Ryan, Ashley, and Ethan

Somewhat of an UPDATE

2011-09-13T16:22:00.000-07:00

So I know that I am the worst blogger out there but hey at least I am going to try and update things a little bit. We have been doing well. The summer has been great. It goes by way to fast though.
First of all our little boy isn't so little anymore. He is turning into an amazing boy! We celebrated his 2nd birthday in March. It was fun we had the grandparents there and my sister, brother, and his wife. I just can't believe Ethan is 2 1/2 now. He is talking all the time now too. I love hearing him say everything that I say. I just need to be careful what I say:) But I do love it. It was funny because recently he has started saying "Oh Good night nurse!" "What the heck?" or "Oh my gosh!" Yeah he has learned those all from me. But it is cute coming from him.
He has also started wearing glasses. He started wearing those in March as well. He has done remarkably well with them. I thought that it would be more of a hassle but it isn't. He will ask for them if we forget to put them on in the morning. He also looks adorable in them. He looks like that little boy from the movie Stuart Little for those of you who have seen that, he is also in Jerry MaGuire(sp).
As for Ryan and I we are doing good. We have run a few races this summer. We ran the Wasatch Back relay together in June. That was fun! Our team finished in 27 hours and 30 min. I think. It was fun running that with Ryan. In a week from this Saturday we are running another relay the Temple to Temple relay in Idaho. It runs from the Rexburg Temple to the Idaho Falls Temple. We are doing a two man team. I will be running 17 miles and Ryan will be doing 19. We will see how it goes, I am a little nervous, I haven't run that far before but ready or not it is coming!
The summer has also consisted of trips to Bear Lake, camping, going to the park, finishing the sprinkler system, hydroseeding, planting a garden, getting air conditioning, visiting family, and lots of time outside! It has been fun, I am not sure if I am ready for it to end. But I am excited for fall. I think that fall is my favorite season, I don't like that winter comes after it though!
Anyways now for the pictures, mind you these pictures are from a long time ago, and I don't have any pictures of summer activities because I thought that our camera was broken but I'm crazy it just needed the right batteries! Yeah smart one on my part! Now I will be taking pictures like CRAZY! And maybe just maybe be better at posting pics because that is the best part about blogging!

He loves Lightning McQueen, I made this cake for his birthday! It was fun to make it, a little stressful but I did it!

Picture of his glasses. Little cutie!

He loves this bike. He rides it all over the house!

Can you tell he loves Cars? He is probably watching Cars in this picture all cozy!

Showing his binki.

That is a quick update of us! I don't think I should promise to keep it update better because that will mean I will wait another seven months to update things. So I will try to keep things up to date better and we will see how that goes! Hopefully people still check up on us and haven't forgotten us! We are still here and doing well!

Update!

2011-02-28T19:18:00.000-08:00

We had a huge snowstorm this last weekend and this is all the snow that Ryan and I had to shovel and it was taller than me so Ry had to take over because I couldn't throw the snow any higher!

I actually love it when we get dumped on and get a ton of snow! I know CRAZY!

Ethan loved seeing the snow and watching it fall out his window the night before!

He is getting so big it was hard to get him to smile. He would say cheese but would forget to smile!

He would smile when he got his ball and he wanted to make sure I got the ball in the picture!

As you can see in this picture Ethan loves Basketball! You will always see him with a ball in his hands! I love it.

I know that I am the worst blogger. I want to do better and I always say that but I honestly do. I want to remember everything that I can and blogging helps me so this next post is a little bit of a journal entry so I am sorry that it will be a long post but this is mostly for myself so that I can remember the things that my little boy does now.
Ethan's birthday is in two weeks. He will be two on March 13 and I can hardly believe it. He is growing so fast and honestly I don't want him too. I have enjoyed this stage so much and I love him so much. He has changed my life in so many ways and I am thankful for that. I never knew the love that a parent can have for a child but Ethan has brought so many wonderful things out of me. I am still working on my patience but he is good with that because if I start to raise my voice at him he will look at me and say stop mommy! And that just melts my heart. He has a very tender heart and I am thankful that he teaches me how to be tender. I also love how is very aware of peoples feelings. If he can see that I am sad or hurt he will immediately come to me and give me a great big hug and kiss and I instantly feel better. He is so wonderful!
His favorite words that he loves to say are Mommy, Daddy, ball, dance, hoop, football, movie, blue (for Blues Clues), thank you, please, papa, mee mee, book, Jesus book, all the animal names, he loves singing songs, and there are more I can't think of everything now.
He loves to dance, sing, his favorite songs are head shoulders knees and toes, snowman, wheels on the bus, popcorn popping, and a duck song that I sing to him.
He loves to read books. It is fun because we are trying to do better with family scripture study and he will grab his little scripture book that we got for him and sit there while Ryan and I read and just flip the pages looking at the pictures of Jesus and he will always point to him and say mommy Jesus. I love hearing him say those things and that he can point out Jesus. It just shows me how pure and innocent their little hearts are.
There are many other things that Ethan does that I will have to post in another post because this will be a novel if I keep going and going. There is one thing that I do want to write about is how Ethan loves working out with me. Whenever I do push ups he will be right there beside me doing them with me. And whenever I go running on the treadmill he will come down there and point at the treadmill and say mommy run.
It is so fun to see him starting to imitate everything that we say and he does repeat everything that we say so I do have to be very careful to what I am saying. I can't believe how fast children learn.
One night I was feeding him some spaghetti and I kept spilling it and I finally said Oh my gosh! Ethan looked up at me and repeated it. I started laughing because he sounded so cute saying it, and of course since I laughed he thought oh this makes mommy laugh so he kept saying it. I finally had to put a stop to it. But he did sound pretty cute.
The other things that he says that are pretty funny is when he will toot, he will smile and say poop! It is pretty funny and anytime he hears someone toot he will laugh and say Daddy poop! Or whoever does it. Probably too much information but it is funny and these are things that I want to remember about my little guy!
His favorite foods are spaghetti, lasagna, mac and cheese, string cheese, fruit snacks, anything that has sugar, crackers, cookies, PIZZA (his favorite), grapes, oatmeal, toast, apple juice, milk, corn dogs, bananas, apples, carrots, marshmallows, anything chocolate he is like his mommy! He is a picky eater! But if he is eating something he really likes he will eat a lot of it and just scarf it down!
I love being a mommy and I know that Ryan loves being a Daddy! Being a parent is scary and hard but it is so rewarding at the same time. Whenever you have that little one smile up at you and say mommy you know how wonderful being a parent is. I love Ethan more and more each day. He is the best thing that has happened in our lives! What a blessing it is to have him in our home. I am grateful that he has come to us. These last two years have been full of so much, tiredness, frustrations, happiness, love, tender moments, that I wouldn't take them back for anything. I can't wait to keep seeing him grow and see what he is going to become and the amazing things that he will do in his life.
Things are going good for us. We are experiencing trials but I am glad that we have the Saviour and the church in our lives. I know that we would be lost without those things. No matter how hard life can be you have to strive to live your life so that you can have the blessings of the spirit in your home. It makes all the difference!
As for a little update on Ryan and me we are doing the same old same old. Ryan is still working in the evenings. Which is hard but I am not the only wife that doesn't have a husband home that much! So I really can't complain. He hurt his back in October when we were running and he keeps re-injuring it so right now it is bothering him hopefully we can get it figured out because he hasn't been able to do much exercising which I know is bothering him because he is such an active guy. He has been doing basketball a couple mornings but he has to be really careful. I am grateful that I have a very patient and loving husband. I'm not that easy to live with!:)
As far as I go I haven't has much change in my life. I am still working only a couple hours a day which is just fine for me. I enjoy being a stay at home mom! It is hard and can be really challenging but I don't want to be anywhere else than in the home with my little boy! I am still planning on running a half marathon again this summer. My training is lacking a little bit the most I have run in one run is 7 miles. I need to do better. It is just hard because I hate running in the cold so I have just been on the treadmill which is boring! Hopefully soon I can go outside and run! I love my calling in Young Women. The youth are amazing and I am so grateful to see how strong they are in the church it gives me so much comfort to see that! And my little beehives love Ethan. It is nice because I have free babysitters all of the time. They are wonderful young women!
That is a little update on us it is a little bit long but I want to remember things for me!

Thanksgiving!!!

2010-12-06T20:30:00.000-08:00

We had Thanksgiving at my parents new house in Idaho. It isn't completely finished they finished their basement but the upstair levels aren't finished yet. It is a beautiful home I can't wait until they are completely finished with it. So we has our Thanksgiving in their basement kitchen. It was the first time that they family has all been together for a very long time. We all enjoyed it very much.

While the parents were getting the gourmet dinner ready we put a movie on for the kids. They were watching Carz. That is Ethan's favorite movie. It was just so cute that these three were sitting there watching it with Aunt Amy. Ethan looks so tired I know he didn't really have a nap this day and it was getting late past his bedtime. Poor little boy!

This is what the guys were doing. Playing Super Mario Bros. on the Wii. They all loved playing that together. It was entertaining watching them.

Here are the master chefs themselves. My mom is making her amazing pies and my dad is working on the Turkey which was wonderful. It had been way too long since I have had his turkey. I loved it. This is their kitchen downstairs. It is absolutely beautiful there. I almost want to move into just their basement.

Here we are getting ready to sit down and enjoy the wonderful food that was prepared for us.

Cute little McKenzie just woke up in time to chow down on the food. Don't you just love those curls. She really looks like her Daddy.

Almost got everyone sitting down to eat the Turkey. Ethan loved looking at all of the food. But he is a picky eater so he didn't really eat that much food. Which shocked me because who could resist this food?!

Another view of our lovely Thanksgiving dinner.

This is where the kids ate their dinner. They are so cute!

Ethan loves playing with his cousins. It is fun to watch them interact!

This Thanksgiving was so much fun! I loved spending time with my family. We always just have a great time together and laugh and laugh and laugh some more.

The time went way to fast and that Sunday when we drove home to Logan it was a blizzard we were grateful that we made it home safe.

Now I can't wait for Christmas to be with family again. It is going to be so much fun. I love this time of year. Decorating my house is my favorite thing to do. I know I probably go a little overboard but I just love filling up spaces with Christmas decorations.

Life has been pretty good. Just the same old same old. Staying busy!

Funny Boy!

2010-11-04T11:31:00.000-07:00

He just looks so funny with his pants down like that. It is even more entertaining to watch him try to walk around with them like that!

I'm sure he is wondering mom why aren't you coming over here to help me out you are just lauging at me.

Here he is walking back out into the living room after going into his bedroom to try to get them back on. So funny.

Again he is trying to pull them up himself but he just can't quiet get it. He is distracted watching his favorite movie too Cars.

He loves it when I take a picture of his face up close and then he likes to look at it and he laughs at himself.

This is is his attempt to get his pants back on. Can't get it over his little diaper bum.

Oops put the same picture up twice sorry about that! I think he is trying to take them off and they won't come off around his foot.

So Eth is into this new thing now where he likes to take off his pajama pants. It is so crazy. He will just sit there and try to take off his pants. Then he will get frustrated when he can't pull them back up and they get in the way when he tries to walk around. It is hilarious to watch him though. I just don't know why he thinks it is ok to take his pants off. I always tell him no don't do that but he just looks at me and laughs when he does it. Crazy boy. I love it though he keeps my life entertaining that is for sure.

Halloween!!!!!

2010-11-03T21:14:00.000-07:00

We finally got him into his lion outfit and he just looked so cute!

