Happy Holidays

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9 Trick or Treaters 3 years old & under!

I really need to figure out how to do a slide show!

Duke's Ducks

Aren't these gals gorgeous! Aidan, the oldest, was my flower girl when she was a little younger than Rylee! It's hard to believe! Rylee is so happy to have her girl cousins now live so close to us (well, close as in Georgia compared to Utah). We will be spending Christmas with them and can't wait! This was on the last day of their visit. We went to Duke Gardens.

If you look closely at this photo, you will notice that the geese are not even remotely interested in the bread that Rylee is desperately trying to feed them! Apparently, the ducks and geese at Duke Gardens are overfed and tired of stale bread. So, if you go there intending to feed the ducks you might want to try something a little more enticing! Caviar maybe? Who knows, maybe you aren't even supposed feed the ducks there but we didn't see a sign. Maybe its just because they are Duke's ducks!

The Beach in October!

So, the week after the wedding, Rylan's parent (from Utah) and Ry's sister, Daina and family (from Georgia) came to visit. We packed a lot into their trip. We went to Seagrove, NC to look at North Carolina pottery.

Rylee is tracing the letters with her finger. Rylee and her Grandpa

We also took a day trip to Wrightsville Beach, NC. Need I remind you it is OCTOBER! If Rylan's parents had stayed in Utah on Saturday the 20th, they would have been shoveling snow. Instead, they were walking barefoot on the beach! It was a gorgeous day. We must have swam in the water for 3 or 4 hours. It was warm and sunny. We boogie boarded, swam, built sand castles, and soaked up the sun!

After a fun and sun filled day, Rylee was exhausted. But before falling asleep on the car ride home, she and Mairyn donned makeup from Mairyn's new makeup kit. As you can see, blush was a popular choice. This all happened in the Romney car (Rylan's sister) which was soon after labeled the "fun car". (Needless to say, Ry and I were not in the fun car. And while we were not given the name officially, I could not help but think that this made ours the "unfun car"). At the end of the day, it was all I could do to get the sand, the salt, and the makeup off of Rylee. If how dirty you are is somehow proportional to how much fun you've had, than this was probably one of the best days of Rylee's life!

Congrats Renee and Joel!

Its been a while since my last post. We have been busy! One of my best friends, Renee, is now Mrs. Renee Leonard. She had a gorgeous wedding and as you can tell, she looked stunning! Which leads me to describe the photo. The reception was held at The Carolina Inn and in the middle of Renee's dance with her father, the fire alarm went off! We all had to be evacuated. The firetrucks came and Renee and Joel got this one-of-kind picture taken with the firefighters. For a moment, I was worried that it would be upsetting for Renee, but as you can see, both bride and groom are in great spirits! After 10 or 15 minutes we all filed back into the reception hall and the rest of the evening was flawless! I know this is one of those stories they will look back on and laugh! The other photo is Ry and I at the rehearsal dinner which I added after realizing I had not posted one of the two of us together. Congrats to Renee and Joel!

Home Sweet Home

We moved to a new apartment in August. We have been pleasantly surprised by how much we like our new place. We didn't really think we wanted to move because we liked our old apartment. But when they raised the rent by 10% after only one year, we decided to try to find someplace a little more affordable. In the end I think it was meant to be. We really like living here at Baity Hill (aka "Student Family Housing"...when Rylan went to buy a parking pass he told the officer he needed a parking pass for "married student housing" and the officer curtly reminded him "You mean student family housing!" Rylan was like "Oh right.") Anyways, one thing Rylan and I like is that all of our utilities are included in our rent...cable, internet, gas, water, electric, phone...everything! So recently we have enjoyed sleeping at night with the air conditioning at 70 degrees and taking slightly longer, slightly hotter showers! Also, the apartments are only 2 years old so they feel very new and clean. Rylee, on the other hand, could care less about these things. Her favorite part is the view of campus. What she loves the most is the view of the hospital...particularly the helicopter landing pad. Almost everyday we see the helicopter take off and land. Pictured is the hospital she built with her blocks, complete with helicopter pad. Now she tells people we live in the "city". I don't know if living on the other side of town puts us in the "city" category but we like it and for now, it's home.

"Sister Handsome"

So, preschool last Wednesday was Healthy Foods day (the unit we are doing right now is All About Me/My Body). We made this cool food guide pyramid. I knew that Rylee would have fun doing this preschool, but who knew I would like it this much! Sometimes Rylee says things like "I want to go to Harrison's house for preschool" when it is at our house or "Sister Dyreng is the funniest teacher!" So maybe I am not the most creative or funny of the three moms, but I feel like I am doing an okay job and, according to Harrison, I am "Sister Handsome"! So hey, I'll take that!

The Best of Both Worlds

Rylee is in two preschools this fall. One is at a local church on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9am-noon. She is in the "Penguin Class". The other was put together by three moms in our church (including me!). We call ourselves the "Sunbeam Preschool" because the 4 kids (one mom has twin girls) are in Rylee's Sunbeam primary class. So these next two weeks the Sunbeam Preschool is being held at my house on Monday and Wednesday from 10am-noon. Monday was Oral Health day! For me, it was like the best of both worlds: teaching what I studied in school to Rylee and her friends! We made these mouths with Lima Beans for teeth. I have dried glue all over my coffee table but who cares! They turned out so cute I had to take a picture!

