The Wedding Report

Ryan, Charlotte, and I just returned from a great weekend in Salt Lake & Logan for Ryan's brother's wedding. The time-table was so quick and I knew we would have a demanding schedule, so we left the boys here with some friends while we went. The wedding was so nice, and always, humor followed us and we ended up having some very funny experiences. I'll share a couple.

All of the sisters and sisters-in-law were wearing matching outfits for the reception. Not really thinking when I packed my suitcase, the only dressy outfit I packed was the outfit for the reception with the thought that I would just wear that all day. When my sister-in-law Andrea picked us up from the airport she told me that no one was wearing their outfits all day, and so I ended up borrowing a dress of hers to wear for the actual ceremony. When we got to the temple I noticed that someone else in the wedding party was wearing the exact same dress. Only difference? She was 9 months pregnant! So, not only was I wearing the same dress as someone else, but now it also looked like I shopped at Motherhood Maternity for my everyday wear. It became the point of all jokes for the rest of the morning that my sister-in-law set me up and my twin was officially dubbed my "BFF."

After the wedding we went to the CopperMill where their wedding luncheon was. At this point, I was starving! I had eaten a bowl of cereal 6 hours earlier that definitely was not tiding me over and my stomach was getting a little queasy. The luncheon was buffet-style and I ended up eating a lot. As we were walking to the car after the luncheon my stomach was not agreeing with me very well. Everyone went back to Ryan's grandma's house to hang out for the couple of hours before the reception and once we got there my stomach had decided that everything I had just eaten an hour before had to be flushed. With the house being full of people, I was a little distressed as to what I should do (there are only 2 bathrooms in the house) and Ryan told me that if I used the bathroom in the basement, he would stay close by and run interference for me making sure no one tried to use that bathroom. Well, my stomach did what it needed to do and when I went to flush I all heard was "Clunk, clunk." You know, the sound of the toilet NOT flushing. I immediately called for Ryan to "Come in here, QUICK!" He did a various many things with the toilet trying to get it working again all the while saying, "Oh my gosh, Lisa" over and over again. All I could do was laugh. Thankfully, Ryan got the toilet working again and we were on our way.

Along with our funny experiences we had so much fun seeing family - especially family that we only keep in touch with over the blogosphere! Here are some of my favorite pictures from our trip:

Lions & Tigers & Gas Prices - OH MY!

You know gas prices are getting bad when you wait in line at Costco for 25 minutes for gas at $3.53. I have noticed the steady incline in gas prices, but I have to say it's getting a little ridiculous. I dropped Brayden off at preschool this morning and on the way home noticed that gas was $3.70 at most stations I passed. Knowing I had to drive by Costco anyway, I thought I would just fill up there. When I pulled in, there were 10 gas lanes, each with 6-7 cars waiting. I guess everyone else noticed the $3.70 elsewhere too! All of this expensive gas led me to reminisce on the "good ol' days" when I could fill my car up for $15. Even two years ago when we bought my current car I could fill it up for less than $40. Today I spent $60! I'm not even going to talk about our soaring utility bills. So, there's my little rant for today. If you see me walking down the street pushing my jogging stroller, miles from home hauling groceries or some other item, don't ask questions, just know that I decided $60 was too much to be paying at the pump and I wanted to delay the painful process of doing so again as long as possible.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LANDON!

Today is Landon's 3rd birthday - I can't believe it! When Brayden was 3 he was so old and mature and responsible (or something close to that) and Landon is just so....not. Landon is my party guy, my funny man, my wild card. If he does a handful of things I ask him to do all in one day, it's a good, amazing day. Landon is just such his own person and I love that. I love his independence and free spirit. I've said this before, but he is seriously one of the funniest people I have ever met. I could post everyday with something funny that he has said or done.

