Natalie & Ryan: The Best Two Years

It's been two years since I knelt across the altar and became Mrs. Goodrich. Thinking back onto that day fills me with so many emotions. I also can't believe it's been 2 years. It feels like it's been forever, but it also feels like it's flown by. We've been through lots of ups and downs, good times and bad times, smiles and tears, but we've never been happier. In only two years, we've lived in 3 different houses, changed jobs a handful of times, bought a car, adopted two cats, had a baby, and on Thursday we'll be setting off on another challenging, yet worthwhile adventure.

I interrogated Ryan about our first two years of marriage. I asked him to tell me some of the new things he learned about me in the last year. Here's what he said:

* Nanny's a really good mommy

* Natalie has more patience with the cats and the baby, than with me

* It really is possible to be addicted to The Sims for a really long time

* I picked a good zombie apocalypse survival companion

* She asks for opinions on things, yet doesn't listen to them or will do the opposite

* It IS possible to break a vacuum in under a year, from excessive use

* At the end of the day, when Natalie says "guess what I did all day?" the appropriate response is NOT "played Sims all day" or "nothing"

* She sleep talks when she's angry or stressed. It's caused many confusing arguments during the night

* She's stubborn about letting me get up to feed the baby. I haven't had to do it in several months
*When packing for vacation or a weekend at my parent's, she will always forget to pack me socks

What I've learned about Ryan

* 99.9% of the time, Ryan will put dirty dishes in or around the sink, regardless of whether or not the dishwasher is clean or dirty.

* He's mastered the "do it wrong the first time, and you'll never be asked to do it again" motto.

* Most of the time, when Ryan says "I have lots of work to do this weekend, we can't go out to do anything," really he means "I'm going to sit at my computer, pretending to do work, even though I'm just playing games." It ALWAYS promises the Sunday night comment, "I didn't get anything done this weekend! I still have so much to do! Ugh!" (This one's my favorite. It makes me laugh every time)

* Ryan gives the best backrubs

* Pillow talk with Ryan is my all-time favorite

* When following a recipe, Ryan is actually a pretty dang good cook

* If I don't give Ryan a tour of our new house every time we move, he never learns where anything is, and I'm always being asked "where's the_____?"

* Don't play Mario Kart or Halo with Ryan. My advanced skills (or "cheating" as he puts it) make him mad. Pouty Ryan is not a fun Ryan.

*Ryan has a severe addiction to snacking on chocolate chips. I can buy POUNDS of them from Winco, only to have him eat through the supply within the week.

* Ryan is the hardest working man I've ever known. He has 3 full-time jobs, a needy wife, a needy baby, and still manages to squeeze in graduate school on top of that.

So, what did we get each other, you're asking? We like to keep to the traditional anniversary gifts. Last year, the traditional gift was paper. We ended up getting tickets to see Brian Regan. This year the traditional gift is cotton. Yeah, random, right? The modern gift is china. I really, really didn't like the laptop case that I got Ryan for Christmas, so I made him pick another one as his anniversary gift. It's made of cotton, so it counts! My gift from Ryan was my trip to Color Me Mine with my mom on Saturday. He decided to go with the modern gift of china, and allowed me to spend a little extra on pottery. He joked that he was just going to buy me something that said "Made in China" on it and call it good. Ha! Actually, when he got home today, he surprised me with a gorgeous bouquet of Gerber daisies and a new Willow Tree figurine.

And how did we celebrate? Well, considering I'm on my stupid pre-surgery diet, and starting at midnight, I'm not allowed to eat ANYTHING for the next two days (fasting for blood tests tomorrow and then no eating before the surgery), going out to dinner was not an option. The only thing that I insisted on was going to the temple to get our "TWO" picture. Yep, this is the one tradition I'm going to keep up each year. After getting our picture, we made the baby handoff with Ryan's parents. They're keeping Lilly for a bit while I recover from surgery. I'm going to miss her like crazy, but it's nice knowing that she's in extremely good hands.

Anyway, HAPPY 2ND ANNIVERSARY, RYAN! I LOVE YOU MOST!