Ryan @ 3 years old

Ryan, Ryan, Ryan.  What a kid.  He is absolutely not lacking in personality.  He’s a man of extremes – he’s either really happy or really . . . not.  There’s no question which one is which.

He is a goofy kid – I love this about him.  He’s totally quirky and has his own thing going on all day.  He’s very aware of everything that goes on in a day – I can barely get anything past him. 

He talks really well as far as vocabulary and expressing himself.  However, he can’t say his R’s and a lot of words that start with S_.  We’ve been practicing with him but he gets pretty frustrated and will yell “me can’t say that!”

He wants to be big like Nate.  He really looks up to his big brother and wants to do everything Nate does.  They fight a lot but are also great buddies.  I love having two little boys.  He always says “when Nate goes to Kindergarten, me go to preschool.”  He can’t wait.

One of his favorite things to do is clean.  He always wants a wet rag, the mop, the vacuum.  One day this will come in handy!

He has a great, genuine belly laugh that makes me laugh-out-loud every time.

He LOVED his binkys.  He’d have one in his mouth and 4 in his hands.  We finally got rid of them just after his 3rd birthday and he’s doing much better than anticipated.  It helped that we went to the dentist (Dr. Sean) right around then and Sean told Ryan they had to go.  Ryan repeatedly says “Dr. Sean said no more binkys”.

He can be really mean to other little kids.  Luckily, I think he’s growing out of it but he was/is definitely the bully on the playground.   Some kids have learned to run away when he gets mad!  OR, he’s super nice to everyone.  Like I said, a boy of extremes.

This crazy boy of mine still stays in his crib.  He has decided he’s too big for naps although I haven’t completely given up hope.  We still try every day.  And he generally wakes up in the 5am hour.  It’s awful.  My pregnant self cannot start the day that early but he’s wide awake, happy & ready to play.  So I am a terrible mother and take him downstairs and tell him he has to watch 2 shows before he can come get me.  It works.  I need that extra hour.

I always wanted a “funny” kid and I definitely got one {or two}.  Ryan has a really spirited personality and I love this little man.

My dad’s knee replacement: Take 2

My dad had his knee replaced in April 2011 & it just didn’t work as well as it could have.  After a few years of constant, mild pain he finally started talking to doctors about his options and decided to stick with Dr. Hoer’s {the doctor for the first surgery} partner, Dr. Tait.  Dr. Tait does a lot of second and third go arounds on knees so he’s got a lot of experience under his belt.

The first knee was a newer knee as far as technology but they think his body rejected the material of the knee.  When they went in for the 2nd surgery, they found scar tissue everywhere that they had to clean out before they could replace the knee, again.  They replaced it with a less-advanced knee but it’s a different material so we’re hoping this will work.

The first surgery was awful for my dad – the nerve block didn’t work so he felt all the pain from the beginning.  He was throwing up.  He felt terrible.

I’m happy to say that Round 2 has been much better so far!  The nerve block worked so he was able to rest without being in pain.  They switched him off morphine this time so he wasn’t throwing up.  Overall, much better.

Sam was a daughter on a mission this surgery.  She made sure that my dad was never left alone except for the middle of the night when he was mostly sleeping.  She worked 4 twelve hour shifts at her own hospital and then spent endless hours at the hospital with my dad for the next 2 days.  She got there early, she stayed all day, and stayed late.  And got us all on shifts so he wouldn’t be as lonely this time. Ali was able to pop in a lot throughout the day since Tripp was out of town and she was stuck at home at night. My mom was obviously there a lot. It was a little harder for me to spend quality time there during the day with the kids so I took the night shift for 3 nights . . . 2 of which Sam was there and it was fun to just chat with her and help our dad.

My dad is hilarious on those drugs.  On Monday night, he had Sam and I rubbing his feet, head, spoon feeding him ice, etc.  He was definitely milking it {I don’t touch feet, usually} and was absolutely hilarious.  He came up with some really funny things to say and then half way through would fall dead asleep.

Memories.

I am very glad he is surrounded by family & that he is doing well.  It’s always great to see my dad’s friends support him . . . he had countless hospital visits, friends sent food every day for the nursing staff, flowers, etc.

I heart my family.

The day after our last day at Disney.

I can’t use my Disney passes on Saturdays but we decided to stay another day and go to the beach.  It only made perfect sense to stay at the Newport Marriott Coastal Villas!  It was a splurge, but really great.  We knew my mom would be rather exhausted after a 19 hour day and I knew if we stayed here I could leave the hotel room early in the morning and entertain my boys for hours.  Sam joined us and we played golf on the putting green, tetherball, basketball, ping pong, foosball and Sam took them for a short swim.  This hotel is a dream come true for kids!  It was nice to let them play outside for hours while my mom had a leisurely morning.  Ryan was up at 6am.

After it was time to check out of the hotel, we drove to Newport Beach and grabbed lunch at Gina’s Pizza before heading to the beach.  It was a rather chilly day with a mist of rain in the air but that didn’t matter at all to two little boys {or me}.  They played and played on the beach for hours.  Even when they were soaking wet and shivering, they weren’t ready to leave.  Sam & my mom were troopers sitting in their beach chairs shivering.  I enjoyed it.  It’s amazing to me how easy the beach is every time we go.  The boys played in the sand, played in the water & just had a blast.  I can’t wait to take them back!

It was a great last day at Disney.  What a fun year we’ve had at the happiest place on earth.  Can’t wait to make it back . . . eventually!

I need to give a shout-out to Aunt Sam who was quite the trooper and helper on our one year adventure.  There’s NO way I could have done that without her.  It sure was fun.

