To my love.

   One year ago today Ryan and I went on our first date without the supervision of my older sister. Ryan and I had decided that after talking to each other we had a lot of in common, most importantly being our love for dogs of course. We met online, I feel really cheesy saying so but my sister and my cousin both had accounts on plentyoffish.com because they had saw it in a Lady Gaga video and they each had a lot of fun scanning through their matches. Well I guess that it worked, and with great success, still feel silly about that though, I need to come up with a good lie.
   Ryan drove from Mountain Home to Twin Falls to pick me up in his mini. I noticed that he smelled, but I couldn't really blame him, it was over 90 that day. We went to Pandoras for lunch then went back to the park where they were having a car show, Ryan knew absolutely everything about each car there. I showed him the falls and the waterfall that you walk underneath, he fell in front of a couple of people when hoping over the barrier, must have been nerves because he is usually pretty agile.
   We spent the day just exploring all over Idaho, driving on dirt roads, finding lakes and just enjoying each others company. We had a bratwurst dinner in Sun Valley, which we both think was foreshadowing our future because about three weeks later we were in Germany!

This was the view from our porch. 

A garden in the village. 

The wheat field. 

Nurburg the city. 

Brussels, Belgium 

This was on a biking trail in the town we stayed. 

Bitte ein Bit

Trier  

   Although we never wanted it to, our European vacation had to come to an end. I went home about a week earlier than Ryan who stayed behind and got to to Italy. While he was there finishing up work I was in Idaho packing my Honda Element. We had fallen in love and would be moving in together. I would be moving 2,000 miles away from my home to live in Huntsville, Alabama.

   Ryan was working on buying a townhouse there but just hadn't been there long enough to do so. The townhouse was his friends, he had been renting it out to his dad, who had trashed it. The plan was that Rob would fix it up, and get it all clean before we moved in. That didn't happen, not even close. We moved into a motel for two weeks while Rob got his dad out. While we were waiting and while Ryan was at work, I started designing, researching and learning everything I could about the huge project we were now facing.

The kitchen, after it had been mopped. The counters were brown, the fridge had greasy black finger prints and when you opened it, it smelled like cigarettes. We put it outside. 

Removing the wall paper was a nightmare! There were two layers and the one on top had to be scraped off with a putty knife. 

Finally got all of the wall paper down and started taping, paining corners and filling in holes. Note bleach, my third jug. 

Ryan and I had LOTS of help from our dear friend Nick. Give him a monster and he goes until the sun comes up. 

After lots of man and doggy hours, we finally had a clean, beautiful kitchen.

   Ryan and I had lots of help fixing up our house. His parents came down one weekend and helped us paint and Nick was there almost everyday. The entire house really had to be re-done. Every room needed to be cleaned, primed, painted, cleaned, carpet torn up, new carpet laid down, and then cleaned again. It was so much work, but we still managed to have lots of fun. When my kitchen was finished I think that is when Nick started staying the night.

Turkey chilly and cornbread. 

Pumpkin-chocolate pudding. 

Chicken Alfredo. 

Portal Cake.

Lasagna roll ups.

Pork loin with mustard wine reduction and very hungry dog. 

Beer brats, red cabbage and steamed potatoes. 

Awe yes, carlo and green olives.

   People could see we were happy. Our families, friends and strangers. I was really getting to know everyone in Alabama. They all took me in and made me feel very welcome. Being with Ryan is like living for the first time. He is my best friend. We do everything together and have so much fun doing absolutely nothing as well. Sadly though, at the end of November Ryan had to leave for work in Qatar. Beau and I stayed behind.
   While Ryan was gone we made the most of the holidays. Beau and stayed with Ryan's family in Birmingham and I was really thankful to have them. Since I didn't have much money that year for Christmas gifts I decided to make them and Pam helped me, a lot.

Bollywood Christmas Apron I made for Kat. 

Pam modeling some frames. 

I got to spend Christmas with my dear friend Kat in Chicago.

Beau looks a bit like a retard here...

We went to medieval times for my 21st birthday! SOOO much fun!

My attempts on wasting time and decorating. 

Rat/mouse that made its home under my dish washer. I called my mom crying so hard because I thought I killed it. I was trying desperately to get it off of that sticky pad. 

For Valentine's day Ryan surprised me with a beautiful ring he had made for me. 

   One thing that I have learned from this past year is that Ryan is full of surprises. I love it! He is always doing his best to make me happy because I do my best to make him happy. The best surprise of all was when he got to come home an entire month early!

I got my silly Ryan back! 

And not long there after we were headed to Twin Falls to drop off my baby Beau.

   Now we live in Abu Dhabi. We are living in a hotel that is just amazing. I get room service everyday, I have had a massage, there is a pool, a gym and beaches. There are restaurants in the hotel, cooking classes, concerts and dancing. They really do a very nice job and take very good care of me. Since I have been here I haven't done much outside of the hotel. I did go on a tour of the city, which was the best day ever but would have been better if Ryan was able to come. Today we were suppose to go on a safari and Ryan was going to get the day off but he couldn't so that will have to wait.
   I have been so many places in the past year its really hard to believe its all real. Having been able to experience all of those place while being completely in love and with my best friend has been even more unreal. I absolutely can't wait to go on more adventures with you Ryan. I just want to tell you thank you for this past year spent together. I love you, always.