Just Some of the things I Love Here

I have been getting really sad about leaving our wonderful home here in Ohio since I know there are only so many months left. So I took some random pictures of things that I love about living here. We have been just dumped with snow lately, but I don't mind too much because of this great guy!


This is Paul our awesome landlord! No matter what time it is, or how cold it is, Paul is always outside clearing our driveway when it snows. The driveways here are so stinkin' long and he has to plow two of them every time. The other day during our yearly winter storm warning, he was up at 6am plowing and then he did it three other times before the day was over. Paul lives right next door, so if we ever need him to fix anything he comes over right away. He is the best!


We are really going to miss this little bunch of munchkins!! We love having our date group every week. I swear it is the kids favorite night of the week. We all switch off watching all the kids once a month and get to go out on dates the other nights. The kids all love each other and it has been so good for Garrett and I to get our date nights regularly. I don't know what Rylynn is going to do without Emma and Olivia. She already tells us that she wants them to come with us when we move and that she will NOT make any new friends where we move because she is already friends with Emma and Olivia!


Luckily, this next thing I love gets to come with me! I just had to post this picture for posterity. This is Rylynn's first shiner compliments of her little brother Carter. Last weekend we were trying to get the house ready for the date group kids to come over and while I was vacuuming, Carter pulled the extension rod out of the side of the vacuum and threw it right at Rylynn's eye! At first I didn't think it looked too bad, but as I got closer to her to comfort her I realized it was growing by the second and turing purple and black. Poor girl. After she cheered up, I asked her if I could take a picture and she put on the dramatics big time with this sad little face.

I know Rylynn is really going to be sad when we move. She is already very worried that we will leave something from her room behind. We keep having to reassure her that we will bring all her toys and her bed. We are all going to miss this place a lot. We have such great neighbors and friends that we are going to miss so much. I will really miss our house too. It is the first house we have ever lived in and it has really become our little home, although I must admit, I won't complain about a little more room for the kids to run around:)

Cousin Fun

Here are some more random pictures of fun with family throughout our visit. I just couldn't leave these pics out of the memory books!

We had so much fun making gingerbread houses. The kids mostly just ate candy:)

Aunt Abby's masterpiece!

Rylynn and Mommy's finished product!

Rylynn ate as we worked, a lot!

Mommy and Rylynn working together. We had so much fun!


The "kids table". Rylynn and Carter had so much fun with Thais!

They got to ride Nana's friends horses together! They loved the horses, but Carter was scared of one of them because he kept neighing really loud.
Some of the gang on Christmas Eve sportin' our new Christmas jammies.

The day before Christmas Eve, we had a special breakfast at my Grandma's house. It has become a yearly tradition. This year she read the grandkids "The Christmas Orange" after the breakfast. It was such a sweet story. Rylynn really loved it, and talked about it for days.

After Grandma read the book, each of the grandkids got to open a present from her. They all got a book of their own. Rylynn was very excited to receive a barbie princess book.

The kiddies on Christmas morning piling on Uncle Garrett.


Carter can't ever get enough of baby Reagan. He made sure to show her all his toys on Christmas morning. He calls her "baby".


Carter got to know his "auntie" a lot better on this trip. They were good buddies.

Carter, Rylynn, Braden, and Logan being silly at the Temple lights.

Rylynn and Braden were monkeys in Grandma's trees.

Rylynn thinks Auntie is so silly!

Braden is such a great older cousin. Carter loved his piggy back rides!

The Highly Anticipated Part Two!

After Christmas we rented a car and drove down to Phoenix to visit Garrett's mom and most of his brothers and sisters. The drive took awhile longer than we had expected because of the construction on the Hoover Dam. But even though it was a pain on the way back, I insisted on going that way home because I have never driven over the Dam. Luckily the way back was much faster and the view was pretty amazing.

