What A Fun Weekend!!

   Ryan and I had the most fabulous weekend :) Friday was a great day, although Ryan had to work till 5:30 p.m.. I got to spend the whole day with my brother Dave. It was so great to see Dave and be able to spend the whole day with him just catching up and talking. Him and his family live in Texas and we don't get to see them often so it was fun to go out to breakfast, lunch and go to the Holocaust museum. We had a great time just chatting. Well Dave had to leave to go back to Texas on Friday in the late afternoon, so after he left Ryan came home and he had a wonderful surprise for me :) SHOES!!! Ry walked in with a big Steve Madden bag and at that moment I knew it was for me :) He bought me a pair of really cute sneakers and the cutest brown boots! What can I say he has very good taste, I love it when he picks out clothes or really anything for me. The week before he brought me home 2 dozen hot pink and orange roses :) I don't know what I did to deserve all these nice little surprises but I really like it :) Ok well so Friday I got my awesome shoes and we just hung out around the house, went to best buy, got a movie and had popcorn and candy. For Saturday we both slept in and caught up on sleep and Ry had a crazy idea to go rollerblading again :) Well those who have red my other rollerblading post you know that the first time we rollerbladed in DC it was a hilarious experience because we quickly found that DC is a hill so going down is easy but going up is almost impossible. So we decided to be smart and take the bus to Georgetown and then rollerblade to the National Mall, see the monuments and then take the bus back to Georgetown and walk home. So we started our journey on the bus, got off, and Ryan told me that I had to see this new store that he saw that he thought I would absolutely love. So we stopped at the store and he was absolutely right. They had the most beautiful clothes and I just fell in love immediately with everything they had. I wasn't going to try anything on, but Ry started looking around and saw this black and white dress and brought it to me. I couldn't believe how cute it was, and he just looked at me and said, "Christmas party dress?" lol Right when he said that I couldn't believe how perfect it was, I'm telling you he reads my mind lol. It is plaid dress with a collar and a belt, I know it doesn't sound that pretty but it is awesome. So I tried it on and loved it and then Ry kept bringing me more clothes to try on (which by the way he is so good at picking out clothes :), seriously sometimes I think I should just stay in the dressing room and have him shop for me lol ) So I found some of the most gorgeous pieces and I couldn't decide what I wanted. Me..not ever being able to make up my mind lol decided to put them on hold, step away from the situation and go back before they closed to buy what I wanted) So Ry and I walked further down into Georgetown, put on our rollerblades and started our rollerblading adventure. Well to no surprise we got many stares because people haven't seen rollerblades since the 70s or 80s lol People literally stopped and looked. We thought it would be pretty smooth sailing because we THOUGHT it wasn't up hill, but we were wrong. You see Ryan's rollerblades aren't $20 rollerblades like mine lol so my wheels don't roll as well, so I spent a lot of my time pushing away and him just smoothly gliding....which I envied the whole time. I couldn't help but laugh at how slow I was, I complained a little :) but was laughing the whole time and didn't want to stop rollerblading because it was fun. Ryan pushed me for a while :) but we finally made it to the National Mall and it was a gorgeous ride because it was in the 60s temperature wise and was getting dark, so all the monuments and the white house were all lit up. It was beautiful. We just enjoyed the beautiful scenery and weather and had fun blading around. We then took a cab back to Georgetown and bought my plaid dress :) and walked to the grocery store and then took the bus home. The night was perfect, we were outside the whole day and we just laughed and enjoyed beautiful DC. We both realized how much we love this city and how much we will always cherish the time and memories we have spent in DC. Well everyone it is getting late and I better get going. We both are doing great and having fun and will update soon. Here are some pictures

My beautiful flowers

FLOWERS

Me posing with my flowers :)

Us in Georgetown right after putting our rollerblades on before our blading adventure

Pic of putting the blades on 

We finally reached the National Mall

I KNOW IT'S BEEN FOREVER :)

