Feeling the Love

Valentine's day started off with a bang this year!  Garrett surprised us all with heart shaped eggs and strawberry pancakes in bed.  They were so delicious!

The kids had lots of fun at their v-day parties at school and they came home stuffed full of candy!  After school we gave them their valentine gifts and cards.  

Beckett has been wanting more stuffed animals lately because his collection is much smaller than his big sister and brother.  He was so thrilled to get this little monkey!

Carter wasn't quite as excited about his tie:)  Luckily it wasn't his only gift.

I made the kids the traditional heart shaped sugar cookies for dessert.  It kinda stinks that they get so full of crappy candy at school because the cookies aren't quite as exciting after a day full of sugar.  Oh well.  I found a recipe on pinterest this year that is by far my favorite of all time!  I'm so thankful for all my darling valentines in my life.  I am so blessed!!

The Anasazi Trail

Garrett is working with the 11 year-old boys in our ward here so he got to go on a hike with them a few weeks ago.  He told the kids all about it and we decided to go check it out on Sunday evening.  The woman who showed the boy scouts around wasn't there on Sunday unfortunately, so we didn't get to go inside the teepees and huts but we could see them pretty close up.  They were really cool.

 You can see the stick hut really well in this picture.  A little ways down there was a mud hut about the same size with a chimney sticking out of the top.  Garrett said that they got to go inside and it was amazing because the mud keeps the hut warm in the winter and cool in the summer.  Who would have thought a house made out of mud would have great insulation?

 We went about an hour before sunset so the whole hike up the trail the red rocks looked like they were on fire.  It was so beautiful!

 The kids found some really cool sticks and rocks along the trail but we didn't want to bring any of them home.  Well I should rephrase that, I didn't want to bring any of them home:) They kept begging!

 We couldn't resist taking lots of pictures with my Mom's awesome camera and with the light looking so beautiful.

 We had to have a goofy one!  I love how Carter is staring at me and Dallas is staring at him:)

 This little man was such a trooper all the way up the trail.  He got so paranoid that every hole in the dirt was a snake hole.  We have been talking a lot about snakes lately.  Carter is obsessed with them and got a book about them for Christmas.  It is kind of creepy that we live in a place that has rattle snakes!

 We had to take a picture by this little cactus.  This desert landscape is all very new to us but I have to say I find it really beautiful.

 These bush things looked so cool to me so I had to take a picture of them.  I wonder what they look like when they have leaves on them.

 We saw a hawk flying over the teepees.  It was all very Dances with Wolves.  

 Doesn't the sun on those rocks look amazing?  I couldn't get enough of it!

 This little guy was pretty cold at the top of the hill.  It was a beautiful day but it got a little windy at the top.  He was a bit of a snotty mess:)

 Here is a rare picture of me on my blog.  I loved the red rocks behind me.  Rylynn actually took this picture for me.  She is becoming quite the little photographer since she practices with her 3DS.  She has a million pictures of Dallas on there:)

 We didn't have a blanket for Dallas so Garrett zipped him in his jacket.  Rylynn thought it was pretty funny.  Garrett's jacket got slimed in record time!

 These bushes were so cool and I loved the little tiny leaves so I had to take some pictures up close.  At the top of the trail there is a little monument.  A few years ago BYU students came and excavated 9 rooms out of the dirt up there.  They were used for storing crops in the winter.  You can still see the outline of the storage rooms and pictures of some of the artifacts they found.  It was a perfect Sunday hike.  I love being in a place we can enjoy the beauty of the earth year round!

On the way home Garrett and I were commenting that there is something so great about getting our family away from the house and the DS and TV and just exploring the world together.  It really makes everyone so happy and magically no one seems to fight while we are together in nature.  Rylynn commented to me that night that she felt closer to Heavenly Father while we were on our hike.  I love that girl and I totally agree!

