January 1st- January 5th 2013

01-01-13

Ryan had the day off work for New Years Day. He always does and it is nice. 

He spent the day washing detailing the car and the girls and I spent the day hanging out. They played with each other for a long time and then had their friend Kenzie come play for a little bit. 

Kailee and Ellie love to get out their blankets and dress up like they are 'getting married.' They put on dresses, veils and walk around saying 'I'm getting married', 'mom/dad, marry me.' Silly girls.

Of course when dad is home, the girls don't get naps. Actually, we don't have much of a schedule at all. 

Around 6pm, Kailee and Ellie finally sat down to eat. As I was getting Ellie's food, she fell asleep. Too cute. It was a long day and they played hard.

01-02-13

I have decided that it is time to help Kailee learn some responsibility. I made To-Do Lists for both girls for things they need to do each day. 

Kailee's list includes:

Making her bed, brushing her teeth, getting dressed by herself, putting her clothes away, nap time or quiet-time, pick up toys, read before bed and feed the dogs.

Ellie's list includes everything on Kailee's list except feeding the dogs. 

On Saturday they will get a treat from the store for their efforts.

So far they are excited for it. Kailee loves to help me with random things around the house and now she will get 'recognized' for it. Everything on the list is what I need them to get used to do every single day without my help. Things they need to do to help keep our house in order. Except feeding the dogs. That was just something extra that I could give Kailee to be 'responsible' for and so far she loves it. She even asks a few times each day if it's time to feed the dogs!

01-03-13

Kenzie came over to play on Thursday. Of course, they immediately went up to the girls rooms and put on their dress-ups. Kailee even climbed up onto her shoe shelf in her closet and got down a few extra clothes for them to wear. Kailee and Kenzie were nice enough to help Ellie get dressed up. They also made sure she had the matching bow in her hair. She is clearly so very happy about dressing up!

Ryan is on-call at work this week. I don't mind it when he goes on-call because it adds quite a bit to his paycheck. Around 3pm on Thursday he called and said he would be a little late coming home. They had been called to a leak in Bountiful. He ended up coming home at 8am Friday morning. He slept for a couple hours and went right back to work.

01-04-13
On Friday we went to the Ogden Treehouse Museum with the Hoggans, Richards, and Lawsons. It's so fun to take the girls there so they can run around and play with whatever they want and it was fun for me to have other moms there to talk with. I was surprised that the girls didn't spend much time playing with the other kids though. So far, I think their favorite things to do are the little art projects and ride the horses and bulls. Cute kids and good times!

When we left the Treehouse Museum, Ryan had called and said he had been called out again. They had to go back to the job they were at Friday night. I didn't want to go home and hang out with my two out of control kids all night by myself, so I kept driving to Ikea. It ended up being the longest drive ever because of rush hour. The kids slept. I went to Ikea looking for some bins for the kids toys and a shoe cabinet for the garage. I love walking though Ikea and the girls were pretty good too. We made it home around 10pm and Ryan was still out working. He called and said they were on their way out to Stockton. I feel so bad for him. The night-time temperatures have been below 0 this week. COLD! He made it home again around early afternoon. Yay for the hours, but man, I think he could use some sleep.

Happy New Year!!

Happy 2013!!

I am still amazed that 2013 is already here. 2012 went way too fast. 

For New Years Eve we went to dinner as a family to Texas Roadhouse then spent the evening at Tawnie's house. We played a game, ate lots of snacks and visited with Tawnie, John and two of John's brothers and their wives.

The game we played was called Headbands. Playing games is totally out of my comfort zone unless it's with my immediate family. My 'plan' before we arrived was to just sit out and watch. Somehow, somewhere, sometime after we got there and they pulled out the game and sat down to play, I decided to join in. Again, totally out of my comfort zone. You wear a card with a picture on it on a headband and ask questions to figure out what is on your card. Totally out of my comfort zone. I am always afraid of making a fool of myself. However, when it was my turn, I did it. And I had fun. It was uncomfortable at first and I was for sure nervous. But, I had a good time and I am glad I played. I know, silly. But I did it. I don't know why, but whenever the spotlight is on me, I get so stinkin nervous. Maybe one day that will fade.

We had a good time. It was probably the most fun we have had on New Years Eve since being married with kids!

A few goals for the New Year:

Set a budget and stick to it

Cut down debt

Read the Scriptures daily

Journal more frequently

Pay tithing consistently

Take my own pictures at events

De-clutter, de-clutter, de-clutter (mainly my clothes and the basement)

Good Luck to us and

Happy 2013!!