HI EVERYONE!!  I know it has been forever since I have posted, however I do have a couple little excuses :)  First, this summer was super crazy for Ryan and me.  Ryan and I both were in summer school, Ryan for one session and me for both.  Second, Ryan went to Ghana, Africa with Tanner Ainge and Tyler, one of Tanner's friends, to set up an internet cafe for a wonderful guy named Koomsan, who Tanner served with on his mission in Ghana.  Tanner, Ryan, and Tyler set up a non-profit organization called The African Equity Fund.  The African equity fund is focused on the development of entrepreneurship in Africa and their first project was to set-up this internet cafe.  They set up the internet cafe in 10 days and as of today Koomson has said that people are lined up outside to use the internet cafe, which is very good news :)  Ryan put together a video of their trip and it really outlines what they did on their trip and has great photos, to view the video here is the link/url http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6534239457905086866 .   If you get a chance you should view the video, it really is an amazing thing they are trying to do and will really change some people's lives in Africa. They are trying to go again this next summer and are looking to take a group this time, so if your interested :) let Ry know. Ok.. :) Another little excuse is that as soon as I got a chance to get away from summer school, right when it ended, I left DC to go spend sometime with my family and had a great time while there. I got to spend a lot of one on one time with family and I loved having so girl time with my mom, grandma and sister :) One day my mom and I just laid out in the morning by the pool, threw on some clothes over our suites, drove up to Saoruro Lake in my moms sky convertable and had breakfast at the lake and then we finished the night shopping :) It was so much fun to lay out, relax and be with family.  Both Ryan and I got back from our trips within a week of each other and then started school right away, so we have been trying to adjust to our new schedules.  As for Ry guy, he is currently working on his Global Enviornmental Policy masters degree and is enjoying the program very much, but has realized that there are some cooky people in his program :)  People who think the invention of the car is evil haha  So needless to say he is learning a lot and loves the topics, but he sometimes wonders if he belongs :)  He will also be working on his 2nd masters in Financial Economics fall 2009.  As for me, I am just finishing up my last 2 semesters at AU and will be done in May 2009 which pleases me to no end :)  I can't tell anyone how excited I am to be done with school for a while and maybe for quite a long time lol  But as for this semester, it has been hard to adjust to because I feel I have been in school non-stop and really didn't have a summer, because of summer school, but it is going well and I'm just trying to figure out what I want to do after I graduate.  As for Ryan I also forgot to say that he started a new job this semester and guess what.....HE GETS PAID.  Many of you know that since living in DC Ryan worked for a little while for Ace Hardware, but after, took an internship on Capitol Hill, so we started to get used to working but not getting paid :)  however Ryan now works for the State Department in the Human Resources division and is really enjoying his time there.  
OK so that is the current update.  So for a funny story....Well last week I ran out of my mascara and one of my co-workers always talks about how wonderful Dior mascara is, so I thought well I need to try this new mascara; so I went to Nordstroms, bought the mascara and the next day put it on.  Well...that night I fell asleep with the mascara on and the next day woke up and my eyes were COMPLETELY SWOLLEN and red.  I could believe how bad they looked, Ryan didn't believe me when I said I looked like Quasimoto, but after he put on his glasses and looked he agreed lol  So I thought ok I'll just take it off and not wear make-up and the swelling will go down.  So to make a long story short the next morning I woke up and they were even more swollen, so I went to the doctor and she gave me some medicine and said that it was a big allergic reaction and to never wear that mascara again lol and to wash all my bedding and everything.  So the swelling finally went down after 2 more days and in the mean time I felt like everyone was staring at me, which they probably were, thinking what is wrong with her eyes lol. and now I'm FINALLY back, can wear make-up :) and don't look like Quasimoto anymore.  Ok well I think that is it for now, I'm sorry it is so long and that I haven't posted in a while, I will try to be better.  I will also try to post more fun stories about Ry and me.  