Landon had a fun birthday today starting with a trip to build-a-bear this morning. He picked out a cute dog, dressed him in football clothing, and named him "Danny Doggy." Landon's little dream of owning a doll stroller even came true and "Danny" now has a new ride. Landon pushed his little stroller all over the mall and as weird as it is to get a 3 year old boy a doll stroller, Landon loves it and admittedly, Landon makes doll strollers look good. :) We had a little family party tonight full of pizza, chocolate cake, and lots of great presents from grandparents.

I am posting a couple of videos of Landon that I have taken the last 2 days (I apologize in advance for the quality...they got grainy when I shrunk the file size.) This first video is of the boys swinging in the backyard yesterday. I was floored when I looked out the window and saw Landon pumping himself! In this video clip I asked him where he learned to do that and he said, "Brayden learned to me how, so now I know how!" I'm glad his English is so good. :)

So you can all feel a part of our celebrations, here we are singing to Landon tonight and him blowing out his candles on his cake. Green is his favorite color in case you couldn't tell!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LANDON!

What a weekend!!

All the stress has been set aside and we have been partying at our house! Wednesday night I flew to Utah with Charlotte for my sister Natalie's graduation from BYU. It was SO MUCH FUN! Ryan took a couple of days off work and stayed home with the boys and had "guy time." Ryan drove preschool carpool, got the boys hair cut, went to the gym, did extensive yard work, played at the park, continued the selling of our garage goods on craigslist, and even managed to have the house more sparkling clean than I've probably ever seen it. I love my family and it was so fun to play last week. Along with graduation festivities, we ate lots of food and helped Natalie with final wedding details. Also, it was so fun for Charlotte to play with her cousin Addie (they were like little best friends by the time we left) and I enjoyed spending more time getting to know Natalie's fiance David. I took a million pictures, here are some of the best:

It's all coming now....

I knew that today would come. I didn't know when, but somehow I knew that eventually it would hit me. The enormity of the situation we're getting ourselves into, that is. I spent all day Monday and Tuesday morning getting our house ready to go on the market. Yesterday it was official - sign and everything - and we had a broker open house to get some momentum going on the house. Today, I had a consultant from a moving company come through the house to estimate the cubic meters that we are shipping and the weight of the items that we plan to store. That alone was pretty close to enough to send me into a tail-spin, just realizing the ridiculous amount of work that we have ahead of us. I can't imagine if we were actually moving ourselves! Once the moving guy left I spent the rest of my morning selling things to people on craigslist. The upside is that our garage now contains a few less items, and the downside? There are only (what feels like) 1.2 million more items to go. Once the kids got down for naps I should have definitely spent my time doing something productive, but instead got consumed with researching belgian schools, french-language learning materials, and the rockin' new stroller I'm going to need. All of these items only represent 1/100th of the details going through my mind right now. I can hardly put a respectable meal on the table these days I am so preoccupied (speaking of which, we are having pot-stickers and veggie burgers for dinner. What a combo, right? It's all just to fulfill another thing to do: clean out the chest freezer!) I am so excited for this move, but can I just close my eyes for a moment and be immediately transported or something?

So, to try and end this post in a less stressed-out fashion, here are some pictures from last weekend. We had such a great long weekend! Ryan turned 30 on Friday (which should have been a post all by itself....sorry Ryan!), Ryan's sister Andrea came to visit us from Wednesday to Saturday, and I spent Saturday and Sunday in Seattle with my mom doing a little girls weekend and shopping for my sister's upcoming wedding. Ryan and Andrea took the kids to the beach on Saturday and supposedly there are some pics for that somewhere, but for now, Ryan's birthday pictures will have to do!

Reading through his birthday books - all about Europe of course!! :)

Ryan and Andrea - if you notice the string around Ryan's neck, he is actually wearing a transformer's hat. No 30th birthday is complete without transformer's hats...at least that's what Brayden thought!

Drum roll please...

