Christmas Time!!

Well, I know that I am a little behind as usual. I just wish I had a little behind. haha. I had so many pictures that I wanted to post so I decided to make a few collages instead. I got a memory mixer program for Christmas so this is all new and fun for me. The first one has pictures from mostly my moms house trying to take pictures for her Christmas cards which was a little bit of a nightmare trying to get all the kids to cooperate and there are also a few pictures of Justin and Ally from our house before church in their cute clothes my mom bought them.

Justin and Ally had the opportunity to see Santa 4 or 5 times this year and as you can see, Ally wasn't thrilled about any of them. The picture with her and Justin where she is screaming is from our ward party and I warned everyone that she would cry but I still wanted a picture. (Mean mom I know.) This is the first year that Santa has made his appearance at Ryan's parents house on X-mas eve but I hope he comes again next year when Ally might like him a little better. We went to my Aunt Pennie and Uncle Robert's house for their annual party first and then to Ryans parents second and had good food and company at both places. Our nephew Cason was sick and throwing up the whole night so that sucked but it was still a good time.

My mom also bought the grandkids matching pj's for christmas and they looked so cute waking up in them on Christmas morning. Justin woke up around 7:00 and yelled my name. When I went into his room he said "I wish it was morning so I could open my presents." Me being the mean mom that I am told him that it was not morning yet and he needed to go back to sleep for a little while even though I knew that wasn't going to happen. I was just as excited as him but I wanted Ally to get a little more sleep. After a half our or so of laying in bed with him we decided to go and wake up Ryan and Justin even layed in our bed until around 8:00 watching cartoons until he finally begged us to wake up Ally and we agreed. Justin was fun to watch open presents but is getting a little spoiled the older he gets and is never satisfied and always wants to open one more. He was most excited about his umbrella, Geotrax airport, Tonka street sweeper and cherry picker trucks and his Red Sox jersey that matches Ryans. Ally was most excited about all the wrapping paper and boxes and also enjoyed her new baby and sitting in her new chair. As you can see by the pictures, she was too distracted to look at the camera. After we opened presents at home we got dressed and headed over to Ryan's parents for breakfast and more presents. Justin got a bunch of stuff but the main present was the playskool dance cam that hooks to the t.v. so he can see himself dance. Ally also got a bunch but her main present was the leapfrog learning table that she absolutely loves. Ryan and I got a bunch of stuff too and MONEY!!! Thanks Bob and Teresa!
After we left Ryans parents, we came home so that Ally could take a nap and we put a bunch of their toys together and then headed up to my mom's to get SPOILED as usual. My mom has spoiled us since we were little and continues to do so. There were times as an adult that my stack of presents were taller than me. Ally loves her new Elmo live doll and Justins favorite was his robot that shoots disks out they also got more toys and TONS of clothes. Ryan and I also got tons of clothes as wells as tons of giftcards, and a folding table and chairs set. Thanks Mom. My mom also made these sweet pork tacos and they were YUMMY!!! Ryan got sick in the middle of the night and was throwing up and the next morning Justin also started throwing up. It was no fun taking care of those 2 and trying to keep Ally away from them. Justin threw up for 4 days straight and the majority of it was in my bed. After changing my sheets a few times he ended up laying on towells for a few days. Ryan's grandma, dad and my niece also got sick so the Gentry family party was rescheduled for this Friday. It's gonna be kinda weird going to a Christmas party so long after Christmas but it should be fun.

Ally's B-Day!! Better late than never right???

I have been debating lately whether to just quit blogging all together since I am so far behind but I would feel like a loser mom if I never posted Ally's B-Day so here it goes. Ally's birthday was on Mon. November 3rd. so we decided to have her party on Saturday the 1st at Ryan's mom and dad's church. She loved the freedom of being able to run around the gym the whole time.
We had pizza, cake and icecream. I got her cake from Sam's club and it had a cute little picture of her on it and was very yummy!!

She didn't really care too much for opening presents and just wanted to run around the whole time. When it was time for her cake I was surprised at how she dug right into it comparted to how cautious Justin was on his first birthday just barely touching it and then licking his fingers. Ally was picking it up and squeezing it and throwing it everywhere until my brother decided it would be funny to ask Ally where her head was and it took her a few minutes before she showed him and ended up with cake all over her hair and in her ears. Thanks Scott!! j/k it was fun to watch her enjoy herself so much. She got a lot of great presents and had fun playing with all her cousins. The older kids had a good time playing potato sack races and with some of Ally's new toys.
Ally celebrated her first birthday with only her bottom two teeth and was almost 22 pounds and 31 inches long. She still doesn't have a lot of hair but is also not the baldest 1 year old I have seen. I can actually pull her hair into pathetic little piggy tails. She is a mischevious little girl and is always getting into things she is not supposed to. I love her so much and can't imagine my life without her.

