What a week!

Man, oh man has it been one of "those" weeks! I am so happy to welcome the end of it!
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Our week started of fabulous as we spent Easter Sunday with our good friends Nathan and Shaleena Bennion. We ate some most delicious food, played games and dyed easter eggs! We had so much fun!

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Unfortunately the fab week ended there. Sunday night I got some really sharp pains in my abdomen. I felt AWFUL. Kyle gave me a blessing and I had a restless night of sleep on the couch. By morning I was feeling a lot better and hardly even felt any pain during the day.
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But my relief was short lived and early that night the pain came back in full force. It felt like someone had turned on a meat grinder inside of me. It hurt to stand, lay down, sit, curl up, stretch out...nothing I did made it better.
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After a lot of convincing from Kyle (I did NOT want to go to the hospital!) I finally consented into letting him take me to a doctor. The Student Health Center was closed so we didnt know where we were supposed to go and all we could think of was the ER at Madison Memorial Hospital.
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While I was in the ER they ran a blood test, urine test and I had an ultra sound. They admitted me to the hospital around midnight with the diagnosis of "abdominal pain of unknown cause" thinking it may be early appendicitis.
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After another restless night they ran another blood test and ordered a CAT scan. After hours and hours of waiting the doctor came in and said the CAT scan showed I had a ruptured ovarian cyst which had caused some bleeding in my abdominal cavity which causesed many of the physical symptoms of appendicitis.
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Good news was I didnt have to have surgery!! Bad news, the doctor said its likely to happen again because I had multiple cysts, and theres not much you can do about them. :/ Also, now I've got my head spinning with all these worst case scenarios about PCOS and infertility! So if any one has advice or experience with ruptured ovarian cyst or anything like that, I would love to hear some!
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As if the week had not already been long enough, my sweet grandpa passed away wednesday night from pancreatic cancer. We all knew it was coming, but I was still pretty sad. He was such a great man. He taught me to swallow pills, learn my times tables, blow my nose, drive, how to love your spouse, manage money, work hard, and enjoy my life. He was such a great example to me and to so many others. He had such a zeal for life! He will be greatly missed. I am so thankful for the plan of salvation and the hope that we have to see him again. I know that this is just another step of his life in eternity. He is freed from his pain and returned to our loving Heavenly Father.

We love and miss you gramps!
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It has been a hard week but my fabulous husband has taken such good care of me and done so much for me this week! I love him to pieces and I'm so grateful to have him in my life!

Happily Ever After

Kyle and I have reached 365 days of marriage! Yes, we have loved it all! It has been a most fabulous year! It's been so much fun learning the little idiosyncrasies that make each other tick.

I could never have imagined my life working out the way it has in the last year, but I am so grateful that it has. I was positive that marriage was NOT in my five year plan after high school, but my loving Heavenly Father didn't agree with my plans. Mr. Johnson walked into my life and I've been head over heels for him ever since! I am so grateful that the Lord's hand is in my life, leading me and guiding me to where I need to be; which is right next to my wonderful husband Kyle! :)

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I'm also grateful for the blessings of the temple and the opportunity that we have to be sealed together forever!

We are excited for our future and what lies ahead for us. We know life will bring us trials and bumps in the road, but with faith in our Heavenly Father and each other, we can have our very own Happily Ever After.

Double Decades, the Zoo and Being a Scientist

Thats right people, I'm proud to say that I've lived to see two whole decades!
Im hoping now that maybe the dropped jaws will be a little less dramatic when people find out my age and that I'm married!

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I had such a fun day. Kyle and I went to this place called Color Me Mine. We got to paint our own pottery and then they fire it for you. I painted a cute little cupcake platter and kyle painted a candy dish. It was lots of fun!
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Then I went out to Texas Roadhouse for dinner with my family. They made me sit on the saddle while they all gave me a big Happy Birthay YEEHAW!!
Embarrasing...I know.
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My sister made me this super cute cupcake flower cake.
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This last Saturday the Denver Zoo had a free day. So Kyle and I took his three youngest siblings to the zoo with my sister and her husband and Parker. Since it was a free day, BEAUTIFUL weather and a Saturday, the zoo was PACKED! There were SO many people!
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Parker didnt like riding in the stroller but he sure liked walking around with Uncle Kyle.
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Since Parker didnt want his stroller, Jonah took advantage of the open seat! Jared pushed him around for the last part of the day. It was nice to know that Jonah was with Jared and not getting lost in the crowds.
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Jonah thought most of the animals smelled!
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It was a fun day and a nice break from work!
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Speaking of work. I had a funny experience at work the other day. We test fire alarms in the Denver Public Schools. We carry these poles that have a little doohickey on the end that sprays fake smoke into the detectors, and it tends to draw quite a spectacle. Especially in the elementary schools.
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Well we were at an elementary school and this third grade class walked by me in the halls and a the teacher stopped and told the class to make a prediction about what I was doing. They all made guesses and then I told them what I was doing and the teacher turned to the class and asked them "Is she a scientist?"

