A few pictures of Ryan

I know, I know, I post way too much, but these are few pictures I think are cute and wanted to share:

Ryan patiently waiting while I snap a photo in the middle of eating dinner

The day we went and picked up Jim's new truck. Jim was putting his floor mats from his previous truck in his new truck so we sat outside while he was doing so. Ryan loves being outside even on the grass. Trying to get a hold of a piece of grass

Ryan after waking up from his Sunday nap. I just love his little mug :)

Relaxing on the couch after a hard Sunday afternoon, haha

Ryan got in a fight with his saucer. You can't see it, but he also has a scratch under his chin from me. I was holding him while he was jumping and my thumb nail got him. It's a good thing he didn't have a doctor's appointment or they would have thought we are abusing him.

Kam's Photography

While I was downloading the pics from camera to my computer I saw these random pics. I was thinking 'what the hell' until I remembered I let Kam, Lacy's little man, take a couple pics with my camera while he was at my house. They totally crack me up so I had to post them.

A decorative gourd I have on a table

Close up of the decorative gourd

And last, a side shot of Ryan's saucer

I couldn't delete the pics because I thought they were so cute. I know, I'm a weirdo. Amy, my sister, showed me some pictures that were on her camera. Keaton had got a hold of her camera and took a billion pictures of his trike. The pictures were so hilarious. There was a pic of the trike tire and the back of the trike. Typical trike pictures that a 3 year old would take. They were just so funny. Amy: you should post some of those pics that Keaton took of his trike so people know what I'm talking about.

Pumpkin Party

On Saturday the 25th, my family held our annual pumpkin party at my parents house. We pick pumpkins from my dad's garden and carve and/or paint the pumpkins. We also play games, eat dinner, and make witches brew. The Hobo, as we call him, always makes a special appearance and scares all of the kids to death. Last year Madeline kept telling us, "But he has real hands." The Hobo strategically wore gloves this year :) This year the Hobo really scared Keaton and Dallin. They were freaking out so Max got upset and was screaming. All of the commotion got Ryan crying and even baby Ethan started in on the crying. It was hilarious--mean, but really funny. I'm sure all of the kids need therapy now. Keaton wouldn't leave his mom's sight. And if you even mentioned the scary guy he would start crying. I can't wait to see Ryan's reaction next year. Here are some pics from the party:

I "blog-lifted" this from my sister Amy's blog. I was going to put all of the same pics in a slide show but this was cuter. I hope you don't mind sis :) Look at all of the kids faces. They are terrified.

My mom holding Ryan and Madeline. Everyone wears festive shirts to the pumpkin party.

My dad cutting the pumpkins from the vines in the pumpkin patch

The kids picking their pumpkins

Jim and Ryan watching the kids pick their pumpkins

Me, Ryan, and Madeline

The pumpkin carving/painting begins

Jim carving my pumpkin. I saw a cute polka dot pumpkin in a magazine and wanted to do one like it. I couldn't manuever the saw that red hot though so Jim did it for me.

Ryan and Me with our prizes from the games. Amy brought pumpkin bowling and pumpkin ring toss and one other game that I'm not sure what it was (I didn't see it get played). The pumpkin toss was actually quite hard. She had pumpkins set up and you had to throw a hula hoop and get it around the pumpkin. I thought it looked so easy but I was terrible at it.

Paula pouring in the eyes of of a newt in the witches brew

Finger breadsticks to eat with our soup

Chuck gagging himself with his finger :)

Emilee picking her nose with her finger :)

Amy feeding Ryan his bottle before we left to go home

The Army really ticks me off sometimes...

I went to the dentist in June for a check-up and I keep getting bills in the mail that my visit still hasn't been paid for. I had Jim check on our insurance with the Army and the reason my visit isn't being paid for was because I was dropped from our insurance. Oh, it gets better, the reason I was dropped was because Jim went from one active duty status to another active duty status. He's always active duty--active duty is active duty, right?? Well, I guess it isn't. So I had to pay $151.00 for my damn dentist bill, grr. This is the second time this has happened--I even had Jim double check to make sure I was on the insurance. I told Jim to tell the Army to rot in hell :)

Before I forget...