LAST WEEKEND & MORE

Hi Everyone. So, Ryan and I had so much fun this last weekend. Not only was it our first time being in DC for the 4th of July (we are always in AZ visiting) but it was also our 3rd year anniversary..CRAZY WE CANNOT BELIEVE IT. Well for the fourth of July Ry and I woke up early and headed down to a 4th of July Parade in Virginia because Ryan had to register voters for the Obama campaign; so I followed him around and registered people to vote. We registered people before the parade started and then we watched the parade. It was so fun to see a fourth of July parade..because we haven't for a while; I do have to say though it brought back memories of the being in the Gilbert Day's Parade when I saw the cheerleaders :) haha Those were funny times. After the parade Ry and I started to head home and stopped by Whole Foods to get some food to BBQ. Ryan made delicious hamburgers and we had a real 4th of July meal :) After we ate, we watched "The Patriot" (I love that movie) and took a little nap and then we woke up and got ready to head down to the national mall for fireworks. We took the metro down to the national mall because it was so busy and knew there would be no place to park. DC is an incredible place for the 4th of July, it has a lot of history and there is just something about being close to the memorials and monuments that makes it even more special. Everyone in DC it felt was so excited for the 4th there was just an energy about it. Well..we got down to the national mall and we ended up sitting really close to the reflection pool, which the fireworks were lit from. It was absolutely beautiful and the firework show was amazing. There is just something so neat about seeing fireworks in the reflection pool right in front of the Lincoln Memorial. There were so many people there, but surprisingly it didn't feel crowded. It was an amazing night. After fireworks, Ry and I walked down to Georgetown, got a smoothie and then walked home together. We went on quite a walk, but it was a lot of fun. It definitely was the perfect 4th of July.

So now, for the Anniversary Stuff...Saturday, July 5 was our 3rd year anniversary. We both are still in shock that we have been married for 3 years. We just can't believe how time has flown by and how much has changed in our lives. We didn't know where we would be in 3 years when we first got married and boy has a lot happened lol We moved to DC, have lived here for almost 2 years. Ryan has a BA and is getting 2 masters degrees, I'm finishing school in May; Ryan has worked on Capital Hill and we are just at the beginning of our lives. I don't think if you would have asked either one of us when we first got married that we would be living in DC and be were we are today we could have never imagined, but we absolutely love the journey we have taken and are in...Not to say that things never get stressful and that we don't miss our families tremendously, because we most certainly do, but we are excited and feel that we are going down the right path :) Ok sorry for my rant, ok back to this last Saturday..Well Ry and I slept in late and bummed around the house that morning just enjoying having nothing to do and then we left to go look at dressers for our bedroom!! Ok I know some people are probably thinking, "McKenna it is only a dresser," but you have to understand that I haven't had one since we left Arizona and that my closet is small and it is so hard to find my clothes, it is very aggravating when getting ready in the morning..so nonetheless, a dresser is a big deal to me :) So yeah, we decided to go look for a dresser and found one at this wonderful furniture store in Rockville, MD that has hand made wood furniture that is not stained. We got this beautiful dresser that looks like it came from Pottery Barn (my fav. :) ) and we stained it an espresso color. We got it for 3 times less the price of a dresser from pottery barn and we absolutely love it. We decided that every anniversary we want to buy a nice piece of furniture that we can keep forever, which I think sounds awesome :) Hey..when Ryan made that suggestion I wasn't going to argue. He asked me that day if last anniversary we bought our TV stand that we got from pottery barn on our anniversary and I said, " No I don't think so" and he said "Oh ok, well I was going to suggest that maybe we make that a tradition," and I said, "Well we can pretend we got it for our last anniversary and make it a tradition." lol So needless to say we bought the dresser and had it delivered on Tuesday. After we bought the dresser, we headed down to Georgetown, walked around for a while, and then found a place to eat. We absolutely love Georgetown, it is basically a few streets with tons of shops and restaurants and is located in a very expensive area, but is always super busy. Well this time while we were at Georgetown we decided to go down a street we hadn't been before and found this little circle of restaurant right off of the Potomac River. It was so funny because Georgetown feels very upscale and very eastern, but then you walk down the street by the river and all these fun and nice restaurants right off of the water and you feel like you are in Cancun :) So we decided to eat at a Mexican food restaurant right by thee river and the food was great. After we ate we went and saw Hancock, which is an awesome movie and then we went home. Well so, that was our Anniversary and it was wonderful. We got to spend a lot of time with each other and that is what it is all about.

Ok so below you will find pictures of our 4th of July in DC and some of the fireworks. You will also find pictures from the day of our anniversary and then the other ones are from when Ry and I went and saw Obama speak, which was amazing. Hope you enjoy them. Well I think that is all for now. I will post again soon.

4th of July Fireworks National Mall

Sorry the video is sideways, but I can't rotate it, so just turn your head :) It is a neat video though because if you look closely you can see the Lincoln Memorial behind the Fireworks.

