It Was a Year Ago Today...

So... I have not been doing well keeping up with my blogging. As the name of our blog suggests, we have been super busy still. Anyway, I am going to do a few posts today I think, so I keep the posts short.

Anyway, it was a year ago today that my dear, sweet Kevin Ryan asked me to be his wife!! What a wonderful (and

cold) day it was!! I decided that I'd blog the engagement story as I remember it now to remind myself and anyone else of the incredible day!! So, here's the story:

Anita, Robin and I are BFFs with ridiculous schedules. We FINALLY planned a date to get together for Robin's birthday (which is actually on the 16th). So, we made plans to spend the day in Galena. We decided to get dressed up so we could take some super cute BFF pictures and we let the birthday girl decide where we were going to go for lunch! We had made plans to meet at Robin's house (which is in Galena) and walk into downtown from there. Whenever we walk from her house to downtown, we walk through a park called Grant Park so, it was not weird for me when we started toward downtown through the park. We were talking on the way to the park. Kevin and I had been talking about marriage before this day, so I knew a proposal was coming, but I thought it was going to happen at Christmas or after. I had asked Kevin's permission to book the reception hall that we had wanted the day before this BFF birthday date. I was talking with my gal pals about how silly I felt making official wedding plans without a ring on my finger. Anyway, as those words were coming out of my mouth, I heard a guitar playing in the park and a small voice singing a familiar song. I looked up and there was Kevin, in the park gazebo, singing and playing his guitar. I joined him in the gazebo as he finished up singing me "God Gave Me You" by Dave Barnes and then he started singing "Now and Forever" by Richard Marx. He finished with a line from the Moldy Peaches song "Anyone Else But You"... "I don't see what anyone can see in anyone else, but you". He put down his guitar, got on one knee, held out a ring box and said "Anna Leah Soderman, will you marry me?". I just nodded and got out a very quiet "yes". Kevin had also schemed with our friend Graeme Pitman, who is a photographer, to hide out and take pictures of the whole thing! It was just the most perfect proposal. I could not have dreamed of anything better!! Even to this day, it was one of the best days I can remember.

We're going on a date tonight to celebrate!! Perhaps I'll take a few pictures and add them later!

Thanks again Graeme for being there and recording the whole thing!

Catching Up...

Hello Friends!

So, this last month has been particularly busy for us Bradfords. We've been in and out of town quite a bit, hosting youth group events and hosting my new sister-in-law for a visit or two. So, please excuse the delay in my posting. I'm hoping to get you all up-to-date with this post!

For those of you that don't know, Kevin is a flight instructor at a local university (University of Dubuque) and sometimes that allows him the opportunity to represent the University at different events, mostly air shows. One of the air shows that he gets to go to every year is in Osh Kosh, Wisconsin and is one of the biggest in America. It's a week long and there is so much to do and see the week is almost not enough. People fly in from all over the world to network and share their passion for airplanes. It's a pretty cool experience. Kevin was VERY excited to be able to take me along this year. We went for the second half of the week and it was quite overwhelming for me, as it was my first experience at any kind of air show. I did a lot of nodding and smiling when Kevin told me about different airplanes and what they do. Not that I don't care, I just have no idea what he's saying most of the time. There are lots of technical terms I don't know yet. Anyway, it was a really fun weekend for several reasons. First of all, I got to spend it with Kevin and share in something he really loves. Second of all, I brought another flight instructor wife with me!! Kevin's supervisor, Brett is also on the leadership team at our church, so his wife came along with me!! We had SO much fun. We supported our husbands and went to the air show the first day we were there, but then the second day we were in Osh Kosh, we went OUTLET SHOPPING!!! We found some great deals and I think we found ourselves a new annual tradition. Thanks Brett and Iuliana for a super fun weekend!!

