Disney Days

So have you been keeping track?
May 1-2 BYU
May 3-Ryan takes the SAT and gets a perfect score :)
May 6-9 Disney
May 10-Anniversary
May 11-Mother's Day
May 14-18 Utah
May 20-29 Sick days and catch up
May 23- Ryan spends 24 hours at DL with Royce and Heather; car breaks down on way home; without car for almost two weeks
May 30 Kindergarten celebration and end of school wrap up
May 31-51's baseball game
June 2-Break my foot
June 4-Last Day of School
June 8-Birthday
June 9-14 Disney/Birthday party at Chuck E Cheese
June 15-Kid's Birthday and Father's Day
June 16- Scheduled mental breakdown
You don't even want to read about the rest of the summer...

So you can see why we did not celebrate May the Fourth be with you or Cinco de Mayo? Although we did talk about it :)  I didn't mention any of the tumbling or dance classes either.
But it is my goal this week to blog and catch up on all of these happenings. Good luck to me!

First, our May 6-9 Disney trip:

The one in which we did Toon Town twice because Roger Rabbits cartoon spin kept breaking down (we literally got in line and left three times in a row). But that meant that we had it all to ourselves at closing one night. The kids ran wild and free and we sat and ate churros and watched them play. We felt like we were the only ones there. Ryan said, "other families go on walks. We do this."
The one in which we convinced Rachel to go on the Matterhorn and she put up a huge stink and cried and said no no no the whole line and then when we rode it she declared it her new favorite ride! (this she gets from me, right Gpa J?)
The one in which we let the kids buy Mickey ears for the first time and Adam really wanted to get matching ones, but Rachel opted for the fancier feather one. It cracks me up every time I look at her.
But...we still did our classics too:
Eating breakfast at the Barstow Train station
Eating at Blue Bayou and sharing the Monte Cristo sandwich (our whole family can eat for $30-that's a bargain for Disney :)
Going to the Up play place next to Grizzly River Run that I can't remember the name of right now--most likely our favorite place in the park...we get to relax while the kids can play safely
Convincing Rachel to go on Splash Mountain and her hating us for it.
Etc Etc

This was a nice trip because it was just us. We LOVE going with friends/family, but it is special to just be there with the six of us. Gooooo team!

We tried to get Rachel to take a pic of us for our anniversary. They were all blurry and we looked dumpy and tired in all of them. But after 11 years, we are dumpy and tired and blurry. And we still love each other. Imagine that :)

Pre Matterhorn face

Post Matterhorn face

11 Years and Counting

On May 10 we celebrated our 11th anniversary. It was a simple night of dinner and a movie and dessert with these two great friends (we didn't plan it but we ran into them. Really fun :)

I don't want to be too gushy, but I really love the groove that we have going in our marriage. Both of us are happy and comfortable with each other. We know each other so well and still like each other. I trust him and love him. We don't have the kind of love that would become a Hollywood hit...but we have the kind that has created a great home filled with kids and love and laughter and adventure. And I wouldn't have it any other way. (okay, maybe I would take a little less adventure).

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. 

Valentine's Day

I wish I had pictures of the kids making their Valentine's. It took Rach E more than an hour to carefully write her name in the white box provided. And it took Adam all of about 10 minutes to scribble his name onto his. And I don't have any pictures of the great prizes we got from grandparents, but that was fun-thanks guys! And my phone is not taking pictures right now, so I couldn't record the best Valentine's Date ever--last night just Adam and I went out. He kept saying, "It's just you and me!" I honestly can't remember the last time that it was just him and me. We didn't have a plan. But we went to Tropical Smoothie (sweet guy ordered an apple), Michael's (he liked picking out a craft but then repeatedly asked me, "When can we go home?") and then a last minute decision to mini golf (we had a free game, but it was crowded and took forever!)  Ry and I got to go out too--but he didn't get off work until late and I am not much fun after 8pm--sorry it was lame :)  Hope you had a great V-day!

Everyone was happy before this--oh well

last minute V day lunch idea

Extra help=a nice V day present for me!

I didn't really plan much for V day because these guys were so excited for their party at preschool!--This is about when my camera gave out, but you get the idea...

V Day

For preschool, the kid's had to make Valentine boxes of some kind. Thanks to Royce and Heather, and Home Depot, we actually got them done...let's hope they hold up till Thursday...

Memory Lane: Ep 1

This year will bring our 10th anniversary...yes, 10! So I decided that I am going to record some memories from those first few years. 

February 1, 2003: The Proposal

Ryan used the Memory Lane theme to recreate most of our dating moments--from the big to the small. I wasn't sure he was proposing until the end, but I had a pretty good idea most of the night. It was still awesome though. 

Memory Ln Street Sign. Pretty sure mine might be one of the only proposals that involved theft

Part of the "Thunder Committee" planning everything the night before

I wish we had you in this picture Michelle!

"Ryan worked his thunder. He worked his thunder so slick. Ryan worked his thunder with lots of little tricks." Why oh why do I have those lyrics Ron and not the ones from the awesome song you wrote?!

It's not obvious from this post, but Ryan (and our friends) went to a LOT of trouble to plan the night. Little did he know that if he had just asked me simply I still would have said yes.