Rants, Recipes, and Running

My Grandma, Valeria McDougall passed away when I was about 4 years old..and I never got to know her. However I feel like i have fond memories of her, from the stories that I have been told. She mothered 8 children-- 5 boys (2 of them twins), and 3 girls, she was a teacher, and kept up the household of a farm. She was just as much of a dedicated, hardworking, metitculous clean-freak as my mother (mom, this is a compliment--I am so glad to have inherited your great jeans); and the BEST baker in town. I have heard endless nostalgia about how wonderful her baking was .... so last night -- I connected with her. As this blog has been progressing..it is about my story of Ryan and I..but since Ryan can't see it yet (the wedding dress photos are stricly OFF LIMITS), I am also talking about my journey to becoming that cute, domesticated wifey.....so : Dear Grandma Valeria, I hope you can take a break from scrubbing the floors of heaven to read this--for I KNOW heaven has taught you of the te...

No long boring elaborate stories this time...just some pictures of the christmas cookies and tree to add to my preview blog :)

So as Christmas has been quickly approaching us, many feelings and views on this holiday have entered my thoughts. This Christmas has been different for me this year because 1) I'm in Arizona where no snow, cold, or frost appears. and 2) I will not be choking down the ole' thick, milky, fishy grog we call "Oyester Stew" with my family up north. The first feelings I had experienced this christmas were of somewhat sadness this Thanksgiving. I went to the movie "Four Christmases" with my sister Lisa and sister-in-law Emily. The take-home message of the movie was that family is the essense of Christmas. Although the movie was something one would consider comedy (and believe me, I laughed until I hurt)...I remember one point of the movie I had tears rolling down my face in wonder of what Christmas will be like without the pickled herring, mom running around the house in a frenzy, and watching all my nephews enjoy the holiday. However, after we returned from Th...

The month of July was approaching, and we both knew we had to plan a trip to Puerto Penasco, Mexico to get a taste of the beach, sunshine, tequila, and some carne asada......... so we planned sort of a last minute trip finding a beautiful resort, international car insurance on Ryan's car, and made our plans to leave July 10. It was the last weekend in June, and I had to work both days; and Ryan was at home. (I had nooo idea this was going on....) Ryan suddenly got the motivation to head to the mall and go ring shopping. We had talked about getting engaged, but figured it would happen in the future. Well, we walked into Kays, found the perfect ring, and bought it on the spot. This SAME morning while I was at work, I recieved a text message from my mom. She and my dad were attending mass at a church in Henning, MN--and there was a sign on the wall reading "God Bless Ryan and Abigail"........kind of eerie!! When I told Ryan about this sign, he just replied saying "...

We returned to UND for our spring semester both knowing that we were giong to be moving to Tucson in May. However, we kept this a secret between the two of us until things would be come finalized. We spent more and more time together; in fact, we were basically inseperable. The little things that used to seem like a chore became fun. Ex: working out, going to class, studying....however, we found that doing those things together made them pleasant. Ryan came to my lake cabin for the weekend to go ice fishing and meet most of the family. This was the weekend we would break it to my mom and dad that I was going to be moving to Tucson. We spent a fun Saturday out on the ice, and Ryan bonded with my dad and brothers--but had fear in the back his head the whole day. I will NEVER forget watching him ask my father's permission to bring me to Tucson. My dad was stoking the fire in the fire place with a hot, iron rod in his hand; and Ryan approached him in our living room with the utm...

This chapter of our story is about literally the fall of the year, and how Ryan and I took "the fall". (I loove cheesy). Our first dates were the like the dates out of my dreams. Our 2nd date I invited him on one of my training runs. At the time I was training for the Twin Cities marathon, and told him that Wednesday I would be doing an easy run. So we went on a 6 mile run. Ryan left that date thinking I was crazy, but still took me out for dinner that night. He's more into normal sports involving skill, strategy, and talent--not just running in a latent state for extended periods of time apparently ;) The dates preceding those only got better. We would sneak onto the golf course late at night and put on the green. There were also -30 degree Grand Forks, ND days where Ryan would call me up, tell me to put on my swimming suit and he'd be picking me up in 10 minutes. I would be hesitant; but just went with it. We would then sneak into hotels around town, and r...

Ryan and I met at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks. However, it tooks a few meetings before the we felt sparks fly. The first week of our first year at UND, we both joined a student government group called "Emerging Leaders". At the first meeting, we were put into groups and 4, and sure enough; Ryan and I were in the same group, and I was chosen as "group leader". Well, I quit the next day--so that ended things very quickly! The year went by, and we both got settled in at school; with different groups and friends and different lives. We ran into each other every once in awhile--and he would occasionally tease me about being a "quitter". It was the last day of our school before summer, and I ran into him again. However, my impression I made on him was less than excellent; where I tripped over a chair, fell into a door, and cut my eye open. Despite that, I remember leaving school for the summer being smitten by Ryan Nastase. Summer passed...