HAPPY 27th BIRTHDAY RYAN!

Today is Ryan's Birthday! We are so glad to be home to celebrate with him! Ryan is such an amazing husband and father. Here are the top 5 reasons we love our daddy!

1. Ryan is so good to me. He lets me go shopping, play bunco, have girls nights, go to Utah without him, etc. etc. He never complains and sometimes encourages me to take a break and have some time for myself.

2. Ryan is such a wonderful dad and is very loved by his boys! He is a very involved, helpful, and proud father. I love watching him play the role of dad...he does it so well and makes it look so easy! It makes me so happy to see the love he has for his children!

3. Ryan is a great Mr. Mom when I need him to be. He is always willing to help me clean the house and cook dinner. In fact, he is probably a better cook than me! He is also great at enteratining the boys while I work.

4. Ryan is very dependable and loyal. It used to drive me crazy that he would never miss any of his softball or basketball games because they "depended on him to be there." This is something that I have grown to love about Ryan. He will always do what he says he is going to do and will never leave anyone hanging. He is a great friend and is always willing to help people out!

5. Ryan is such a hard worker yet so much fun! He works his tail off in school and studies hard but when the work is done he is ready to play! He is always trying to plan our next vacation or figure out something fun we can do together! He is seriously the reason we have done so many fun things since we got married and I love him for it!

We love Ryan and are so lucky he is ours! We missed him like crazy while we were in Utah and are so glad we are home with him today! We can't wait to celebrate many more birthday's with our wonderful daddy!

Happy Belated Mother's Day!

I am a day late but I wanted to wish all the wonderful mother's out there a Happy Mother's Day! There are so many woman who have influenced my life and have shaped the kind of mother I hope I can be. My mom is the most wonderful woman in the world! I love her dearly and my kids will be lucky if I am half the mother to them that she has been to me! Ryan's mom is also a wonderful woman who we adore!

I feel so blessed to be a mother. It is not always easy, at times it is hard and frustrating, but it is also very rewarding. I love my children to death and feel so lucky to have them call me "mama"! I cannot think of a better calling in life than to be a mother!

Thank you to my sweet husband who got me just what a wanted for Mother's Day...new swimsuits. I already have a few but we do live in Vegas and you can never have enough!

Having Fun In Utah!

We are having so much fun in Utah! Here are a few things we have been up to.Sweeping the driveway with all our cousins!Eating crepes with yummy jam!Riding in the wagonA photo shoot with Grandma Joeen...of course! This could be the cutest picture ever!Attacking our mom!Sending Auntie Kelsey off to PROM! She looks absolutely gorgeous! More pictures later!

Nothing to blog about...

We have not had too much going on this week so I thought I would post a few random pictures of what the boys have been up to!
Playing in the toilet! (yes those are tampons)Hiding behind the blinds!Taking bubble baths!Reading! They love watching Dancing With The Stars and American Idol because of the music and the fact that everyone claps. They sit on their chairs and when everyone claps they get really excited and clap too. It is so funny!

We are heading to Utah on Thursday! We are excited to be there for Kelsey's prom and my cousin Ali's homecoming! Hopefully we can catch up with some of you while we are there...I am especially hoping to meet new Baby Taylor!

An Inspirational Story

Jeremy and Amanda Peterson lost their darling little boy Payton in a tragic accident about 3 years ago. They were brave enough to share their story with others to help promote the Spot the Tot program. Please take a minute to watch this clip, it's very informative. WARNING: It's a tear jerker.

Cut and paste this link into your search bar...the clip is in the top right hand corner where it has a lady driving a car.
http://www.kutv.com/content/news/specialreport/story.aspx?content_id=51095dba-dbc1-4ccc-8691-13b1c1f7629c&articleID=38705

Happy Birthday Sue!

Happy Birthday to a wonderful mother, mother-n-law, and grandmother! We love you and appreciate all that you do for us! Sue is such a great woman and a great example to us. She would literally do anything for her children and is always willing to help out wherever she can. We love you Sue and hope you have a wonderful day. Wish we were there to celebrate with you but we hope you do something really fun!

More Family Fun!

We had a great time with my family this weekend. My brother and sister just finished up their semester at BYU so they came down for a visit before starting up again this week. My mom also joined them which is always fun!

The boys golfed and the girls shopped...that is usually how it goes down around our house! I won't complain though! We went to Primm to the outlets and got some good deals! Ryan, Abbey, and I rode the Buffalo Bills rollercoaster--so fun! We let the boys do some of the little rides in the middle of the mall and they thought that was pretty cool! We took Aria and the boys to this water feature by our house and let them play. They loved it! Aria and Easton were a little timid but Brady ran right through it and kept putting his face right under the water. As we were getting ready to leave there was this dog that was so ugly (sorry I hate dogs) I am so terrified of dogs and so are my kids. Abbey and I sat on the table forever with the boys because we were too scared to get down. The owner was standing about 50 feet away and didn't even care. She ended up being a really big brat which is another story entirely...but my mom thought this was hilarious! Yes I know what you are thinking, that dog is tiny, but I truly am terrified of dogs.

On Friday night my mom stayed home with the kids and we headed to the strip and went to Game Works! Geoff had all these points that his work gave him so we just wandered around and played stuff. In the end we all gathered around the Deal Or No Deal game trying to win enough tickets to get tatoos. It was a fun night but didn't get home until 1:30 which about killed me!

Thanks for coming to visit! We love living somewhere people want to come! The weather is so nice here right now, not too hot! I can't wait to see my family again in a few weeks!