Birthday week

Well, yesterday I turned 21 :) My day looked something like this: My wonderful husband woke up with the sun so that he could make me a superb swedish pancake breakfast in bed! (apart from us not having a griddle or real maple syrup, it was as good at Grandma C's at mission springs :)

The night before (friday night) I had opened a package from my mom. She found me the exact same pewter tray, sugar dish and cream dish as she has. I was ecstatic to say the least! Its beautiful! 

I slowly opened presents I had recieved all throughout the day, I was so blessed to read cards and open things from both my Zerlang and Jackson family. Yesterday afternoon my stevie brought me these beautiful flowers.

And then we were off to the annual Cheesecake Factory birthday dinner (annual because I have chosen cheesecake factory as my restaraunt of choice for every birthday since Stephen and I were dating. I just love that Luau Salad and Godiva chocolate cheesecake. Mhhhhmmmmhhhhhh!!! :) We sat and dinner, and Stephen said "you should get a glass of wine" and then we both looked at the menu and decided we were way to cheep to buy wine :) it was great!

Here we are about to leave surrounded my all the birthday gifts and wrapping paper :)
It was definitely very hard being away from all my family yesterday, but God has blessed me with a wonderful companion and best friend! For my birthday Stephen bought me a new pair of running shoes (which I desperately needed), AND in 2 weeks is taking me for a weekend get away to Estes Park right near Rocky Mountain National Park. We are staying at an amazing hotel called the Stanly Hotel! Its beautiful! Here's a link to take a look : http://www.stanleyhotel.com/ .

Here's a few more pictures from the week to tell some stories:

 These are my fellow Rocky Vista wives. Jen is on the left, I am in the middle and Brittany is on the right. Here's the story: Last weekend we all went to a farmers market while all the guys were studying. Afterwards we decided to cruise through the mall near by. And there, in front of build a bear, was Darth Vador and his crew. So I dropped my purse and we took a picture. :)

This is Stephen and I at the Rocky Vista Talent Show. It was great! We screamed our head of and therefore won this beauty of a water bottle :) And now we both have scratchy throats.

And last but not least... Today at lunch we had grapes... and Stephen decided to see how many he could fit in his mouth at once (yes I know, we are so grown up are we :) But hey, we are just trying to make like a little more fun :)

And so here he is with 20 grapes in his mouth. What a man!

In conclusion, here are some prayer requests:
- continued prayer for Stephen (and I) as he strives to honor God with his studies, and has an huge amount to know (you never get caught up in med school, there's always something else)
- I started work this week. It went great (accept for only working 1 day because I got the stomach flu midway through the week), but it is hard not knowing how to plan my weeks and having to change the groove Stephen and I were in. Pray that we would know how to make our schedules work together the best that they can.

Thanks for reading allllllll the way through this blog. We love you all so very much! Thanks for keeping up with us! Stephen says HI!
Much love,
the newlyweds