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Now, I dont have much of a love for my job, and I'm not sure I've ever felt like a scientist. But all the kids excitedly shook their heads and for a moment I felt like I had a pretty cool job.

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Thats right, I'm a scientist!

The Small Things in Life

Today I learned, or should I say RE-learned a valuable lesson.

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On our off-track from school Kyle and I test fire alarm systems in the Denver Public School district. Well yesterday DPS was closed along with EVERY other school district from North Denver down to Pueblo because of the absolutely FRIGID temperatures. We're talking frigid like the high in the negatives. Frigid.

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So today was not much warmer and every school district that was closed yesterday was closed again today, or at least delayed. All, that is, except for Denver Public Schools. So Kyle and I woke up at 4:30 in the morning, got in the car and it was -11 degrees. WITHOUT the wind chill. So needless to say, we weren't the happiest campers when we arrived at work. And of course no one at the school was happy to be the only ones in Colorado at school. So I was pretty annoyed by the middle of the morning.

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But then....I remembered my wonderful husband packed me some oreos for the day! So in hopes to brighten my spirits I dug into my bag and found the goods. But what I found was not just any plain joe oreos. No, no, no. These were FOOTBALL shaped oreos!

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Now I know what you're thinking. "That's it?!"
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YES! Yes, that's it! I didnt even know there were oreos shaped like footballs! I was expecting plain circle oreos and instead got a new and unexpected football oreos. And I was delighted! I had found a small moment of bliss in my new found oreos.
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What can I say? Sometimes it's the small things in life that make your day! Like football oreos.

That's about all folks!

Well hello again blogging world! Its been a while!

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Our lives have become rather monotonous these days. We started work in January so our schedule consists of waking up BEFORE the early risers, driving a hour to and from work and returning home, eating dinner and back in bed by 8:30 so we can do it all again the next day.

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Its rather uneventful and not really worth blogging about. However, there are a few exciting things to update about for my future posterities sake.

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First, I blogged last on Christmas Eve and mentioned we were going to Idaho since we didnt know when my sisters little dude would make his entrance into the world. Within hours she texted my mom saying she didnt this she was going to make it until Monday, her scheduled date to be induced. And by 11:15 pm Christmas Eve night Parker Daniel Rucks made his debut into the world!

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He came weighing in at 6 pounds 7 ounces and 19 inches long.

He has been simply perfect, but my opinion may be a false representation since I get to hold him and love him and then give him back and get a full 8 hours of sleep at night! :)

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Second, my cousin got married! We went to their wedding just this last weekend. It was a very nice ceremony and they left in a wonderfully decorated car :) Unfortunately, I'm often a failure at documenting our life experiences!

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Thats about the extent of excitement for us these days. We've just be chugging along through work. One month down, two more to go!

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When we were in Utah for my cousins wedding, Kyle and I were so close to Rexburg! We were tempted to just forget work and go back up to Idaho instead of returning to Colorado. We've been living with Kyles family so we can save as much money here as possible. We're greatful for the blessing and opportunity we have to save money for school, but I've been rather home sick for our own place these last couple days. I miss that place and I cant wait until work is over and we can get back to our normal life again!
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But until then, thats about all folks!

It's time we had some Christmas cheer!

