4 Years Ago Today

December 22nd was an inconvenient day for you that year, but it's inconvenient for us EVERY year. (I know. It was our choice. But, how could I have known we would ever care about BYU football or that the Cougars would always go to the Las Vegas bowl?) This year we've decided to post pone celebrating our anniversary until January 15th. (Randy still won't get to watch the game though because he has bishopric responsibilities. I might have to watch it without him. Now that's funny! Headline: Wife Stays Home On Wedding Anniversary To Watch BYU Bowl Game, Husband Peeved.) Anyway, I hope Randy doesn't think it's breaking the rules for me to share the memories today with the blog.

This is what Randy's family looked like



This is what my family looked like


I only had this many nephews to make me laugh.


It was windy and cold which was ideal since I had rented a cape.


This is what we looked like.



We are still so grateful for everyone who helped us have such a wonderful wedding celebration. We were overwhelmed by the generous gifts and by all the time our family members and friends gave so that we would have a perfect day to remember. Thanks to all of you who have helped us have a wonderful 4 years of marriage!

My Birthday

2009 was a good year for having a birthday. Among other fantastic gifts I received, my mother-in-law and sister-in-law surprised me with some very nice bread pans. They were perfect for me because I wanted them but could never seem to remember until after I had already mixed zucchini bread. (I had been using a square Pyrex pan which changes it from bread to cake and is obviously less healthy.) My sisters and my mom gave me the perfect lunch party. They brought Cafe Rio to my house where I could enjoy the delicious lunch but not worry about what the kids were doing AND I got to stay in my sweats!

Randy was home all evening. He let me go running and to Walmart by myself. I got to make my own cake (by request because I think that's fun) He did the dishes and after Ryann went to bed, we watched Whose Line is it Anyway. I love Birthdays!

Snow White

We invited a 4-year-old friend named Paige to play today. It was so interesting to watch Ryann be the younger child. She was absolutely obedient and even let Paige do her hair! She stayed pretty quiet and a couple of times I thought she was on the verge of tears for feeling left out. (Paige wanted to be the mom and drop off her daughter (Ry Ry) at the Gramma's (my) house while she went to a long meeting that was going to last for 5 sleep-overs.) Everything Paige said was funny because it was coming from such a little girl but it sounded so grown up. I LOVE 4 year olds!

One highlight of the play-date was when we played Snow White. Paige knows how so she told us what to do. Ryann was wearing the Snow White dress-ups, so naturally that was her part. I got to be Dopey because I have short hair. Paige was the bad lady because she can do the evil laugh. I was very good at repeating the lines given to me by Paige, but when it got to the part when the bad lady was knocking on the door and Snow White was supposed to answer and let her in, Ryann hid her face in a pillow and giggled. She wasn't going to let in the stranger. Exasperated, Paige let herself in and handed Ryann a poisoned apple. Ry Ry took it and washed it off before she took a bite. That way she wasn't poisoned. Paige's plot was foiled and she tried to convince Ryann that the apple still tasted like poison so she should die. In order to smooth things over with our new friend, I suggested that Paige be Snow White and I'd be the bad lady. We started the show over and tried to stick to the storyline. Ryann left for work with the other dwarfs, I knocked on the door, handed Paige an apple, and told her to take a bite. And she

Washed it.

Family Photos

Last night we set up a "studio" in our home using the projector screen and a couple old lamps from the garage. My mom came over to snap the group photo.

(I don't think we'll frame this one. It's a little too authentic.)


How did we get everyone to smile you ask? Gimp! (And actually, Lucy's making a crying face but Randy edited the tears.)


This one was for reals though. Lucy was all smiles until Gramma made some crack about Santa giving her stinky socks for Christmas.

Santa Baby

I'm off and on with the Santa thing. I think Randy and I decided that we'll believe in Santa as a symbol of kindness and generosity. Hopefully that way we won't ruin the fun of Christmas for our kids and we also won't deceive them or confuse their faith. I like it when people act like Santa and disguise themselves to give presents to children. I believe that lots of people have gotten gifts from that kind of Santa on Christmas morning. So if she asks me, I'll do my best to explain that to Ryann and see what happens.

(I also believe that Santa hats are really cute.)


Even though we weren't trying to make Ryann believe that it was the REAL Santa and Mrs. Santa, she didn't seem to recognize her own Grandma and Grandpa! Classic for a group shot with all 6 grandkids don't you think?

The Birthday Party

I learned today that 2 hours is too long for a 3-year-old birthday party. I think that next time I'll plan it for an hour and a half. Thanks to both grandmas for helping out!

Here are some photos and a run down of what we did.

Decorations: I drew these and three other Care Bears one day and it filled my bucket to practice a new skill. Randy came home from work and I was in the kitchen in my pj's cutting out giant Care Bears. No one in the family had eaten anything healthy all day, but I was still so proud of myself it was funny.


I also drew these masks then photocopied them to colored card stock and glued popsicle sticks to the side. Randy and I screen printed the t-shirts together (They're belly badges. Care Bear Stare!) He did all the hard stuff for the shirts.


Presents: Okay, we love presents, but that was hard. Ryann didn't want to share and her friends wanted to play with/open her new toys. There were tears and yells and probably even hits. We ended up hiding them up high so no one could play with them. (*sigh. Back to the parenting books.)


Activities: We made rainbow bracelets with pipe cleaners and fruit loops. We colored paper belly badges and then used the masks for blind folds to play "Pin the Belly Badge on the Care Bear" (the masks worked really well and helped the kids not be afraid to play.) We played "Don't Eat Pete" which is really a fun game with older kids but was kind of confusing for this group. We had a cloud fight with cotton balls. We played "Care Care Bear" (aka duck duck goose) We also read a Care Bear story and played a Care Bear movie in the background while the kids were coloring or making bracelets.


I made another cake but this time it was cup cakes. We also had 7-up with purple and pink ice cubes (made from pink lemonade and food coloring). The ice cubes were more exciting than the cake so I will definitely do that again. Hurray for food coloring!


After we were out of ideas, the girls sneaked off to Ryann's room and found her new dress ups.


They also enjoyed playing on Ryann's new bunk bed.


Happy Birthday Ryann.

Santa and Mrs. Santa

Santa AND the balloon man came to our ward Christmas party last night. It was a hit. As you can tell from the photo, Ryann put some serious thought toward Santa's big question. As far as I know, she never reached a conclusion.


Since we have special connections, Mrs. Santa came to our house even though we missed her at the library! Thanks Mrs. Santa!