There has been a lot of movin' and shakin' going on at our house lately, which has definitely led to my blog-neglect. Most everything going on has been fairly minimal, except for one thing:
WE ARE MOVING TO BELGIUM!!! Ryan has accepted a position with PwC in Brussels, Belgium starting in July and really, we could not be more thrilled. We feel so good about this move and we just can't wait to see what Europe has in store for us. We will definitely miss our friends and callings and Oregon in general, but we can't wait for this adventure. We will be there for 2 years and then will come back into the US firm wherever there is a need, which is also a source of excitement to us.

The least exciting thing about this whole process is dealing with our stuff. We will be shipping over only clothes, some toys, books, etc., but plan to buy everything else there, which leaves a lot to be sold or stored. Anyone need a house? or a car? two cars actually....or a TV? or bedroom furniture? or a bike? or a stroller? got a couple of those too.... you name it, we will probably be selling it in the next couple of months. After all, we have an entire house to liquidate. :) Thanks for being part of our lives up to this point and we look forward to sharing this next adventure as well!

Welcome to the Family!

In the last few weeks my extended family has grown by 2 people! I thought I would take the opportunity to say WELCOME!

Here is Roderic Wells Lewis III (officially dubbed "little Roddy") He is my newest nephew and came 4 weeks early at a whopping 6lb 2oz. Isn't he beautiful?! ALMOST makes me want another baby. Please note and don't forget to emphasize the ALMOST. :)

This is my sister Natalie and the man in her life - her new fiance, David Main. We got to meet David for the first time this weekend (disgraceful I know!) and are so excited to welcome him into the family. He and my sister were so ridiculously starry-eyed. It was very cute and exciting to see her so happy!

Boys will be boys...thankfully

It's been a very busy little while at my house. Between my new calling, trying to get a little spring cleaning in, and just keeping up with the daily stuff, I've hardly had a moment to sit down at the computer.

Sometimes when I get into these "busy" modes, I start to feel bad that my kids aren't getting all of the attention that I think they need. But, to be honest, I always feel a lot of "mom" guilt for all sorts of things. You name the parenting area and I've probably felt inadequate in that area at one time or another in the last 4 years. One of the areas that I always feel bad about is the fact that my boys don't have acre upon acre to roam around on. Many times I have said that I wished we lived "back-in-the-day" and all worked the family farm together complete with climbing trees, fishing at the ol' fishin' hole, and discovering all sorts of little animals in the woods. I think my boys would love that life. Or even those wonderful childhood heros - Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn - what a great boy life! :) So, as silly as this sounds, those kinds of ideas cross my mind often, wondering if their little minds are being stunted by living in suburbia. Well, Brayden pretty much squelched any of those thoughts the other day when I walked into the backyard and found him like this:

Yup, there he is, hanging out in our dinky pine tree.

He was so happy and so proud of himself that he had climbed the tree and I was probably even more happy! The whole situation just warmed my heart. It definitely made me feel better to know that thankfully, boys will be boys, acreage or not.

Never a dull moment...

It's been another wildly exciting day at my house.

This morning I had a couple of meetings at the church and when I got home the house was silent. Completely silent. You may think that is a good thing, but when there is silence at my house there is always trouble and it's usually big. I came into the kitchen and Ryan was sitting at the table working on his lesson for his primary class and he told me that Charlotte was napping and the boys were playing in the playroom. So nicely in fact, that they were totally quiet. Our home teachers showed up a couple of minutes later and when we called for the boys they didn't come. I immediately knew that they were not playing nicely, but were probably making trouble...and I was right. Somehow the boys had gotten their Costco-sized bottle of vitamins out of the medicine cabinet (NO IDEA how this happened) and were eating them in the playroom. We figured by what was left in the bottle that they ate anywhere from 15-20 each (keep in mind we give them half a vitamin each night). Brayden said he had eaten "About ten," but I'm sure he was underestimating because he didn't want to get in trouble. Ryan immediately called poison control and they told us to make sure the boys drank lots and lots of water to try and flush out their systems. What they didn't mention was HOW the vitamins would flush out of their systems, and I'll tell you the answer is not urine. It's something else, and it's explosive.

