Houston we have a problem!!!

Well I think Ryan consumed a few to many of these....
Because his hiney was stained this color.....

Day in the District

Today was Day in the District, so all the museums were free!! Jared had to work all day so Ryan and I set off for a very cultural day. The first museum we went to was the Kimball, which was showcasing the Impressionists! Ryan and I saw Monet, Renoir, and Van Gogh. It was amazing to see these wonderful paintings up close and personal. Ryan was very good and very interested in the paintings too! We weren't allowed to take pictures so this is all I have. This Ryan at the Modern Art Museum, one of the exhibits was an audio exhibit
He started to make all kind of noise about this piece of art so I took Ryan's picture, since this one spoke to him

Okay so also in the district was a gun show...talk about cultural clashes!!

You have to check your guns at the door!! Only in Texas I'm sure!!
Then I decided to take a short cut through the barns (because they are air conditioned) and we found out that they were having a miniature horse show!! Ryan was in love and this was the highlight of his day!! He just kept saying OH OH OH!!!
Last of all we went to the LOG CABIN VILLAGE. These are original log buildings from around Texas. It was neat to be able to see how people lived back then!!


Of course Ryan LOVED the water pump!!
And he loved the water mill, and the fish in the pond!


What a fun day we had and Ryan was out before the first stop light, we wished Jared was there but life must go on.

Holes, holes,holes

Okay so what is up with little boys putting things in places they don't belong.... This toy will definitely not blow up a grilled cheese!! I have taken blocks, binkies, animals, raisins, and arms out of this toy!! He finally stopped shoving him arm in there since it REALLY got stuck. I will take putting things in this toy over ears or nostrils though, I've heard that can be really expensive, so as I think about maybe I'll just happily clean out the toy and be thankful its not resulting in a hospital bill. As I was sitting here typing this three blocks found their way into the toy!! Oh but don't get me started with the toilet, just for your knowledge dinosaurs DO float!!

As soon as he saw me get the camera out, he ran over and smiled this big cheesy smile...

I think he might be lacking personality....

Lots of walking...

Ryan and I have spent the last three days at the zoo, one day by ourselves, one with Shalenes and her family and the last day with church playgroup. We, I mean I have done alot of walking. But today our frequent zoo trips paid off, they released the four baby lions into their exhidit!! They were so cute, playful and small. One kept biting his mommies elbow!! Of course today I forgot my camera, but I'm sure I'll be back soon to get some pictures!!

I think this monkey is in timeout!! The zoo definately brings on a nap, everyday Ryan was out like a light before we've pulled out of the zoo!!

I'm in a quilt group for our ward. Each month one person picks fabric that they want a quilted, then 12 women show up and everyone cuts their square out of your fabric, takes it home and sews it then brings you back their finished square for your quilt!! It's really fun and an easy way to finish a quilt. This is my fabric with my square pattern, it's called party hats. I haven't been very faithful in going to the group so I need to catch up on everyone elses quilts. This is Ryan making music one night while I was cooking dinner-this was before the baby gate!! We now have a gate which relieves a lot of fear and frustration!!

I LOVE the zoo!!

We planed with Katie and Mimi to go to the Fort Worth zoo today!! When Ryan woke up this morning I said,"Hey Ry do you want to go to the zoo today?" He looked at me and said, "Mama, boo, yeah!!" It was the cutest thing ever, boo yeah!! This age is so much fun because he starting to really understand his surroundings and really enjoy things and going places. Last week he was very sick with the flu, but he had serious cabin fever, he walked to the door jiggled the handle, looked at me and said go eezz(please) and then looked for my keys on the little black table at the front door. This is defiantly a little boy who likes to be on the go...just my speed! Anyways back to the zoo...Ryan loves baby Reese and just wants to hold her and kiss her-he is a kissy face!! This was Katie and Reese's first big trip, and both did very well. I think Ryan's favorite part of the zoo is feeding the parakeets, we got there a little late in the day so the birds weren't too hungry. Ryan LOVES birds, I kind of hope he gets over his love of birds because I will NEVER own a bird.
Kissing cousins!! They are so nice to eachother, and truly enjoy spending time with eachother, I think each got scolded once for not being nice and that was it, pretty good for 4 hours sitting next to eachother!
Chilin' with the kangaroos, Katie asked Delaney what the kangaroos name was and she looked up and said "Joe" but of course Miss D!
There was a penguin that kept swimming past Ryan and D, that scared D at first and then they just made them laugh and laugh!
There is a little petting zoo, with a baby calf!! I must have found the right spot to scratch because the calf was loving and so was Ryan! He LOVES cows and will find them anywhere!
Katie and her girls!! Reese got a ton of oohhhs and aahhhs
It is so fun that Ryan can walk and keep up with the big kids!! This wall had a ton of animal with buttons you could press and the animal would make a noise, Ryan kept hitting the sheep and then Baaaing with the sheep. Too funny!
So many new freedoms with walking!
Hurry run the cows are lose!

