We're Back and other random things

We are back from our yearly family trip to Mexico with my family. This year we went to Nuevo Vallarta which is basically 10 minutes out of Puerto Vallarta. It was beautiful and we had a blast! I can't post pics unfortunately since Garrett has them on his computer, but I will have him post some later. In other news, today I got to go to my cousin's wedding at the St. George temple. It was a white wedding which I have never been to before and it was really cool. The sealer was a man from my parents ward and he did an amazing job. It was really cool to attend a sealing today since six years ago I was being sealed to the love of my life in the San Diego temple. It was really neat for me to listen to the advice the sealer gave and to think about how I'm doing at being a good wife and making my marriage an eternal marriage. It was a great reminder to me to be better. One funny moment from the wedding is that Rylynn was completely enthralled with my cousin and her dress. She just kept saying, "Oh I love her beautiful white dress. It's so sparkly!" At random times throughout the day she would just go up and touch her dress. She just wanted to be by her the whole time. She told my grandma that when she grows up she is going to have a beautiful white dress and get married in the temple!

So I just want to say that I am the luckiest girl in the world and I have the best husband! I couldn't be happier with my choice to marry Garrett and I have loved spending the last six years being his wife. He is an amazing father and a very supportive husband. I am thankful that he is the spiritual leader in our home and he is always striving to perfect himself. I really admire that about him. I also have to admit that even though I make fun of his sense of humor for being old man humor, I do love it! He makes me laugh so much and I never get sick of talking to him. I could shut out the world and talk to him all day long if I had the choice, but unfortunately we live in the real world, so I am grateful that he works so hard for us in school and work. He is a wonderful provider and I am so glad he is mine!

Another random story...I am loving spending time with my extended family out here and my Dad's mom is staying with my parents right now so it has been great to see her. She will be 94 in a month and I am amazed at what a strong person she still is. Since we have been around all this family lately I have been explaining to Rylynn that her Nana is my Mama and that her great Nana is her Nana's Mama. She loves pointing out that my mom is my mama and that I am her mama. So tonight at dinner she was saying that and my mom said, "that's right, and great grandma Monson is Papa's mama." Then Rylynn said there sure are a lot of mama's around here! It was so funny. Anyway, this is a really random post but that is the update. I will post pics soon!

Rylynn's Words of Wisdom

Garrett is living in Salt Lake working and we are in St. George right now so I am going to be posting more often so Garrett doesn't miss out on all the little funny things our kids do each day, so here is the little anecdote for the day. Rylynn and I were walking around Nana's garden and we saw a little snail shell. Rylynn loves snails and calls them snelly wellies so she was very excited. However, when we pulled it off the wall I realized that it was dead and the body was all dried up. So I told Rylynn and she was sad for a minute. Then she said, "Snellie Wellie died and went to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus. Heavenly Father said what's wrong and Snellie Wellie said I'm dead!" So those are the deep thoughts for the day!

A Happy Mother's Day

We are in Utah for the summer and we got in late late Saturday night so I completely forgot it was mother's day when I woke up, but not for long! Rylynn ran in to me and said Happy Mother's Day mommy, and then Garrett came in and she and he sang the Mother's Day song from primary for me. It was so sweet. Garrett just got called to primary a couple of weeks ago so he has been learning the song and secretly he has been teaching it to Rylynn. It was such a sweet surprise. Then we went to my Mom and Dad's ward for church and when it was time for the primary kids to sing Rylynn runs up to the front and the kids all moved over so she could be right in front and she looked right at me and sang every word!! I could not believe it! She has guts! She isn't even in Primary yet, but no one seemed to mind. It was so cute. Then we came home early so we could talk to my sister on her mission in Estonia on the phone. That is always so much fun to hear her voice. It is the last time we get to talk to her before she comes home which is crazy to me! It has gone so fast. After that my Dad and Garrett slaved away in the kitchen and made us an amazing dinner!!! For appetizers, they made stuffed mushrooms, crab cakes, and artichoke Parmesan French bread. Then we had an avocado grapefruit salad and then the main course was chicken piccata, lemon risotto, and honey mustard asparagus!! Needless to say we had plenty to eat. Then we finished it all off with banana coconut cream pie. Thanks Dad and Garrett!! It was an awesome day! I love being a mom!

The new Me!

So I finally decided to go for the real thing and cut my hair short (above my shoulders) for the first time since I was 14! I was a little bit scared, but I think it turned out pretty cute. So what do you think? Do you like it better short or long? (sorry for the cheesy pics)

Rainy Day Blues

I wasn't kidding when I said that my kids sit and stare out the windows longingly when they can't be outside. (I promise these pics weren't staged!) Today is a rainy spring day and they have been glued to windows all morning. I think Cleveland has it backwards, isn't it supposed to be April showers bring May flowers? We have lots of beautiful flowers from April, so I guess now we need some May showers. I can't complain since we have been having beautiful weather for quite some time now. We love the Spring!!