After having stomach pains all afternoon both boys seem to be doing better tonight. We officially threw away the rest of the vitamins and don't plan on buying any more. My feelings on the day basically come down to this: when the 7th day was set aside as a "day of rest" I'm not sure that families with young boys were taken into account.

Are ladybugs high in protein?

Charlotte is famous at our house for putting anything - and EVERYTHING - in her mouth. I can't even tell you all of the things I have fished out of her mouth. It's actually disgusting when I really think about it. However, I will tell you what I fished out of her mouth this morning....a ladybug. Yup, a real live (actually dead) ladybug.

We had been outside playing and when we came in and took our shoes off I saw a little ladybug next to the shoe bench. I reached down and touched the ladybug and realized it was dead. My next thought was that the boys would enjoy seeing the ladybug (but they had already run off) so I thought I would "save" it for them and just leave it there. My mistake. Fast forward 2 hours, I had totally forgotten about the ladybug and was making lunch. I couldn't find Charlotte and when I called for her she came crawling around the corner, chewing pretty fiercely on something. I stuck my finger in her mouth and did the sweep as she flailed around and when I pulled my finger out, there was the ladybug minus a couple of wings and a backside. Which means yes, she did swallow half of the ladybug before I got to her. I just hope for Charlotte's sake that ladybugs are high in protein...

Landon and his bike

Landon is basically one of the funniest people I have ever met. He has such a funny, mischievous little personality and is a very authentic person. He knows what he wants and he knows who he is, and he doesn't want to be messed with. He has the most disarming smile that melts you in a second, and he knows it. For me, Landon is the source of unbelievable angst and sheer joy in equal parts. So, all that being said...his favorite thing to do lately is ride his bike. Last Sunday the boys came in to tell us good morning and we told them to go play in the playroom so we could get a little more zzzzzzz. Before I knew it, I heard the front door opening. I got out of bed (unbelievable angst) and headed for the front door and this is what I found:

SHEER JOY!! I could not stop laughing. He's obviously annoyed that I got myself out of bed to bust him, and I love it. And, like any mom who finds her 2 year old in underwear and boots in the front yard, I grabbed my camera to record the moment before busting him. Here are some more pictures of my Landon-man (as he is affectionately called) riding his bike - fully clothed this time. :)

Notice his front handlebar...

I didn't even have to ask for this face

No scurvy here

We're out of bananas again. I shouldn't be surprised since bananas are eaten like mom's homemade chocolate cookies at my house. It's exhausting though buying banana bunch after banana bunch just to turn around and it put it on my shopping list again. I mean really, how many bananas can 3 little people really eat?! This led me to think about the amount of fresh fruit that was consumed at my house in the last week. As far as I'm concerned, the results are staggering. No wonder the grocery bill is continually rising! :) Here are the stats:

3 lbs. grapes
4 lbs. oranges
5 lbs. pears
7 lbs. bananas
9 lbs. apples

For a grand total of 28 lbs of fruit!!! Now my big questions is, how will our budget ever survive the teenage years??

Rub a dub-dub, three kids in a tub

Tonight after dinner all three kids got in the tub together. They have only bathed together a couple of times before tonight because, naturally, I always fear for Charlotte's life with 2 rowdy boys and lots of water. Things were going quite well - the kids were all having fun - and when I stepped out of the bathroom to grab a couple of towels I heard a conversation that, to be honest, I'm surprised hasn't happened before now:

Landon: Hey Brayden - Charlotte doesn't have any privates (what we call, um, you know, the parts...)

Brayden: Yes she does.

Landon: I don't see them...

Brayden (in all his 4 year old wisdom): Well, she has privates Landon. They are just iiiiittyyy-bitty.