Basketball Madness

We caught the Bball bug here in our house!  Rylynn and Carter really wanted to sign up for teams this winter so we gave that to them as one of their Christmas gifts.  They were both really excited!  Garrett got to coach Rylynn's team which was really fun for everyone.  

Beckett of course had to be included so he would frequently steal Sissy's ball until we finally gave in and bought him one of his own.  I love the Michael Jordan tongue action in this pic:)

We would frequently have dribbling drills in the kitchen.  Gotta love hardwood floors.  The funny thing is this totally reminded me of my house growing up.  Jordan was always dribbling through the kitchen.

Rylynn had to be number 8 since she is turning 8 soon and since it is the best age, according to her, since that's when you can get baptized.  Her really good friend Annie was also on the team and she made another friend, Ruth.  They were the only girls on the team.  She did such a good job of learning the basics and improved so much each game.  The last game of the season she took 4 shots (2 of them were free throws) and they were so close.  She also got lots of rebounds and stole the ball.  She was so much more aggressive.  After the first game I had to explain to her that she was allowed to go up and just take the ball away from someone when they were dribbling.  She looked at me and said, "Mom that is not allowed!"  It was so fun for me to be able to explain the game and tell her stories of my bball days.  I did tell her that I hated my first team I played on (when I was 6) because it was co-ed too and the boys never passed to the girls.  She had the same annoyance.  We are going to find an all girls league next year so she can really get into the game.  

These two little guys were the team cheerleaders!  This picture cracks me up because Beckett insisted on wearing a jersey like Sissy and Carter but we didn't have another one so he got this old football jersey of Garrett's out of the dress ups:)  He looked so funny, but he felt like one of the team members so it was worth it. He usually had to sit through back to back games every Saturday and he was such a good sport about it.

Carter is number 1.  I loved watching the little guys play:)  They were so clueless half of the time.  Carter had already played a lot at recess so he had the shooting and dribbling ideas down but it took awhile to figure out the switching off between offense and defense.  Towards the end of the first game he clearly got bored and started skipping back and forth down the court:)  Garrett had to explain to him nicely that skipping was not allowed in bball!  He got it figured out pretty quickly once we gave him incentives like a dollar for every basket he made or an in and out burger if he took at least 2 shots.  He is totally our reward driven child.  The last game of the season he made a key shot and his team one by one basket!  It was so exciting!

Carter loved practicing with Rylynn's team throughout the season since Garrett was the coach.  He is warming up with her team in this picture.

Meanwhile throughout January and February this little man kept growing like a weed.  The above picture is when he is 4 months old and the bottom is 5 months.  Rylynn adores her baby brother and he gives her the best giggles.

I seriously love this boys blue eyes!  I think he is going to keep them because Carter's were the same vibrant blue and he is my only blue eyed child.  The other two had that dull blue that every baby has and then they both changed to green.  We shall see but I'm hoping he keeps them.

Carter is taking more and more of an interest in this little man too.  Dallas loves his siblings and it is so fun to see him smile and laugh at them.  

My little bookworm reading to Dallas!  He was totally enthralled.  Unfortunately it always ends with him wanting to eat the book:)

On his 5 month birthday we decided to give in and buy another exersaucer.  Ours got destroyed in one of the past 4 moves so we left it in Spokane.  Danielle let me borrow her jumperoo but the doorways are so high in my parent's house that it is more like a sailing swing for him.  His legs never touch the ground and I had to have something in the kitchen that would entertain him while I cook.  

You can tell he was a big fan of the new toy!  He is such a happy little baby.  He laughs and squeals all day long.  This past week he came down with RSV and an ear infection and I knew he was really sick but I almost didn't take him in because through it all he was still smiling and laughing throughout the day.  I finally gave in when he basically could not breath and it was very good that I did.  He had to get all suctioned out at the respiratory clinic which was soooo sad but he slept so well and has been getting better so quickly.  The doctor gave him antibiotics for his ear infection too but after three days he had a really bad night and in the morning there was tons of junk all over his ear and side of his face.  So I'm pretty positive his ear drum burst even with the antibiotics.  All of my kids have had at least one rupture.  It is no surprise to me since mine burst several times as a kid, but it makes me so sad when it happens to my babies.  All I know is this kid has a very high tolerance for pain because this sickness barely fazed him.  He is one happy boy!

