Hello 2014!

I know the post is named 2014, but I'm gonna start in 2013 ;)

The weekend before Christmas we went to Katy to spend time with my family. And we actually got the whole Ruske family together at the same time. It was great!

It's amazing how much my family has grown, and is growing!

The end of 2012 we added Caitlin. 2013 we added Henley, Bella, and Jacob. And now that she's been telling everyone, this year we'll also be adding baby boy Seckinger. I'm so grateful for my family!

Jacob and I both had to work Christmas Eve, but only that morning. So we spent the rest of the day with Jacob's family. Us, his parents, brother Stephen, and Stephen's fiancé Gina went to go see Frozen.  New favorite movie. And like every other little girl, (oh, big girl too!?) let it go is my new favorite song. Then we spent the rest of the evening at his parent's house.

Christmas morning we enjoyed our first Christmas together. We've actually been together for 2 Christmases already, but this is the first one we were together on Christmas day (he's spent the last two with his sister in Waco) AND it's our first married Christmas.

Christmas morning with our Christmas pajamas.

Jacob's favorite way of wrapping gifts is in a blanket. So I told him he had to actually wrap them. So he made origami wrapping paper boxes for some, wrapped some normally, franken-wrapped (lots of leftover pieces taped together) another, and put one in a blanket. Since he worked so hard on the origami I let the blanket slide. Haha.

After opening presents, we got ready and headed back to his parents house. Good thing they live like 10 minutes down the road ;) Haha. We had Christmas lunch, opened a few more presents. Then Kim's family came and joined us. It was a great Christmas holiday overall. And we are truly blessed!

In other excited news, I got my wedding pictures!! Yay! I seriously can't tell you how excited I was to get them. And now the empty frames hanging in our bedroom are filled with beautiful memories of our wedding :)

I'm so grateful for a fantastic photographer, and she captured the moments wonderfully!

Now to introduce you to Chewie…

Yes, we got another dog.

You can't really tell from the picture, but he has bright blue eyes.

Bella was so excited to meet her new puppy cousin.

The even shared some snuggles.

Leia's warmed up to him too.

It melts my heart the most when they're snuggled up together.

And lastly our 2014 goals.

Yes goals, not resolutions. That word is just asking to get broken. Lol.

2014 Goals:

-buy a duplex

As much as I want a 'house', we've talked a lot about it and a duplex is what will work the best for us. Live on one side, and rent the other side out basically having their rent pay the mortgage. I don't know if it will happen in 2014, but it is our next big purchase.

-cook at home more

It's way too easy to buy take out, and way too expensive. Plus I love to cook. It's just a matter of making myself do it after coming home from a long day at work. But so far so good.

-declutter/organize

Seriously though, he's 22 and I'm 20 and we just got married. We have way too much stuff. And most of it is crammed in the closet of the guest bedroom. Time to go through that baby and get rid of it/better organize it.

And now for Jacob's list… I told him he should choose a few things to be his goals. I let him take his time, and a day or two later he walked up and started writing these…

-more sex

-win lottery

And he turned and looked at me with a big smile on his face. Funny, I'll give him that, but I told him he had to write 2 real goals.

So he wrote these…

-pay off mafia…(debts)

what a character…

-fix ruby

(his 1966 ford ltd galaxy)

He's crazy and goofy, and hardly ever serious when I ask him to be. Only seriously a kid in a man's body. But he never fails to make me smile. Keep me from being serious all the time. And showing his love in his own way. I'm so lucky to have him, and it doesn't get more serious than that.

Love this guy so much! :)

2013 was fantastic, but here's to what 2014 has in store!

Oklahoma and More...

The night before thanksgiving Jacob and I stayed up baking pies… Yes, WE. My husband is an amazing pumpkin pie maker. All from scratch. Well, I make the crust, he does the rest; Cut the pumpkin, cook it, and peel the skin. I sure love my man of many talents ;)

His finished product

My favorite way to make apple pie, with cinnamon roll crust!

Mmmm :)

We had a blast in Oklahoma spending time with Jacob's family. Shopping, family, food, and so much more fun! Not to mention spending some time on the farm. Tractor ride included ;)

It's funny to think that last time we were in Oklahoma, for his granny's 80th birthday, and all I could dream about was being engaged to him, and now a little over a year later here we are married :)

How cute is that kid!?

Tractor riding

This was only my second time to Oklahoma, but I love it more and more each time I go!

Us with Granny

And Granny let us take home this sewing machine from her old house. I like it not only because it's cute, but also because it's been in the family. She said Jacob's aunts used to use it. No pictures of it open. But I love it!

This is Jacob's brother and his family. They surprised us with their arrival for our wedding and have been here since. We're sad to see them leave, but I guess we have to share them with other family ;) I'm still hoping they'll find their way back to Texas though. Haha.

The week after we got back from Oklahoma, Jacob and I purchased our Christmas tree. It's my first real one and I love it!! Well, not the little needles everywhere, but everything else about it. And really I just love decorating for Christmas in general!!

Our first Christmas married and my first real tree!