Finally!!

I know, I know, I am a blog loser. I have been told by many recently that I need to update more often but for some reason I have been totally out of the blogging world. I have so many pictures, stories and events that I feel I need to post that maybe I am a little overwhelmed and that is why I have chosen to take a break. However, I do feel the need to post my Halloween pictures and if I have time before Ally wakes up then her birthday ones also. Halloween was fun this year it was nice to not be 9 months pregnant like last year and it was such a nice day too!! Heather and Jim had their annual Halloween party on the 18th this year and the theme was Heroes and Villains. Ryan and I had a hard time coming up with ideas but we wanted to be something that Justin would know who we were so we ended up going as Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy from Spongebob and we even won the costume contest. It was a fun party other than the Red Sox were still in the playoffs and had a game that night so Ryan was a little distracted and spent a lot of the night upstairs watching the game but they had my moms Rock Band all set up with a projector and a sheet hanging on the wall so the screen was huge and they drew names for people to be in random bands. It was fun!! I know that my nose looks a little inappropriate but I promise its just a stuffed nylon!!

We had such a busy week the week of Halloween starting with my sister having her baby on Monday the 27th. Little Macie James weighing in at 6lbs. 11oz. is such a cutie pie and Ally kept giving her kisses on the head without anyone even telling her to. It was so cute!!

Tues. the 28th we went to Ryan's parents church for their trunk or treat with all the cousins and then on Wed. I took Justin to my mom's carnival at her ward and then that night we had our own trunk or treat which my mom came to and brought Erin my sisters other daughter. On Thursday, Justin had a preschool Halloween party and then Friday we carved pumpkins, went trick or treating, visited grandparents and aunts and uncles and finally made it back home to get a little sleep, wake up the next day and we had Ryan's dad take some pictures of us with his fancy new camera at Beus's pond and then we had Ally's B-day party that night which was fun but that will have to be a whole different post.

The Joys of Motherhood!!

So, the other night Ryan was at the church for a meeting and I decided that Ally probably needed to be changed and take a bath. While I was changing her I realized that there were a few other wet diapers on her dresser that had gathered during the day that I needed to take out so I left her naked cuz she LOVES to be naked and I asked Justin to watch her for 2 seconds while I ran down to throw her diapers out. When I came back up to her room Justin just casually mentions to me that Ally had just pooped on the floor. I grabbed her and ran her into the bathroom and in the tub while I was trying to clean all the poop off her and out of the tub (luckily she was standing so it wasn't smashed all over her) I just kept thinking of the poop on the floor in her room that I still had to clean up and that I couldn't leave her in the tub by herself and about how she had been having diarrhea the last few days from teething (yeah, she finally just cut her first two teeth within the last few weeks) I was hoping and praying that this was a solid poop so that I wouldn't throw up which I almost did anyway. I kept whining the whole time I was cleaning her off and Justin asked me if I was crying and I told him no but I was maybe going to throw up so he told me to make sure and throw up in the toilet. I think he was worried about having to clean up after me and Ally. Finally, I got Ally all cleaned and left her in the tub with about an inch of water and left Justin to watch her and make sure that she didn't pull herself up and slip and fall while I ventured into her room. Luckily all my praying and hoping paid off and I got it all up in one big turd and almost couldn't even tell where it had been. Whew!! Of course Ryan always misses out on all the fun things that happen. I did have 1 thought to run and grab my camera before I cleaned it up but then I realized that nobody would probably want to see a picture of that. Ally is 11 months old today!!! I should probably update about her a little since I am such a blog slacker and she has changed so much lately. She is a walking machine at home as long as she doesn't have shoes on she will take 10-15 steps by herself before she eventually falls or gets to where she is going but she still has to pull herself up to something. She loves to watch Elmo's World DVD's in the car and fortunately Justin doesn't mind them either. She is finally starting to get enough hair to pull into a ponytail on top of her head but it pretty much just sticks straight up. As I mentioned before she FINALLY has her 2 bottom teeth after months of torturing me. She has slept all night for the last 2 nights from 9 until 8:30 but I am so used to getting up with her that I am not planning on it lasting long. I can't believe that she is going to be 1 in a month it has gone by so fast. I am really struggling with birthday and x-mas presents for her so if anyone has any ideas please send them my way!!!!

PRESCHOOL TIME!!!!

Well I am way behind as usual and have to do a little catching up. Justin started preschool a couple weeks ago and is going to teacher Brenda's again. He was so excited to go back and there are a few kids from our ward in his class this year. Here are a few pics from his first day back.