That seemed to satisfy Landon and really, I probably should have stepped back inside the door and taken the moment as a teaching opportunity about the differences between boys and girls and Adam and Eve or whatever else is supposed to happen in those conversations, but tonight I was more than content sitting back and getting a good laugh out of the 4-year old wisdom that is so often flung around my house.

Wii

I will preface this post by stating that we are really not video game people. I have especially strong feelings about kids playing video games (for long periods of time, unsupervised) and I basically vowed to never have video games in our house. And then the Wii came along and even me, the non-gamer that I am, became enticed. Ryan had played a bit with Brayden at my parent's house and they had a blast. Then Ryan and I played with Ryan's sister and her husband and it was so fun. So, when Ryan brought up the fact that he wanted one, I didn't even put up a fight. If anything, I encouraged. :) Our only problem has been finding one, and that problem ended yesterday.

Ryan came home last night from work with a Wii in tow and we all had so much fun playing! The boys played tennis and golf with Ryan before dinner and then once the kids were in bed, I took their spots and played with Ryan. I think I even have tennis shoulder (I'm sure that's not a real thing) from playing last night. Ryan and I started out playing tennis doubles and we were rockin' (it doesn't matter that we were playing at the beginner level). If only the boys could have seen us play I think they would have thought they were in a parallel universe or something at the way we were behaving. Every time we won a game it was a mini-celebration full of lots of "Woot Woot!" and very bad dancing. It was awesome. The golf was pretty good too. Towards the end of our game I was even getting pretty good at "reading" the greens and various wind speeds. Ryan swore I was taking way too much time on each shot for a video game, but I think he was just sore that I was beating him. It seems as though his athletic dominance may be coming to an end around here. Thank you Wii. :)

My New Calling

So today I was called and sustained to be the Young Women's President in my ward. Needless to say, I'm a tad shocked. Actually shocked doesn't quite do my emotions justice...more like OVERWHELMED!!! As I was standing in Sacrament meeting getting sustained, my hands and legs were shaking so badly I thought I was going to collapse. The enormity of the calling was definitely starting to hit me.

Despite all of my anxiety, I am SO EXCITED for this calling and for the opportunity to work with the young women in my ward. They are all amazing! I am also excited for Ryan and his new calling. He was released from Young Men's and is now Brayden's primary teacher. It's really cute to see my two little twinners head into primary together. This whole experience has also been a big testimony builder to me of many simple truths. First, that we are all important and known by our Heavenly Father. As I was choosing my counselors and advisors, I felt the spirit literally speaking to me - telling me the names of the women that should hold those positions. I could feel so strongly that Heavenly Father knows me and is aware of me. Seriously that has to be one of the greatest feelings ever.

Secondly, as I was sitting in class today looking at each of the young women, I began to realize how strong they are required to stand everyday to overcome the wiles of school life. I immediately became extremely grateful to have the knowledge of the gospel in my life because although I don't face peer pressure anymore, there are many challenges in my life that I am able to overcome because of the basic truths that I hold dear. I am thankful to know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and that he came to this earth to die for me (and you) so that we can return to live with Him someday. I am thankful for the ability that I have to pray - and listen - to build a personal relationship with my Heavenly Father. I am thankful for the scriptures that we have, that I can learn from those that have gone before, and also learn what I can do to become a better person. Right now, I am most thankful that Heavenly Father has entrusted me with this stewardship. I feel totally inadequate, but extremely thankful. As I said to the young women today, "It's Party Time!" but I am definitely going to need prayers - and lots of them!

Happy Love Day!!!

Sunshine....FINALLY!