Had to get a picture of his tail

I loved Karina and Brian's costumes The BYU Angel and the U of U devil. Love it

He is so cute. I love this little boy!!

Family picture!

Trying on his first costume which he wasn't to excited about!

So I don't know if anyone reads our blog anymore but I honestly want to be better with updating it. We are alive and doing well!
These are a few pics from our Halloween adventure. I can't believe how fast this year has gone. I can't believe how halloween just crept up on us. I didn't even have a chance to think about what we should do for halloween. My dear sweet friends here let me borrow some costumes for Ethan because I didn't even have one ready for him the week of Halloween. What a horrible mother I am!!! Ryan and I didn't even dress up and i really wanted to dress up this year. I hope next year I can be more on top of it and get costumes together for us. We first tried to put him in the frog costume and He didn't really like it so I managed to get the lion costume on him and he looked adorable in it. Then I thought that if i had really thought about it I could have dressed up as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz and ryan could have been the tin man. Because Ethan was definitely the cowardly lion. He got pretty scraed at one house when we went trick or treating. it was pretty funny!! Luckily my sister in law caught it on tape. If I could figure out how to put it on the blog I would but still haven't quite figured out everything with the blog.
Anyways, we are doing good. And honestly I hope my life can calm down a little bit so i can take more time for things that I want to do like updating this blog more often. Ethan is doing well he is getting so big. I can't believe how fast kids grow. It is sad to me. I cleaned out all of his baby clothes I couldn't believe how small he was when he was born. He was tiny!!!!
He is starting to say more and more things and I love listneing to him talk to me. Even though I can't understand him he is telling me something interesting. He has the best personality. He is laid back and very easy going. he doesn't mind doing anything. As long as he is with mommy! He is a big mommy's boy and I don't mind because I know that this won't last forever so i will enjoy as long as it lasts. I can't imagine life without this little boy. It is busy but I enjoy every minute that I get with him. He makes me laugh every single day. Just the other day I was not very patient and Ethan just came up to me and smiled at me and gave me a huge hug!! it just melted my heart. he knows just what to do for me. I love him so much.
He started nursery in September and he is doing ok but like I said he is a momma's boy so leaving me is hard to do for him but he settles down after a little bit. It is nice though because now i can listen in Sunday school and not have to be fighting a little boy all of the time.
I am doing good. I started my afterschool job which isn't bad because it is only 2 hours a day and I get to bring Ethan with me which he loves to be around the kids and play in the gym with them. I feel like life is just busy and busy. I can't believe how fast time flies. It is already the holiday season which is my favorite time of year. And for people who know me they know that I am a Christmas freak. I am already starting to do crafts with Ethan for Christmas decorations. I love this time of year and I love to decorate my house for the holidays. I just wish I had so much money to spend it on decorations. Maybe someday. I am still running and doing that crazy Insanity program. I love it though if anyone is considering doing they should because it is awesome. it kicks butt but you feel great after doing it.
Ryan is doing good. He started a new job and is still doing insurance so he is staying busy. it is hard because we don't get to see each other that much but I just have to realize that hopefully life won't be crazy forever! He threw out his back about a month ago and he is still trying to recover from it. We were running and it just gave out on him I felt bad because he pretty much couldn't do anything for about 5 days.
That is what has been happening with us and I konw that I have been saying this but I hope that i can keep this updated more and more so that I don't have to do marathon posts.

Oh BOY!

2010-08-24T10:16:00.000-07:00

Here is my attempts with catching up and posting some photos of my little man playing in the kitchen.

He was starting to get curious with what I was doing. He wanted to hold the camera.

It is always hard for me to get a good picture of me and Ethan. But these are a few attempts to get some but he never smiled!

He was pushing his chair around and Ry was walking by right when I took this picture it kind of looks cool!

Ok these are a few attempts of me trying to get pictures of him in his new fall clothes but he didn't want to do it at all! Can you tell?

He didn't want me to take his binki out at all or taking pictures. he just wasnt' in the mood!

I finally got him to calm down but I couldn't get a smile at all! He was mad at me!

Look at those sad little eyes he knows how to melt my heart with those eyes!

He was distracted here watching the tv. I know I am a bad mom I turn the tv on for him to calm him down.

He was starting to get mad again because I was right in front of him trying to get some pictures again. Man this little boy can be so stubborn.

Here is a pretty decent picture but still that binki wouldnt' come out!

I love this little outfit that we bought at Kohls! Kohls is great they have the best sales and I love going there. We got more for him but he just didn't want me to be dressing him up and taking pictures today so maybe I can try again another day. I need to get professional pictures of him so that we can hang them on our wall. He is almost 18 months and we don't have any pictures of hiim on the wall. That is horrible.

Anyways to catch up on things:

ETHAN: He is getting so big! I actually love this stage because he is starting to talk more and understand things. We weighed him the other day and he weighed 25.6 pounds. We didn't measure him though we go to the dr. next month so we will find out then. But he is getting so big. It is getting hard for me to haul him around the place. He knows where his nose, ears, mouth, eyes and spikey hair are. He also knows what his hands and feet are. He will point to them when you ask them. He loves reading books with mommy and daddy. He is starting to get more and more independent he always wants to feed himself. I try to let him but he just makes such a big mess, but that is ok. His favorite movies are Meet the Robinsons and Cars. he will sometimes sit through the whole movie. But that is very rare. He loves wrestling with his daddy and playing hide and seek. If he could he would live outside. We dont' have a yard yet so he will go out there and sit down and throw the rocks around. He usually screams when we have to bring him in. He sleeps great at night we put him to bed at 8 and he usually wakes up at 7:45. he only takes one nap a day and it ranges from 2 to 3 hours. He is just so much fun I love him so much!

RYAN: He is still working for AFLAC. It is a little stressful but I am hoping if he sticks with it that will turn out amazing in a year or so. We will just have to see. He is looking for another job to work part time until AFLAC can fully support us. He is a great daddy to Ethan, whenever Ethan hears the garage door open he runs to the door to wait for his daddy to come in. Ryan is in the Sunday School Presidency he is going to be teaching a temple prep class starting this Sunday. He will do great.

ASHLEY: I have been lucky to be able to be at home with Ethan this whole summer! It has been nice it is a lot of work and sometimes really hard but I wouldn't trade it for the world. I like being a little homemaker. it is fun for me to be able to have time to cook new things and try to keep the house clean which is hard when you have a one year old running all over the place. I have been training for the half marathon but I wasn't able to get into it this year which was a bummer. But there are other ones I am going to do! I just got put into the Young Womens Presidency as teh 2nd counselor and I love this calling. I couldn't have asked for a better calling and it came at the right time. I love the girls in there they are all so great.

That is a little bit of a catch up on what we have been doing this summer. Summer has flown by and I can't believe that August is almost over. I am ready for the weather to cool down a bit but I am not ready for the COLD!!!

We are doing great and just trying to enjoy life. I know I promise this everytime but I do want to keep in touch better on my blog so I will try It just takes so much time and it is hard to get time to do it. But I will try!!

THE BIG RUN!!!!

2010-06-30T14:12:00.000-07:00

I hope Mandi doesn't mind I borrowed this pictures from her facebook page because Ry and I forgot our camera! Thanks Mandi! These are the pictures from the Bone and Back Race!! It was so much fun I love running in this race. This is a picture of me and my gorgeous sister in law Mandi!!! She is BEAUTIFUL!!!! Our family did awesome this year we finished the 40 mile relay in 5 hours 9 minutes! We got first place in the family division. It was amazing. All of us ran great and got the times that we wanted.

I think this is Ryan before his run. I'm not sure though. He ran great. He is just an amazing runner, he ran leg 4 which is probably the second hardest leg in 32 min. He also ran leg 8 and ran that one in 32 min as well. I love watching him run because he is so good at it. I love you sweetie!!!

This is how we support our runners we ride on the tail gate cheering them on. I look forward to this race every year. We all wear our orange t shirts and we are called the Orange Crush!!!

This is right after I ran leg 1. Ryan and his Dad were just warming up running on this dirt road so I decided to follow them but I have no idea what I am doing in this picture! They are walking casually and I am running I guess.

Here is Orange Crush after the race. Don't we all look great!!! I love my family! And I love that we do this every year together.

The next day after the race we went to American Fork to see the blessing of our newest nephew William! He is adorable and I love holding him. He is starting to smile and I love seeing him smile so big. Here are Ryan and Ethan after we had eaten lunch. It was such a great day!

Then on Monday we went to Salt Lake and hikes Ensign Peak. I loved doing it. I had never done it before but once you get to the top the view is amazing. You can tell that Ethan loved the sucker that Grandma had given him. He screamed when I took it away from him. He is so funny he cracks me up all of the time!

Here is the whole family on top of Ensign Peak. The reason we did this is because my in laws gave us a challenge to read the Book of Mormon by June and have daily prayer and scripture study and by the end of the challenge we would get a reward. I am so glad that they gave us this challenge I know that it has really helped my little family do better we are definitely not perfect but I can tell when we are doing the right things that everything seems to run smoother even if you are going through trials.

After we hiked we went to the Hoogle Zoo. It was so much fun to take Ethan there. The animal that I could tell the he was the most interested in was the elephant and her baby. The baby was so cute. I think that was my favorite animal too. We also road the little train ride that they offer and Ethan loved that as well. He didn't want to get off of it when it was over. His eyes were so wide watching everything iy was so cute!

We have been very busy this past month but it has all been worth it! I have loved every minute of it!

Thanks family for such a great time!!!

FEELING BETTER!

2010-06-23T15:30:00.000-07:00

So the stomach flu I think had finallly left the Jenks' household! I am so happy! Ethan hasn't had a problem all day long! I think we are all over it. It was a nasty flu and when it hit it hit really hard! But my happy little boy is coming back YEAH!!!

I was so worried because this weekend we are doing the Bone and Back relay with all of the Jenks family and we are all hoping to do really well, an dI was nervous with this flu that it would still be there on Saturday, but I think we will be ok.

I am so excited for this race. This will be the third year that we have done it as a family. For those of you who don't know about this race it is a 40 mile relay race where 8 people run it and they each run 5 miles. Every year we have done it we have improved our times and I think we will improve this year too. Everyone has been training really hard for it so I am anxious to see how we do. The first year we did it we got third place in the coed division. It was awesome.

I am going to run the 1 leg which is the second easiest leg but I am too nervous to run any other leg. I ran it last year as well and I am hoping to take at least 5 minutes off I hope I do. I have been training hard and I hope that it pays off.

I will try and remember my camera this year so I can get some good pictures and post them! Wish us Luck!!!

Ethan!!!

2010-06-22T10:35:00.000-07:00

We went for a run one morning and this is what happened to Ethan while we were out there. We didn't want to disturb him so we just put him in his room and left him in his stroller he slept like that for awhile!

Here he is being silly and trying to take a drink out of a big persons cup. He can't quite figure it out yet and when he does try he dumps it all over himself.

I love this cheesy grin that he is giving the camera. He is the biggest sweetheart!

Ryan decided one day that he wanted to build a fort for him and Ethan. He used all of our chairs and blankets and couches to build it.

It was fun for me to watch him build and then enjoy it with Ethan.

Ethan finally is able to crawl inside the fort that Daddy made for him. He loved it.