At their back to school night Brenda gave all the kids brown paper sacks with their names on them for them to put things in that describe themselves so Justin decided to go with a train because he could play trains for hours, a baseball cuz he loves sports, a tool cuz he knows all about them and always wants to help and a phone cuz he LOVES to talk!! He had a fun day at preschool showing and telling the kids all about him and doing the Pledge of Allegiance again and making the cute visor that you see in the pictures above that has his name and says welcome back to school. He is totally enjoying school and I am also loving the break!! Its nice to have some one on one time with Ally without having to share her. I was planning on posting about his soccer that he started a few weeks ago also but I am tired and so that will have to wait.

Happy/Sad Anniversary!!!

Well, it was 5 years ago Friday, Sept. 12th since Ryan and I tied the knot. I can't believe it has been that long and I am still putting up with his crap!! J/K Our anniversaries have all been so different from each other. We were talking about it the other day trying to remember all the things we had done to celebrate them and here is the exciting list. Our 1st anniversary was when Justin was about 6 weeks old and we had been visiting my sister and her hubby in Wyoming and drove home on our anniversary so we were in the car all day. Our 2nd one was spent at Disneyland with my mom, dad and sister Shelly. It was Ryans first time to Disneyland and it wasn't crowded at all so that was a good day. Our 3rd anniversary was also the day that my dad passed away which is why the sad part of the anniversary and last year we just went to dinner and a movie and I was HUGE pregnant with Ally. This year was not any different or exciting but Ryan did get off work early and took me to Ruby River YUMMY!! and then we all went with my mom to Roy's homecoming game to watch them get killed. I know how romantic huh? Ryan really wanted to go somewhere for the night but I am still nursing Ally and can't leave her over night yet. Even though he never reads this blog, I just want to tell Ryan how much I love him and what a great hubby he is and tell him thanks for working so hard so that I am able to stay home with our monsters. On the 12th it was also the 2 year anniversary since the day that my dad died and I can truly say that I really miss him. I was always a daddy's girl growing up and remained very close with my dad even after I got married. It does get better all the time and I can say that I don't miss him everyday anymore. I miss him the most when I need something fixed at my house or on my car or when I hear certain songs on the radio that remind me of him. When someone makes a dumb joke it always makes me think of his lame sense of humor and how he always teased everyone. Anyone that knew my dad loved him and knows what a great person he was and how fun he was to be around. On Saturday the 13th I finally got to see my wonderful parents be sealed together in the Ogden Temple and then be sealed to them myself. My dads friend Brad Beus who he has been friends with since elementary stood in as the proxy for my dad and Ryan and Jim got to be witnesses. What a great experience that was and a wonderful day for my family. We had so many friends and family members come to support us on that very special day it was such an awesome spiritual experience. I am so proud of my mom and the life that she lives and the example that she is to all of us and I am so happy that she will be with my dad for eternity. Me and my cute little daddy (aka Grizzly Adams)

(Jim, Heather, Scott, Brad, Mom, Me, Ryan)

Park City

Well, I am way behind on posting as usual so I might have a few in one day pretty soon. Last weekend was our annual trip to Park City with the Gentry family where Ryan's parents pay for us to stay for 3 nights and also pretty much everything we do and eat which is awesome. We started out the day on Thursday doing some shopping at the outlets and got some great deals and the kids were actually pretty good too. Friday morning we got up and headed to the Alpine Coaster and Slide. This was my first time riding the coaster since last year I was pregnant and a little too big to pull the breaks but I am glad I finally got to ride it because it was very fun!!! After we each rode a few times the kids got to play in the inflatable playground area for an hour and then later that night we all went to dinner at Red Rock Brewery. YUMMY! After dinner, Ryan's mom had put together quite the BINGO game with prizes wrapped according to who they were for-kids, adults, boys, girls, you name it. I can't even imagine how much time that took but it was fun even though Ally was trying to eat the bingo pieces the whole time. Saturday we headed to the Olympic Park to watch the Ariel Freestyle show where they ski and do jumps in the swimming pool. It was pretty awesome to watch but it was also very hot that day and my right arm got a little too much sun. Straight from the Olympic Park we went to the Heber Creeper to ride the train which was the thing that Justin was the most excited for and he had a great time but unfortunately he didn't sleep very well the whole time we were up there and it hit him on the train ride home and back at the station where he threw a major fit over wanting to buy everything in the store and had to be carried out kicking, screaming, crying and hitting poor Ryan. After we got him in the car and started driving back to our condo he of course fell asleep. That night we just got Subway and hung out at the condo all night playing games and having fun. Sunday morning after breakfast we headed home for a long anticipated nap. It was so much fun to get away for the weekend but also nice to return home to our own beds and routines.