Me, According to My Kids

On Mother's Day, the kids filled out an "All About My Mom" questionaire in Primary. Here's what they had to say.

R Y A N

My mom is 34 years old.
My mom weighs 10 pounds.
My mom's favorite color is blue.
My mom's favorite food is all. (hmm...not sure what this means!)
My mom always says, "I love you!"
My mom cooks the best hot dog. (interesting because we never make hot dogs at home)
My mom's job is dishes.
My mom laughs when I tickle her.
If my mom had time, she would love to play with me.
My mom and I like to play.
My mom really loves flowers.
I LOVE my mom because she gives me  hugs.


A N N I E

My mom is 15 years old.
My mom weighs 100 pounds.
My mom's favorite color is pink.
My mom's favorite food is pancakes.
My mom always says, "choose the right!"
My mom cooks the best toast.
My mom's job is to pick up.
My mom laughs when my brother sings.
If my mom had time, she would love to choose the right.
My mom and I like to eat.
My mom really loves me.
I LOVE my mom because it is a hot day.

Catching Up

So it's been a while since I've posted. OK, OK, a REALLY, REALLY long while. Things have been crazy. Not like everyone else's life is not busy, but we're usually pretty even keel in our life. Things don't change much for us. Usually. But the last 8 months or so have been different. Bryan was recruited and recruited and recruited for a new job, which he finally accepted in July. The job has been a huge blessing and he LOVES it. He still owns his technology consulting company, so he is now a small business owner and a corporate executive. Needless to say he's a little busy. In August we decided to sell our old house and build a new one. It all fell into place beautifully. We sold our house in three days. The buyers rented it back to us until our new house was done in March so we didn't have to move twice. Our realtor was amazing. The new house is in a great neighborhood and we have an amazing ward. In September we found out we were expecting baby number three. We were thrilled. In January we found out it was a boy. I was even more thrilled. In March we moved into our new house. The kids love it. I love it. Bryan loves it. Life is good.

Baby is due in six weeks, on June 2. I am praying that he comes two weeks early. I know he won't but a girl can wish, you know?

Annie is attending a special education class through the public school system for her speech delay. Since September she has made phenomenal strides. Now that she can communicate with words, her insane fits have subsided substantially. She is so much happier, which makes all of us happier, because as we all know, she definitely rules the roost around here.

Ryan is still attending preschool and still loves it. He starts Kindergarten in July which I can't believe. His name was chosen out of a lottery to attend the charter school that I really, really wanted him to go to. I can't wait to watch him continue to grow and progress, though I have to admit it's all happening much too quickly for my liking.

Annie and Ryan started taking swim lessons a few months ago and can now officially swim better than I can. They are awesome. If I get my act together maybe one of these days I'll post a video. Or not. We'll see.

So that's us. I'm going to try to blog more regularly, especially once the little man arrives. I've gotten a bit spoiled by Facebook, but not all of my friends are on Facebook. So I guess that begs the question--does anyone still read this? If you do, leave me a comment. Because maybe if no one does I'll stick to Facebook!

Some Thoughts About Christmas

Before this Christmas season began, I knew I wanted to do things differently. I was afraid we were falling into the trap of Christmas becoming a gift giving free-for-all. Growing up the only religious experience I connected to Christmas was an occasional visit to Midnight Mass with my Grandpa. I don't really remember doing things for others or focusing on the reason for the season, and I want things to be different for my children.

I decided that we would do an advent calendar that had an activity for each day. Some of the activities were fun, like baking cookies or making a craft, some were simple like reading a Christmas book, and others were focused on giving, like picking out gifts for kids on the angel tree or shopping for your sibling. We also spent a descent amount of time talking about the nativity in our front room and why we have Christmas.

As a result, it's not even Christmas yet, but I feel like we've had a great holiday. We didn't go overboard buying gifts for the kids. The kids learned about the joy of giving to others and made some new connections between Christmas and our savior. Overall I think we're on the right path and I couldn't be happier.

Our family wishes you a very Merry Christmas. We hope you take a moment this season to ponder the greatest gift of all, that of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Soccer Saturdays Begin!

Ryan recently started playing his first season of AYSO soccer. He's not a real competitive kid, but he loves the kids on his team and running around after the ball. We now spend a portion of all our Saturdays at Crossroads Park for his games, and I have to admit, it's really fun. The kids at this age are so entertaining--they have such a good time and sometimes they really make you laugh! His team, the Sharks, plays pretty well and most importantly he's having fun and learning how to be part of a team.

(These pictures we're taken during his first game)

Dancing Queen

The first week of August Annie started taking her first dance class. It's a combination tap/ballet class and she LOVES it! She loves the cute little outfits, the tap shoes, the props--pretty much everything about it! It is fun to watch her get so excited about something at such a young age. This picture was taken of her on the morning before her first class. And yes, she always looks this cute.