They stayed in there for awhile and the read books together and just played around in there. Ethan didn't want to leave it. I don't think that Ryan wanted to leave it either!:)

I love my familly they are so much fun. It is also fun for me to see the boy that Ethan is becoming. He is growing so fast. I can't believe how fast he grows. He is such a momma's boy and I don't really mind that. He likes for me to hold him whenever we are around a group of people or if we are just away from home. He loves his home.
For the past week he has been sick which is sad for me and hard for me to watch. I thought that he was finally getting over it but today while I was feeding him his oatmeal he threw up again!! AAAHHHH!! It is so frustrating especially since he has been doing that for a week straight. I know where he got it from and it is maddening to me because they came to my house and didn't tell me that her child was sick until they had been there for an hour and finally said yeah she has been throwing up! I was so mad and I got even more mad when Tuesday night he started throwing up all night long! I called her a few times to let her know I was mad. I don't think I was in in the wrong that was very irresponsible of her to bring her sick girl to our house! Sorry I just had to vent! What does everyone else think? The other thing is that now my poor little nephews got it and they were all throwing up on Sunday night all through the night.
I am done with that now I just feel horrible for my little man! I just want him to start acting his happy self again so that he doesn't feel miserable!

OHIO TRIP!!!

2010-05-24T10:14:00.000-07:00

We stopped at Niagra Falls on our way to New York. It was so pretty there. I feel lucky that Ryan and I have been able to visit Niagra twice now. They are amazing to see and I am so glad we were able to go. I snapped a pic of Brian and Karina posing for a picture in front of the falls.

We decided to ride on the Maid of the Mist. It was fun to get up close to the falls and get sprayed by the mist. I really liked it.

We got the best spot on the boat. We were on top and right in the front so we could see the falls the best.

Here is Ryan and I standing by the falls. We walked up some stairs after the boat ride to get another closer look at the amazing falls.

We arrived in New York and we went to the Hill Cumorah! This was also our second time being there. I really do feel grateful that we have been able to go here and see the amazing sights here.

Here is Ryan, Shane, and Ash hiking up to the top of the hill. I love Ash's face in this picture!

Since none of us had kids with us we were able to make a temple trip to the Palmyra Temple. It was so much fun because you have to have an appointment to go the temple and we all got there and it was our whole family and one other couple through the whole session. I loved that!

Here we are in front of the temple. This temple is beautiful. You can see the Sacred Grove from the temple.

Here we all our going on a tour through the Joseph Smith farm. This is also our second time being here as well. But I just can't get over how wonderful the spirit is here at this place. I love seeing the places that the prophet lived.

Here Ryan and his Dad and Brian are in the frame house on the Smith farm. I also like going inside those cabins and seeing the wonderful work that those early pioneers did.

This pic is of Ethan and Carson this is right before Kristy dropped us off at the airport. Ethan was asleep when he left I felt bad that I couldn't give him a huge hug and kiss before we left. But it was probably better that he was asleep.

Ryan and I went to Ohio this past week because Ry's brother Shane graduated from Dental School!! It was so much fun. Ethan stayed in Boise with my sister Kristy and I was so thankful that she was willing to watch him! It was extremely hard for me to leave him but he did awesome! I know that today he is wondering where his cousin Carson is and Sadie! He is probably bored with just mom here.

We had so much fun on this trip. I loved spending time with my family. We arrived in Ohio on Saturday May 15 and Shane's graduation was on Sunday. I loved going to his graduation.

Then on Monday we went to New York. It was a 5 hour drive to get to where we were staying. We stayed in the same house we stayed at two years ago. The Seneca Lake house. It was beautiful. We did all of the church sites and I loved being refreshed again on everything that happened there. My favorite part was probably the Sacred Grove. The spirit that is felt there is wonderful. Ry and I just walked around and sat down and just pondered everything that happened there.

We stayed in New York until Thursday and headed back to Cleveland. The next few days we just relaxed and enjoyed each others company.

I am so glad that we were able to do this trip. Thank you so much Shane and Ash for your hospitality. I can't wait to see you guys again in just a couple of weeks. We had so much fun laughing, going on runs, and just hanging out. I can't wait to get together again and just laugh and laugh some more.

I am glad to be home and be with my baby boy again. I missed him so much. But this trip was a very needed trip and I am glad it came when it did.

I love my family and everything that they do for us!! Love you guys!!!

My LIttle Man!!

2010-05-13T08:04:00.000-07:00

I know this post has a ton of pictures but I had to post them!

This is usually what happens when I get home from work. Ethan falls asleep in the car and I bring him into the house and he sleeps on the couch for awhile.

He loves playing with ping pong balls. He will bring them into the kitchen and throw them onto the floor and watch them bounce around then chase them around the kitchen.

He loves this stuffed dog. I have told Ryan that we need a dog for Eth but this will do for now since we don't have a yard yet, but he calls this dog Daizy because to him every dog is called Daizy! I love this little boy!

Here he is getting ready to come into the kitchen to throw the ping pong balls around. He cracks me up!

I don't know if he liked me doing this or not. I couldn't get him to smile. Silly boy. He would smile after the picture was taken.

I love watching him walk around. He is getting so big I can't believe how fast time flies with this boy. He also loves to carry around his burp clothes they are his comfort. He will tuck them under his neck when he is getting tired.

I was trying to get him to smile but he didn't want me to take pictures of him he wanted to play with the camera/

Here he is trying to get closer to the camera so he could take pictures. Look at the tongue he is really concentrating on getting it!

There is a little smile! I love his chubby cheeks! I kiss them all the time.

Here we are just hanging out in the morning. We just like to relax in the morning in our pajamas. I love his face in this picture.

This little boy is much fun. He is a lot of work and into everything now but I wouldn't trade it for the world. I can't believe how rewarding and exhausting being a mom can be. I know that Mother's Day was on Sunday but I just wanted to say that I am so grateful for my Mom. She is the most amazing woman in the world. I am so lucky that I have her as an example to me as the mom that I want to be. I hope that I can be like my Mom! I love you Mom! Thank you for all the hard work you did for me. You are the greatest!

Also I am so happy that I have such a wonderful husband and son. They are so good to me. My husband was so nice on Mother's Day. We were in Boise over the weekend and he went shopping with me all day on Saturday for Mother's Day. I know he probably would rather be doing something else but he didn't complain.

We also ran a 5k race in Boise it was the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure there were 16,000 people running in it. Ryan was so nice to push Ethan for me so that I could try and run fast. But it was impossible at the beginning because of how many people were running in it. I had to walk like the first 4 min. But I was able to finish it in 24 min. It was so much fun though.

SHELF RELIANCE

2010-05-10T19:29:00.000-07:00

Ok so in my last post I mentioned a little thing on me doing Food Storage with a company called Shelf Reliance. I have just barely started doing it and I love the product. I did my first party at my mother-in-laws house and it went pretty well. I would love to do more parties with some of my friends. I don't mind traveling.
Contact me if you are at all interested in having a food storage party! I know it sounds funny that is what I thought when I went to my first party but after I tried the product I realized this is something that everyone should try. It is easy and affordable to do it.
I can do a party on the weekend or on a week night just tell me what you would like to do and I can do it. Plus it is a great way to get together with my friends!!!!
Let me know if anyone is interested leave me a comment and I can get with you about setting up a party!!

WE ARE HERE!!!!

2010-05-05T16:33:00.000-07:00

So I don't know if anyone still looks at our blog anymore since it has been months since my last post but we are still alive and doing great!
Just a little update on our little guy! He is walking now and getting into everything! I love seeing him grow up though and all the cute little things that he does! He is such a joy in out lives and Ryan and I couldn't be happier. He has the sweetest little personality. He loves his mommy so much. Every morning I am able to go in there and pick him up and just snuggle him for a little bit and I love that time I get to share with him. He is starting to say a few words. He says momma, dadda, light, hi, and Daizy. He learned Daizy because my brother and sister-in-laws dog is named Daizy and so we said it over and over to him whenver we saw her so now every time he sees a dog he calls them daizy! It is precious. He loves to turn the lights on and off and point up at them and say light! His voice is so cute, I just love my little man so much!
As for me I am able to stay at home with Ethan now! I quit my full time job at the school in December and I have been working there only two hours a day and I get to bring Ethan with me. It has been great. I love being home with Ethan! I have just barely started doing Shelf Reliance, which is a food storage company and if anyone would like me to come and do a party at their house I would love to do it. The product is amazing! I will post more information on it. I am also training again to do the Rexburg half Marathon! I want to run it better than I ran it the first time I did it. Hopefully I can do better. I am also going to do The Top of Utah Half Marathon in August. I have been wanting to do it for two years now and every year I can't. The first year I was pregnant and last year I had just had surgery! This year nothing should hold me back knock on wood!
Ryan is still working at the fence company. He will actually be quitting there next Friday and he will be selling Aflac insurance. he is thrilled to be done working outside. I don't know how he did it for so long. I hate the cold and I hate being outside when it is extremely hot, but he works in all sorts of crazy weather, but he will be done soon. He will still be installing fences but on his own time. So if there is anyone who needs a fence put in Ry can help you out. Ryan is trying to decide if he wants to do the Wasatch Back run in June. Which is a 188 mile run from Logan to Park City, I did it last year and it was quite the experience. I think Ry would enjoy it it is just crazy that you run all through the night.
We are loving being in our house. We still have to work on the yard which is not going to be so much fun. We have so many rocks that everytime I look out there I think geez who is going to rake all of those up! I wish we could pay someone to do it but it will be good to get out there and work on it ourselves. I am just not looking forward to putting in a sprinkler system, we will see how that one goes.

I hope people haven't forgotten about us. We didn't have internet available to us for a long time. We have it now and I am so glad to be able to communicate again! I am going to try and keep this up to date better! That is my goal now to do better at my blogging skills so I can keep in touch with everyone I love!

This is just a random picture of Ethan and me. We put him in the newborn jacket that we brought him home from the hospital in! It was so funny I'm sure he gets sick of us dressing him in tight clothes it is fun to see how big he is getting.

These pictures are of Ethan's First Birthday which was March 13! I love those blue eyes.

As you can tell he is extremely happy about his presents and really into them:)

ETHAN BOY!!

2009-12-15T12:01:00.000-08:00

These are just some fun pictures of Ethan! He is so much fun. I love spending time with this little guy. Those top pictures are of him trying a little piece of cheese. It slipped out and landed right on his lower lip and chin. It stayed there long enough for me to get a picture of it. The bottom two are of our fun adventure of moving into our new house. I still need to take pictures of the house! One day I will get to it I hope.

Ethan is still getting faster and faster with crawling. He loves it when we chase him around the house. It is so cute, he squeals so loud when he sees us coming closer to him. I just can't imagine life without this little boy. He always keeps us entertained every single day! We love you so much Ethan!

GROWING BOY!!

2009-12-04T08:29:00.000-08:00

Look at how much this little boy has grown. While we were packing I went through all of Ethan's clothes to pack away the ones that didn't fit him any more and I came across this cute little coat. Poor guy has to go through the torture of his mother dressing him in his little clothes. He looked hilarious. I couldn't stop laughing and he was just staring at me wondering what is wrong with my mommy!

Just as a little update on this cutie pie, he is 9 months old and is weighing in at 20 lbs. I'm not sure how long he is but he is already to long for some of his 9 month pants. He is going to be tall, like his Daddy! He loves to be with his Mommy and loves to cuddle me when he is sleepy. He has started crawling all over the place which is fun for us to watch him explore his world! He pulls himself up so that he can stand next to the couches or tables. He sleeps great through the night (only if he is in his own crib, not a great traveler!) We are just so grateful to have this wonderful little boy in our lives. We love him so much and couldn't have asked for a better little boy!

Turkey Day!!

