were delicious, and they made fantastic leftovers.

i made a few realizations this weekend.  one, with family so far away and not able to see him every day the way i do, i am going to be the biggest cheerleader/celebrator in his life right now (which is definitely ok with me).  two, keep his best interest at heart no matter what others say/do.  three, i am an excellent secret keeper.  four, i will always be more excited about things and thats ok.  i think for a 29th birthday weekend and the ups and down this turned out to be a good one.  for sure one to remember!

the christmas story.

after great anticipation all year long christmas weekend had finally arrived!  this year christmas fell on a saturday so we had an instant 3-day weekend without even trying.  with all the running around and work that richard and i had been doing we hadnt had a lot of time to do the few traditions we had started the year before.  we also hadnt been able to spend much uninterrupted time together either.  so we decided to squish everything we could into the weekend. 

we started by sleeping in friday morning, that alone is an amazing start to any 3-day weekend.  richard had told me the night before that he a had a last minute thing or 2 he had to pick up that morning.  while i giggled a lot-last year he had waited until christmas eve to buy all of his gifts-i decided i would get up and go for a run that morning then.  feeling very accomplished when i returned i decided to reward myself by registering for my next 1/2 marathon in nashville, tn!

richard hadnt gotten back quite yet and i needed to run over to the grocery store to pick up our 2 last minute things for breakfast the next morning.  as i headed out to the store i called my mom to see if she needed anything since she was cooking the next day, bad idea.  30 minutes and $25 later i returned home to spend the rest of the day with my love. 

later that evening we made the trek to the las vegas' north pole at the speedway for the gift of lights.  we had both gone for the 1st time the previous year and totally fell in love, definitely making it a tradition for us.  this year there was no line, hooray, so we drove through right away.  it was beautiful.  not nearly as good as the year before at sunset park, but it was fun to just be together with the 2 of us.

we headed back into town towards the conservatory inside the bellagio, one of my absolutely favorite places on the planet.  i still had not seen tiffany to give her, her christmas gift and we were trying to make it happen that night.  we ended up meeting in a del taco parking lot because we couldnt figure out anywhere else, weird i know.  after getting back on the road and getting closer to the bellagio, we accidentally picked the wrong lane and got boxed out of turning in.  of course it took forever to turn back around and make it through all the lights, by now which richard was getting pretty frustrated.  we made our way into the garage and it literally took almost a 1/2 hour to find a parking spot!  just as we were about to give up, one opened for us finally.  and of course it was worth every minute of wait...

 by this time it was darn near 830p and i had originally planned to cook that night once we got home.  fully prepared to go home and make fajitas, richard kept hinting he didnt want to wait that long.  so we did the most logical thing instead...pick up raisin canes.  its not richards favorite place, so anytime he wants to go i am so on board.  we made our way home to watch one of my all time favorite christmas movies, the family stone.  i had finally convinced richard to watch it with me.  we sat down to watch and before i even knew what happened richard is yelling and damn near throwing his food out the window, asking me if i like the canes sauce.  apparently he didnt see that it came on the sandwhich and he likes his things super plain, not even ketchup.  he stormed off into the kitchen after i told him no, not knowing, to turn on the oven to make something else.  i kept saying that i would eat the the sandwich with the sauce, i just put ketchup on top anyway and he kept saying you said you didnt like the sauce.   finally he slowed down long enough to listen and let me take the sandwich he didnt like and let him have my strips.  between the traffic and the order mess up it was not going well, it was better, but he still seemed so mad.  we finished the movie, i of course cried, and was ready for bed.  richard wanted to stay up because he always went to bed late and he still had to wrap all of my presents.  we decided to set an alarm for the next morning at 1030am to give us plenty of time to get up, make breakfast, take our time opening presents, and hang out for a bit. 

however, long about 9am i was ready to get up and open presents!  i mean it is christmas.  instead i decided to go in and make breakfast to keep myself busy.  that lasted about a half hour and i decided it was time to wake up richard, that didnt go too well.  he was not excited about me waking him up to open presents at all, he kept trying to convince me to go back to bed, i was wayyyy too awake for that.  so i let him sleep and went to try to upload pictures from the night before.  he came out a few minutes later and told me he was awake enough, we could open presents.  so as i started to bring the breakfast stuff over i found him curled up on the couch under the blanket barely willing to even open his eyes.  so not ok.  instead i made him sit on the floor with me and the bacon that didnt wiggle.

we began with stockings, something i struggled with the most to fill.  turns out we bought each other the exact same thing, silly candy and beautiful cards!  we continued on to more wrapped boxes filled with cartoon character t-shirts, flasks, and electric toothbrushes for him.  and minions, disney character mugs, ladybug girls, and sparkly earrings for me.  both of us were beyond excited about our gifts!  we ended up opening a little faster than we expected and once finished just looked at each other like now what?  so we cleaned up breakfast and decided to go back to bed before heading over to my parents house.

a few hours later we loaded up my car with the gifts and made our way up to my parents house to have christmas part 2.  we had to make sure we came over before erik and his family got there so we could do our family christmas.  it was so fun!  we had multiple gifts for all of us and they were all really thought out, the best was my minnie mouse seatbelt wallet.  as we were leaving the apartment we had to make sure we grabbed the last of my dads tools to take back, and i made the joke, wouldnt it be so funny if the presents under my parents tree were tools.  i told him though, thats how you really know you made it into the family because thats what we always bought my dad. 

erik and donna came over a little while later to help finish making dinner and so we could finally eat.  we had very entertaining dinner conversation that kyle holding me back at one point and richard defending me at another point.  after that i tried to drive moms car to the movie, it didnt fly well.  quite a few years ago the four of us started going to a movie together on christmas.  we had gotten old enough to not have lots of toys, so we would get bored with nothing to do.  last year we picked a boy movie in sherlock homes, this year we picked a girl movie in tangled.  it was really cute, very disney, very cute.

richard and i made our way home after going back to my parents house for pie, we had been there most of the day and were ready to go home.  or so i thought.  richard ended up deciding to go to matts house after we got home for a few hours.  i was tired anyway i guess and just wanted to spend time on my couch, while thinking about such a successful day.

this was our first christmas living together.  we got to start our own traditions and do them the way we want.  it was like a real grown up christmas, our way:)