Why is he getting so BIG!!
Look at all those kids, crazy! We planed to meet at the zoo at 10am and didn't get going through the zoo until 12ish!! Nursing and potty training are very time consuming!
The zoo is full of babies-these are baby flamingos, baby tigers, giraffes, monkeys, soon to be lions and horned frogs!! It was a full day at the zoo and everyone had a blast!! Ryan was asleep before we even were out of the parking lot! Thanks Katie and Mom for spending the day with us, we had a blast!
My sweet little man!

Babysitting!!!

Yesterday I watched three kids plus Ryan in my tiny apartment!! The TV and toys kept everyone busy for a little while but soon every one was restless, so I carried THREE babies down THREE flights of stairs!! Ryan and Ethan both walk but the stairs is a different animal!! Once downstairs I locked us in the tennis court!! Everyone was able to run around and chase several balls. Four kids under three is not my idea of a good time!!

This is Jordan she was having a great time being the only girl in the group!! She kept tackling Ryan and then crawling on top of him, and he would just laugh. It was so funny to watch since he can walk to get away if he wanted too.

Uuuhhh, what has happened to nap time? The past two days Ryan has sat in his crib for two hours and cried!!! Oh well at least I can get something done, hopefully he will figure it out that he needs to go to sleep!!! Why does he suddenly protest a nap? Isn't he so pit awful looking!! I think the binkie is going to go away soon, he throws it out of the crib and then can't fell asleep with out it!! I'm over the binkie, but I do like it sometimes!!

faucet, drinking fountain, same difference

Ryan is IN LOVE with the drinking fountain at church, LOVES it!!! He will wander the hall until he finds one, and in our building they are in three different locations which is kind of weird because it is a very small building, anyways he loves to try and get a drink!! I HATE the drinking fountain and try to avoid them at all cost because he winds up taking a bath in the water and then we are both soaking wet at church!! Lovely!! So now in the bath tub Ryan has taken to try and drink the warm water right out of the tap!!! I guess he doesn't mind getting his face wet, that's good right?
He is just so proud of himself and he drinking abilities!!
Going back for more!! Once I get the bath water up to a decent level then I just turn the water on to a trickle so he can play in the water all he wants with out the bath tub filling up to soon, so far this has worked out great and keeps him busy for about 15-25 minutes-except today when he had a little accident, OOOPPPPSSS

how to create a bath!!

STEP NUMBER ONE:
Get really dirty, like I do with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich(then mom has no choice but to give you a bath) STEP NUMBER TWO:
Fill up water cup to clean entire body!! You will probably need to fill the cup several times in order to get the job done!

STEP NUMBER THREE:

Pour entire cup of water on dirty body to rinse all of the left over PB & J off!!

STEP NUMBER FOUR:

Smile victoriously at the camera, because your all day mission of getting into the bath finally happened!!

swiming with dad

It's so sad to see our summer days slowly coming to the end, well almost, I wont miss the heat but I will miss the pool!! Ryan has loved the pool this summer, and has loved being able to spend that time with his dad.

Bedtime

For some reason Ryan hasn't wanted to go to sleep tonight!! Right now he is in his crib yelling at me, " EEYYY, hhhhhhheeeyyyy, dad, daaaaddddaaaa, maaaaamaa, hey,dad!!" Silly little boy go to sleep!!

Sometimes life isn't perfect...

Yesterday was one tough day!! Ryan woke up early 7:30-which is way too soon, and then didn't want to take a nap!ugh!! Then the lack of nap caused excess crankiness, whining, crying, and meltdowns over the most simple things!! I was at my wits end and couldn't handle it any longer! On top of all of that I have been having back pain and headaches, lovely, being pregnant isn't helping my over all mood. So after a hard day(Jared wasn't able to be home until 8 which added to my stress level) it was time for Ryan to go to bed, so we were saying family prayers, I asked Ryan to fold his arms, which he did for the first time with out any help(my heart melted to see those little arms cross across his chest) I said the prayer and at the end Ryan said "aaamen" I just started bawling!! All the hard work is sinking in and he is getting it, it was so touching to see my little man follow his daddy and I's example! I love you little guy, keep up the hard work.