2009-12-03T12:23:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pictures of the actual Thanksgiving Day Feast. It was so yummy! We enjoyed every minute of it. All of the wonderful food, yummy pies, I couldn't have asked for a better Thanksgiving Feast! Ethan was a bit of a grumpy boy during our stay there so it was hard to capture some smiles on camera. It turned out that while we were there he got a double ear infection and he is starting to get his two bottom teeth. Pain all around. But we definitely ate all the food we could! I loved it!

OHIO TRIP!!!

2009-12-03T12:12:00.000-08:00

We went to Ohio for Thanksgiving this year to spend it with my brother and sister-in-law. We had such a great time. The first two nights we spent it in a cabin that was amazing. I loved the hot tub. I know that I will have to have one of those some day! It was so relaxing to put the kids in bed and just go sit out there and enjoy our time together. I loved where it was located out in the middle of nowhere away from life. After that we went back to Shane and Ashlee's house and enjoyed the rest of our vacaction there. I love that we were able to go out there and start our own traditions. I would love to spend every Thanksgiving with those guys we had such a great time. Thank you so much Shane and Ash we loved it there. Can't wait to see you guys soon! By the way for some reason the family pictures we took at the cabin came out blurry. I have more of your family but I don't know why they are blurry.

Help!

2009-11-12T07:41:00.000-08:00

So I am trying to figure out how to make it so my whole background matches! I want to get rid of the dot background that is around my posts. Can anyone help me out so that the cute backgrounds can be seen instead of this annoying dots around my posts? I hope I am making sense and someone can help me out here. I look at everyone's blogs and they don't have the different background under their posts and I want mine to look like that. I am getting frustrated because it isn't working and I don't know what to do!! Please someone HELP!!!

GOING PRIVATE!!!??

2009-11-05T07:23:00.000-08:00

So the other day I was ready through the November Ensign and I read an article on blogging and it made me a little nervous. I don't know who is reading my blog so I am thinking about going private. It makes me nervous to think who could get on and read about out lives. Leave me a comment if you want to get invited because I am ready to go private so people I don't know can't look at my sweet little family. I will probably go private in the next couple of weeks so let me know your email addresses so I can invite my family and friends to view my blog not weirdos!!!
Maybe I am overreacting but who knows what can happen and I want to protect my family!!!
By the way the article was only a page long but it gave great advice on blogging. It didn't say it was bad but that you should just be careful what you write about and to never give addresses of where you live so I just want to go private after reading that!

BIG NEWS!!!!

2009-10-30T11:24:00.001-07:00

We ARE BUYING A HOUSE!! We are right in the middle of buying this house out in Hyrum! We are so excited! We need to go and get pictures of the inside of it! We love this house. It will be complete next week! I can't believe it, It now has a garage now and brown shutters and the ground now has top soil on it. We can't wait to move in! That middle picture is of the view that we have out our front windows. We are right by the elementary school and the high school. We can see the elementary school out our bedroom window and the high school out the front windows. It is a fun and stressful time buying a house but we can't wait!

FUN POST!!

2009-10-26T07:47:00.001-07:00

You can see how big it is on him still. Our little marshmallow.
Sleeping peacefully!

We bought Ethan this coat last Friday, and we put it to use on Saturday night. It is huge on him and he looks so darn cute in it. He hardly fits in his car seat with it. We went to the pumpkin walk here in Logan Saturday night and we bundled him up in this coat. He was so funny. He couldn't put his arms done it was so big. (Like on the movie "Christmas Story") When we got home he had fallen asleep in his car seat and he just looked cute, what more can I say!

RED RIBBON RUN

2009-10-26T07:40:00.000-07:00

A few weekends ago we did a 5k run. It is one of my favorite runs. I think this is my fourth year doing it. It was awesome. Ryan ran it in 19 min. and he was even pushing Ethan. It was hilarious to seem him sprint out there pushing a stroller. He even got third place overall. He is an amazing runner. Me on the other hand. I can tell that I need to train again to get in better shape with running. I am trying. The Jenks Fam was there to run it we all had strollers. It was fun to line the front of the race at the beginning with our strollers. There were friends from work who were there to run it with their kids as well. It is just a fun race and I look forward to doing it every year. It is always cold though when we run it. But we have a great time.

Camping

2009-10-26T07:30:00.000-07:00

We went camping awhile ago up to Willow Flatts and we put this cute hat on Ethan he was loving it.
I love this picture of his cute smile. He is a funny boy.
Ryan also had a crazy idea one weekend to camp out in our backyard. So we did it, I can't believe I actually agreed to do it. Here we are the morning after camping outside
This is the cramped sleeping situation we were in. It was fun though I have to admit.

So I noticed that I was posting a lot about the hard things going on in our life right now but there are wonderful things that outweigh the hard times of being a parent. For example the cute smiles that Ethan gives us or just the times when I can snuggle my boy and he stares up at me and I can tell that he loves me.
I love being a mom. No one can even prepare you for how rewarding being a parent can be until you experience it for yourself. Ethan is such a great joy to have in our family. I feel so blessed that he has come to us!

Again Sleep Issues!!

2009-10-20T07:12:00.000-07:00

I just really wish that babies could be born with the ability to always sleep through the night. Ryan is out of town again and last night was the worst night I think that Ethan has ever had. I maybe got an hour of sleep. I don't know what to do! I feel like a horrible mother because I have no patience in the night hours. And it is so hard when he just won't stop crying. What am I suppose to do? I don't know what is wrong with him. I thought maybe he was teething but I tried everything the Oragel, Tylenol, Motrin, and those teething tablets. Nothing was working. He would only sleep if I was holding him or laying next to him in my bed. I am so tired today. I really don't know if I can handle another night like last night. Should I take him to the doctor again. He does have a runny nose and he started coughing last night too. I tried to just let him cry himself to sleep last night but that was way to hard on me. Whenever I would walk in there while he was crying he would just look at me with the most sad eyes and wonder why I wasn't in there comforting him. I really need help and some more great advice!

RELIEF!!

2009-09-29T06:48:00.000-07:00

I really appreciate all of the wonderful advice that everyone has given me to help Ethan sleep again through the night.
We ended up going to the doctor yesterday because he just wasn't acting himself. I am so glad we did because we found out that he has a very sore throat. He saw the white pockets even. I felt so bad. Now I know why my poor baby hasn't been acting himself. The doctor said that nighttime is rough when you have a sore throat because you are all alone and your throat gets dry so that is why nighttime has been so rough for him. I just feel horrible for the little guy. Sometimes I wish that they could just tell us what is hurting.
But now we can give him Motrin and Tylenol and those worked miracles! I am so glad that he finally got the rest he needed and we needed as well. He was even still asleep when I left for work this morning. I feel great that he is getting some relief from the pain. Thank goodness for Pediatricians! (Maybe that's what Ryan should go to school for!:)
Anyways, thanks again for everything you guys said. And Em I really need to read that book I have heard wonderful things about it. Also I think he might be teething too because he does have a lot of those symptoms that you talked about Ash! Poor little man, going through so much and he can't even tell his mommy what is up!
Oh the joys of guessing what to do!! Thanks everybody!

Sleep Problems!!! HELP!

2009-09-28T07:44:00.000-07:00

Ok so Ethan has been a really good sleeper, sleeping between 10 to 12 hours at night. But since Friday night he has been horrible with sleep and we just don't know what to do!!! I feel like we maybe have gotten 14 hours of sleep this whole weekend! i don't know if he is teething or sick, or what it is. He has been drooling a lot but he has been doing that for months. Will somebody please help me I feel like I am at a lose at what to do for the little guy to get him back on schedule with sleeping. I want my sleep too so that I can feel like I can function. Plus Ryan is leaving town again tomorrow and I don't want to deal with this on my own. Please somebody give me some advice on what to do for the little man! (and for me)

OATMEAL!!

2009-09-22T07:20:00.000-07:00

Ethan loves his big boy chair. We always put him in it while we are eating dinner and he is just content sitting there playing with his toys and talking to us.

He always gets so excited when we put him in there. Sometimes he gets frustrated because I don't get the food to him fast enough!

He is so funny! We tried giving him rice cereal and he just wouldn't have it. So I finally decided to try and feed him oatmeal mixed with apple juice and he loves it. You have to keep feeding it to him really fast or he gets upset. He also loves bananas, sweet potatoes, sweet carrots, and pretty much any of the fruits. He is a great eater! I love this little boy so much.

Hair Cut

2009-09-16T06:56:00.001-07:00

Getting excited to cut his hair
His little bald spot from sleeping!
Long hair growing on the sides.
His first hair cut was done on August 7. It was hard for me to finally cut his hair, but he did need it. And these are the only pictures we have of it. Ryan had to hold his arms down while I cut his hair so we didn't get any pictures of the process. But I took plenty of pictures of his long hair. As you can see it was growing crazy in all different spots. I just thought he looked to cute with his crazy hair. But after his hair cut it made him look a lot older. I need to get some good pictures of his hair now. But it was fun to cut his hair. He did pretty good with it too.

Cutie!

2009-09-16T06:52:00.000-07:00

We took these pictures the day that we were going to Bear Lake. He just looks so cute in them that I had to post these!

CHEETOS

2009-09-16T06:47:00.001-07:00

One day Ryan was eating some Cheetos and Ethan was just going crazy, kicking his arms and legs around. So Ryan decided to give him the Cheetos bag and Ethan loved holding onto it. It was hard to take it away from him. I'm sure one day he will love these chips as much as his Dad does.

PLAYTIME!!!

2009-09-11T08:31:00.000-07:00

Ethan trying to escape from Daddy!
Ethan was laughing so hard when Ryan would throw him up into the air. It was cute to hear his laugh! They were having a great time together

Ethan loves spending time with his Daddy. It is cute to watch them together. Ryan can really make Ethan laugh and it just melts my heart when I hear that sweet little boy laugh.

OHIO!!!

2009-09-11T08:23:00.001-07:00

We went to Ohio over Labor Day Weekend to visit Shane and Ashlee and their sweet little boys. We had the greatest time with them. We were horrible at taking pictures though. These are the only pictures we took and this was in the airport in Cleveland waiting to board our plane home. It was very early that morning our flight left at 6:10 am. As you can see Ethan is still bundled up because when we loaded him in the car he was still asleep. But once we got to the airport he was half awake.
Ethan did great on the airplane rides. He didn't have a problem at all. The only thing he did was go to the bathroom at the most inconvenient times. It isn't to easy changing a diaper on the airplane.
While we were in Ohio we all experienced our first air show. Ethan cried during most of it because it was so loud, but it was amazing to see those airplanes. Ohio is very pretty and very green, we just had a great and relaxing time with them. Thanks Shane and Ash! Can't wait to see you guys again and come out there again!!:)

Four Wheeling Fun

2009-08-26T12:32:00.001-07:00

We house sat for one of my friends while they went on vacation and she told me that we could use their four wheeler and dirt bike. This is my first attempt driving the dirt bike. After the first ride I was addicted it was fun! Ryan had to help me figure out how to shift. But I loved it.
This is me trying to get a picture of both Ethan and I didn't do too well. But Ethan looks cute
We took Ethan on a four wheeler ride he liked it until the wind hit his face and then he was done with it.
We had a great time on the four wheelers and dirt bike. I can already tell that we are going to have to get some of those when we can. I know that Ethan will love them.

Miniature Golfing!

2009-08-26T12:28:00.000-07:00

We went miniature golfing over the summer. It was a blast. We went with Karina and Brian her fiance! The girls were trying to beat the boys and we only lost by one stroke. We were very impressed with ourselves. Ethan did great too. He loves being outside.