Carter turned 6!

After Christmas Dallas and I ended up with a bad cold.  Mine was much worse than his luckily but I had no energy after the festivities died down.  Before I could rest, we all drove up to attend a special Allred family Christmas dinner with all of my cousins on the 27th. We got to stay with the Albrechts while we were there.  It was so fun but I was still feeling terrible so when we got back home all I wanted to do was sleep.  However, we got back the day before this little man's birthday so I had to pull it together for one last celebration of the year.

On the day of Carter's birthday we had our family party which included Carter's favorite food of all time, enchiladas.  He also got to open the presents from his grandparents, siblings, and aunts and uncles.  He was very excited to get money and some more legos.  He loves legos!

Look at that boy's eye lashes!  

Transformer legos from Grandma Ryan!

He also got a new DS game from Mom and Dad

later that night we had our annual New Year's Eve toasts and talked about some goals we had set last year and how much we had improved on them.  Carter wanted to hold off on cake and ice cream until the next day when his cousins would be driving through town.  Since I was still sick and Garrett is not a night person we put the kids to bed and fell asleep around 10:00.  I wasn't so sad to see 2012 come to an end.  It was a hard year in a lot of ways.

The next day Carter got his Ironman cake! (It wasn't my best cake creation, remember I was sick and had no energy:) 

I thought we had birthday candles but apparently they were all gone so we had to light our big Christmas candle and have him blow that out instead:)  Oh well he didn't seem to mind and the cake tasted yummy so that's all that matters right?

Carter had lots of fun opening a few more presents from Mom and Dad and from his cousins.  He mostly loved playing nerf gun wars with them for the next several hours.  

After the cousins left town everyone except me and Dallas ended up catching the flu from them and had to miss the first day of school.  Can you tell that our Christmas break involved a lot of illness?  After everyone recovered we got to celebrate Carter's birthday at school.  I am ashamed to admit that I brought in store bought cupcakes for the celebration but it was only because I was forced.  Apparently it is a district wide policy that treats have to be store bought which makes me so mad because it's way more expensive and filled with crappy preservatives and chemicals instead of homemade goodness but don't get me started.  Anyway, Carter picked Thor and soccer ball cupcakes that dyed every one's faces blue and green.  Carter loves his kindergarten class and has made some really good friends here.  His best buddies are Crew, Teagan, Matheson, Wyatt, Dahlia, Tayven, Hallie F., and Erma.  Can you tell we live in Utah with those names?:)  

When we first moved here a lot of the boys played basketball at recess so we got Carter a ball and he loves playing with his buddies on the playground.  He is on a team right now too and has games every saturday.  He is getting better each week and loves to play.  He loves his DS and we have to limit him to an hour of use a day.  His favorite games are lego anything, but he especially loves lego star wars and lego lord of the rings.  He is really enjoying reading and is getting really good at it.  He has always been a little math whiz and continues to love doing math problems in his head.  He also still loves to build and makes awesome lego creations every day.

He and Beckett are great buddies and play star wars or avengers together most days as well as building with blocks or legos.  Carter has always been our more reserved and introverted boy and he still is but he has adapted to a new school, primary, and neighborhood wonderfully.  One story about that is that we moved here just a few weeks before the primary program and they started practices on our first sunday here.  Carter didn't know any one but he knew his primary songs so he sang his little heart out at every practice and got the attention of the teachers and leaders really quickly.  The primary music leader announced that if every kid would sing as loud and confidently as Carter did the program would be a huge success!  He was beaming ear to ear when she said it.  