When we arrived, the whole gang was there to meet us and the kids were really excited to see their cousins and aunts and uncles. Then Grandma spoiled them rotten with huge Christmas bags full of toys.

Rylynn was so excited to see Grandma!

We were loving the AZ weather! The kids got to go swimming and play outside everyday! They had so much fun at Grandma's house. Some of the highlights were seeing cousins Braden and Logan, going to the temple square lights, and climbing on the lemon and orange trees (not to mention eating said fruit).

Rylynn and Logan loved playing sleeping beauty together. Rylynn made him be prince Philip the whole time. He was such a good sport.

Braden and Rylynn climbing in the orange tree so of course Carter had to try it too.

They all loved climbing all over and playing with uncle Brandon who they don't get to see very often. He was great with them!


Did I mention the weather was nice? It was great especially because Rylynn begs me to wear her summer clothes and swimming suit everyday in Cleveland and for once I didn't have to have the battle!


Swimming in Grandma's pool! I only swim when it is 80 degrees or above outside since I am always cold, so I just watched. Daddy is always the fun one!


We all went to see the Christmas lights at the Mesa Temple. I had never seen them before and I was blown away by how elaborate they were. They rivaled Temple Square in Salt Lake. The kids loved looking at all the different nativity scenes.


The main creche scene was so beautiful. They had a recording of Pres. Hinckley testifying of the birth of Christ and it was very sweet to hear his voice again.

Rylynn in front of the manger scene with Grandma and Auntie (Andrea).

In front of one of the fountains. Logan was not feeling in the picture taking mood.

One New Year's Eve we threw Carter a little birthday party. We didn't do anything too fancy this year, but he didn't seem to mind. I have to admit I think this New Year's Eve birthday is going to be a little hard to pull off each year since I am always so worn out after all the Christmas craziness finally ends. But I promised myself when he was born on that day that I would not let his birthdays stink just because it is during Christmastime, so here is the big number 2!

Carter loved his baseball cake! I made his favorite, banana cake with cream cheese frosting. He is obsessed with bananas after all!

Serioulsy, all this kid needs to be happy is a couple of balloons and some cake.

Garrett got some cute Cars blowers for the party. Carter couldn't really figure out how to use them, but he liked them anyway.

After our AZ trip, Garrett and I dropped the kids off at my parents house and headed back down to Las Vegas for a little getaway for a couple of days in my parents condo. The place was beautiful and it was a little removed from the strip so we didn't have to be totally overwhelmed by all the craziness. We went to a lot of movies, slept in every morning, ate out at amazing restaurants, and hung out on the strip a couple of times. We also got to do a session at the Las Vegas temple which is beautiful! It was especially cool for us because it reminded us so much of the Portland temple where we were temple workers the first year we were married.

You can't tell from the picture, but this is Garrett and I at Mystere by Cirque de Soleil. Garrett's step-mom Terry got us some tickets to the show and it was amazing! We had so much fun.

After about four days, my parents drove the kids down and we all hung out for a couple of days before we flew home. The kids had a lot of fun. We found out about some great things for the kids to see that were free! One of them was this huge fish tank inside of a casino that has all sorts of sharks, cool fish, and sting rays, plus the highlight, a Mermaid! Rylynn was so thrilled! She couldn't get enough of this lady. I have to say I was thinking that would be the coolest job. You get to be a mermaid and swim with awesome fish and make kids smile all day.

Then we went to the Lion habitat and the MGM grand. The kids loved watching the Lions play.

Then we headed over to the Bellagio (my favorite) to watch the fountain show, see the italian glass ceilings, and the gardens. Unfortunately they were in the process of changing the gardens from the Christmas theme to an Asian gardens theme. But Carter was just fine looking at the "big neigh" aka big horse!


Garrett and I watched the fountains three times while we were there. I can't ever get enough of them. They are so beautiful!

They loved the little fountain as much as the huge ones outside. Here is the sparkly "Big Neigh" and the amazing hand blown italian glass flowers on the ceiling.