Ry & I @ the National Mall for the Firewords

This is where the resturant we ate at for our Anniversay in Georgetown was located

Ry and I on our Anniversary

Ry & I about to hear Obama Speak

Waiting for Obama (We got wrist bands for some reason and got to sit up front)

THERE HE IS!

PAINTING & MY AWESOME ROMEO

Ry and I on Memorial Day in the metro!

So I just wanted everyone to know that we FINALLY painted our apartment, and we ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT! We took a risk because we both aren't usually yellow fans, but we decided to be bold and paint our family room yellow because we have a red coach and thought it would be fun and bright! We were at ACE Hardware picking out paint for the family room and bedroom for about 2 hours :) Ryan was such a good sport because I was being very very picky; hey what can I say I get my mind set on something and I know what I like :) We finally decided on the yellow that Ryan picked out the first time, but it took us 2 hours to decide to go with it. We painted on Memorial Day and it took us about 4 hours to do the family room and the bedroom. The family room looked awesome, but after we painted the bedroom I didn't like it. It was a brown, but it looked pink (ugly) lol But I was the one who picked it and was so disappointed. I was just going to deal with it, but the next day while I was at work and summer school, Ry went and picked our a different brown and re-painted the room, and it looks awesome (He's so good to me :) ) So now we have our apartment painted and we love it. Below are some pictures :)

More News...Ryan got accepted for an Obama fellowship and starts next weekend. He is so excited to work on the Obama campaign and could potentially get a job at the end of the fellowship to work on the campaign :) The only downside to this experience is that he has to work in North Virginia and the commute is too long to stay in DC so he will be living in N. Virginia during the week and either he will have to come see me or me go see him on the weekends; so we won't get to see each other for 6 weeks, well hopefully on weekends we will. But the opportunity is too good to pass. As for me...I'm just working part-time and going to summer school 4 days a week. Summer school is ridiculous and I can't believe how much work I have every week, but its only 6 weeks and I'm already half way done and then I start 2 more classes for another 6 weeks. WHAT AM I DOING TO MYSELF :) Actually it is worth it to be able to graduate in May. Other than that I have an interview for an internship in July for Capitol Services Inc. which is the biggest event planning company in DC. They plan corporate events for huge corporations like, Saturn, Budweiser, Wells Fargo and etc. Nothing is for sure because I haven't interviewed with them and have no clue if they will hire me for an internship, but I'm crossing my finger and toes, because this opportunity would be amazing. So we will see!

As for my Romeo story..Romeo (my dog) has a birthday party he is attending next weekend for one of his friends. I just had to share because I think this is hilarious. Mayebe (dog) (that's his friend's name) is turning 1 years old and her owners, a couple from our ward, are having a dog birthday party for her. We are going to a dog park in Alexandria that has a stream and waterfall and then are going to Dairy Godmothers, a frozen custard place, were we will eat ice cream and the dogs get puppy pops. I'll have to take pictures lol. I know people probably this we are crazy, but so many people in DC treat their animals this way, they just love them soooo much! There are a few young couples in our ward that have tiny dogs and we try to get them together to play :) It is quite funny, and a lot of fun. Below are some pictures of Romeo and Maeybe when we dogsitted Maeybe for a week while Drew and Suzanne left out of town. Also are some pictures of Romeo and me, dont' think I'm weird lol I didn't pose these pictures I just had to take the picture on my phone, because I always tell my family and friends that Romeo puts his head on my shoulders when he is bored and I'm not paying attention to him. He will come up behind me and put his chin on my shoulder and let out a deep breathe. It is so funny and cute so I just had to share! Well that is all for now and I'll post again soon.


Painted Family Room :)






Romeo (on the right) & Maeybe (on the left) I thought this picture was so funny. I had to take some pictures so I could show my mom how similar they were.