Christmas is TOMORROW!! :)
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Our Christmas break started off kind of rocky! We finished finals with sickness looming in our future. Kyle got a nasty head cold in the middle of finals, and I held out to the end of the week, but it wasnt long before I took up permanent residence in bed and on the couch for a couple of days.
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Thankfully I married a good man. He took good care of me and even gave a talk in church for me on Sunday!
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By Monday I was up and moving again. We cleaned the house and got ready to leave the next day to Utah for my sisters birthday and Christmas. We were done with our to do list early and figured we might as well head down to Utah that night instead of just sitting around waiting to leave. So we called my mom and told her we were going to surprise my sister and come that night. We got her pretty good.
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Unfortunately for us though, since we got in late, we were carrying our stuff inside in the dark and subsequently I left my purse, make-up bag and ipod in the car. We also at some point had a miscommunication on who locked the car. I thought Kyle locked it, Kyle thought I had locked it....which led to an unlocked, well-stocked car.
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We woke up the next morning and I asked Kyle to go get my make-up bag and purse from the car. At which point, we discovered that someone got into our car and took all that I forgot in the car the night before.
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The good news, they only took what was in sight.
All of our Christmas presents were in the trunk, they didnt take any of those. Kyle's camera was in the middle console and they didnt take that. And luckiest of all, we had a spare key in the car. They could have taken off with the whole car and we would have been in some big trouble then!
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So we spent the rest of the morning canceling debit cards, blocking checks and filing for fraud alert. Needless to say, we have learned our lesson to make sure the car is locked and we take everything OUT of the car to begin with!
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We were ready for a change in our luck! We spent the rest of the day in downtown Salt Lake City. We went ice skating at an out door rink, went to dinner and looked at the lights at temple square. It was an ok way to end a miserable morning.
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Yesterday we celebrated Christmas Adam with my dad's side of the family. Since both grandparents live close by, years ago we started celebrating Christmas with the Allreds the day before Christmas Eve...since Adam came before Eve, we nick named the event Christmas Adam. As we've all grown up, its been hard to all get together for the last couple of years, so it hasnt happened for a while.
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Within the last couple weeks, we learned my grandpa was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. So we all made an extra effort to get work off and be there for one more Christmas Adam. It was so much fun to have almost every one back around one VERY large table again. We opened presents from each other, ate, talked and laughed, ate some more. It was so much fun! And a really great time to reconnect and reminisce with all the family.
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Today its on to the next family for more eating and visiting and eating and laughing and eating and talking and eating.
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Its time we had some Christmas Cheer! :)

The most wonderful time of the year

Yes, my favorite time of the year is FINALLY here!

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Kyle and I started off our favorite time of the year a little early. Before we left for Colorado for Thanksgiving, we wanted to set up our christmas tree his parents gave us so it would be all set up when we got home. We also hung our stockings and my sister is living with her in-laws right now, so we got to set up her nativity set too!

Our home is now festive and cute! :)
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We flew to Colorado for Thanksgiving. It was a very much needed break from school and so much fun to spend time with our families. I love this time of year where everyone comes together and we just eat! Good food with good company. Does it get any better than that?!
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We helped set up Christmas trees at both Kyle's house and my house!

(We decorated three Christmas trees!)

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I was not ready to come back to snowy, cold Rexburg. We flew into Salt Lake City and then had to drive back up to Rexburg...and we ran into just a little complication which resulted in this...

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Yes, that is a sock and duck tape!
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We've had some pretty bad wipers on our car since I met Kyle, but we have put off getting new ones because you have to get them through Audi and we knew it wouldnt be that cheap. Well, while cautiously driving through the snow I turned on the wipers and the drivers side wiper flew off! It was slightly commical but we were in some serious trouble since the nearest Audi dealership we could get wipers at was hours away!
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So we pulled off at a gas station and bought a regular wiperblade and some duck tape to keep it on! We decided to switch the good audi wiper to the drivers side in case the other one didnt work. We get back on the road and Im trying to use the wipers as minimally as possible, but hello! It was snowing! So I turned on the wipers again and lo and behold, the last standing audi wiper flew off!

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At this point Im thinking...REALLY?!

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We pulled over again, switched the new wiper to my side so I can see and duck tape it on. We didnt want to stop and get another one and we didnt want the wiper arm to scrape on the windshield every time I used the wipers so we duck taped a sock to the other one. It looked like a little nub!

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It was quite the drive home! We finally made it and got new wipers! They work so great! :) Merry Christmas to us!

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Now were back to school and have to stay focused for just a couple more weeks of school. This semester has been a long, hard one so I am SO excited for it to end!
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But I'm more excited for Christmas! My family is coming up to us this Christmas because my sister is having a baby any time now! Since we dont know when exactly the little man is going to make his entrance into the world, parents and sister and brother will join us all here at our cute decorated home! :) I can't wait!