June 3rd- June 9th 2012

We have been struggling lately and have been frustrated with a few things. Life just gets frustrating and overwhelming sometimes. Anyhow, on our way out the door for church on Sunday, I quickly checked my cell phone. I noticed I had a text message. It was from Tawnie. She was just letting me know that her and John were going to fast for us and would ask their children to do so if they chose to. She said she didn't know anything that was going on, other than she felt we could use a little extra help.

Wow! I am constantly amazed with Tawnie. She is always so inspired, so in tune with the spirit and what others may need. She amazes me and I am grateful for her. I am grateful she takes the time to think about others and act on the promptings that she receives.

Now for other weekly highlights...

Our girls love ice cream cones. Probably cause their mama loves ice cream cones! We stopped and got one on Thursday evening. The end result... is a big mess. But, a very yummy big mess.

Our cute girl. She loves to play with her daddy's Iphone. She especially loves to take pictures.

Happy 5 Years to us!

Saturday we celebrated our 5 year anniversary. It also happened to be the Questar Gas Rodeo. We decided we had to go to the rodeo since that is where 'we' began. Ryan tried the expert event, the girls decorated sugar cookies, we watched a few of the events, ate a yummy lunch and then headed home. While relaxing on the couch when we got home, we decided to watch out wedding video. I am so glad we have it. It's so fun to watch every year. Our wedding day still seems like it was yesterday. I am sure there are a few details I don't remember about that day, but I feel like I remember it like it just happened yesterday. It was also fun seeing our old baby pictures on the video and seeing how much our girls look like us. I see so much of myself in Ellie and so much of Ryan in Kailee. The girls also had fun watching it with us and seeing mom and dad getting 'weddinged'. Later in the evening, we went to dinner at the Roof Restaurant at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. Yuuuummmmyyy! It was for sure the nicest restaurant we have ever been to. And, the food was really good. It was such a neat environment. Happy 5 years to us!! What a fun day.

May 27th- June 2nd 2012

For Memorial Day, Ryan and I ran the Striders Memorial Day 5k in Syracuse city. Ryan was originally registered to run the half marathon, but wasn't able to do it because of his leg injury. I hadn't taken the time to run consistently before the race, so it seemed kinda hard. Around mile 2.5 my knee started to hurt and I was certain I was going to have to walk. I kept going and finished with a time of 31:26 with a 10:08/m pace. My personal best so far. (Other than the Pink 5k, but that was all downhill, so I can't count that time!!)

Ryan, the dedicated one, consistently trained before the race so he didn't struggle like I did. He started the race and totally took off. He said when he started he kept passing people and was worried he had started too quick. He kept up with the speed, beat his personal record with a 08:04/m pace and finished with a time of 25:01. My mom and Steph even got up waaaay early so they could go with us to watch the girls in the freezing cold weather. What a great family to support us! 

The weather has been really nice this week, so I have tried to make lots of time to play outside (or at least be outside.) We made a trip to the library for some new books and made several trips to DownEast for the tent sale. Most of our time was spent swimming. We set up the whale pool from Grandma Colleen and the pink ring pool and spent most of each morning outside playing. Until Friday. Ellie woke up sick and throwing up. I was hoping to have some neighbor girls over for a swim party, but we spent the day in the house cleaning and sanitizing everything instead. At one point I went upstairs to quickly change and fold some laundry and when I came back downstairs I found Ellie asleep on the couch. She stayed there sound asleep for a few hours. Poor girl. Yes, I did get her dressed for the day. But, after she soiled two outfits, I decided to leave her in her diaper till she felt a little better. I did cover her with a blanket after I got the picture!

 Luckily, the rest of us haven't ended up with the bug. Yet.

Friday, right after work, Ryan headed out to Grandma Kate's house to meet John so they could help her with some of her yard/house projects. It was a loooong day. Right at the end of my day, when we were winding down and I had almost had enough, Tawnie text me to see how we were doing. Then she ended up calling. It was certainly a nice break from the monotony of our day. I am grateful for my sisters and for their phone calls! Ryan made it home around 9pm. Sometimes it is so hard to have him gone, doing stuff for other people when we are already stretched for time. But then I remember that service is what we are supposed to be doing. Including service for our family. So, that is what we will do. Even with a good attitude!

Early afternoon on Saturday, Ryan was gone again to help my mom and sister. They both had some garbage that needed to be taken to the dump. He made it back home around 2pm just to stay outside to cover our gardens with mulch/compost.  Even though the gardens are lacking in the plant area, they look so much better with the mulch there. Both girls spent the rest of the day outside with him. They would go between their pools, swing set, trampoline and everything else in the yard and garage. They are good at keeping each other company and they are getting to the point they are 'mostly' kind to each other.

And, just because I think they are cute...

Ellie likes to ride Kailee's 'Happy Birthday Bike' but Kailee doesn't like her to. They finally found a solution! Cute, cute girls!