While Ryan and I were engaged, Ryan got his job offer to come to Portland and work for PwC. We were so excited as we had both been to Portland and really liked it. However, we had both been to Oregon and the Coast in the summer when Oregon weather is unbeatable. The winters here are a totally different story. I don't mind the rain, it's the lack of sun that drives me insane. By the time it reaches February, and I haven't seen the sun in 4 months, I can hardly pull myself out of bed in the mornings. So, when I woke up this morning and the sun was shining (and my thermometer read 58 degrees!) I thought I had died and gone to sunshine heaven. Ryan was even joking that when he went outside and saw the sun he had to shield his eyes because he was "blinded." We definitely could not ignore the beautiful weather so we tossed our to-do lists out the window and had a play-day! After playing in our yard this morning we went for a walk to a nearby park to play this afternoon. There were tons of families at the park and I even overheard 2 women talking about how the sunny day would allow them to skip their light-therapy session this coming week (for those of you that don't live here, this is not an unusual thing in the wintertime.) As always, it was so fun to spend good-quality time together as a family. Also, Brayden has wanted to learn how to cross the monkey bars all by himself since was 2, and today he did it! I was so proud of him!

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

We love this Jack Jackson song at our house and today it took on a new meaning for me. I don't remember when the first time was that I saw little kid and baby leg warmers, but I think they are so cute. I was thinking that I wanted to get Charlotte a pair (or two, or three) and started looking at them online. This path eventually led me to ebay where there are quite a few people selling very cute leg warmers. I started "watching" a couple of pairs on ebay, but decided that they looked easy enough to make so I would try that route first. So, again, I turned to the internet - Google this time - and typed in "how to make baby leg warmers." A bunch of kind of random websites came up, but someone in one of those websites had the idea to use old sweaters to make leg warmers. Suddenly, I thought of the HUGE bag of clothes in the garage tagged for Goodwill and the sweaters in there.

Thus, Charlotte's new leg warmers were born. These leg warmers are made out of one of my favorite lambswool sweaters from high school (yes, high school -don't ask me how and why I still have it!) I cut the arms off, did a little leg measuring on Charlotte's fatty thighs, and they were basically done. A little sewing machine action was the last step. If any of you feel the desire to completely neglect your household chores and needs of your small (or large) children and embark on a little project, here are some easy directions, complete with step-by-step pictures. I'm sure there is more than one way to do this, but this is how I did it:

Step 1: Find an old sweater! Cut the arms off.

Step 2: Turn sleeve inside out. Measure your baby's leg to determine how wide you need your sleeve.

Step 3: Sew a new seam on the sleeve at the desired width.

Step 4: Cut excess fabric from sleeve.

Step 5: Sew casing and insert elastic for the top of the leg warmer to keep them in place. Sew elastic hole closed.

VIOLA! Little leg warmers!

Going Commando

Funniest part of my day today.........for reasons too long to explain on this little post, Landon found himself at the dinner table going commando (aka - going without pants- or underwear for that matter...) and for other reasons too long to explain on this little post we didn't do anything about it. We were sitting there enjoying our meal when all of the sudden we hear a little (or shall I say big) RRRRIIIIIIPPPPP coming from Landon's direction and wouldn't you know a sneaky little smile creeps along his face and Ryan just can't contain himself and bursts into laughter. Full blown laughter, the tears and everything. So, that basically does it for everyone and we are all laughing and Landon keeps saying, "That's funny! That's funny! That's funny! That's funny" over and over again. Ryan tried to calm down and give him a little talking-to about how that's not appropriate at the table and can't even make it through a couple of words without bursting into laughter. Looking at everyone around the table laughing, I couldn't have been happier at that moment of time. It's moments like that that make me so happy to have my little family!

A tutu for Charlotte

I have seen some of the cutest tutus on little girls lately and decided that it was high time for Charlotte to join the trend! I haven't really been able to find one that I like for I price that I find acceptable for a baby tutu so I decided to try and make one. Landon accompanied me to JoAnn's yesterday and helped me pick out tulle in all colors of the rainbow. It was so fun! The tutu wasn't as hard to make as I anticipated and it went pretty smoothly. This morning I put Charlotte's tutu on her and I have to admit that I'm in love with the tutu thing. Ask me 10 years ago if I thought I would ever put a tutu on my daughter - much less make one - and I would have said, "No!!!" But oh I am enjoying this girly thing A LOT! The boys even seemed impressed by the sheer volume of tulle around Charlotte's waist because they started calling her "Super Charlotte" and telling her that she was wearing her "super suit." Here are some pictures of Charlotte and her tutu. Get used to the look - I have a feeling Charlotte will be wearing a tutu of some color in a lot more pictures these days...