A couple weekends later, Kevin took me for another first, the Iowa State Fair. Kevin and his family go to the Iowa State Fair every single year for the first day of the fair. Kevin, again, was really excited to share this with me (and so was my sweet sister-in-law, Wendy). So, our group set off early to hit the fairgrounds. It was Kevin, Wendy, her boyfriend and our dear friend Jake, Holly (my mother-in-law), Nate (my father-in-law) and me. We hit up the coffee stand first so we could start the day off of right and we watched the tail end of the opening ceremonies and then started going around to the different exhibition halls to look at vendors and all the other great things the fair has to offer. I got to see the famous butter cow (yes, that is a cow made of butter) and then we made our way through some art exhibitions which were wonderful (and always make me wish I had SOME sort of talent). After that, we had our first food on a stick. I had a State Fair Corn Dog and I have to tell you, I wanted to eat them all day long. Seriously. After that, we did some wine tasting and went on the skyride/tram thingy. We finally split up and the kids went one way and the adults went another. The kids decided to ride some rides and boy oh boy was that fun. We first rode something called The Crazy Mouse and I think almost all of us decided that was the best part of our day. It was just about the most fun roller coaster I think I've ever been on. The happy new couple rode on the ferris wheel and Kevin and I did a few other rides that were more nostalgic for me. Then it was time for some more food. Pork Chop on a stick was next on the menu. I am not a big fan of pork, so I passed on that one. I also passed on the fried butter on a stick that Jake tried. We slid down the giant slide, listened to some a capella music, rode a few more rides, ate a few more delicious foods (not all on a stick) and finally decided to call it a night. We went back on Friday for a few more hours of fun too. I have to say my first experience with any state fair was pretty amazing. I loved every minute of that weekend.

The weekend after that, Kevin and I went to Davenport to finally finish up buying some stuff off of our registry at Target. We decided to go to Davenport because they have a Super Target and since it's back to school time and there are 5 colleges in Dubuque, we thought our chances to actually get the things we needed would be better in Davenport. Plus, we love any chance we can get to go to Davenport. We made a whole day out of it. We had lunch, met up with friends who tagged along while we went shopping and then went to our friends' home to grill up some burgers and hang out. We enjoyed our time with Brandon and Kelsy SO much. We're so excited that they MAY (fingers crossed and prayers being said) be moving to Dubuque soon!! We would love nothing more than to have them back in Dubuque to hang out with all the time!!

THEN, the weekend after that, we went on a tube float down the Maquoketa River with two of our great friends Matthew and Leah Johnson. It was SO much fun. We left at 9:00 in the morning and came home at 5:30 in the evening. We had beautiful weather, lots of yummy snacks, drinks and wonderful company. I can't wait for next summer to do it all again!!

Finally, this last weekend we were back in Des Moines for Kevin's friend's wedding. We spent the long weekend with Kevin's family and it was so much fun. The wedding was beautiful and I got to meet lots of Kevin's friends from high school. We were also able to just hang out with Kevin's parents and eat delicious food as well as play some fun board games. It was such a relaxing way to spend Labor Day weekend.

Well, that should catch us up to the present. I'm sorry I don't have pictures from each event, I may add some later, but for now I just wanted to FINALLY get this blog written!!! I started it WEEKS ago and then got busy again and didn't have a chance to finish it. I am also having a hard time getting the format of my blog down and adding pictures has proven to be quite a challenge for me.

Also, in the last month, we've met the newest members of our Great Adventure Church Family, Daniel Theron Young and Isabel Grace Warren. We've babysat some cute, cute kids. We've hung out with other dear friends and have had wonderful times together. We are looking forward to many more memories in the coming months!!!! I hope you can all forgive me for the extremely long post and for not breaking it up with any pictures. I hope to do better with the posts as the weeks go on!! Thanks for reading!!

Already Behind

Hello Friends who actually read this blog, I sincerely apologize for not blogging in almost a month. As the name of this blog suggests, things have been busy in our little household. We've been hosting guests (yay), traveling a little, and just keeping up with the day to day busy-ness that is full time jobs, being involved in church and making time for some fun stuff too. I will have an enormous blog to post after this one, catching you up on all the fun things we've been doing lately. I just wanted you all to know that I have not died or fallen off the face of the planet or anything, we're just busy!!!!

On a completely different note, I joined something called emusic (www.emusic.com) over a year ago and let me tell you, one of the best investments I've EVER made!!! You pay a monthly fee (you can choose how much or how little that fee is basically) and then you can buy music off of the website each month. They have lots of good stuff, lots of indie artists as well as mainstream artists. It's helped me limit my music purchases (for the most part) but also allows me to splurge on a guilty pleasure now and then. Right before our last roadtrip (which was last weekend) I went on a little music buying binge. I went a little crazy but every purchase made ended up being wonderful!! So, now I want to tell you about these purchases. I've stumbled across the name Greg Laswell a few times and finally decided to purchase a few of his albums (on emusic) and let me tell you, I'm hooked. He has a crazy range, somewhat Joshua Radin-esque. His voice is like buttah. Seriously. It's smooth and beautiful and gives me goosebumps. I have listened to his album a few times through already and I haven't even owned it for a whole week! Also, I have been a fan of Matt Nathanson for a LONG time. I really enjoy his folky/poppy style and his lyrics are really great. He finally came out with a new album (Modern Love) and I am quite pleased with it. It's definitely more of a pop album than some of his works in the past but I really enjoy it. I would recommend it to a friend for sure! I also bought the new Augustana. I have also been a fan of them for years now. They are quite unique and each album brings about a new facet of their greatness. This new album (self titled) took me a few listens to really start enjoying it, but I have found that some of the albums I like most these days, that ends up being the case. So, if you're looking for some new music check out Greg Laswell if you're in the mood for something a little more mellow, Matt Nathanson if you want some acoustic pop or Augustana for some pop/rock/country/folk hybrid.

