Ryann had to take a fake candle with her to the temple. 

Some of our Christmas Activities.

1. We went and looked at the lights and the nativity scene at the St. Geroge Temple.

2.  I thought it would be fun to attend the Christmas Time at Dixie, at the Nisson's park.......not so great.

3. We attended the live Nativity out at Tuachan.  Ryann was super excited to ride the little train ride.  

 She did really good watching the live Nativity.  Loved the train ride.  Cried for her baby Jesus when it

 was time to go.  Aside from the fit, it was a good night.

4. Christmas Light parade, in Richfield.  Ryann was super pumped about getting to play

with "her Gracy", and to watch a parade, and then the parade started with fireworks.  For some

reason, Ryann is scared of fireworks, and spent the rest of the parade inside the van, looking out the     

window. 

We have seen several Santa's sightings, but Ryann seems to run in the opposite direction, and she doesn't want Santa coming inside her house, she claims it will be okay if Santa leaves the gifts outside.  I might be more excited for Christmas morning than Ryann, I am sure that will change when she gets to see what Santa brought her.   

Just a few things I am THANKFUL for...

I am THANKFUL for the Gospel, to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  I am THANKFUL, for the temples that have been built and that are being built, across the world.  It is crazy, watching temples go up in parts of the world, I wouldn't even have thought would be possible.  Our Heavenly Father is making sure ALL of HIS children are given the opportunity to receive temple blessings, to have a family for eternity.  I am THANKFUL for the scriptures, I need to be better at reading them, but when I do, the feeling of peace and hope is exactly what I need, especially on the crazy days.  I am THANKFUL for our Prophet, and all those that lead and guide us today.  I am truly THANKFUL, for the LOVE my Savior has for me.

I am THANKFUL for this CRAZY bunch.  I absolutely LOVE being with this crowd.There is nothing but LOVE and LAUGHTER when we are all around.

I am THANKFUL  for my Mom & Dad.  They have always been there for me, no matter what kind of curve ball life is throwing me, they have always stuck by my side.  The BEST parents any girl could ask for.

I am THANKFUL, for my husband.  We have survived 6 1/2 years together, we have had our ups and we have had our downs, but no matter how crazy it gets, when all said and done, we are still standing by each other. 

I am THANKFUL for this crew.  We may not always see eye to eye on things. but we do seem to have some great adventures together.

I am extremely THANKFUL for this little girl.  She is my life.  I  still can't believe that I am a mother to a 2 year old, but I wouldn't trade her for anything.  She loves to play, she loves the gospel, loves to learn, and is an expert at driving me crazy , making me tear up, and bringing a smile to my face.  

Our Little Witch

Anthony and I took Ryann to a Halloween store to show her some costumes, in hopes to give her a better understanding of Halloween and to let her pick a costume.  She saw a witch costume, and said, "I be the witches."  This may be a shocker to some, but I absolutely hate, and hate is a strong word, Halloween. I didn't want to spend a lot of money on a costume that she would only be wearing once.  So I thought about it, and decided to make her a witches tutu, and although it has Halloween colors, she can DANCE around in this tutu for a while, and I did have fun making it.  

I took Ryann trick-or-treating in Richfield with her cousins and then Anthony and I took her around Nanny's and Papa L's block.  She was enjoying the trick-or-treating at first, she even modeled her costume to a lady and wished her a Happy Halloween, and then we  knocked on a house, and a little boy answered with his face painted like a vampire.  Although all her other cousins didn't mind, Ryann refused to go to the door and pick out a treat. After that she would stand back and make sure the person answering the door looked nice, and then go to the door.  When she went with Anthony, he had to carry her to the door, and then she wouldn't say Trick-or-Treat, but she would say Thank-you.   That's my girl.

 

2 Year Old Pictures

I absolutely love these pictures.  A couple days before the shoot, I taught Ryann what posing was, and we practiced and practiced, she would run up to me strike a pose, and say,"I posing, mom."   She did an excellent job, and was very patient with mom, and the photographer, Anthony.  She is just gorgeous. 

 

 

(She is copying me, I was trying to get her to smile.) 

All About ME

Facts About Ryann

1.  LOVES to watch movies

2. ENJOYS reading BOOKS and SINGING

3. NOODLES are still her favorite 

4. LOVES listening to MUSIC and DANCING

HaPpY BiRtHdAy

We celebrated Ry's 2nd birthday a couple of weeks ago (I am slow).  When we would ask her what kind of birthday cake she wanted she would either say Toy Story or Incredible.  Well I couldn't find any Incredible things, so I went with the Toy Story theme.  She absolutely loves the Toy Story movies, and all but has the second one memorized.  We had her favorite meal, homemade mac-n-cheese, and we made her to big cupcakes.  She was spoiled by everyone, and when she would show off her new present she would do this little pose, much like the one in the middle picture, it was too funny.   Ryann had a great birthday, and is still singing Happy Birthday to Ryann.

We went and checked out the Washington County Fair, and well it was fair. You had to pay to go in and see all the little farm animals, so we were cheap and walked around the out side of the little animal set up and Ryann was able to see a little horse, some cows, baby chicks, and goats.  We then took her over to the carnival section and when we walked out of the boutique building and Ryann could see all the lights she went nuts.  "Fireworks, fireworks", she repeated it over and over, and over.  We bought some tickets and took her on a couple of rides.  She loved the merry-go-round, the cars, and the boat rides, but wasn't fond of the ride that took her around and up in the air.  When she got off of that ride she looked at me and said, "I okay."  I told her she was okay, took on the merry-go-round, and all was well.    