Play Time

2009-08-26T12:22:00.000-07:00

We just have way to much fun with this little guy. Ryan came up with this idea to put a bandanna on his head. He looked so cute!

I threw his burp cloth over to Ryan and it landed on Ethan's head and we thought he looked funny with it. He was having a great time !
He loves to pull his socks as hard as he can. Sometimes he is successful and gets them off but other times he just pulls them really hard and stretches them out.

Bear Lake Adventure!

2009-08-26T11:48:00.000-07:00

We went to Bear Lake a lot this summer. Ethan loved it. These are pictures of his second trip up there. This was on the 4th of July and we went up there with Jared and Ainsli's family. We had a great time. Ethan loved putting his feet in the water. It was cute to watch him wiggle his toes in the sand. We are definitely a Bear Lake family. I would live there if I could!

We ARE ALIVE!!!!!

2009-08-26T11:34:00.000-07:00

These are just a few fun pictures of Ethan at the beginning of the summer. He is so much fun. I love being a mom. He is the greatest thing that has ever happened to Ryan and I. I love him so much!

Here he is using his strong legs. Poor little boy I always make him pose in these weird positions.

This is a picture of Ethan with my sisters little girl Makenzie. She was born 10 days after Ethan. It is fun to have a cousin that is your same age. They are great friends! I love these kiddos.

Summer has been great. It flew by way to fast. I wish that it was still summer. I loved being home with Ethan all day. Hopefully soon I will be able to stay at home with him all of the time. School is back in session.:( But now I will try to update on what we did over the summer. It was great!

FIRST CAMPING TRIP!!

2009-06-02T12:44:00.001-07:00

Doesn't Ryan look happy that we are camping? This is actually the day that we were going back home and he didn't want to go!
This is Ethan on the second day of camping he was tired
Cute little sleepy head!
Yes of course this is me enjoying a smore. You have to have one of those when you are camping
This is Ethan seeing a campfire for the first time.
The beautiful fire that the guys made for us.
Still has his eyes closed while watching the fire.
He has his camos on for his camping trip and of course the Binky.
We went camping the the Jenks' last weekend and we had such a great time. We were able to sleep in their trailer with them which was very nice of them to let us. The weather was perfect for us. It wasn't too hot or too cold. Ethan slept for almost ten hours that night it was so nice. The next morning we went for our morning run and it was beautiful out there. Logan canyon is great. I love that we live so close to the mountains. We need to go camping with them again really soon. I love going with them we always have a great time. Thanks Mom and Dad!!

CUTE HAT!!

2009-06-02T12:40:00.000-07:00

He looks like Robin Hood in this picture
This is a hat that my mom bought Ethan when he was staying at their house. He looks so cute in it. We were having fun putting the hat on him. He was enjoying it for awhile, but then he decided he had had enough.

Making Brownies!

2009-06-02T12:37:00.001-07:00

My sweet little nieces Whitney and Autumn, decided to make brownies at my parents house on Memorial Day weekend. They were being so funny. I let them lick the bowl and they got chocolate all over their faces. So I decided to join the fun and lick the bowl with them. They are so funny. We made brownies twice that weekend because they had so much fun the first time!

Happy Boy!

2009-06-02T12:33:00.000-07:00

This is his serious face. I think he looks so funny here!

Ethan was being so cute this day! We were visiting at Ryan's parents house and Ethan was just a happy boy! He is so fun for us! We love making him smile. Those smiles are the best things in the whole world. I love this little boy so much!

FIRST RACE!

2009-05-14T07:03:00.001-07:00

Here's daddy and Ethan after the race waiting for the awards to start.
Ethan still sleeping after the race. He was being such a good baby!
Getting Ethan ready to leave for the race. He slept the whole time I was dressing him. I had to really bundle him up it was cold that morning.
On Saturday Ryan and I ran in our first race of the year! It was so much fun. Ethan did great. Poor little guy though he got his shots on Friday and they made him really sleepy so he slept pretty much the whole time that we were running. But during the prize give aways, I had to go and feed Ethan his bottle, and while I was feeding him he messed in his pants, but what I didn't realize until after he was done with his bottle was that it was a major blow out. It was hilarious to watch Ryan have a hard time with it. So I had to change the poor little guy in the car and get him all cleaned up before I could put him in his car seat. We should have gotten pictures of that whole ordeal. It was pretty funny looking back on it now. At the time I didn't think so while Ryan was sitting there laughing!

First Hike!!!!

2009-05-13T07:46:00.001-07:00

I love this picture of the pelican in the water! We kind of scared it away on accident.

There was so much water that it was flowing over the road here.
I know I'm a dork but this rock was fun to stand on and I was proud of myself for being able to climb up on it.
This is where we stopped to eat our dinner on the hike. It was a pretty view.
We were close to an edge in this picture.

On Monday night for family night Ryan and I went on a hike. It was a four mile hike up the canyon. It was pretty hard for me, I am actually still sore from it, but it was nice to be able to go hiking again. I have missed going in the mountains here in Logan. The weather was perfect it wasn't to hot or to cold. I loved it. Ethan is in Idaho right now with my mom and dad, because they wanted to spend time with him, and since I am back to work it worked perfectly for them to watch him this week for us. I really appreciate their help. It is hard though because I miss my baby like crazy! Ryan is going to Blackfoot today and I will be going up there on Friday! We are just trying to keep ourselves busy. I can't wait to see my baby again, it has been really weird without him.

SITTING UP

2009-05-07T11:34:00.001-07:00

This picture is of me trying to get him loaded into his car seat because I needed to run some errands, and he was sleeping the whole time that I unwrapped him and loaded him in his car seat. This is what he looked like when I unwrapped him from his blanket. He usually wakes up right away when I unwrap him but not this time.
This was the first time that I sat him up on the couch like this and he looked so cute sitting there all by himself. As you can see those jeans are getting a little tight around the middle. I love them on him though so I keep putting them on as long as they still fit.
Look at those cute cheeks. I love having him get bigger like this.
He looks so small sitting on the big couch.

This is my favorite picture of him sitting on the couch looking intently at something. I was trying to get him to smile but he just wasn't having it!
He started slipping down in this picture! I love watching him grow up so fast. It is going to be fun when he keeps getting more interactive with us. I'm sad though because he is going to get his 2 month shots tomorrow. I hope it goes okay for him. I don't want a sad baby!

BIRD NEST

2009-05-07T08:34:00.001-07:00

One day I was leaving our house out the front door to go running, and right as I opened it this little sparrow goes flying right past my head and scared me to death. I ran in and told Ryan that I thought there was a birds nest in our vent. So he came out and we were looking around and the lamp above our front door is were the little birds decided to make their home. We have been noticing a mess on our front porch but we couldn't figure it out. When we found their nest Ryan was like well maybe they haven't laid eggs yet and we can just move it to our tree. But when he looked in there this is what he found two little baby eggs! I'm so excited for them to hatch it is fun to have little birds chirping on our front porch!

FUN PICS!!!

2009-05-07T08:04:00.000-07:00

Giving the thumbs up here.
Ethan loves spending time with Daddy! And Daddy loves spending time with him!!

Here he is right after his tubby!! He looks so cute. He was starting to get mad if you can't tell!

I love this little outfit with these shorts. It was finally a nice enough day to wear these cute shorts!
He is really filling out his pajamas, I love it.
Here he is doing his usually stretching right after he wakes up!
I love him in this little outfit that my friend gave me. He doesn't fit into it anymore it is sad to me.
You can tell it is getting tighter in this picture.
He looks so relaxed in this picture.
Hanging out with mommy!

He's a little stud in this picture. You can really see his double chin here.

CRAZY HAIR!!!!

2009-05-07T08:00:00.001-07:00

One weekend, we were staying in a hotel because Ryan's grandpa passed away and Ethan hated being away from home. He wouldn't sleep at all but finally he feel asleep in my arms, and it was so funny because his hair looked like he had stuck his finger in the socket! If you look really close you can see it sticking up on the side and the top of his head. He is so funny!

MORE OF ETHAN!!

2009-05-07T07:38:00.000-07:00

It's always fun to take pictures of the different poses that Ethan makes while he is sleeping. He is so cute
Ho loves to have his hands over his face while he sleeps.
I thought this picture was sweet of his little hands curled up under his chin.
This is cuddle time with daddy after Ryan comes home from work. It looks like Ethan is trying to shove him away in this picture!
Ryan dressed Ethan this day. It was funny to see those shoes on him. They are way to big right now. They are the shoes my mom got me and I can't wait until they really do fit him!
Just hanging out on the couch with his huge shoes that dad made him wear!
Sleeping in his bed looking so peaceful! Wish he slept all night like this!:)
He has so much hair and it surprises me because I honestly thought that he would be bald. Nope he has spikey hair all of the time!
He was smiling in his sleep while I was watching him I was glad that I caught it on camera!
It looks like he is signing "What's UP" with his hand on his bottle!

This is him getting his first bath at home he didn't like it at all. He is just barely starting to enjoy bath time now. He will just sit in the bath tub now and usually smile when the warm water hits him. I love it! It's his bed time routine to get a bath, then his bottle, then a song, and then it's time to sleep he usually does pretty good with that. And that first sleep that he does at night is about 5 hours, and then after that he wakes up about every three hours. He is starting to better and better. I just can't wait to have him sleeping through the night. Especially now that I am back to work!

BABY ETHAN!!!

2009-05-07T06:52:00.000-07:00

I know that it has been so long since I have posted anything on my blog and I am sorry about that life has been pretty crazy the past 8 weeks!
But here are the pictures of the hospital stay and coming home from the hospital!

Ethan was born on March 13, 2009 at 11:26 am. He weighed 7 lbs. 8 oz and 19 inches long! I went in on Thursday night at about 7:30 pm and when they checked me I still wasn't dilated. So at about 8:30 they put the cervix softener in to help me get dilated. They didn't think that that would put me into labor but it did. At about 1:00 am I was starting to hurt quite a bit the contractions were coming on really strong so they decided to give me some pain medication through the IV and that made me feel really weird, but it helped me sleep for a little bit, then I woke up again about an hour later and I was hurting again, so they gave me the medication again and I slept for another hour. Then at about 5:00 am I was like I want the epidural, so the nurse came in and checked me and I was only dilated to a 1! But my contractions were one on top of another I felt like I wasn't getting any breaks, so they gave me the epidural and can I just say I love the person who invented those!! I couldn't feel a thing and I slept GREAT! Then they came in at about 8:00 and let me eat breakfast because they didn't think that I was in labor yet because they hadn't given me the pitocin yet, then after I ate the nurse came in to check me and right when she was checking my doctor came in to see how I was doing and the nurse was like oh my gosh she is in labor and she is dilated to a 6! So my doctor broke my water, and about an hour later after that at 9:30 they checked me again and I was fully dilated! They were shocked that I was going so fast! They thought it was going to take me all day before I finally had my baby! No he was ready to come! They said okay we will have you start pushing in an hour, and Ryan just looked at me and said, "I don't think I'm ready for this!" I was kind of funny because he looked so paniced! So at 10:30 I started pushing and I only pushed for an hour and he was finally born! It was an amazing time to finally see the little guy! It was a special experience, nothing that words can even describe! I would relive that moment over and over again! I love him so much and still can't believe that I am a mom! But it is great and I wouldn't trade it for the world. Even though I can't believe how hard it can be at times, it is worth it to see that smile that he gives us that helps us get through the sleepness nights, poopy diapers, and non stop crying episodes!