Lacy and Kam came over today. We went grocery shopping together, had lunch at Gandalfo's (Kam was lucky and got a corn dog meal from Macey's, haha), and went on a walk--it was so hot though that we came home pretty quick. It seriously felt like we should have shorts on.

Anyway, what I don't want to forget is Kam was in our family room checking out some of my plants. This one particular plant that he was checking out is a plant that an old roommate of mine abandoned. Being the plant lover that I am, I took the plant in and called it my own. It's a hanging plant and since Jim was deployed and I moved in with my parents it's just been sitting in my mom's box window in her kitchen. To really look nice it needs to hang, I guess. Kam walked over to my plant and said, "Geez I really like your weeds Annie." I about died laughing. Kam is a miniature adult trapped in a 3 1/2 year olds body. He always says the funniest things. However, the plant isn't the best looking plant in the world but I still love it the same; Kam was just stating the obvious that my poor plant looks like a weed :) I'll post a picture of my weed plant later...I don't have one on hand, haha.

I found the funniest blog ever. It's called Meanest Mom. I have no clue who this lady is, but she is the best writer ever. I seriously laugh out loud when I'm reading it. If you're ever bored, you should check it out.

Strong Little Skeleton

Ryan is getting so strong. I'll put him down in the sitting position to play with his toys and soon enough he is on his belly like this:

He can move around pretty good on his belly. He'll scoot backwards and turn all the way around in a circle. He just doesn't have the hang of actually crawling yet--I even show him how to do it occasionally :) And yes, Jim calls me a nerd. I'm a visual learner though...if someone was telling me to crawl and I had no idea what they were talking about I'd want them to show me too, haha.

Ryan getting up on all fours

Doing a half stink bug

Usually when I go in to get him from his crib in the morning he will be on all fours and rocking back and forth and jabbering. It's pretty cute. It won't be long before he is crawling. Everyone tells me that I should enjoy him being immobile, but I think he'd be happier if he could get around on his own. He gets really irritated when I walk out of the room.

After awhile he gets pooped :)

I also took Ryan for a stroller ride that day. It was a bit chilly outside so I put his beanie on and wrapped a blanket around his legs plus he had on his skeleton sweat suit so he was warm. I think he really enjoys getting out of the house and getting some fresh air, and I do too.

Funny Bunny

Ryan recently started making a sniffing type noise and doing this silly face. It cracks me up. When my cousin Shane was little (he's now 21), he would do something similar and I think we'd call it "funny bunny." I'm not sure why but we did. That's what we say Ryan is doing--funny bunny. He mostly does it when we are feeding him and he wants more. He's a funny feller :)

Family Readiness Group Dinner

While Jim was deployed the Family Readiness Group (FRG) held a monthly dinner group for the wives, moms, girlfriends, etc. of deployed soldiers. It was a night out to get away from our daily routines and talk to others whose significant others were deployed. The dinners gave me something to look forward to each month. I'd get the email for the next months dinner group and I couldn't believe it was already time to meet again. The dinner groups were how Lacy and I finally got over our shyness and started to talk and hang out with each other. However, both of our moms credit themselves for our friendship, haha. Brooke West, Sterling's wife, also moved to the area so we would meet up and go to the dinners together. I only missed 4 dinner groups--I missed January because Lacy's husband was home on leave and she wasn't able to go. Heaven forbid I go by myself :) Then I missed March because I had Ryan and I didn't end up going to any other dinner groups after that cause I wasn't savvy enough to go out with a baby yet.