The Last Couple of Weeks

We decided to go up to Kolob on a picnic.  The ride up was BEAUTIFUL, and it was super nice to be in a place that was a little bit cooler than STG.  Once we hit Kolob, we kind of, well pretty much let Ryann out of her car seat.  She loved sitting up with mom and dad, every little thing we saw it was, "What is that?".  We were able to show her a deer, and we were LUCKY enough to see a donkey running down the road, which caused Ryann to scream, "Donkey, Shrek, Donkey, Shrek."  Yep, she is a movie junkie. Throwing the rocks in the lake was Ryann's all time fav., it started to rain, no it started to down pour, and Ryann wanted to stay out in the rain, so she could throw rocks, crazy girl.

LAKE POWELL

This year the house boat was out of commission, and so we went camping on the beaches of Wahweap.  The weather was EXCELLENT, the sand was EVERYWHERE, and we all had an AWESOME time.

Anthony showing off his skills at wake boarding, Ryann was very impressed, and loved watching everyone wake board, and every time someone crashed Ryann had to ask if they were okay.

Ryann LOVED sleeping in a tent with mom and dad.  One night we decided to take pictures, and Ryann

thought it was funny when the flash would go off.

THANKS GrAnDpA and NaNnIe!!!!

The other day we took Ryann to one of the many splash pads to cool off from the heat.  We went to the one on main street, which also has this little river the kids can play in.  Ryann absolutely loved it.  She would go up to the other kids and say, "Look at me I'm splashing." 

Ryann didn't really get to enjoy the splash pad part.  Right before the water came on, I had just got done telling her not to run, because the cement was slippery, and naturally she takes off running, and naturally she falls and hits her head, and naturally when I pick her up to love her better the water goes off, naturally.  After her fall she was ready to go home.

Overall her favorite part was the little river.  She also got brave, due to watching the kids around her, and would lay down on her stomach in the water, and attempt to lay down on her back.  She absolutely loves to play in the water and play with other kids, it was a good afternoon.   I don't know how many times I have said it, but I am truly glad to be back.

We ArE mOvInG bAcK!!!

  SUPER EXCITED!!!!

My New Life

This past Wednesday, Maradee, Steven, and the kids all came up, and I watched the kids, while Maradee and Steven went to the Jazz game. Yep, I watched 6 kids, and I still think I got the better end of the deal. Ryann LOVES playing with the "kids", she calls them all Abby, which is kind of funny, when she is calling for Abby,and Abby goes to her, but she really wanted Matty or Gracy, one day she will get them all straight.

Ryann loves playing with balls, she has two bouncy balls and she just LOVES it when Anthony and I play "ball" with her. So the Easter Bunny brought her a little basket ball set, along with a soccer ball, and a football, she has been carrying Anthony's football around the house, now she has one of her own.


Ryann had to take the Easter grass out of her basket and put it on the floor, and then piled the eggs back on top of the grass. Once she discovered there was candy inside the eggs, she insisted on opening each one, and each time we got a "OOOHHHH"


I was trying to get a picture of her in her Easter outfit, but she wouldn't hold still, and wouldn't let go of her sippy cup, oh well, not matter what she is a super cute girl.

In February Ryann turned 18 months, making her old enough to attend nursery. I was a little nervous taking her, and a little sad that my baby, well isn't a baby anymore. We walked into nursery, and she immediately wanted to go back out the door. The other kids were at the table playing with play dough, so I got Ryann to go over and check it out. I sat at the table with Ryann for about 5 min, and then one of the leaders told me to go ahead and go, I walked out the door with my little girl crying for her mom, yea, I shed a few tears. I stood outside until she stopped crying, which only took 2 min. When I went to pick her up she was running around, playing with bubbles, and didn't want to leave. Now she just runs in, waves "Bye" to me, and she is good.

Facts About Ryann

She LOVES her shades

ENJOYS playing in the clothes basket

SUPER quick learner

A pro at making her family SMILE

Big FAN of ELMO

Supposed to be: STG Painters Half Marathon

A year ago, Maradee called me up and invited me to do a 5k with her in May, so I accepted, and started training for a 5k. May came, we did the 5k, and I enjoyed it. So, I kept running, and running, and in November I decided I was going to do a half marathon. Never would have thought, me of all people, run a half marathon, but I wanted to, so I signed up. Well, I DID IT, and I LOVED IT. I am already looking forward to my next one. I have become a fan of running, and I laugh because in back in high school, I hated running distance, and now it is my addiction. Thank you Maradee, for getting me started. ( I know I look really special in the bottom left corner, I was trying to get Ryann's attention.)

Ryann's Christmas Dress.

I know the pictures are somewhat blurry, I was using Anthony's camera, and the ISO was wrong and I didn't know how to change it. The only way I could get Ryann to sit still long enough to take a picture infront of our "Simple, but Cute", tree was to sit on a package of toilet paper, she had been packing around all morning.

We had a WONDERFUL Christmas. Ryann was SUPER LOVED by everyone. Santa brought her a slide, Elmo, shake-n-go cars from the movie Cars, books, and clothes, she must have been on the "extremely nice" list. She also got, more books, clothes, her own little table and chairs, her own little computer, and more clothes from the people who love her. Ryann was very quick to learn that there was something for her inside these wrapped packages, we would open one she would do her "O", and then move on to the next present. Ryann would like to give a special THANK YOU, to everyone for the presents.