Here he is in his outfit we brought him home in from the hospital now he can barely fit in it! They grow so fast! It was fun to dress him for the first time! I love seeing Ryan with him and being so gentle!!

These are the balloons that Jared and Ainsli brought over to us to the hospital, it was fun to have visitors. The hospital stay can be so long and boring!

Here Ryan is giving him his first bath! I loved watching him bathe Ethan! It was so sweet! Ethan loves to get his head rubbed, so in this picture Ethan is so relaxed because it feels so good to him!

Here he is getting ready for his first bath. He wasn't too happy!

Here we are just a few minutes after Ethan was born! Don't I just look beautiful! I was exhausted! And you can totally tell from this picture!

Here we are enjoying our son for the first time!

Here he is right after he came out. Look at those sweet little eyes! I love this boy!

He was screaming really good for us! He wasn't too happy yet!

Here is the view from our hospital room it was such a beautiful morning when Ethan was born! I loved the view that we had! We had the best rooms in the hospital!

Ryan had to take a picture of were he slept the night before Ethan was born. It was so funny, he was like I want to remember everything. I am glad though that he took so many random pictures of our hospital stay I want to remember it all too!

It is great to be parents and we couldn't be more happy that our little boy is finally with us! These past 8 weeks have just been amazing! They have been such a learning experience that you can't even explain to people until they have lived it themselves! But we are just enjoying him as much as we can!

EXCITING NEWS!!!

2009-03-10T11:33:00.000-07:00

At my last doctor's appointment, which was last Thursday, my doctor told me that she was going to start me in a week. So this Thursday March 12 I go in to get started. They are actually going to have me come in and soften my cervix Thursday night and then Friday in the morning they are going to start me. So hopefully I have a baby on Friday! He will be a Friday the Thirteenth baby which is just fine with me. Ryan's favorite number is 13 so that is kind of fun!
Honestly I am really nervous for this and I am trying to calm down but it is scary to realize that I am going to have to actually go through with labor and delivery and then taking care of a little baby. But I am so excited at the same time because now we get to see the sweet little boy that has been growing inside of me for these past nine months.
If anyone has some great advice for me on how to calm my nerves I would love to hear it!

HE'S FINALLY HOME!!!!

2009-03-03T07:07:00.001-08:00

He is finally home! Last night was a great night for our family. My little brother Josh came home from his mission to Ukraine! It was so much fun waiting for him at the airport. He's flight from New York was delayed because of the storms they were having there so he didn't get in until 12:45am. But when we heard that his flight was in we were all so anxious to see him, the passengers that were on his flight that got down the escalator before him kept saying he's here, and he's just so cute! Then when we finally saw him coming down the escalator all of us sister's just started screaming! He ran down to us and just held us all in a great big hug! It is so great to have my brother home again, we missed him so much. He looks the same to me but he has definitely grown. I can't wait to see him again this weekend when we go to Blackfoot for his homecoming. We are taking Friday off so we can leave early and spend as much time as we can with him this weekend. Although I know Ryan and I wish that we didn't have to work today because we went to bed at 3 and got up at 6 this morning, and yes we are going to be feeling the sleep loss soon, but it was so worth it to have the experience that we had last night!!
We love you Josh!! You are the greatest brother in the whole world!!

BABY SHOWER!

2009-03-02T06:55:00.000-08:00

Here are just a few pictures from the Baby Shower that my Mom and sisters threw for me on Saturday. I didn't get very many pictures because Ryan was there at the beginning of it with the camera and then he left with my brother-in-law and he took the camera with him. Silly Ryan! So I will have to get more pictures from my dad because he stayed the whole time and got more pictures for us. So sorry these are a little bit of random shots of the baby shower. But as you can see we had great food there! It was a great baby shower I got a lot of cute things from all of my wonderful family. My sweet mother-in-law made the cutest blanket for him. I love it! I will have to take a picture of it and post it! I got some cute little onesies that are so small. I can't wait to see his little body in them! My great mom gave me the cutest outfit to bring him home in from the hospital. I just love baby clothes!
The bottom pictures are of me at, I think, 35 weeks pregnant! That is the jogging stroller that we got and I love it. And that other one is of the bedding that Ryan picked out for his crib. He did a great job too!
We are still doing great, just can't wait to see this little guy! I have a doctor's appointment this Thursday and I think that I will find out when this little baby is coming! Hopefully next week sometime!!!!
By the way my little brother is coming home from his MISSION TODAY!! I will get some pictures of us at the airport! I am so excited March is a great month!!!

Found Some FUN PICS!

2009-02-25T07:37:00.001-08:00

I know that Ashlee and Shane, and Bob and Janet will love seeing these pictures!! I was just going through them on my computer and I realized that I haven't posted anything about our vacation to Ohio last May. I know I am horrible it is almost a year later and now I am showing these pictures, but it was so fun to look at them again! I want to go back there and do it again with them. We had such a great time at all of the Church History sights. We loved it!
We went to the Sacred Grove, Hill Cumorah, Kirtland Temple, and so many other wonderful places. I feel lucky that Ryan and I were able to go and see those things together. We also went to Niagra Falls. That was amazing to see those beautiful falls! The picture of the house is the place that we stayed in when we drove to New York. It was so much fun we had the whole house to ourselves. It had it's own dock too, that is a picture of me diving into the water:) So many fun memories!
We need to do this again. I want another fun vacation with you guys!! I hope you all enjoy these pictures as much as I did looking at them today! I just had to post them.

Pregnant Ladies!!!

2009-02-24T12:42:00.000-08:00

These are some pictures of some of my friends at work. There are four of us that are pregnant at work this year! One of the teachers who is pregnant wasn't in the room with us so one of the other really funny teachers decided to fill in for her and put a pillow in her stomach! It was hilarious! I almost wet my pants! As you can see in the top pictures I was laughing that hardest out of everybody! The one with the pillow is Verdene, then Holly (she is pregnant with twin girls and she is due in July), then me (I'm due in a couple of weeks), then there's Jan (she's due in a couple of weeks too).
The bottom picture is one of me with another one of my co workers, we went to a friends house who has a movie theater in her home and watched Mama Mia! I love that show, I made Ryan watch it the following day because I loved it so much! I want to own that movie, the music is so much fun to dance too. We were having so much fun watching it for a girls night and singing and dancing.
We are actually going to have another girls night tomorrow and watch 27 Dresses at her house again! It is so much fun to have a get away and just laugh our heads off!

FINALLY!!

2009-02-09T07:26:00.001-08:00

I know that I am so horrible at posting! But I haven't taken any pictures for a really long time! But finally we took some of us painting the baby's room and of my very pregnant belly! I haven't taken any pictures of me pregnant yet except for some that my dad took for me, but that was a long time ago and you could hardly see my belly! But now it is very noticeable. But I love it! I am now four weeks away from having this baby and I can't wait to see him!
We got his crib on Saturday! We love it! I can't wait to see him in it!
As you can see from the painting pictures we painted one wall dark blue and the other walls white! It was our first time really painting so there are a few mistakes but I love his room! We also painted his dresser and nightstand blue! The dresser used to be a lighter blue and Ryan had it when he was a little boy, and the nightstand used to be purple! Yes it was mine but not when I was a little kid I was in high school with it!:)
We are so excited for him to come! My brother Josh gets home in three weeks from today and the week after he gets home I am having my baby!!!! I know that for sure because they are going to start me because I have been having problems with my gall bladder and my blood pressure is really high! But I just can't wait!

HELP

2009-01-09T07:21:00.001-08:00

Okay so we have to speak in church on Sunday and I am starting to get really nervous! I've known about this since before Christmas but now that it is only two days away I am scared to death! Can anyone give me advice on how to calm myself down so that I don't sound nervous over the pulpit?! I just can't wait until it is over!

It's Been Awhile!

2008-12-15T07:24:00.000-08:00

I know I need to post some pictures! Our camera hasn't been working the best for us! We really need to get a new one before the baby comes!
Anyways, I will try and get it to work so that I can post some pictures of Christmas and the snow that has finally come! I am so excited that it has snowed and we are suppose to get snow all week this week! On Saturday we had a white out when we woke up! It was so much fun! We drove to one of Brayli's basketball games on Saturday morning and it was just crazy weather!
Anyways, I promise to get pictures because I know that it is boring to look at blogs without pictures and maybe I will post one of my growing belly! Who knows!!!

THANKSGIVING!!!

2008-11-29T11:46:00.000-08:00

We are doing great here at my parents house and definitely enjoying Thanksgiving! I just can't believe how fast the holidays fly by! I wish that they would last longer!

I hope everyone's Thanksgiving was wonderful we love you all!

KEPT YOU WAITING!

2008-11-11T07:46:00.000-08:00

Sorry that this has taken me so long to tell everyone! But most of you were right! It is a BOY!! Sorry that I don't have pictures for some reason the pictures on my CD they gave me won't come up on my computer here! Hopefully I can figure it out so you can see the cute boy!
We are so excited and now we can't wait for the arrival of him! It was funny though because he is growing so fast that he is a week ahead of schedule so that pushed my due date to March 19 instead of the 26! But who knows he will come when he wants too!
I still haven't taken a picture of my belly but I promise I will it is definately there! But I love it and love feeling him move!

EXCITING DAY!!!

2008-10-30T07:54:00.000-07:00

Today we get to find out the gender of the baby and I am so excited! This day couldn't have gotten here any faster!! I will post pictures of the baby soon so that you can see the cute little thing!!! And Ash for you I will post a picture of my belly bump!:) It is definately there! Sometimes I think that I am showing a lot for just being 20 weeks pregnant! But oh well, I love it! And Ryan was able to feel the baby for the first time on Sunday night and he also felt it last night! That was an exciting time for us! Our doctor's appointment is at 4:00 today, hopefully that day will keep going by really fast for us!!! I can't wait to see the baby again too, the last time I saw it, I was only 11 weeks along, so I really can't wait to see the baby. The only thing that I am worried about is that I have to go with a full bladder for some reason and I just don't want to have an accident!:) Oh I can't wait! Let me know what all of your guesses are!

FUNNY DOG!!!

2008-10-21T08:34:00.000-07:00

We have been watching my parents dog Tawny for a little while now, while they went to Hawaii! She has really been entertaining for us! She loves to chase cars and be outside! Well yesterday Ryan and I were in the kitchen and I asked him if he knew where Tawny was, because I hadn't heard her move around for awhile and he saw her in the office looking out the glass doors at the cars outside! It was so funny how she pushed the curtains aside to get a better look at everything, I just had to take her picture! Mom and Dad don't you miss her so much?! She really is a sweetie to have around! I really like having her company I know that when she leaves I will miss her! I don't know about Ryan though:)

SNOW!!!

2008-10-13T11:37:00.000-07:00

Yesturday we got SNOW! I know that more people got snow but I really was excited about it. So I made Ryan take my sister and me on a little drive up the canyon to see the snow! I loved it! And then when we got home from our little drive we had hot chocolate and sat and watched the snow fall! It was lovely! I also took pictures of the house with snow on the rooftop! I think that snow is so pretty, and I have been ready for it to cool down for awhile now, so this was really fun for me!

Been Awhile!

2008-10-06T12:36:00.000-07:00

Well, I guess a lot has happened since my last post. We moved into the house finally and we are getting settled down a little bit. I am moving pretty slow though with unpacking, I haven't been really motivated to do much lately. But we are so glad to finally be in a house after living in an apartment for three years! I know that isn't that long but it is really nice to have our own space! I will take pictures after we get more moved in so you can see it!