I can't really believe that Carter is six and every single birthday since his first, I get a little sad because it is one year closer to the day I will have to send him off on his mission.  There's something different about sending boys out into the word from what I have observed.  They never really come back.  It is a good and healthy thing, but it still makes me sad to think that my boys will go off on their missions and then to college, and then they will get married and have a wife and they won't need me anymore.  These years with them are so precious and I feel so blessed to be a mother of boys and to be trusted to prepare righteous priesthood holders for my Father in Heaven who will go out and lead and guide our Savior's church on the earth.  

Christmas 2012

This year for Christmas we got to have Marianne and her kids and Abby and Matt come to celebrate with us.  Marianne and Nathan and Aria got here about a week before Christmas so we got to do some fun things before the really craziness began.

The kids decorated cookies, we went to the temple lights again as well as drove around to look at lights around town.  The kids and Marianne got to be in the live Nativity at Tuacan too which was really cool for them.  I was unfortunately home sick with mastitis but Garrett said it was really neat.  They were all in the Angel choir.  Then Christmas Eve we had our annual holy land dinner and the kids acted out the nativity with Nana's amazing costumes.  We didn't get pictures since we were video taping it.  Then came the main event...

 These smiles say it all!  The magic of christmas morning is so fun with little smiling faces.

 You can tell by the sleepy smiles that these are the stocking pictures:)

 Next came my favorite part of the morning, Christmas Breakfast!  You can tell Rylynn did not agree that it was the best part:)  I remember feeling the same way when I was her age.  Neither one of us is super patient.

 This was one of my favorite moments of Christmas.  Beckett opened the first present which was from Grandma Ryan.  It was a really cute police station with lots of parts.  So basically he opened it up and immediately started playing with it and couldn't care less about opening any other presents.  He is so imaginative when he plays so he was totally absorbed in his little police set.

 Dallas was all smiles while we opened presents.  He got to wear his cute little christmas jammies which were the same ones Beckett wore his first christmas.  It makes it easy since they were both August babies.

I love how Dallas is like half of Rylynn's body length in this picture.  He is huge!

 See what I mean, totally enthralled:)

 Carter is kind of obsessed with the Avengers at the moment so he was thrilled to get a captain america suit.

 Abby and Matt got this cute BYU hat for Nathan.  I can't believe this boy is already 12.  He is going to be at BYU in no time.

 Marianne got the boys these adorable monkey hats!

 Marianne's family had ours this year for the adult gift exchange so they made this really cute activity book for us which included movie theater and cold stone gift cards as well as a babysitting coupon for Garrett and me.  We had so much fun spending the gift cards together throughout the next couple months.

 Okay so this was the highlight of Christmas for me this year.  Rylynn has wanted an American Girl doll for a couple years now but I was worried she was too young last year.  So this year "Santa" thought she was old enough and brought her Samantha.  She was sooo excited!!  The coolest part for me was that I had 4 A G dolls growing up but I got them when I was old enough to take really good care of them, not to mention that I was a really anal child about my doll collection.  Anyway, they are in brand new condition so I saved them for my future daughter(s) and this was the first time I got to give one to her.  It was so cool for me.  

 Carter's big Santa present this year was 3 new DS games.  He got a 3DS from Granny and Grandpa for Christmas a little early since we went up there for Thanksgiving.  So he got really into his DS before Christmas and wanted some new games.  He was thrilled!

 Abby and Matt opened most of their presents before they came down since Abby works night and had to work all night Christmas Eve.  We were so happy they made it Christmas morning before all the fun began.  Ollie is on Abby's lap in his new Christmas sweater.  I personally think this picture with Ollie and a baby looks like a pretty happy picture:) hint hint

 Beckett's big present was this Melissa and Doug pizza set that he was dying to have because his buddy Camden has one and every time we go to see him he plays with it the whole time.  He was so excited to get his very own pizza set!  If you look closely in the background, you can see Garrett's presents from the kids.  Yes, they all bought him soda.  They know what he really loves:)

After some wonderful Christmas naps, we had a yummy christmas dinner and the day was complete.  Until next year.