Yoga Anyone?

Anyone here into yoga?? Thinking that I needed a little more relaxation and stretching in my life, one of the things I decided I wanted to "get into" this year is yoga. Last night was the first night I went to a class and now I am waffling on that desire. I have found that maybe I'm a little too ADD for yoga. The pace seemed so slow at first and I was having a hard time keeping my mind on "my inner self." Also, some of the poses were so difficult that I had a really hard time focusing on the proper breathing too. Every time the instructor was telling the class where we should be on our breathing, I was the complete opposite.

Instructor: "Now exhale..."
Me: "Oh no! I'm inhaling! Ok, hurry, breathe...ok, I'm exhaling..."
Instructor: "Now inhale..."
Me: "What?! I just started exhaling...."

On a positive note though, the class did pick up in pace towards the end. And, even though I felt kind of out of sync with the instructor, I definitely felt good after the class was over and today my body definitely feels worked-out. So, who knows. Maybe I'll go to the bookstore and buy "Yoga for Dummies" and practice some of those crazy-hard moves and try the class again. Any experienced yogis out there with advice for me??

What's Going On

Since my last post, I have written 3 drafts and sat down to make an entry twice as many times. Lots of things have been going on at my house - so much so that I can't seem to find time to blog about it! Such as the fact that I have had mastitus 3 times now in the past month. I never had it with either of my boys and it has definitely thrown me for a loop. It doesn't help that Ryan has been out of town ALL 3 TIMES and that has basically left Brayden in charge. The one thing I can say for the boy is the fact that he makes a mean peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

I was also planning to blog about the fact that I don't think my family is going to survive Sundays this year. You know how Sunday is a "special day" (actually, that is Saturday now that I think about it..."Saturday is a special day, it's the day we get ready for Sun-day!") We have 1:30p church and I am about to start attending the Spanish branch just so I can go earlier. I have always wanted to learn Spanish, so maybe I can kill two birds with one stone. On top of the time change, it really doesn't help that Brayden got moved to the other side of the primary room and "he doesn't want to sit on the other side of the room." Gotta love my little OCD man.

It was imperative for me to tell you about this extremely cute wave thing that Charlotte has started doing too. She waves her chubby little hand and says, "Hi-eee" all the time. I put her on the floor for a minute and when I come back it's "Hi-eee." I purposely leave her just so I can come back and see her do it. It has to be the cutest thing I have ever seen in my life. So cute in fact that I may just have to post a video of it at a later date.

Oh, and another thing? I have come across a website that I wish I had invented - that was MY idea to invent - although now I have found that it was someone else's idea too. It's called blurb.com and you can turn your blog - pictures and all - into a book! I know I will be doing it soon.

And, lest I forget, my newfound obsession with dancing! I love all of the dancing shows on TV: So You Think You Can Dance, Dancing With the Stars, and now Dance War, I love them all just to watch the dancing. This weekend I cranked the stereo to Justin Timberlake's "My Love" and taught my boys the way it's done. They now know "The Sprinkler," "The Lawn Mower," and "The Fisherman." Hey, I just said I love watching dancing, I didn't say I could actually do it!

Another passion of mine that has been lost for a while but now re-found is that of cooking. I have been cooking like a fiend lately. Both my mom and Ryan gave me cookbooks for Christmas and all I want to do it cook. Last night we had Apricot turkey and sweet potatoes and it was sooo good. Tonight I made this vegetable pasta (that was the recipe name) and it was so easy and so good...yum, just thinking about it is making me hungry again. There have been lots of treats too - after all, I'm a baker first, cook second.

