Sunday, April 28, 2013

Memory Lane Ep 6

April 28, 2002--
I met Ryan (and Wes) for the first time 11 years ago. It was just a normal Sunday in our BYU student ward. But there were these two new boys. I didn't want to be a part of the group of girls obviously wanting to be noticed by them. But I couldn't shake the feeling that I was supposed to talk to them. I forgot about it until I found myself walking home and the group behind me started to catch up. It's rare that I hear the Spirit speak to me in an audible voice. But this was one of those times. "Turn around and introduce yourself."  So I did. It was as simple as that. 
"Hi, I'm Amy."
"Ryan"
"Wes"
"It's nice to meet you." 

That was it. And that might have been all there was. But then we all decided to play frisbee the next day and the rest was history, as they say. There were several weeks of stupid BYU flirting (Ryan working his thunder, Wes as the wingman) before our first official date, but I think I knew that my life had forever changed.

"I Should've Known Better" performed by Apt 3
May 3, 2002

Saturday morning cartoons
May 11, 2002
It's 11 years later. And it's another normal Sunday. We went for a walk and ended up playing frisbee. Watching Ryan with our kids made me really glad that I listened to the Spirit. And I like to think that Wes was there too-still acting as wingman. 

Friday, April 26, 2013

Five Months

April 18, 2013

Erica aka "New Baby"
is rolling! mostly from back to front, but sometimes the other way
now sleeps on her tummy a lot because of it
loves to play with toys and hold them
is getting a little bit more predictable, but still screams for "no reason" more than I'd like
still small, but we haven't weighed her lately--11 lbs is my best guess
sleeps way better at night than her sister and wakes up smiley most days









 Brooke aka "Wookie"
loves to be stiff-will not bend even to eat and tries to sit up while lying on the floor
wakes up several times a night just for her binki (or prob for other reasons, but I'm tired to figure them out)
but will smile at you any time of day even if she's very tired or hungry
prob weighs around 13?lbs
hasn't rolled yet, but has had a few close attempts
doesn't sleep as soundly as her sister, but tends to be more content
loves playing with toys
aren't those big eyes the best?
adam is probably her favorite person in the world



As for the rest of us...we're hanging in there!
I got my nails and hair done this week and we all went to the gym twice! But don't let that fool you--we have gone to bed late every night and slept in our clothes and forgotten to brush our teeth and ran out of milk and were late to almost everything and I didn't even call my bro for his birthday on time. Right now I really should be heading to the store, but I'd rather climb into bed and pull the covers over my head.
But, I'm also trying to enjoy this "honeymoon" period of babydom. No teeth, no crawling, no solid food, no getting into mischief and still can nap in carseats, etc. I'm quickly coming to the end of all of those perks.

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Girl Talk

Rachel: "Hey, mom...know why we always say ye-ah to the babies?"
"why?"
"cause we don't know what else to say to them."

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Glad Monster, Sad Monster

This monster book about feelings has become a favorite. While reading it tonight, the question was, "what makes you glad"
Adam's response was, "I'm glad my daddy married a sweet mama like you!"
We have been butting heads all week so I was really happy to hear that!

Monday, April 1, 2013

Spring Break

I wasn't looking forward to Spring Break. I wanted to avoid crowds so I figured we would stay home and stay in our pjs a lot. The week started that way, but by the end was very different. You could say Spring Break broke us. In some cases, quite literally. But, we are (mostly) back on track:
MONDAY:
Bball in the backyard. Rachel asked for a whistle so she could play "coach". 
What should I do, coach?

"Um, crawl around the table and then put the ball in backwards"
 We had a very nice picnic. We had a slight quarrel between the penguin and alligator, but Winnie the Pooh quickly intervened.

 The most exciting part of Monday was supposed to be a trip to Wal-Mart, but Ryan stepped in and hiked up Lone Mountain. We all thought there was a chance they wouldn't make it, but lo and behold-they did! I was even able to drive by on my way home from the store and wave to them at the top. Now whenever we pass it Ryan says, "Raise your hand if you climbed that mountain!"