Life is good

When I look back over an entire week, I can't believe how my life has changed over the past 3 months. Take this week for example: on Tuesday I baked a pie (my first!), on Wednesday I dusted off my sewing machine and helped the young men sew hammocks for an upcoming campout, on Thursday I made 5lbs. of Coleslaw, bought 72 rolls at Costco, and set up for enrichment, and on Saturday I decorated this cake at Women's Day. Fill in the other hours with a big dose of Rylee and wow...I am a mom! I mean, obviously I have been a mom for almost four years but I just really feel blessed to be in this new stage of life. For the last 3 years it felt like 80% of my daily efforts went to achieving one big goal that could only be concluded on May 13th, 2007. Now, I feel like 80% of my efforts are for things I can accomplish today/this week/this month. And for now, I like it that way. Life is good!
So about my cake...I hope its easy to tell that its a Winnie the Pooh cake. I came home from Women's Day excited to show Rylee. When I walked in the door Rylan was giving her bath so I told her when she got out, I had a surprise. However, when she finally saw it, she didn't know what it was. I mean, obviously she knew it was Winne the Pooh. But she didn't know WHAT it was (a cake). I think she thought it was just a big plastic version of Pooh because she reached out her hands and tried to pick it up. In other words, she stuck her (freshly bathed) fingers right into the icing! You can imagine her surprise when her fingers sank into Pooh and how when she pulled them out part of Pooh was sticking to her. She gave me this look like "what IS this thing?" However, all was bliss I told her "it is a cake!" So, we had cake for dessert and the rest went to a few neighbors (who now include Lance, Becca and Davis!). Cake AND pie proved to be one too many baked goods for a single week!

Rylee's Sense of Humor

Rylee loves being funny these days. She loves telling jokes and making us laugh. Well, actually she was making us laugh a long before she started telling jokes by being goofy and clumsy. But recently she has been experimenting with her own little sense of humor. Her jokes were totally random at first: the punchline would have absolutely nothing to do with the question, would rarely constitute as a complete thought, and really the only thing funny was the complete absurdity of it. Now she has graduated to where the two parts actually relate and have some wit but would still never be considered funny in the real world. For example, today she said "What animal never goes home when his mommy tells him because his home is on his back?" The answer: "A turtle". See, I told you...not funny, but it melts our hearts and makes us laugh none the less. I think we laugh more at the fact she thinks she's funny. This photo captures one of those moments. One day my mom and I heard Rylee cracking up by herself in another room and when we came in this is what we found her doing!

I Was Tagged

JOBS I have had (and still have):
- Mom
- Dental Hygienist
- Dental Assistant
- Shoe Store Sales Associate (hated this job!)
- Receptionist for a tanning salon
- Waitress

MOVIES that I could watch over and over:
- Steel Magnolias
- home movies

Favorite T.V Shows:
- 24 (all time favorite)
- Grey's Anatomy
(and occasionally The Office and My Name is Earl)

Favorite Hobbies:
- Reading...recently Harry Potter...although that is quickly coming to an end :(
- walking outside (especially now that it is not so hot)
- boating/water skiing/tubing/swimming/skinny dipping (just kidding!)
- making things with my hands...whether its a craft, a scrapbook page, a new recipe, or refinishing a piece of furniture

Places I have lived:
- Chapel Hill, NC
- Provo, UT
- Layton, UT
- Salt Lake City, UT
- Gottingen, Germany (my Dad did a sabbatical for work here when I was 12)
- Canberra, Australia (where I was born)

Favorite Foods:
- almost anything chocolate
- Fresh fruit
- Fondue
- Greek cuisine
- Thai Cuisine

Places I would rather be right now:
- playgroup with Rylee's friends and their moms...I miss going!
- Hawaii with Rylan
- a Disney cruise with all of Rylee's cousins/aunts/uncles
- Smith Mountain Lake with my Dad

Websites I check Daily:
- my Gmail e-mail account
- my blog and those linked to my blog

Frogs, Butterflies, and Ballerinas

Today Rylee started her first day of ballet. I don't know who was more excited: her or me. But she certainly looked like a little princess. She woke up at 7am and wanted put her leotard on right away, even though her ballet class was not until 9:30am. When I picked her up and asked her what she learned today she told me she galloped and pretended to be a

butterfly and a frog
(pretending to be a frog basically involves lying on her tummy and pointing her feet toward her head...or at least that is how she demonstrated it). Just to warn you...I will probably have another ballet posting at some point in the future because 3 year olds learning ballet is just about one of the cutest things I can think of!

Summer days are drifting away

Here we are at Jordan Lake on my dad's boat. What a blast! Rylee felt so independent in her little life jacket. I am getting really excited for Fall and the upcoming series of Holidays. However, when I look at these pictures, I can't help but feel a little sad that the warm "carefree days" (do those really exist?) of summer are almost over.

My New Life...Our New Blog

May 13th, 2007. Whew! Am I glad that day has come and gone! Graduation was exciting but I must admit that I am super happy to be finished my degree. Life has slowed down to a more reasonable pace and now I have time to do all of the things I never had time to do before...like creating a family blog! I am hoping this blog will allow our family to stay in better touch with those we love who don't live close by. And for those who do, well, I know how much I enjoy viewing your blogs even when we see you regularly. So, visit often and enjoy!