We had such a great time with everyone and we are so grateful for our wonderful families for all the help with the kids, the amazing food, the fun activities, letting us stay at their houses, and the great gifts! We love you all!

Our Trip...Finally

This Christmas was so much fun! We were gone for almost a month so it is hard to separate all the exciting events, but here is a little bit of an overview. We first arrived on the 16th and I got to see my little sister for the first time in a year and half! She had been on a mission in Estonia for our church and got home on the 12th. It was so much fun to see her. The kids had such a great time getting to know their aunt Abby again and Carter became an instant fan! He basically followed her around for the next three weeks non-stop.


A couple of days after we got there Garrett and I went down to Las Vegas for a little overnight trip to visit his Dad, and step-mom Terry. His older sister and brother were able to come too and we all had a great time. Garrett's dad and stepmom got us the "Rainman Suite" to stay in. I've never seen the movie but apparently this is the room Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise stay at during the Rainman.


The next day we headed home so I could go with my mom, sister, Grandma, and a family friend to the Forgotten Carols. I have always wanted to see the play and it was great! The next couple of days were a bit dramatic because of the weather. It snowed three days straight in St. George, which is unheard of. My sister and her two kids were trapped in Portland and finally made it on Christmas Eve night. Ben and Molly had weather problems too and didn't make it until Christmas night at 11pm, so we decided to just celebrate Christmas on the 26th.

We all had so much fun being all together as a family for the first time since Abby left on her mission, so we didn't care about pushing off the festivities. We had our traditional Christmas breakfast which was amazing and then spent the morning opening presents.

Rylynn is proudly displaying our gifts from Estonia that Aunt Abby brought us home from her mission. I got some wool gloves and Carter and Daddy got wool socks. Rylynn got a little hat with bunny ears.

The kids table. AKA the messy table!

All wearing our Christmas jammies that we got on Christmas Eve.

The kids oohing and ahhing over the presents under the tree

Rylynn's Christmas mostly consisted of fancy nancy dress ups and princess.

Carter's highlights were balls and binkies!

Nana got a big surprise from Papa this year, a beautiful Ruby ring!

We were so excited to meet baby Skyler this Christmas and to celebrate Reagan and Skylar's first Christmases together. What cute nieces and nephews I have!

That night we had our Prime Rib christmas dinner and then the kids enacted the family nativity pageant. It was pretty entertaining this year considering we started about an hour and a half after the kids bedtime.

Aria helping make the Christmas dinner. The pomegranates got a little out of control.


Fun with Aunt Abby!

Rylynn got to be Mary this year which she was thrilled about! Carter kind of shifted parts throughout the performance.

The pink baby Jesus:)

Rylynn and Aria had so much fun together this year!

The day after Christmas we all had to get up really early to take a family picture by the red rocks of St. George. The only problem is that it was still freezing there and we had to take the picture where the sun was not shining so the kids were all freezing and not happy. I'm pretty sure my kids are crying in every picture, but oh well.

This picture just makes me laugh. Garrett got Carter ready while I was getting ready and the dress code was a white shirt and jeans, so Garrett decided to write this little note just to make sure that Carter's white shirt didn't get stained while he was waiting. He mostly put this sign on for Papa since he was notorious for giving the kids candy when we weren't looking.

We were worried he might end up looking like this!

After the picture we spent the afternoon playing all sorts of Christmas games that my parents were in charge of for their ward Christmas party. We had a christmas cupcake walk, which was a real favorite. We also had a bean bag toss on a santa board and an archery game through christmas wreaths. As always Carter is holding Aunt Abby's hand.

Carter was sleeping in a travel crib in the closet of our room, but one night we checked on the kids to find this. He is such a little snuggler!

We had such a great time with everyone! Part two will be our trip to AZ to visit Garrett's family, celebrating Carter's birthday, and a little getaway for me and Garrett, so stay tuned!