All decorated and even some presents underneath :)

In some other news…

A year ago yesterday, Jacob and I got engaged. It's crazy to think how much has happened in this last year. Unfortunately I'm a very impatient person, but I'm grateful for such a loving and patient husband who reminds me to keep an eye on the big picture. And I can't wait to see where we'll be in another year. There is so much ahead, it's all so exciting. I mean can you blame me for being impatient? ;)

On Friday I took a test at work to become a senior technician. It was so nerve racking (sp?). My boss and I had been talking about it since before the wedding. But things got so crazy it got left alone. And then I finally mentioned it to her again and within the week she emailed someone from the district and got a reply back that someone else was taking it in about 2 weeks and I could join. I felt so unprepared and had no idea what to expect with the test. The lady from our district office in Austin could tell how nervous I was. But I PASSED. And now I'm officially a senior technician. Kinda exciting :P

And then I have random pictures from my phone that I always love to share. Enjoy!

On one of our date nights Jacob wanted to spoil me, so we got ceviche as an appetizer. Yum! But we still like Kristys better :)

My brother and his wife like to play a little game called where's Jacob when they drive around town. Much like where's waldo… but with Jacob, on his moped. The other day Jacob fell asleep on the bed and then I went in to clean the room and threw the covers on him. When I came back in a few minutes later it reminded me of their game. Where's Jacob? (His head is in the top left corner incase you really don't see it. Haha.)

A week ago we went to Katy for the afternoon and spent a little time with family. Henley was playing shy. One day she'll like us though. Lol. And I can't believe how big she is!!

And this past week I got to watch baby Bella. She loves Leia!

Leia used to bark on command, she's become a bit more stubborn these days though, but Bella just loved it when she did.

And I couldn't help but take a picture when she wanted to play with the lights :)

I wore her and Uncle Jacob out that night. They were both out by about 8!

Sometimes we find Leia on top of the log stack in our backyard. Normally she sees us right as we're about to take a picture and jumps down. We caught her this time though.

It must have just been too bright. Jacob said she was looking straight at him for about 15 seconds. Then I walked up and made some noises and she jumped down and ran to the door.

We sure love our puppy. We love living close to family. And we love that the rest of our family really isn't that far away. Mostly we love each other, and what the Lord has in store for our future. 

In all honesty I probably won't post again until after Christmas. So Merry Christmas  :)

Today

I've mentioned my church before... or other activities dealing with it. But I've never formally mentioned it. So if you didn't already know, I'm a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Or as most people are more familiar, I'm a mormon. For more information visit lds.org or feel free to ask me any questions.

So today started out well. We had stake conference. And even got to sleep in an hour since we normally meet early.

My plan was to go home, make lunch, make cookies, and then visit teach, and head over to Jacob's parent's house for the rest of the evening.

When we got home it was HOT... Seriously. It felt better outside than in. And that's saying alot for Texas. Even in the 'winter'. But I still cooked. And it got hotter...

When I got back from visiting teaching and before we went to his parent's house, Jacob took a walk out to the A/C unit... it was the dog. THE DOG.

Fortunately it was something Jacob could fix. We are now sitting in our cool house and couldn't be more grateful.

I'm still upset with the dog though. (Only for the rest of the night)

And that's about it for our day... but here's some pictures :)

I got to hang out with this cutie all night

And just to sum it up here's our 'thankful' board ;)

I wrote A/C, and a husband who can fix it, NOT the dog (today at least)

And Jacob wrote cookies

This Week

This past week has been great, but also hard.

Last Saturday Jacob and I went to the Houston Temple, along with his parents, and my mom met us there. It was a beautiful day. And seriously the best way I could think of to spend my morning.

The rest of the day was spent cleaning/preparing for my brother and his family.

On Monday my brother Stephen, his wife Caitlin, and baby Isabella came into town. And my dad came up for the day to bring my mom who was staying a few nights.

I had to work.... This is the hard part I mentioned.

Tuesday Missy and the twins came up. Stephen and Caitlin found an apartment.

And I had to work again...

Fortunately, I worked early Tuesday and late Wednesday so I could at least spend some time with them.

Wednesday we helped Stephen and Caitlin move in, and her parents came and helped.

Then I went to work...

I worked late Wednesday and early Thursday.

Thursday Billy, Kris, and Brody came for the day. After they all went to lunch, Missy and the kids went home to Dallas, and Billy's family and my Mom went back to Katy... all before I even got off work.

SO... It's been a great week. My brother's family came back to Texas, and they found an apartment (less than a mile away from us might I add) and I had much more family come into town. I enjoyed every minute I could with them.

But I had to work the rest of them time.

I'm grateful for my job. It really helps us out. We would not make it financially if I didn't have it. And when it's not so crazy, I actually enjoy my job.

But when I have half my family in town, some of which I didn't even get to see, it makes me really hate my job....

And now for pictures. Because my post just wouldn't be complete if I didn't have some of those ;)

This is about the most I've 'decorated' for thanksgiving... I was surprised Jacob decided to go along with it. And also very happy. Lol.

This week a couple nights have gotten down in the 40s so we decided to let the dog in. She has now gotten used to it and gives us sad eyes through the door until we let her in. ... And last night I caved, even though the temp. was just fine for her to be out there.

Last saturday at the temple.

Texas waffles = the best waffles

Playful Bella

The kids all the loved the puppy.

Through the glass at least. Haha.

Alyssa still tells me about how last time she visited Leia jumped on her and made her cry. 

Jacob likes the scare the dog. She normally just flinches. But the other night she jumped on the couch and into my lap. It was pretty cute.

And the Esquivel's even joined in on my 'decorating' ;)