Ryan, Katie, Joshua, Carter, Landon & Cole: April 2010

Proof

Carter's a walkin' now a days. I love this stage where he's still wobbly. Here's a cute video of my two boys.

Happy Days

Happy late birthday to me.

I never thought I'd walk the Brooklyn Bridge on my 25th birthday....with friends....because I live in NYC.....with two kids....because they're mine.

Never thought I'd come home to a clean house....because my husband cleaned it....even though he's really busy.....because he's busy studying. ;)

Never knew what it would feel like to be 25. Now I know and to tell you the truth, I'm satisfied; not because I've checked everything off of my "to do" list, but because I am happy with who I am as a person. And that feels good.

Happy day to all of you.

All about the man

It's really really late, and yet here I am, blog surfing. I get sucked in and before I know it, it's past my bedtime. However, while blog surfing I found an old high school friend and his wife who wrote 100 things about their spouse and I thought it would be a fun venture....yes it's late and yes I might say weird things, but I'm stuck in that "too tired to get ready for bed" phase, so I'm doing it anyway.
1) Ryan sleeps well with the light on and me on the computer
2) He's nice and won't make me turn it off and stop typing
3) If he starts snoring all I have to do is tell him I'll scratch his back and he'll turn over
4) He thinks he's getting the better deal
5) He probably is
6) He loves to master cooking certain things: eggs, cakes, and cookies
7) He wins at everything
8) His friends always ganged up on him in high school to beat him in games and now I see why
9) He loves to play basketball on Saturdays
10) He won't miss it for anything
11) He's a people person
12) He's very intelligent
13) and witty
14) This is one of the reasons we got back together
15) I dated a guy who didn't get my jokes and I thought, "Oh man, where's Ryan when you need him?"
16) I love to hear him laugh
17) He loves to read
18) We love to read the same type of books (at least I like to think we do)
19) I love to discuss books with him
20) He doesn't like it when I give away endings to books
21) He's got a great singing voice
22) He thinks I'm biased
23) He does great with his dental patients
24) He knows how to interact with them well
25) Ryan is smart with money; I'm frugal
26) He was a great missionary
27) He loves to talk about his mission
28) He loves Brazil
29) He loves to eat Brazilian food
30) I love to hear about Brazil and all of his stories
31) Ryan doesn't like to dance but will when forced
32) Ryan will also perform magic tricks when asked
33) He also has a plethora of card tricks
34) The kids in Brazil loved him
35) He sang the Rainbow Connection to me in a Kermit voice on our first date
36) He held my hand on our first date
37) He gets his wit from his Grandpa Allen
38) Ryan gives good massages
39) This is another thing I missed when we broke up
40) Ryan is really good about my diabetes
41) He doesn't get bothered about me poking myself
42) and he remembers to take snacks in case my blood sugar goes low
43) This is another thing I missed when we broke up
44) There were a lot of reasons for me to get back together with him
45) Another reason is that he has a great family
46) He's very clean for a guy
47) He cleaned our house for my birthday
48) including the bathroom
49) something he said he'd never do again because I told him -once- he couldn't clean it :)
50) He's a master organizer
51) and he decorates the house more than I do
52) He tends to rearrange furniture
53) Whenever we watch t.v. he usually has the computer going as well
54) He doesn't like to go on walks
55) or take long drives
56) He likes to take the quickest route possible
57) Ryan's good at impersonations
58) The electric guitar is one of my favorite impersonations, also Scooby Doo
59)Ryan taught me how to do laundry better than I did before
60) He's very quiet about his opinions
61) probably because I'm loud with mine
62) Ryan loved high school
63) and still keeps in touch with a lot of his friends
64) Ryan had awesome friends in high school (he still has awesome friends :)
65) Ryan has a lot of quirky talents like rolling his stomach and walking on his toe-knuckles
66) The latter talent was performed at our ward talent show
67) He has also won best-dressed awards at our ward's 80's dance and Halloween parties
68) Ryan has beautiful blue eyes
69) and beautiful dark hair
70) and white skin that burns really easily
71) He freaks out when he gets burned because of bad past experiences
72) He ran a marathon with me because he wants to move to Germany when we're done with dental school (I told him he'd have to run one in order for me to move....never thought he'd actually do it)
73) although now he's trying to push for Italy
74) I think he should just be happy with Germany
75) He's very manipulative....or convincing
76) We'll probably end up in Italy
77) Ryan hates being told what to do
78) Ryan adores his boys
79) He's really good at working with them
80) He's helping Josh learn to read
81) and Carter learn to walk
82) The kids get so excited when he's home
83) I'm chopped liver once Daddy's home
84) Ryan listens really well
85) He remembers things I say
86) even though he struggles saying "mm hmm" after everything I say
87) because I love to talk to him
88) a lot
89) Ryan falls asleep easily
90) He loves to spend time with friends
91) He's really thoughtful about gifts
92) He's easy to please when being fed (for the most part)
93) He loves chips and salsa and Subway
94) He has written me some really sweet poems
95) He makes up stories for Josh at bed time
96) Ryan honors the priesthood and is genuinely good
97) Ryan supports me as a mother and in my calling
98) He doesn't get much free time once he's home
99) He is very good looking ;)
100) I love watching him talk about funny things and seeing his face light up and hearing him laugh at the funny parts.

Smorgasbord of happenings

Life has been coming at us quickly the past few weeks it seems, and we still have a lot of fun busy-ness to come. (We have Easter, Carter's birthday 4/3, my birthday 4/8, Mother's Day, anniversary 5/21, Ryan's birthday 5/31, Josh's birthday 7/4, and Fathers Day...we like the spring). Carter took his first steps on St. Patrick's Day and is walking more and more every day. (I'll have Ryan post a video:). We also have been celebrating his birthday for the past couple of days. It was our turn for babysitting co-op (I highly recommend it) on Friday, so we decided to turn it into a birthday party for little Carter. We didn't end up doing much since we were busy watching a lot of kids...but we did open a few gifts and have birthday cake. (I also made wands, but they turned out to be more like whips....sorry parents:).Then Saturday we went to watch Ryan play football, opened more presents, had Carter's own personal cake, watched conference (a broadcast meeting of our LDS church, for those who might not know), dyed Easter eggs, tried to have dinner, and said goodbye to Ryan as he went to the priesthood session of conference. Sunday we celebrated Easter and enjoyed another day of relaxing and watching conference. We got little gifts from the Easter bunny (Ryan surprised me with a piano book and the Percy Jackson book series) and also spoke with Josh a little on why we celebrate Easter. I've come to love speaking with Josh about our Savior and about the gospel in simple terms that he can somewhat understand. The gospel is beautifully simple and also so profound. Simple enough for anyone to understand and yet so profound that we always have more to learn. I am so grateful for my Savior; that he suffered and died and was resurrected so that we might have joy in our lives, comfort when we face sorrow, and peace in the knowledge that we will all be resurrected.

Carter and his birthday cake. We couldn't get a straight shot of him smiling. He was done, so we had to jump and dance and pull funny faces to get any kind of smile.