I'll try to get my next post up as soon as I can. Thanks for being patient with me.

1st Monthaversary

So, life has been pretty hectic since the last post. We've had company two weekends in a row. I LOVE playing hostess now that I finally have the space, so having company is always tons of fun for me. My awesome sister-in-law, Wendy, has been our lone house guest these past few weekends. She says it's because she loves us, I suspect it has something to do with the man who is now her boyfriend :) We are so thrilled for the new couple!!! In fact, we went on a little double date this past weekend to see Captain America (which was a pretty good movie, by the way). At one point during the movie, I looked over and happened to catch Jake and Wendy holding hands, and I about died from the cuteness and had to restrain myself from squealing like a 12 year old Justin Bieber fan. Instead, I made Kevin take a peek too and of course that happened to be a fairly important moment in the plot and he missed it. I felt really bad after that and tried to stay quiet for the rest of the movie. That is, until Samuel L. Jackson popped up. Seriously, is he in EVERY movie EVER or is it just me?!

We've also been able to babysit a few times recently. We even got to have one little cutie over to our place for a leisurely Sunday afternoon. Jude was probably the easiest baby I've ever taken care of. He's super content and really quiet. It was awesome. Also, he's stinkin' cute. See for yourself:

In other news, I have a tremendously talented husband. Not sure if you all know that or not, but it's true. Sometimes, I forget just how incredible he is. I say this because he was asked to sing for an event for the Alzheimer's Association of Dubuque this past weekend called Monarch Moments. It is a memorial service for people who have lost a loved one to Alzheimer's or knows someone suffering with it. It was a really touching service. Anyway, he was originally asked to sing one song, and then ended up doing music for the whole program. Also, I'm pretty sure he learned the songs they asked him to sing in less than a week. He did such a great job and I'm so proud to be his wife!! Here are some pictures from the event:

Finally, today is the anniversary of our first month of marriage!!!!! Kevin is going out of town tomorrow for the rest of the week, so I had already planned for us to have a night in together before he left, then it hit me today that it was our monthaversary. So, it worked out pretty perfectly!! I made us Caribbean jerk chicken (one of Kevin's favorite things) with brown rice and broccoli (and lots of cheese). It turned out pretty well. We ate by candlelight and we had Norah Jones serenading us quietly in the background.

I will try not to make the rest of my entries as lengthy. I realize there is probably quite a bit of information here that you didn't want. Bear with me as I still get the hang of this blogging thing. For those of you who made it this far, thanks for sticking with my rambling story telling!

Starting a Blog?!?

Hello Friends!

So, I've secretly been wanting to start a blog for quite some time, but kept discouraging myself with the constant reminder 'what on EARTH do I have to blog about?!'. That sentiment is still running through my brain as I type this very line, but I've stopped caring. I am not a writer by trade, so for all of you grammar freaks and spelling fiends, know that there will be mistakes in this blog. I will try VERY hard to keep them to a minimum though.

I've decided that this blog is going to be about life as I (we) live it. I'm FINALLY married!!! The dream I've had as long as I can remember to be a wife has finally come true and I could not be happier about the wait I've had for the man I love. I figured, I can blog about being a newlywed and all of the fun/frustration that comes with that. I like to cook (and hope to do more of it now that I have a second person to cook for). I can blog about that (plus, we got half a dozen cookbooks from the wedding and I'm DYING to try out some new recipes). Also, I love, love, LOVE discovering new music (or what I think is new music) and sharing it with my friends. I can blog about that! Plus, I feel like Kevin and I are constantly going here or there for various events and we're constantly intruducing each other to new experiences. I can blog about that, too. So, like I said, this blog is going to be about life as I (we) live it. I bet Kevin will even make a few posting appearances (and his will be spelling and grammar error free).

So, please excuse me if it takes me awhile to get the hang of this blogging thing. I hope you enjoy being part of the ride in the lives of The Busy Bradfords!