The 21st Kiss

     I love a good love story to read about, especially one that fits my story of finding "the one" for me.  I saw this blog post on a friend's blog site and decided to let it distract me from studying and read a good story for a little while.  It's called the 21st Kiss.  I fell in love with her experience.  Pretty sure we lived the same life growing up and had the same exact boy troubles, but I would recommend this funny love story to anyone.  It is not long, takes a couple hours an that is it.  Definitively made me fall in love more with my hubby and appreciate all of my past terrible dating experiences.  

But if you have some time you should read it!  ENJOY!

http://www.thedatingdivas.com/how-two-people-fell-in-love/sassy-suggestion-love-story/

Arizona=Officially Our Home

     I can't believe that today JULY 31 is exactly ONE whole year since we moved down here.  I remember the day exactly.  The "monsoon" season was going on in AZ. The night before we drove to Flagstaff and stayed in a dumpy hotel, haha. (great memories)  It was raining super hard and all night long.  Flagstaff was a false idea of what AZ would be.  I remember thinking, oh I can live here, there are pine trees and mountains.  But when we woke up to make the 2 hour drive left to Glendale, it was cloud cover and rainy and a big scenery of CACTI.  So lucky for us with all of the seasons and beautiful weather going on we moved on a day that was 115 degrees and around 80% humidity.  Let me tell you, when we got out of the cars and started moving I was wondering what I got into!!!!  After the first trip up the stairs with a load of stuff my shirt was drenched!  My poor parents were troopers and helped us move in.  I thought they were never ever going to come and see me down here (well at least in the summer time).  But we moved into our home, Sage Stone.

     Growing up I thought I was going to stay in Idaho FOREVER!  I love Idaho, who would want to move from a place that has 4 beautiful seasons, mountains, rolling hills, and my favorite part farmland.  AZ has definitely been a big change for the both of us, but good.  We have to come to love it here and THESE ARE A FEW OF OUR FAVORITE THINGS.........

HEAT!!!

Tarantulas, even though we have never seen them I STILL HATE THEM

Scorpions! Yes we did have one in our house, but thankfully we are scorpion free now

Cicadias, they are bugs that flap their wings and make a sound like a lawn mower.  They flap to keep themselves cool but are super annoying and live in like every tree in the summer time.

Nasty Cockroaches, luckily nothing in our home but have stepped on a few purposely outside

     We have made some great friends here and can't believe that a whole year has gone by.  Now we are both students and about to be very busy.  We are very thankful for this move and we know that our Heavenly Father chose this great place for us to start our lives together.

8,760 HOURS

     That is right folks! I know all odds were against us, only knowing each other a total of 3 1/2 months once we sealed the deal and starting our lives, but I can say that I have survived 8,760 hours aka 365 days of being married to Ryan.   Lets get a round of applause haha.  Just kidding.  It has been one of the best years by far for us.  A lot of changes occurred this last year.  Here are just a list of a few changes....

1) Not single anymore, have to check the married boxes when filling out forms
2) Have to by triple the amount of groceries. 1 Part=Kali, 2 parts= Ryan
3) Don't have to report to parents, now report to spouse (which is worse haha)
4) Move 833 miles away from home to a new state, ARIZONA
5) Start being responsible by starting Medical School
6) Transfer pharmacy schools, start up pharmacy school again
7) Ryan getting used to actually cleaning every Saturday morning
8) Ryan learning how to play "5 minute Pick Up"
9) Ryan learning how to bake and cook edible meals
10) Last but not least, Ryan learning how to change an alternator twice and our car still works!!!!

     We have made many changes, but have adapted well.  We love our life here in Arizona.  The best thing for us was moving away and learning how to depend on each other for support.  Arizona has truly become our home.  We love the great friends we have made and love our ward family!  We have truly be blessed by our Heavenly Father and cannot wait to see what is in store for our little family next year.

     Here are a few pictures of our "PERFECT" day...

I don't know why but I Love this picture for some reason

     We celebrated our one year together by first cleaning.  It was Saturday! Then we went shopping! Ryan had some "certificates" to cash in from his birthday and we both needed some new clothes.  After a hard day of shopping we took a 2 hour nap.  We just hung out and enjoyed life the rest of the day.  It has been a great year and I can't wait for the next one to come!

ONE Year Older...Wiser Too???

     I love Birthdays! I love my birthday! But the only other birthday I love almost as much as mine is....Ryan's Birthday!!!  Who doesn't love a good birthday cake, a reason to go out to eat, order appetizers and then a big meal, then a movie in 3D, and then frozen yogurt?  Yup we love birthdays in this Finn household.  RYAN TURNED 26!!!!
     I had this big plan to decorate the house and do all of these fun clues to finding his presents, but lately I have not been able to sleep. I am lucky if I get a max of 3 hours of solid sleep.  So, the night before I of course couldn't sleep.  I knew I should have just gotten out of bed and decorated then, but I kept trying to win an endless battle of sleeping and when I finally fell asleep I passed out.  So of course the house didn't get decorated.  My plan of making him breakfast didn't work out either so I decided to take him to lunch during my break at school.  We went to a new place and it was pretty delicious.  I went back to school and Ryan went and played his weekly game of golf with his buddies.  I raced home to make him a little sign and do some decorating.  When he came home he was surprised!