Baby what?

I love that spring has finally arrived. We have been living outside all day everyday. When we are not outside you can see my kids standing on the window ledges with their faces pressed against the glass longing to be outside. Rylynn has been loving the dandelions which she calls pretty flowers and every time she picks one she insists that it go in her hair. Speaking of Rylynn I have been meaning to record some funny Rylynn stories for a long time. So here they are.

Rylynn got a pair of reindeer pajamas from Nana and Papa for Christmas. She loves these jammies and somewhere along the way decided that since she was wearing deer jammies she wanted to be called baby deer. She then started calling me mommy deer. I have to admit I did love that one, because it sounds like mommy dear. She still calls me this most of the time, but lately she has gotten creative and her newest obsession is baby and mommy butterfly. She has a little friend butterfly that has been in our yard for the last several weeks and she loves to run and chase after it. I swear it loves her too because every time we go out in the back yard it comes out to visit her. We even have to say goodnight to baby butterfly out her window at night. Anyway, she has tried out different animals depending on the book she is reading or the show she is into. For instance she tried out mommy dog, mommy cow, and mommy horse, all of which I immediately vetoed.

A side story which is also funny was that Rylynn was coming out of nursery on sunday because Garrett was in the hallway with Carter and she was mooing and saying Daddy I am baby cow. So Garrett was trying to catch up with her and called after her "hey baby cow". Unfortunately a friend of mine was also in the hallway and she thought Garrett was talking to her and she thought he said "hey baby cakes!" Awkward!

Anyway, I just love this little stage she is in. She makes sure whatever we are doing or wherever we are to point out a mommy blank, a daddy blank, a baby blank, and a Bububs (Carter) blank. I have to share this example even though it is kind of strange, but the other day after she had gone to the bathroom she called me in to point out the mommy, daddy, Rylynn, and Carter poops in the toliet!! At least with Rylynn we all feel included:)

Gender stereotypes

So I was a sociology major for a while at BYU, I ended up getting a minor in it, but the school of thought behind gender differences in Sociology is that they are purely socially constructed. So for instance we impose from the day that they are born that boys wear blue and girls wear pink clothes, etc. Well I think it is funny now that I am a mom of a girl and a boy to see how all these theories play out in my own children. So the other day I had to laugh because Carter has NEVER sat and watched any show or movie for more than 10 seconds before he gets bored and runs out of the room. Rylynn is more of a TV girl, but Carter has no interest in it. That is until the other day. Rylynn was watching Thomas during Carter's nap and when he woke up I brought him in to sit with Rylynn and me. I was totally shocked when he looked at the TV, pointed and started laughing and dancing! He ended up watching it for 20 minutes which is amazing for him! So I think it is a little humorous since I have never encouraged or promoted trains to him and yet he naturally loves that show! He also has always loved balls and anything that has to do with sports (that has been encouraged by Daddy though:). He carries Garrett's golf clubs around and tries to swing them at things on the ground (usually his binkies). I will say however that Rylynn loved balls too and she loves Thomas too, so who knows. I definitely believe there are some eternal differences, but it is very interesting for me to see how many of the stereotypes are proven and disproven by my little girl and boy. Luckily my kids are growing up in a world with lots of opportunities for both of them and I truly believe they can choose to do whatever they want to do. I am just loving having one of each!

A house full of monkeys!

I just had to post about this because I am amazed by how many bananas are consumed per week in our household. This week alone, I have purchased 7 bunches of bananas and we have already eaten 5 1/2 bunches!!! Now these are not the skimpy bunches with like 4-5 bananas in each, I'm talking about the huge ones with 8-10. I really think my children are monkeys in disguise. I call them monkeys because they climb and swing and jump and run everywhere, but now the nickname has new meaning!

just one more video

Sorry for the overload of video, but I haven't posted video of my kids in awhile and my family loves them, so this is the last one today I promise!

Rainy Day fun

Today is a rainy spring day and we are stuck inside. So I thought I would post some videos of some of the activities that keep the kids occupied on rainy days. Notice the random piece of hair on Carter's head that sticks straight up!

Here is a video of my little musicians! Nana gave this piano to Rylynn for her birthday and it has been a big hit among both kids. I think it is so funny that someone as little as Carter can make so much noise. Naturally the noisy toys are his favorite to play with. He LOVES playing the harmonica. He just carries it all over the house playing as he goes. Anything to keep him distracted from the fact that we can't go to the park today!


The kids have had so much fun playing outside the last few days that they were really sad to be stuck inside today. Hopefully Spring will really come to Cleveland soon! We've had glimpses, but we are ready for the real thing! I did see some daffodils poking through yesterday, so there is hope!

One fun thing in our family about the month of April is that there is a birthday almost every week! My mom's was on wednesday and my niece Thais turns 2 today! So happy birthday little Thais, we miss you and can't wait to see you soon!