And lastly, I have been planning on blogging about the primary election going on. The election this year has really made me think and re-think my political views. I have always been a Republican, but I find myself this year not liking the republican candidates so much. The social views are what have pushed me into the conservative side of things but now I find myself wondering if I could - and would - vote for a Democrat when the time comes. It will definitely come down to who the 2 final candidates are.

So, there you have it, the mind-dump of the goings-on in my life for the last little while. Keeping busy, going crazy, and having fun, one day at a time.

6'6 and well-proportioned

We have had such a fun last 10 days, I hardly know where to begin this post. The most unfortunate part of our trip is that our camera battery died on day 2, so I literally have only a couple of pictures of all of the fun. This is how our trip started out:

This was in the Blue Mountains right outside of Pendleton on the way out of town. It was so snowy and beautiful, but not the most fun driving. Besides this bit of snow, the 24+ hours of driving there and back went well, although we swore we will never make the drive again. Can someone please keep me to this?? Next time you hear me say we are driving to Utah, come smack me upside the head...or at least point me to this post. :)

All of Ryan's siblings were in town for the holidays and Brayden and Landon had so much fun playing with their cousins. I seriously hardly saw my boys for the 3 days that we were in Utah they were so busy playing. They even got out in the snow to sled while we were there. Here is Brayden and his cousin Hailey:

It was also wonderful for us to see all of the family members that we love and hardly get to see. We headed back through Boise for New Year's Eve and spent the night consuming untold amounts of calories and playing Password with my parents. Since when did I get so old that hanging out with my parents on New Year's Eve was not only planned, but fun?! In fact, we were so engrossed in Password that we missed the dropping of the ball by a couple of minutes. Definitely a far cry from our Rockin' New Year's Eve in Times Square last year. New Year's Day we headed over to my parent's church with my dad and brothers to play basketball and ended up playing with a bunch of 17 year old boys and their dads. Brayden came with us and it was fun for me to have him see me play basketball. When we were in Utah he was playing basketball with his cousin Spencer and I heard him tell his cousin Hailey, "You can't play - only boys play basketball." I couldn't believe that MY SON said those words. I told him that I would take him out back and show him that girls play too if he kept that talk up. :)

So, the running joke surrounding the latter-half of our vacation (and now that we are home) has to deal directly with the post title. For years Ryan's mom has been saying that Ryan is taller than 6'5. Ryan's dad is 6'4 and she has said that Ryan is more than 1 inch taller than him. Ryan hasn't been measured since he left on his mission 10 years ago (at which time he registered at 6'5). So, Ryan's mom Kathrine measured him our last day in Utah and he came in at 6'6. I couldn't believe it. I really didn't think my husband could get hotter, but it happened the second she said 6'6. :) Shortly after this monumental measure, we left for Boise. When we got there I was telling my parents that my husband was actually 6'6 and my dad insisted that we measure again. So, once again, Ryan stood against the wall and the result: 6'6. It's funny how an inch can make a difference, but I thought my dad was going to cry tears of joy ( I guess he and I are on the same page with this one...). You see, my dad has been dreaming of professional athletes since the day I was pregnant with Brayden, and I guess he thinks that extra inch in the genetic pool is really going to help our chances. The joke got started when I said, "Yeah, he must not seem that tall because he's so well-proportioned," (I still don't know why my family thought that was so funny) and soon Ryan no longer had a name, he was just "6'6 and well-proportioned." Anytime someone addressed him it was, "Hey, 6'6 and well-proportioned!"

Overall, we had a great trip and are glad to be home safe and sound. The best part of the whole holidays has been to have Ryan around for 2 1/2 weeks. I can't believe how much better life flows with Ryan around. It's such a vast difference from having him out of town most of the time to having him at home full-time. I am sad for real life to resume on Monday, but I am looking forward to this new year and new goals. I have a feeling that this is going to be a great year on many levels...I guess you'll just have to stay tuned to find out!