50 is nifty!!

Today my mom turns fifty!! Wow I can't believe she is that old already, she was always the youngest and the coolest!!

1. She is always up for a party


2. She is a wonderful cook!! People always wanted to come over to eat!!


3. She would sew our costumes for Halloween when every one else had crappy plastic ones.


4. My mom is always in the mood to talk.


5. She is a great listener, she always wanted to hear all about my dates.


6. She would let me have all my friends over just to hang out!


7. She encouraged me in sports


8. She was a great waterskier, when she was a teenager she was ask to ski for an amusement park like Sea World!!


9. My mom NEVER complains!! She had a horrible accident last year and never complained about the terrible pain she was in!! Even if she wasn't feeling great you would never know it


10. She wasn't crazy about keeping the house clean, she was reasonable!


11. She is the best example of what a mom should be!!


12. She always took the time to teach us new experiences-in the summer time she would take us on different outings, the most memorable for all of us is the trip to the dump!!


13. Mom is always up for a car drive, she will go anywhere.


14. She took alot on herself, my dad traveled alot, so that meant doing it all on her own a lot of the time, she is a brave women!!


15. She taught us to be medical savvy, she always took great interest in out medical care.


16. She let us miss school to go on family vacations!


17. We went on wonderful camping trip, which now I know were WAY more work then just staying home for the week, but we have wonderful family memories of time well spent together.


18. Mom is always willing to hit the lake, she will go anytime anyplace!


19. She taught me how to have a happy marriage. She is the best wife and I still learn from her everyday.


20. She always has a spirit about her, she guided gently, but with purpose!


21. She never held back the truth.


22. She told my dad everything, we knew they were a united front, that's reassuring to a child growing up.


23. Mom is always willing to help no matter what! She came to help before I had Ryan, now she lives here she will be able to be around even more.


24. She was willing to let my dad start his own company even though it was scary and meant she had to give up alot, and she hasn't complained.


25. She was the funnest leader in Young Women's, I loved having my mom there.


26. She took the time to explain things to me, I had a friend who got pregnant in High School and she stayed up and cried with me! Instead of avoiding the conversation and letting me find out through people, she took the time to tell me, I always appreciated that.


27. She would always talk to me before I want to bed.


28. She always made people feel welcome no matter what.


29. She made me be nice to my sister even when there were times when that seemed impossible!! I so grateful that she help to grow that relationship, and made us work at it, Katelyn is my best friend and I owe that to my mom.


30. She stuck up for me when I deserved it, I had a math teacher who had it out for me and my parents went to bat for me.


31. Mom taught me how to sew, I didn't really like it at first but now I'm so glad that I know, I even been able to sew alot of beautiful things for me house, and family.


32. My mom gave me the love of reading, she bought me my first Ramona book in first grade and I haven't stopped since. Reading has always been a wonderful escape for me.


33. My mom taught me how to cook, I love to cook and create new things.


34. She is very spontaneous, willing to go and do anything new!


35. Willing to try anything.


36. Loves to go on trips with adventures involved, my parents are going to Spain at the end of the month and our going to take a little side trip to Africa!!


37. Would surprise us with little notes or letters.


38. She worked really hard when we were young to make sure we had everything we needed, I don't know where she found the energy. SERIOUSLY!!


39. She has a very strong testimony, and is willing to share her testimony with us.


40. She raised four children that all go to church and have been to the temple(my dad help in this process too, they were both great examples of how to be a member.)


41. She is a wonderful grandma and always wants the updates, and is so excited to she her grandbabies!!


42. She is a great sister, she loves being around and spending time with her own sisters!


43. She makes killer orange rolls! If you haven't had the pleasure of sinking our teeth into these, your missing out!!


44. She worries about making other people happy


45. She doesn't gossip, that is a wonderful lesson and example that she set for us girls.


46. She asks our opinion about fashion, I think its cute, because she wants to look her best.


47. She loves my dad and I know that she would chose him all over again.


48. She is a great photographer


49. She taught us the scriptures


50. She is my mom so that makes her the BEST!!!

I love you mom and I so thankfully that Heavenly Father sent me to you and dad!! Thanks for all your hard work and love!!