WELL.......

2008-09-18T06:44:00.003-07:00

Okay, I finally decided to tell everybody! WE ARE HAVING A BABY!!!! I found out in July that I was pregnant and we have had our first doctor's appointment two weeks ago and we can't wait for our baby to come! I am due March 26 so I am 13 weeks along right now!

It was so much fun to see the baby in the ultrasound! I was 11 weeks when we went so we could see the little arms and legs moving all around! It is so much fun!

But I decided that since I gave the announcement at work last week that now I can tell everybody! We are just so excited to finally get started with our little family!!

I have been feeling okay lately but I tell you what the first trimester is kind of tough, but I know that it is well worth it!

Now that picture with the words Worlds Greates Dad! That is how we told his parents that we were expecting! He wore it after he finished the Top of Utah half marathon! It was so much fun! It took his mom and dad both a little bit to realize what we were telling them but we had so much fun telling people about this great news!

FUN TIME CAMPING!!!

2008-09-18T06:44:00.001-07:00

These are some pictures of a camping trip that Ryan and I went on with his parents a couple of weekends ago. This is a gorgeous campground. I think that this is probably my favorite out of them all! It is called WillowFlatts, just before Preston, so it is only about 45 minutes away from us! We are actually going to go there again tomorrow night with some of our friends! I am so excited because I know that there is going to be so much color there! When we went just a couple of weeks ago it was still pretty green but I think that now it is going to have pink, orange, red, purple, and all of those fall colors. I love this time of year it is the best time ever! I wish that it would stay fall a lot longer than it does! But I will soak it up as much as I can this year!

More Trek Pictures!!

2008-09-17T06:46:00.001-07:00

I was going through more pictures and I found these ones from our trek. This was on our way home from Martin's Cove. It is about a 7 hour drive from there back to Logan. And imagine driving all that way on a school bus! Well on our way home we were the last bus in line and we had just made it to the Bear Lake over look, and the bus over heated! We were only an hour away from home!! So we had to stop and let the bus cool down for about 20 minutes I think, but the kids all had a good attitude about it, and at least it was a pretty spot to stop at! You can see in one of these pictures that Ryan had to get his hands in it to fix the situation! He is the best fix it guy!:) I just thought these pictures were funny and had to post them!

More HIKING and Other Things!

2008-09-12T07:27:00.000-07:00

These are still pictures of Ryan and I hiking in the canyon! We were able to enjoy some hiking this summer. This is the great thing about Logan is that you are so close to everything! I love that! Can you spot me in one of these pictures in the distance. This was the best hike ever! It was only 4 miles round trip but it takes you to the top of the canyon and you can see everything. I want to go again now because it would be pretty to see all of the fall colors.

The other pictures are of a trek that we went on this summer. We were asked to be a Ma and Pa, and it was the neatest experience ever! We had the greatest kids too. We went up to Martins Cove and to Rocky Ridge. One day we hiked 6 miles, and the other day we hiked I think 4 miles, and the last day we hiked 14 miles. It was an awesome time and to share it with Ryan was even better. I can see why they only do it every four years. It was hard, but extremely worth it!!

I will keep trying to update things. More exciting things too come soon!!

Weird

2008-09-10T11:45:00.000-07:00

Okay just ignore that last post for some reason it worked with the picture after I published the post, but while I was creating it I couldn't get the picture to work, so I guess now I can get to work on catching up with things.

These are just a couple of pictures that we have from a hike we went on here in Logan Canyon! I will hopefully get more things up!

OH MAN!!!!

2008-09-10T11:39:00.000-07:00

Okay, I got the advice from Bekah, and I tried it but this is what always happens when i try to post a picture. This is starting to get frustrating because it isn't much fun to read a blog without pictures. Stacey I am coming over to your house for some help!:) I don't know why I can't do it. I bet my computer here at work is just being retarted! Hopefully I can figure it out soon!

HELP!!

2008-09-09T11:44:00.000-07:00

I've been trying for the past few days to catch up on my blog but for some reason I haven't been able to post any pictures. If someone could tell me what to do that would be great! Then I can try and catch up on my blog. We are still alive!!!!

WOW!!!!

2008-05-06T11:48:00.000-07:00

Okay so I really am horrible at posting on this thing! We are still here but I just don't get around to posting anything.
Well a lot has happened since that bread post. We actually have been able to be successful in making bread. We made a great batch last week! And we were really excited!
Just yesterday I went rock climbing with my friend from work and her husband. They are like professional rock climbers and I was pretty nervous because I have only done it maybe once and I have repelled! But repeling and rock climbing are completely different. I forgot to bring my camera to take pictures! It was really fun! I climbed in the same place twice! We are going to go again really soon! We went up Logan Canyon to one of the rock walls there! After we were done they said for your first time sometimes it is easier to go to a rock climbing gym because you know were to grab things and put your feet but on these rock walls out here you have to really think where to put your feet! So I guess I could say that I am professional now too! JK! We will take the camera next time and hopefully get some good shots!! I think that I could really get addicted to rock climbing! I just have to learn to be brave! Hopefully I won't go so long to post my next thing! And I will try to put pictures on it!

BREAD!!!

2008-03-25T12:09:00.000-07:00

So Ryan and I got a new kitchen aid mixer from my parents for Christmas and they got it for us because we both love home made bread. My parents have been making bread for a really long time and I thought that I could make it just as good as them, because I used to make it when I lived at home and it always turned out right. Yeah well it is not that easy when you don't have your parents there helping you every step of the way.
I get so frustrated because I think that I am doing it right and that it will turn out how my dad's bread turns out but no it came out flat. HELP!!!! Dad what am I doing wrong???!! Yesterday Ryan and I ventured to make it again and I thought okay I can do this, and I let it raise for awhile and then cooked it. I only it had it in the oven for about 20 minutes and I opened it and it was flatter than flat. Ryan was trying to make me feel better and he said you could open your own shop and call it the square bread! Oh it is so FRUSTRATING!! Dad and Mom I need you two to come down here and help me out! I love homemade bread and want some that will look pretty!
I will post some pictures of my bread tomorrow just so you can see it! I will get it down maybe in twenty years or so!:)

Keeping Up!

2008-03-18T10:47:00.001-07:00

Sometimes it is really hard for me to know what to write in our blog. So I guess I will just tell everyone what we have been up to for the past few weeks.
Right now Ryan and I are training for a half marathon and a full marathon. Ryan is running the full marathon and I am running the half on June 14 in Rexburg! I am excited for it but a little bit nervous at the same time. I have heard that this is a pretty tough one so hopefully we will both be okay!
Just last Saturday we ran our first race for this year! It was the Shamrock Shuffle that is a 5k run! I didn't do as well as I would have liked to do! Ryan won the race he ran it in 17:59! He is an amazing runner! He got a gift certificate to Al's Sports store here in Logan and I won some socks! Yeah! We did it with a couple of our friends Dan and Staci, and they won a cooler and a free movie rental. So that was fun that we all won something!
We have another 5k on March 29! It is fun because here in Logan there is always a race every month! We are going to try and do as many as we can!
Ryan has really got me addicted to running! It really does make you feel good when you can just go outside and run!

MORE PICS!

2008-03-03T09:25:00.000-08:00

So I was finally able to post the rest of the pictures from Mesa Falls. Now you can see the beauty of the falls. They were incredible. It was a little bit scary when we got to the upper falls because the snow was so hight that the railing that usually protects you was covered in snow so you were on top of the railing and it was really slippery so you had to be really careful. But I was glad that we finally made it there to see the amazing scenery! I really did have a good time I just wanted to complain to Ryan!

Mesa Falls

2008-02-27T12:23:00.000-08:00

Okay so Ryan and I went Cross Country Skiing again last weekend. We went up to Idaho with Karina and we had a crazy idea of going xc skiing to Mesa Falls. It is in Ashton. So we rented our skiis again and off we went! It is kind of a funny story because when Ryan was telling me about it he said that he just remembered it being only 3 miles round trip. So we woke up on Saturday and ate some breakfast and took off. We didn't take any food with us because we thought that it would be a quick trip, we did take some water though so that was a good thing. Well we got there and started off on our trip. Well we got to the first falls and I thought that that was it and Ryan told me well we have another 3 miles to go. We had already gone 1.5 miles. Well I threw a fit I guess you could call it. But I didn't want to go all this way and not make it to the destination Ryan wanted to show me. So we went the whole way! About a mile of the trip was down hill so we were down hill skiing for that part, but you have to remember on our way back we had to ski up hill, yeah that wasn't too much fun! But the view was amazing!! We have pictures of that but for some reason I couldn't get them to post. I don't know why. But the funny part of this was that Ryan told me that it was only 3 miles round trip and it was really 8 miles!! But it was fun and it was fun to be with Ryan for the whole day!! I loved that part! (Even though I was complaining because I was cold and hungry)! But I still do love cross country skiing! It is a good sport to do in the winter to get you outside! Everyone should at least give it a try! It can be really relaxing!!

XC SKIING!!!

2008-02-05T07:35:00.001-08:00

So we decided to try out cross country skiing!! This was my first time doing, Ryan has done it before and he has been trying to talk me into it for a long time. Finally I agreed to try. Now I am addicted to it. I love it. There are some fun trails here in Logan that we have found.
First we went to Sherwood Hills up Sardine Canyon. They were suppose to have groomed XC Skiing trails but they weren't. We made out own trails. I really liked it. The snow was so deep.
It was a great workout. I thought that I would be really cold but instead I was really hot!
Karina came with us too. It was her first time trying it out. It was so funny because her and I kept falling down. Ryan had to help us out a few times. But we all had a good laugh each time we fell.
For anyone who wants to try cross country skiing I recommend it to anyone who wants to try it. It is fun because it gets you outside in the winter time. Especially when you feel like you are always stuck inside! We had a great time. I will have to figure out how to post a video of Karina and I going down hill after we skied up the hill! It is pretty funny!

WARM WEATHER!

2008-01-22T10:21:00.000-08:00

I was going through some pictures on my computer and I came across these ones of the summer time! I can't wait for warm weather. This morning when I was driving to work it was

-9 degrees outside! I couldn't believe it. I want it to be warm weather so we can wear our shorts and flip flops again! I probably will complain when it is too hot! But I want summer to come soon! I miss all of the colors and fun things you can do outside! Last night we walked to our friends house and by the time we were going home it was 5 degrees outside. They decided to drive us home because it was so cold. When we went to get in their car the car doors were almost frozen shut! I couldn't believe it! Well I just had to complain a little bit because it is so cold today!

WARM WEATHER!

2008-01-22T10:09:00.000-08:00

I was going through some pictures on my computer and I found pictures from the summer time! I can't wait for the warm weather when we can wear shorts again and flip flops.

This morning when I was driving to work it said that is was -9 outside! I am so sick of always feeling cold! I'm sure that when it is 100 degrees outside I will be saying I am sick of it being so hot. But I just feel like winter lasts so long! Last night we walked to our friends house and they don't live that far from us, but by the time we were going home it was 5 degrees outside and they decided to drive us home because it was so cold. The doors on their car were almost frozen shut. I think that I can make it another month or so. I just want to see the green and colors again, sooner than later! Well sorry that I complained I'm just being impatient right now with wanting warm weather again!

SLACKING!