We then went out to a celebratory dinner and stroll at the bookstore. Whew, long day!

TUESDAY: No pictures, but we went to the park in the morning and swimming in the afternoon. Then we all collapsed.

WEDNESDAY: Easter Egg Hunt, (see last post), followed by story time, followed by baths and bed:

 Not that a bath does any good!



THURSDAY: We utilized all 8 seats of our car and a friend and I went with our 3 kids and 3 babies to the Discovery Museum. Oh wait. There were over 1,000 people there. And no parking. And I forgot my pass. And so we went to Burger King instead. And Ryan's assistant Melissa, has been bringing her puppy over. I wish I had a picture because he is cute! And our kids get to play with and take care of a dog without us actually having to have a dog!
After all that, we still had T-ball practice, and Ry and I were lucky enough to get to go to the temple. It was really nice.

FRIDAY:
Now it starts to get interesting-all of this outdoor activity has led to some pretty severe allergies around here:


Her eyes were not quite as poofy, but still pretty bad
I planned Friday morning to be very low key. Let the kids watch tv and catch up on housework. Adam insured that it really happened. When I woke up, he was sleeping on the couch. And very soon after that--waking up puking his guts out. All morning!
BUT- by noon he did a 180. Kept everything down and felt good enough to still go up to Mt. Charleston with Ryan and friends. I had a very nice evening at home with babies and a good friend.



The week before they had gone to the "caves", so they definitely have gotten camping out of their system:


SATURDAY:
I woke up in a really good mood. Which is good because the day quickly took a turn for the worse. Ry took the kids to his magic show and I got my cleaning and laundry done. Then I entrusted all four children into Ryan's care in order to go see The Host with my book club. For some reason, I was extra nervous. I made sure my phone was in my pocket so I would feel it vibrate, and sure enough I received a text from Ry. They were on their way to the urgent care. I didn't get the whole story until I left and met up with them. They had been chopping the wood they brought back from the mountains. They took turns with the hatchet. Then, they got distracted and Dora needed saving and Adam threw his hands up to save her, and....Rachel's face was the casualty. Yes, Adam cut his sister in the face with an axe!




While posing for these pictures, she asked," Is Adam going to pretend to hit me?" "NO!" We both said very quickly!
Thank goodness it wasn't worse and she didn't need stitches-just steri strips. And hopefully after four days all will be healed.
Luckily, a trip to Yogurtland made everything better. And a very grateful and sad Mom and Dad settled in for a very bad night of sleep (darn babies!)

So you can imagine why I woke up on Easter morning less than rested or at peace. But, all's well that ends well. Hope your spring break was full of lazing around in your jammies. I sure wish ours was!

Easter

First, we dyed the eggs. While they were drying, Rachel asked, "Are they dead yet?"







Then we took them to our friends' annual egg rolling party. We roll the eggs down the hill until they crack and then we eat them. It may seem weird, but it is really fun, and the kids love it!










Then we had our ward/neighborhood Easter Egg hunt. The kids remember this from last year and Rachel was soooo excited to see the Easter Bunny. She stood by him almost the whole time.

The babies had fun too!



Ryan was invited to do a magic show at another ward's Easter party. The kids went with him to that, but I stayed home with babies. So, I don't have any pictures :)

Then, there was the big day! It's a long story, but I was very not in the Easter spirit. But somehow we managed to pull it off! Our neighborhood normally has a huge egg hunt and breakfast that we love to go to. But this year we only had time to look out our front door to see if the hunt had started, throw our shoes on and go grab some eggs. The kids didn't know any different and they loved their baskets! 


 Yes, my children are wearing Christmas pjs Easter morning. We finally got ready for church...don't mind all the pictures--it's a miracle we got some good ones :)  And before you ask--I will explain Rachel's injury in another post :)

















You might ask: "Did we talk about the resurrection?" According to Adam, if you tell him that Easter is about Jesus and not the Easter Bunny, he will say "I KNOW that!"