I didn't take very many pictures of the dinner groups while Jim was deployed {in fact, I only have about 4 pics from 7 months of dinner groups...it's because I didn't have a blog :)}

Lacy and I at October's dinner group. It was held at California Pizza Kitchen in Orem. I ventured out and tried something new. I got a pasta dish--I should have stuck with my gut feeling and got a pizza that I new would be good :)

Our dinner group

After dinner, Lacy and I went into the mall to browse a little and get a sweet treat. We got a piece of chocolate from Mrs. Cavanaugh's--we even got some for our husband's since they were kind enough to stay home and babysit.

The FRG decided to continue the monthly dinners even after our soldiers came home. I'm so glad cause it gives us a good excuse for a Girls Night Out.

Dogs LOVE trucks...

and so does Jim... Right before Jim and I were married in April 2007, Jim was hit head on by a Krispy Kreme delivery truck that totaled his truck. Yes, he thought Krispy Kreme was trying to assassinate him :) Jim wasn't hurt, but we still are kicking ourselves in the rear about not having Jim go to the hospital. We probably could own a Krispy Kreme or two by now because the accident was totally the Krispy Kreme drivers fault (the accident is kind of hard to explain unless you know the area where he was so I'll save you the long and boring part). They got away with only paying for Jim's deductible. Outrageous, I know. Even worse, Jim only had one more payment on his truck and it would have been paid off. He is still really bitter about that whole situation. Either way, thank goodness he was in his big truck. Otherwise, I think the accident would have been alot worse.

He has been without a set of wheels since he got home in May. He's just been driving my car to work, etc. After much looking and a couple of failed deals, he finally has his own truck again. I think he's pretty proud of it. We like to tease him and say he got a Utes truck since he is partial to the Cougs, blah. Oh, he thinks Ryan already loves the truck, too. Funny. Here are some pics:

Hopefully it will fit in the garage. We haven't tried yet... I don't like it when people get new vehicles. It makes your own vehicle seem so old and not so fun. When will it be my turn? Probably not until this one is paid off...

Ry-ina

Paula put Sophie's hair bow in Ryan's hair on Saturday. Jim was and is still disgusted--in fact, he's making me promise right now that I will NEVER put a hair bow in Ryan's hair again. OR, dress him in a dress, curl his hair, put make up on him, etc. So I guess this is it--my one shot at seeing Ryan as a cute little girl. Jim says he looks ticked in the picture and that he hates himself because he has that bow in his hair. Cracks me up. Jim doesn't think so, but I think he'd be a cute little girl. What do you think?

Fall Clean Up

On Saturday October 18th, we all went to Levan to help my dad with fall clean up. It was mainly to have the guys dig the potatoes, but the girls helped pull up the flowers in the front yard. Ever since my dad's accident last September, he still gets really dizzy and has issues with vertigo. SO, I arranged for everyone to come down and give him a hand since he is so good to share his garden with all of us.


Here are a few pics of the day thanks to Amy...I wasn't thinking and didn't get my camera out.

My dad, Paula, and Nick pulling out marigold's in the front yard

Me sweeping the curbing on the flower beds. I'm obsessive about things and had to rake, or fluff as I call it, the dirt in the flower beds and make sure the curbing was swept off. My sisters are the same way.

Hayden helping his dad Jason dig spuds.

Hayden showing Keaton where to put the spuds after they are dug

Scott digging spuds with his ear buds in.

They load the buckets of potaoes in the back of the truck. Then they take the truck to the garage and carry the buckets of potatoes down to the potato cellar.

Chuck and Joe taking a break to smile for the camera.

Back to work...

The corn patch all dried out--corn stalks make for some cute fall decorating :)

Dallin jumping his heart out on the trampoline

Molly wasn't to hip on helping outside so she volunteered to babysit all of the kiddos. Fun for her, huh.

Molly tending Dallin and Max

My dad cooked dutch oven turkey and potatoes for us. We all pitched in and brought salads, rolls, and dessert. It was a fun day filled with hard work and good food. The weather was great, too. I'm glad we were all able to go down and help my dad. I know he really appreciates it.