Romeo (on top of the carrier) & Maeybe (in the carrier)


(Please don't look at me..This was at 2am and I had a hat on all day lol mind the terrible hair)This is Romeo doing his "Pay attention to me please" thing :)

Going Back to the Old Days! ;0) Rollerblading in the City

Hi everyone. So...it is memorial day weekend and the weather in DC has been absolutely beautiful, so Ryan and I decided to go buy some Rollerblades!! We roller bladed a little while we were dating (I know we are nerds ;) ) and haven't been rollerblading in forever so we thought it would be a blast and something we could do often and an activity that would get us out in the fresh air and just have so much fun doing. We went to Sport Authority and bought Ryan Rollerblades (since Target didn't have men's Rollerblades) and bought some work out clothes. We haven't both been in a Sport Authority forever and it brought back many memories of High School days and sports. I attempted to ride a bike lol and Ryan tested out the Rollerblades and he found some that were perfect and pretty cheap. When we got home we decided to test out our new blades and THOUGHT we would be able to Rollerblade for about an hour or so and go down to Georgetown lol well....we didn't make it very fare till my legs were killing me and Ry's feet were hurting but we do have an excuse lol DC is basically a hill and we are at the top and we did fine going down, but having to rollerblade up was difficult. lol Many people stared at us while driving by; acting like they had never seen rollerblades before in the city lol (which they probably haven't) but what can I say we are bringing them back. :) We really did have an awesome time though. We basically laughed at each other the whole time and can't wait till we build up the stamina to rollerblade longer than 15 minutes lol. Well just thought I would share our newest adventure. I'll post again soon.

RYAN'S GRADUATION

So..RYAN GRADUATED LAST SUNDAY WITH HIS B.A. IN INTERNATIONAL SERVICE!! One down 2 or more to go :) It was a great weekend; Holly and Bruce both came to DC to be here for the big day and we got to spend the whole weekend with them. It was so nice to spend time, just the four of us, visiting, eating and just having fun; we just loved having them here. Ryan's graduation was awesome, we all were so proud of him; in case you didn't know Ryan graduated with University Honors and magma cum laud which is the top 10% of his class. It was so neat to acknowledge the moment and see him in his cap and gown and be there for the ceremony; it really was a special night. It was awesome to see Ryan accomplish this goal that he has worked so hard for. I watched him slave over a 70 page honors thesis paper and than multiple papers after that. He has put his whole soul into this program and it was so wonderful to have a day to acknowledge all his hard work. After that night though, the next day he started summer school for his Masters :) School never ends :)

The last few weeks in April and the beginning of May was mine and Ryan's finals. We had many late nights and multiple all nighters. We lived off of pizza, energy drinks, Pepsi,and Sweettarts; I know real healthy huh. lol I don't think we ever went to bed at the same time for a straight month and the last few weeks we took turns getting snacks for each other and taking breaks to make a 7eleven run. It really was a crazy month, but a great one too. We definitely have many stories to tell our kids one day and to just look back on and laugh at. It is a neat experience to go through school together, especially because we go to the same school. We watch each other work so hard and being in school together and watching each other have real late nights, makes us really have a better appreciation for each others hard work. We love being students together, even though we are poor and our house is a mess around midterms, finals and every week while we are in school :)

Here is one funny story that happened the week of finals: the last week of finals I (McKenna) had a multimedia project due and was at the school till 3am finishing it, than I came home and had to study for a math final..so I started studying for math as soon as I got home and only made it about 30 minutes or so and then couldn't keep my eyes open so I decided to set my alarm for an hour and take a 1 hour nap and wake up to finish studying. Well I set my alarm and fell asleep on the coach..At 9:50 a.m. I was awaken to Ryan screaming my name saying, "McKenna wake up it is almost 10:00 a.m.!!!!" (I was supposed to be at my multimedia final at 9:30 a.m. and my alarm never went off and Ryan happened to wake up and see me in the family room) I jumped up from the coach with mascara all over my face :) and started to freak out. I through on a hat grabbed my shoes and ran out the door; I didn't even have time to brush my teeth (gross I know)I just threw gum in my mouth and left. I ran to my class when I got to the school and wasn't too late and didn't get in trouble luckily. I than attended my multimedia final critique and then took my math final. IT WAS A CRAZY CRAZY DAY!!! In the moment it wasn't funny..but after it was absolutely hilarious. So yeah that is just a short summary of our couple weeks of finals. We both had a great semester and will both be taking courses this summer :) What can I say we just can't get enough of SCHOOL lol!
BELOW ARE SOME MORE PICTURES OF RYANS GRADUATION!!