Final use of our Disney Pass: Part 1

We were all scheduled to go during our favorite week of the year: first week of May.  And then my dad scheduled another knee replacement which meant my mom and I couldn’t go then.  Luckily, Sam had already requested time off for our New Orleans trip that we cancelled so we spontaneously went to Disneyland on a Friday hoping it wouldn’t be insanely busy on our final day there.

We managed to get my mom up and out the door at 5am – which got us in to the Disneyland parking lot at 8:59.  One minute prior to opening.  Pretty good if you ask me.

We had a magical day.  Even with spring breaks still happening . . . and going on a Friday . . . it wasn’t insanely crowded. 

First ride of the day was the river ride.  Ryan and I can’t ride that one but one of Ryan’s favorite things to do is watch the boats come down.  Nate didn’t want a poncho and he got soaked!

There was only ONE ride left that Nate hadn’t been on yet: California Screamin.  He actually wasn’t tall enough until the last few months and he decided to be super brave and try it.  I’m so proud of Naters – he’s come a long way with his bravery!  He didn’t love it or hate it at first.  But then by the afternoon he was begging to go again!

We finished up at California Adventure {unfortunately, without getting Grandma on Tower of Terror} and headed over to Disney.  While the tall/not pregnant clan rode Goofys Sky School, Ryan and I ran in to Flik – a highlight of Ryan’s day!  Both boys love to meet characters.

We did manage to get Grandma on Splash Mountain.  Ryan was a total weenie on this trip and wouldn’t ride anything remotely “scary”.

We love Casey Junior Circus Train – mostly for the music.  They had technical difficulties so we got off about half way through the ride and walked through the Storybook ride to the exit!  We were stuck long enough that we got a “go to the front of the line” pass (or two) which came in handy for Peter Pan and Jungle Cruise.

Ryan overheard someone talk about the parade and there was no way he was missing it.  Both boys absolutely love it.  I think this face says it all.

We ended our day with fireworks.  Ryan hates fireworks so I turned him around and wrapped two blankets on his head so I could actually watch them this time.  No one does fireworks better than Disney.

It was a great last day at Disney.  I won’t lie – I’m absolutely depressed that I can’t just zip down there anymore for a few days at the Happiest Place on Earth.  Next time, we’re doing a week at Disneyland or World!  It’s been a great, magical year.

Grandma & Grandpa G came to visit

We’ve been looking forward to Grandma & Grandpa G coming to visit from Georgia for a while!  We love it when they come.  They always help us with home projects so I was determined to have them enjoy themselves this time but my vision of a project-free visit could not have gone more array!

You see, we had a slab leak and it was being detected/fixed up until the day before they arrived.  Which meant we had 15 holes in our walls and our tile had been jackhammered.  On day #1 of their visit, Wes & Robert went to work repairing the holes in the walls and re-laying the tile and baseboard.  They were busy and they got it done in enough time for Arturo to come in and texture the walls and paint. While the boys were busy, Doreen and I took the boys to a new park where they were having a Bike Rally event.  After being there for 10 minutes, Nate looked miserable and said he felt so sick he wanted to go home.  He had a fever and basically stayed in bed the rest of the day. 

{Luckily we had a Sunday in there to relax and watch conference!}

On Monday, they were troopers again and hunted down the right baseboard with Ryan while Wes and I had to run to work.  Doreen was sneaky and also went to buy grout cleaner {we had discussed the day before how much I dread cleaning grout} and by the time I got home from work, she and Ryan had cleaned the entire kitchen area and were making their way in to the family room!  Ryan absolutely LOVED cleaning grout with grandma and asked for the bucket and scrubber the entire time they were here.  We finished up the entire downstairs while watching the NCAA Championship basketball game.  She is quite awesome.  She knew I would never let her clean my grout so she started when I wasn’t home!

On Tuesday morning I sent both boys to their school/co-op and Doreen and I ran a few errands and shoe shopped at Macys.  We met Julia {Wes cousin} for lunch and then we went to the Children’s Museum.  Our boys were absolutely exhausted so we stayed home Tuesday night and cleaned up the house for our appraisal first thing Wednesday morning. {we are re-financing our house}.  We did manage to squeeze in a game night of Rook.  For the record: Doreen and I are the defending champs.

Inspection went well on Wednesday so we headed to the park while Wes went to work.  We had a little picnic and let the kids play before I dropped them off at my moms house.  The idea was for Robert and Doreen to have a few hours of peace and quiet before I came back from a meeting to take them to the airport.  But they are so fabulous that they went to the store and got what they needed to make lasagna and made us dinner for that night and two pans for the freezer.   Like I said, they are quite wonderful.

So, instead of going out and playing the whole time they pretty much helped us the entire time.  One of these times it will be pure fun!  It was great to see them and can’t wait to head their way in June!

Easter 2013

We had a nice Easter this year.  We did a few festive things throughout the week and had a low-key holiday.

My mom had the kids over for their annual “bunny cake” afternoon.  All of the kids were loving eating coconut this year!

My mom colored eggs with the boys.  Ryan thought that this orange hair on the eggs was absolutely hilarious.  He died laughing with his hysterical giggle every time he looked at them.

We did an egg hunt with Kiley & our old ward.  It was so great to see old friends.  And then we did one with our current ward!  Egg hunts & candy never get old.

The kids loved Easter morning.  The Easter Bunny hid a few football eggs full of quarters and they found their Easter baskets.  They were pretty excited!

On Easter Sunday, we went to my parent’s house for dinner.  We had my family, Aunt Kara & Uncle Allan and our family friends Leslie & Noah Whitehead and Sam’s friend Steph.  It was a nice group, we ate outside & enjoyed the great weather and good company.

I always enjoy Easter to focus on the Resurrection of our Savior and remember all he did for us and what a wonderful gift the Atonement is.