Quilts for My Cousins

This summer I've been doing my share of quilting, and I LOVE how both of these came out!

The first one is a Dr. Seuss quilt that I made for my cousin Tara's little boy Jackson. His room is done in Dr. Seuss and I had some Seuss fabric so I thought I'd see what I could come up with. The result is my favorite of all the quilts I've made so far. I added some fun details like quilting a star in each of the pieced squares and I think it came out darling.

The second one is a simple tumbler quilt that I made for my cousin Kayce who is having her first baby this fall. I love all the fabrics together, and this was the first time I did a pieced backing which I think really adds something.

Now I'm working on a fun transportation quilt for Ryan. It's going to be a twin size, the largest I've attempted so far, and I can't wait to get it finished.

Happy Birthday, Ryan!

Opening presents on his birthday morning

Checking out his new legos

Birthday King!

More presents!

All of his birthday party friends. This is the best one we got--I guess that's what happens when you have a group of 4 year olds!

Obviously I'm a little late in posting this, but on July 1 Ryan celebrated his 4th birthday! He actually had an entire birthday week celebration that included a special shopping trip and dinner with his grandparents, lunch with Daddy, multiple nights that included ice cream and of course a big party with all of his friends at Bounce U.

I say this every year, but I can't believe my baby boy is four! He is an amazing little boy and we feel so blessed to have him as part of our family. Here are a few things about Ryan;

~He is extremely kind. When his sister is upset about something (which is often) he always tries to figure out what she wants or tries to comfort her.

~He has a great vocabulary of big words, all of which he uses correctly.

~He loves school and homework. Each month his preschool teacher sends home an optional homework packet and he insists on doing the whole thing the very first day. Every time.

~He loves video games--Super Mario Brothers is a favorite on Wii and his DS.

~He loves mint & chip ice cream, In & Out cheeseburgers, broccoli and rootbeer.

~He is a wonderful helper around the house.

~He is very thoughtful.

~He loves to laugh.

Happy Birthday, Ryan Taft! We love you so, so much!!!

Scrap-tastic!

When I started quilting about a year ago, one of my concerns was where in the world I was going to store my quilting stuff. I don't have an extra room or even a specific area of my house that I can devote to sewing. So I decided then that I would limit myself to one big Rubbermaid tub for all of my fabric. So far I've stuck to that, but the tub is getting mighty full, so I decided to try to use up some of my scraps.

I made this quilt for my friend Jacqie's new baby girl. I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out because I really like quilts that are systematically laid out. But I ended up loving this --very pink and very fun! Other than the hot pink sashing (which is also the fabric on the back) everything came from my big tub. Hopefully baby Julia will love cuddling up with it!

Myrtle Beach

Back at the beginning of May we spent a week in Myrtle Beach, SC. We planned this trip about a year ago, because even though we are close to the lovely beaches of California, I like to visit new places.

My parents came along with us which was a nice treat for everyone. The kiddos sure loved having Grammy and Papa around.

Anyway, I was a little nervous about how the kids would do on such a long flight. But not to worry, they were awesome. On each of the Phoenix/Atlanta legs, Annie had a few minutes of crying right before she fell asleep. Like, 3 minutes max. (Of course during those three minutes we got lots of rude looks from cranky old ladies. But I behaved myself and didn't say anything!)

The place we stayed was amazing--right on the beach with great pools and fun stuff for the kiddos to do. And Myrtle Beach itself was fantastic--it's definitely a tourist town, but it's very family oriented. I've never seen so many miniature golf courses in my whole life!

This was the first vacation we've taken that I can remember where I didn't feel like we needed a vacation to recover from our vacation. We did lots of relaxing, sleeping in and lounging. It was perfect! Now that we've been back a while, I'm even happier that we took the trip when we did. A week after we got home Bryan took a position as CIO with two companies that are merging, 3 days a week. Of course he's also still running his business, so we are currently in week 5 of 12-14 hour days and then doing more work when he finally gets home!

Anyway, here are a few hightlighs of our trip:

Aboard the USS North Carolina

Annie while swimming. What a cutie!

Ryan's favorite evening activity--laying on the back of the couch, playing Super Mario Brothers on the DS!

Ryan & Annie on the USS North Carolina

Bryan and the kiddos

The kids on our way home. Don't you love their shirts?

The view from our room

Grandma Betty Turns 85!

Earlier this month, Bryan's grandmother celebrated her 85th birthday. Bryan's mom decided to throw a big party and invited family from all around. Bryan's cousins from Vegas, his sisters from Oregon and Texas, and grandma's sister from Montana all made it down for the big celebration. We had an absolute blast and thoroughly enjoyed visiting with everyone, especially the crew from Vegas. Fun times!

Ryan and Annie with Aunt Melissa

A Coke and a Smile!

Four Generations