SPRING BREAK & MORE (Make sure to see the pictures at the end of the post)

Spring Break was this last week and Ryan and I decided that we needed a little break from school ..so we took a vacation and went on a cruise to the Grand Cayman and Jamaica. We have only been on cruises with my family before and were worried that it just wouldn't be the same without a big group, but we still had a blast. It was a 5 day cruise and had 2 full days at sea were we just ate and laid by the pool; it was very relaxing. The boat made two stops: the Grand Cayman and Jamaica! At the Grand Cayman Ry and I went on an excursion to stingray city. For those of you who have never heard of stingray city it is a place in the ocean that is quite shallow, where stingrays hang out and let tourists feed and swim with them. The stingrays do have their stingers, but they don't sting you unless you step on them; which is easy to avoid. The stingrays were huge! We fed them squid and got some pictures with them which are shown below. It was so much fun and they were very beautiful. Me being the worrier that I am, wanted all animals to be treated fairly :)and didn't like how our group was only feeding the one stingray our tour guide picked up, so....Ry and I got extra squid and fed the other stingrays; which was my favorite part. At one point when we were feeding all of them, they smelt the food and just swarmed us. They got so close that Ry had to push them off of him lol. It was so much fun! We then went snorkeling for a while and saw some coral reefs and fish. Unlike Ryan who is an awesome snorkeler and dives down in the water and goes pretty deep; I had a life vest on the entire time lol because I have a hard time concentrating on treading water and breathing through the small tube you have to breathe through. lol It was so much fun though. When we got to Jamaica we decided to walk around and go to the markets and see Jamaica. We had so much fun in the markets, but got hustled by the market sellers. Everywhere we went in Jamaica (well the part we were in) someone was trying to get us to buy something from them. We were just walking down the street to one of the markets and this guy stopped us and said that he wanted to take us to his store. Ry asked where his store was and he said in the market down the street. We then told him that that is where we were going and so he walked with us. When we got to the market, sellers swarmed us wanting us to look at their store and we told them we already told this guy (the one who walked with us) that we were going to his store first. The guy then looked at us and said, "I actually don't have a store I just lead people to the market to buy stuff." lol Then he wanted us to pay him money for walking with us there. lol So...we did. You can't say no, the area was quite poor and they need the money. We shopped in the market for a while and bought things we didn't really even want lol but it was money worth spent. Sometimes we would say no and they would get upset; so it was very hard to say no. We bought a canvas/painting from the market; it is beautiful. We are going to hang it in our family room over the coach. Below are some pictures of Jamaica too! There are a couple of the waterfall there, which is amazing and you can actually hike up it, which Ry and I said we have to do next time! Jamaica was absolutely beautiful and we really want to go back. The rest of the cruise was laying out and eating :)We had an amazing time!


Sorry this post is so long, but we haven't updated it for a while and there is a lot of new info, so here is some more. As for school we both are really enjoying this semester. The week before Spring Break we both were crazy busy with midterms. We were very excited to get them over with. Ryan is doing awesome in his classes and doing a lot of reading for his independent study class. He has a 40 page honors capstone paper due at the end of the year, before graduation and another paper just a little shorter than that, due at the end of the year for his independent study course. He is working hard and getting ready for graduation in May and preparing for the summer when he starts his Masters Program. As for me...classes are going very well this semester. I am taking 15 credit hours and I love my courses. I recently met with my academic advisor and am expected to graduate in May of 2009! ONE YEAR LEFT!!! I am taking two summer sessions which is going to be nuts, but you do what you have to do. ;) This summer is going to be crazy, but before I know it will be May of 2009 and I will have my BA in Public Communications with a minor in psychology. Well that is the latest information.

I hope you guys didn't get too bored hearing all that information. Ryan and I are doing awesome. We love DC and are really enjoying school at American University. We are just so grateful for the opportunity to go to school out here and experience the east coast. Well..we will talk to ya later.

Grand Cayman Stingray City (Us with the one of the stingrays)

I know we are crazy! We were told if you kiss it you have 7 years luck! We'll see :)

One of the many stingrays! They are huge huh!

Ry and I in the Grand Cayman.

Waiting to get on the boat that takes us back to the cruise ship after 6 hours in the Grand Cayman

JAMAICA PICS

Ocho Rios, Jamaica Waterfall

View of Jamaica

More Jamaica Pics

Walking to the markets in Jamaica

View of Jamaica

Ry and I on top of a hill in Jamaica

Waterfall in Ochos Rios, Jamaica (famous waterfall)