I love when Grandpa comes to visit!

We had a special visitor come for Halloween. My dad came for Halloween and we had a lot of fun. He arrived on Wed. night (10/28) and left on Sun. night (11/1). Our days were packed. Thanks for coming dad. We love you!

Here is Ryan showing off her 2 teeth!

Halloween 2009

This year we had a lot of fun on Halloween because we had a little cutie that got to dress-up! Ryan was a monkey for Halloween (the costume looks more like a bear). She had a lot fun going trick-or-treating with her cousins. She even got to hold a candy and thought that was the best.

Our little monkey!

Ryan got a few pieces of candy. She enjoyed holding the candy and making noises with the wrappers.

Just Another Day in Paradise!

Billy and I celebrated our 4th anniversary today! I can't believe how fast time has gone by. Billy, Ryan, and I took a trip to Okinawa, Japan to visit Rick and Wendy as our anniversary present. I'll be posting pictures soon. Billy had work and mutual so it was a pretty uneventful day, but I did try to make it a little special by making him a dinner he really likes and dessert. The past 4 years have brought about many experiences and memories that we'll never forget. Here's just a glimpse into some of the things that have happened the past 4 years:

1. Began our marriage in Provo, UT in an awesome basement apartment.
   
2. 6 mo. later Billy got hired full-time working for S&I as a seminary teacher.
   
3. Moved to Gilbert, AZ 6 weeks after getting hired for our first assignment.
   
4. I transferred to ASU to finish my degree.
   
5. We moved into our first house in Mesa, AZ.
   
6. Billy began his master's degree at ASU.
   
7. Life got even busier when Billy was called to be YM Pres. in our ward and I was called to be 2nd counselor in Primary.
   
8. I went through some medical problems that at times were discouraging, but shortly after finding out the cause was doing great and haven't had any problems since. A great blessing.
   
9. I graduated from ASU and began teaching 1st grade at Noah Webster Basic School.
   
10. We went through the heartache of having a miscarriage.
    
11. I became pregnant shortly after and welcomed our sweet baby girl Ryan in Feb. 2009.
    
12. We took many trips home to see family.
    
13. I was able to stop working and stay home with Ryan. Yeah!
    
14. Our heart ached again when my mom passed away this past summer.
15. We knew it was time that we start taking some "family" vacations so took a short staycation at a resort in Phoenix, AZ.
16. We went to Okinawa, Japan to celebrate 4 wonderful years together!
    

I am so grateful that I have a family that is sealed in the temple forever. I am so grateful for Billy and how hard he works to support our family and how he honors his Priesthood. We have so many fun memories and I look forward to spending eternity with him. I love you!

Oh, how I LOVE my daddy!

Ryan is so much fun...and cute, adorable, funny, loves to play, loves to snug, loves to smile, etc.! The list goes on and on. Oh, how we love this little girl. Ryan is a really good baby; so when she starts waking up in the middle of night (like 4 times) crying you know something is up. Ryan's second tooth popped through this past Friday (Oct. 2). She did great with the first one, but had had enough when another one came in less than 1 week later. She was up during the night, had trouble sleeping during the day, constantly wanted to chew, and to top it all off, had diarrhea, which created a bad diaper rash. Well, she is finally starting to feel better. Poor thing. I felt so bad for her, but knew there wasn't anything I could do besides give her snugs all day. She's back to sleeping well, which mom and dad really like too!

Did I mention that Ryan is a daddy's girl? Or that Billy is a great dad? Ryan loves the water. She loves to take showers with Billy and loves to go in the swimming pool. All summer long we had a number of people invite us over to swim. We loved it. It was our chance to be outside admidst the raging heat. When summer ended (which for AZ didn't happen until last week) we saw this great kiddie pool that was on clearance. I love a great deal. So when we saw this whale pool that even had a spout that shot water out of it for $5 we knew we had to have it. Even with cold water Ryan still loved playing and splashing around. And her daddy got in there too. I am so grateful for Billy and his love for kids. I appreciate a husband and a father who doesn't sit on the sidelines, but is actively involved in Ryan's life. The other day Ryan and I stopped by Billy's work to grab something and as soon as we left Ryan started crying and kept looking back at Billy. I love my family!

What's for Dinner?

I absolutely love staying home with Ryan everyday. It's such a joy to watch her grow and see all of her new developments. She's been working on a tooth and it popped through today! After a few hectic months during the summer ended, I knew I had to create a schedule for myself during the day. I was determined that I was going to TRY to stay on top of everything...housework, bills, service, meals, V.T., etc. I have always been an organized person (important papers are filed alphabtically, clothes are hung according to color, towels are folded and put away by color, Billy's ties are hung on a tie rack; not so tidy, but still hung, etc.), but was never one to have a schedule (ironic right?). I always knew in my head what needed to be done and then I'd do it. Since I'm home now I decided that it was about time to have a somewhat consistent schedule. For example, I always dust everything in the house on Monday. Tuesdays I sweep, mop, and vacuum. Each day I do something different so that I'm done with everything by Friday. I babysit my niece and nephew on Fridays and this was the best way to get things done so that I don't have to worry about doing anything when they're here and on the weekends. I am pleased to say that it is working out great! I love having a clean house. It's also really nice having the weekends open to do things together as a family other than cleaning. Billy is in charge of the yard. If you were to have looked at it a couple of weeks ago (Billy just did a bunch of yard work) you would have been afraid to see the inside. Trees needed to be trimmed, weeds needed to be pulled, a palm tree was falling over b/c of the wind, etc. I have been trying really hard not to make it a big deal b/c he is so busy right now; so it was nice when he decided (on his own) one morning that he was going to do yard work.
In addition to my new found schedule, I also created a monthly dinner calendar. I hated not knowing what I was going to make for dinner everyday and then going to the grocery store just to come home missing ingredients b/c I didn't plan anything out. It has also allowed me to try new recipes, instead of eating the same things over and over. My dinner calendar has been a success. Tonight we ate this: pork tenderloin with mashed potatoes and homemade gravy, zuccinni, and baked apples. It's not the greatest picture, but it was delicious! I love to cook and Billy loves to eat. It works great!

1 Photo Shoot, 10 min., 1 Happy Girl!

A couple of weeks ago we got Ryan's 6 mo. pictures taken. Every picture turned out so cute! Those places get you...they give you these beautiful pictures of your children and make you pick which ones you want. Needless to say, we had a hard time picking. After 1 hr. of looking repeatedly at each picture and Billy wanting every one (he's such a softie), we ended up with the CD. What can I say: Ryan's just so photogenic! So I know there are a lot of pictures, but we had to share some of them! Enjoy!

Pretty Ryan!