    
     I of course was supposed to be studying for a test I had coming up,  so I didn't have time to make a little scavenger hunt.  I didn't have time during the last week either to go shopping for Ryan, which shouldn't come as a surprise since I am not a fan of shopping anyways so making time to shop usually doesn't happen.  Instead, I made Ryan certificates that he "achieved" because of his birthday.

     It was a fun day for the both of us.  Unfortunately because of my tests we had to finish celebrating his birthday on Thursday after school.  We went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner AND THEN we went and watch.....HARRY POTTER in 3D!  I was more excited then Ryan to watch it but I have never been to a 3D movie before.  It was so much fun.  I didn't make Ryan a birthday cake cause I am making a cake I have never tried before so we are just going to combine our anniversary/birthday together.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DR. FINN!  LOVE YOU!!!!

My Distractions....

     I never realized how much I loved having the time to do anything and everything I wanted in a day.  Having this last year off waiting to start pharmacy school back up gave me a lot of free time when I was not working.  But now being back in school it has been an adjustment for me to not waste my time when I have it.  This brings me to last week.  I had a pharmaceutical calculation test last Thursday and I was trying to be a good student/wife and get all of my studying done early so we could play that night.  Of course I was doing good until I started to hear some pounding in our spare room.  So of course that drew me to the room and I see Ryan playing the piano.  I LOVE watching and hearing Ryan play the piano.  He is a very talented when it comes to music.  He has an amazing bass voice, plays the guitar very well, and a great piano player.  I can play the piano as well, but lets just say that I hope all of our kids get Ryan's music ability.
     So, on with the story I tell Ryan to unplug the head phones and of course to play out loud.  I bring all of my study material into the room and listen to Ryan pound on the piano.  What he didn't know is that while he thought I was being studious, I wasn't, and I snuck in a few recordings of him.   Before I realized probably 30 to 45 minutes went by and no studying was done, but a deeper love grew for my husband with his many talents.  Here is a video that I shot of Ryan playing singing one of my favorite songs.  He did not know I was taking it so he does not end the song real well, but you get the idea.

     Another distraction I have besides Ryan playing the piano, is just Ryan.  I never know what he is going to do next.  Ryan can't sit still very well anyways but his brain is working a million miles a second.  So I asked Ryan to get a bandana for me for my primary lesson, and this is what I get...

   
     Meet COWBOY RYAN!  He is always telling me how I am turning him into a cowboy.  He always makes me laugh and keeps me on my toes!  I deal with this on a daily basis.

     Well, I only have 4 more weeks left and then finals and I am done with my first quarter at Midwestern.  1 down, only 7 more quarters to go!

Celebrating in SEDONA

     After 4 weeks of pharmacy school, it was time for tests.  My schedule has a set time for tests every Tuesday and Thursday morning along with any other tests during the week.  This is/was the only hard week I have this quarter besides Finals week.  The week contained of 4 tests, 3 quizzes and 1 paper.  Needless to say I accomplished everything with an A and Smile!  It was a very stressful week, but it gave me a lot of respect for Ryan.  During his first year of medical school I could recall numerous times where he had at least 3 tests in one week and then 6 tests during finals!  He gave me a few pointers which helped me out quite a bit.  I am very Thankful for my supportive husband.  I have felt very guilty this summer starting up school again while it is his LAST SUMMER of FUN, but we have been able to play a lot.  School has not been that bad and now that I have my "bad" week behind me there is all but more fun to come!
     We decided to get out of the hot heat of 115 degrees and head to SEDONA!  It is only 80 minutes away from us, about 20 degrees cooler, and 4000 feet higher then Phoenix.  We stopped at the Ranger Station and got all of the information needed and off we were to explore.  Sedona is amazing and beautiful.  We decided it is like Sun Valley, Idaho and Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  Ryan and I thought that since it was our first time to Sedona we should go on one of the trails that will give an over look of the whole valley.  So of course THAT trail was the longest and the highest in elevation, 7000 feet! Why not, Right?  It was a lot of fun and needless to say 8 miles later we were ready to shower!

We noticed this random cone mountain in the middle of the valley

Taking a Little Break

     It was around 100 degrees when we started hiking at 11 am.  I know, I know who starts to hike when the day gets hot?  WE DO!  If you want a good workout why not during the mid heat of the day!

We thought these trees looked like Dr. Seuss trees, Ryan's is red

Mine is Yellow!

Here is one of the first look out points about 2 miles in

Ryan celebrating

Kali celebrating

     One thing you will notice in the landscape pictures is how bad the SMOG is! It is so sad that all of that smog comes from Phoenix/Maricopa County!  You can not get a very clear view anywhere, even 80 miles away.  Next we had another 2 miles to go to get to the very top.

Picture from the top at 7000 feet

  
     On the way home, we got stuck on the freeway for about 45 minutes due to the winds tipped over a Semi Truck.  We actually experienced Idaho 30-50 mph winds! It was pretty crazy.  We were ready to get home and SHOWER.  I could feel the red and black sand/dirt get into my socks the whole hike.  I think the picture says it all....

     100 degrees + sweat + loose dirt/sand= dirty legs and toes, well at least Kali's toes and a much needed shower for the both of us.  We bought an annual pass for parking for up in Sedona.  There are around 50 to 100 hikes, some more famous then others, but we are sure we are going to conquer all of them.