Birthday Celebration

January 2005

Well, it's been a month since we arrived home from our "journey around the US".  It doesn't seem like it's been that long, huh?  Time goes by fast.  I'm already looking forward to making a trip like that again in the future. 

This month Ryan and I have had some fun.  Jay and Becky Rairigh (Jay used to be the Crossroads' pastor) and their daughters, Jeni and Juli came by for a visit.  We really enjoyed seeing them.  It had been quite a while.  We ate some good food at Fudruckers and played a game of "Scene It."  **Thanks again Vangundas..yes, you too Courtney :-) **

School is going good for the both of us.  I wasn't so sure how I would like taking only online classes this quarter.  But to tell you the truth, I'm glad that it worked out that way.  It's been snowing like crazy and I'm happy that I don't have to leave the house to drive in this mess.  So, it worked out good.  Maybe it's just my imagination, but it seems like Ryan and I have had more time to spend together this quarter.  I think it's because he treats his schooling like a eight hour job.  When there is studying or homework to do (which there always is) he stays at school and does it.  I guess that's why we have had more time together when he gets home.  It's been really nice.   

Cold Weather Fun:

Ryan and I decided to build a snowman.  I've never made a real snowman before...ok, I made one once in Mississippi that was a half a foot tall.  We started out by packing small balls of snow together, but it wasn't sticking together.  Nothing that we tried was working!  So, Ryan being the genius engineer that he is came up with a plan.  We then collected snow in garbage bags and I blow dried the snow (to melt it a little). After that, we could pack the snow in a ball and continued to build our snowman.

Unfortunately, with a fatal beam to the stomach, the snowman was laid to rest only three days after he was constructed.  RIP snowman...

George Strait Concert:

For Ryan's birthday, I bought tickets to go see George Strait in Cincinnati.  We dressed in our "cowboy apparel" and hit the road about 5:30.  We had about a fourty-five minute drive.  When we got there, we ran for the arena.  (It was FREEZING cold outside!)  We found our seats and chilled for about twenty minutes before the show started.

When we first arrived, there weren't many people there.  I thought that many had decided to stay home because of the snow.  As you can tell, by the time George Strait was on stage, the place was packed!

Our seats were located on the top level. (Keep in mind, I didn't even know about this concert until a few weeks prior.) We actually really liked where we sat because wecould see the performers even when they weren't standing right in front of us...and the huge projection screens helped too.

We had an absolute blast at the concert!  Ryan enjoyed the music so much that just a few days later he had to go and buy one of George's cds.  Must have been due to the subliminal messages...