2008-01-04T07:08:00.001-08:00

I haven't written in our blog for almost a month. It has been a crazy and extremely fun month. I enjoyed Christmas so much! I didn't want the holidays to end. I was loving being with my family for so long. We went to Blackfoot on Saturday the 22nd and we didn't come back to Logan until January 2! Thanks Mom and Dad for letting us stay for a long time.
We had a wonderful Christmas. I was mad at my self because we forgot to take our camera to Blackfoot. My Dad said that he would send me some pictures. Hopefully my next post whenever that will be will have some pictures from Christmas.
We haven't taken down our Christmas decorations yet because we haven't had time too. Hopefully we will be able to take it down sometime. We were planning on going to Salt Lake tomorrow but we have a storm warning so I don't think that will be happening.
Hopefully everyone had a wonderful holiday season and enjoying the new year! 2008!!

CROWDED ROOM!

2007-12-13T08:26:00.001-08:00

So here are the pictures of the day that we got rid of our couches! Really this isn't the way it looked the whole time that we had them. We had just brought them downstairs to get rid of them and this was the only way that they would fit to get them out the door. It was so nice to have Ryan's friend come over and help us move them out and take them to the DI! I was so glad to get rid of them. Ryan had to get a picture of me all excited to get rid of them. Oh it is so nice in our apartment only having two couches that are really comfortable. Thank you mom and dad you guys are the greatest! I sure love you both very much!

I still can't believe that we had four couches for so long. Our apartment isn't that big to fit all of those so comfortably as you can see in the pictures!

CUTE!

2007-12-13T08:12:00.000-08:00

When we went to Tooele this last weekend Whitney had a dance recital. I just thought that she looked so cute that I had to post some pictures of it. Her little costume was the sweetest thing ever!

She did an awesome job as well! She danced the whole dance and was smiling at us the whole time. After her dance performance they wanted to go to Wal-Mart and see Santa. Autumn was crying when she sat on Santa's lap but Whitney loved it. Wendy and Joe video taped them on Santa's lap and when we got home to their house we watched it with Whitney and after we were done watching it Whitney asked if Santa was their neighbor George. It was their neighbor too. It was funny that she didn't realize it at Wal-Mart only after we got home and watched it on the tv. Wendy told her yes it was but sometimes it is hard for Santa to be every where so he has special helpers to help him out sometimes. It was so cute when she asked if it was their neighbor. I love my little neices so much!

OUR FUN WEEKEND!!

2007-12-11T06:43:00.001-08:00

This last weekend we went to Tooele to stay at my sister's house. They had a couple of Christmas party's to go to so we said that we would baby-sit for them on Friday and Saturday night. It was fun to be with them we haven't been down there for so long it seems like. It was fun to be with my cute little nieces! We took them to Temple Square on Saturday night to see the lights. Whitney was so excited to go! When we got there it was crowded it took almost twenty minutes just to find a parking spot and Whit was so cute she kept asking us if we were going to get out and see the lights! She wanted to see them so bad!
Then we finally found a parking spot and we were right there by Temple Square it was so nice. We wrapped Whitney and Autumn in their winter clothes, they looked so darn cute! We had the experience of being parents that night. They were so good for us, we didn't have any problems with them. They are the sweetest little girls! I love them so much! It was pretty cold while we were walking around but we had a fun time. The lights looked great! We haven't seen them for a couple of years so it was fun to actually be able to go to Salt Lake and see the lights this year! Ryan was so cute with the girls while we were at the lights. He is going to be the greatest dad! He would push Whitney around in the stroller and then when he would see that I was getting tired hollding Autumn he would say let's switch. We had fun acting like parents that night. I am so excited for Christmas when I can see my family again. We always have a great time together. I love them so much!

CLEANING OUT!

2007-12-04T09:51:00.000-08:00

So Saturday was our cleaning day! We tried to get our apartment in order so that we could enjoy all of our Christmas decorations. For those of you who remember those couches that we had when we first got married, well we got rid of them on Saturday. My parent's helped us buy some nice couches in April and since then we have had FOUR couches in our apartment. Our apartment isn't big enough to comfortably fit four couches. I was finally able to talk Ryan into getting rid of those couches. It is so nice to have them out of our apartment. It gave us a lot more room! Just to let you guys know I helped Ryan move both of those couches downstairs. Yes we put both of the older couches upstairs in our second bedroom. The large couch isn't light either. It has a bed inside of it so it weighs a ton I swear. But I was proud of myself that I was able to help Ryan take it upstairs in the first place and then bring it back down when we got rid of them. (He was impressed with me as well:) We did take some pictures of the couches before we got rid of them. I will have to post them so that everyone can see them. I should have taken a before and after picture just so you could see how tight it really was in our apartment! That was our fun filled Saturday! Ryan was done with cleaning after moved the couches because that was a lot of work. We both were tired after that!

WE ARE CRAZY!

2007-11-30T08:01:00.001-08:00

We just bought this new TV on black Friday! Ryan has been wanting to get one for over a month now! I finally gave in and said that I would enjoy one too. The other tv that we had was about 15 years old and buttons were missing on it. So we decided that this would be our Christmas present this year!

It is fun to watch movies on it. We have watched plenty of those and we have only had it for a week! I love it but I can't believe that we actually got one! We need to get a new entertainment center for it. We put it on our dining room table for right now! It works!

I was really nervous to buy it. Jared and Ace were with us and they helped to calm me down while we were in the store buying it. We got a good deal on it! I'm glad we did it, now we need to have our friends over to watch movies with us. We are CRAZY!! It is fun to do little adventures like this every now and then!

Bob and Janet tried to hide it from us when we were leaving on Sunday!:) Their going to have to go and get one now that they have seen ours. Jared and Ace have the same tv, we copied them!:) My thoughts are all over the place right now, can you tell! We love it and I am glad that we did this!

CHRISTMAS TIME!!!

2007-11-30T07:11:00.000-08:00

So here are our Christmas trees. Yes we set these up really early. I was excited to put them up. We aren't finished decorating one of them. But I wanted to put them up on our blog so that everyone could see them. I love coming home and turning on the lights on both trees and just enjoying them! I know I have said this before but this is my favorite holiday! The awesome thing about both of these trees is that they are prelit. So we didn't even have to put the lights on them. We sound lazy but it makes putting up the Christmas trees so easy! We are going to have to get more Christmas decorations and once the trees are done I will have to post the finished Christmas trees. I'm lucky that I have a husband who is willing to let me get so much stuff for Christmas. He actually likes having two Christmas trees!:)

CHRISTMAS TREE ADVENTURE!!!

2007-11-30T06:44:00.000-08:00

Here's our adventure cutting down the Christmas trees this year! Ryan and I didn't get one becaue we have 2 fake trees! We love them. But we had so much fun doing this with the everyone else!

Here are some of the attempts made to get up the mountain to the perfect Christmas Tree! It was funny to watch them. It was slick going up it so it was hard for Ryan, Jared, and Bob, but Ace made it up there just fine!:) She showed them! But it was funny watching Jared and Ace bring down their Christmas tree! You can see it in one of these pictures!

You can see the tree that Jared and Ace picked out. It is an awesome tree. It is huge. I just saw it yesturday in their house and I love it. Bob and Karina picked a great one too for them. I think that this is a fun tradition that the Jenks do every year. We were glad that there was snow there where we got the Christmas trees! It was cold but even though it was cold outside we made our usual stop at the square ice cream store. That was YUMMY! We also ate some turkey noodle soup on the mountain that was great to eat because it warmed us up. We had so much fun hiking around in the snow. We didn't get to see any wildlife. That was fun when we saw the moose and her baby a couple of years ago.

That is our adventure going up to the Christmas trees this year. We had a great time up there!

ANOTHER RACE!

2007-11-28T09:50:00.000-08:00

This was a race that we did in October! It was called the Red Ribbon Run. Run to be Drug Free! We had so much fun with this race. This race was the best race that I have ever run! The picture above is of our friends Stacy, Dan, and Stacy's sister (I can't remember her name). They ran the race with us. Also Karina, Jared, and Ace did it. No one won anything at this race. We were all hoping for something. I love doing the 5k's. I will always stick with doing 5k's and nothing else.

By the way Ash how do you get such cute borders for your blog? I love them and I want to put a Christmas one up for the holidays!

HIKE!

2007-11-26T08:32:00.000-08:00

I was looking at our pictures and I thought that I would blog these ones!

This is a hike that Karina, Ryan, and I went on up to the wind caves in Logan Canyon. It was a fun hike!

I was searching for leaves while we were on the hike. Karina was helping me! I think Ryan just wanted to get to the top! But we were having fun!

I was successful as you can see in getting the leaves that I wanted! I carried those the whole four miles that we hiked! I was determined to get them home!

Here's Karina and me at the top of the hike! We are in one of the wind caves! We got to the top and it was getting dark. We didn't stay for very long because we didn't want to hike back down the mountain in the dark, but we did anyways! I was so scared to hike in the dark. For most of the way we were running down the mountain because I just wanted to get home!

Here's a picture of the wind caves! I love nature when the leaves are starting to change. Now all of the leaves are all gone of course!

I just thought that I would share some photos from a while ago! It is fun to keep updated this way!

TAGGED!!

2007-11-26T07:37:00.000-08:00

I just looked on Ashlee's blog and she tagged me so here it goes!

4 OR MORE PLACES I HAVE LIVED:
Kaysville Utah
Idaho Falls, Idaho
Blackfoot, Idaho
Provo, Utah
Rexburg, Idaho
Logan, Utah
I know I have traveled far haven't I :)

4 OR MORE PLACES I HAVE WENT ON VACATION:
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Missouri
New York City
California
Texas (okay for only one night)
On a cruise to the Carribean Islands, Baha Mexico, San Diego
UTAH AND IDAHO!!! :)

4 OR MORE JOBS I HAVE HAD:
Newspaper route
Nanny
Ballet Instructor
Daycare worker
dishwasher :(
shift work at basic american foods (horrible job)
potato sorter
after school program
computer lab specialist :)
janitor work

4 OR MORE FOODS I LIKE:
Italian food
some chinese foods
some mexican foods
My Dad's Turkey :)
PUMPKIN PIE!

4 OR MORE HOBBIES I HAVE:
Running
Reading good books
decorating my house
shopping for CHRISTMAS!!
Blogging

4 OR MORE THINGS PEOPLE DON'T KNOW ABOUT ME:
I haven't broken a bone either Ash
I've been to 4 different colleges
I love being around my family
I love Christmas time! (I know people know this)
I made my friends go and look at Christmas trees with me in department stores all of the time!

4 OR MORE THINGS I WOULD DO IF I WERE A BILLIONAIRE:
Get us out of debt
Help my family out in any way that I could
Help people in need
Get a house:)
Travel with my husband!
I sound selfish:)

I am tagging Kim, Jen, Mindy, and Ace you are getting tagged twice so you better do it!:)

CRAZY WEATHER!

2007-11-20T10:10:00.000-08:00

Okay so now that I know how to do pictures I love this blogging thing! I am addicted to it. I just thought I would share these pictures to show you the crazy weather that we get sometimes. We went to Salt Lake for Conference and for our anniversary and this is what the weather was like driving through Sardine Canyon! But now we don't have any snow and I am ready for the snow to come for Christmas! I love this time of year if you can't tell!

Just A Fun Post

2007-11-19T08:31:00.001-08:00

I had to post this picture of my brother and Ryan. My brother Josh has been on his mission to Ukraine for almost ten months. I am so proud of him. He is such a great guy! His letters are so fun to read! I miss him terribly and can't wait to talk to him at Christmas time. It is fun to hear him speak in Russian. I love these two boys in this picture so much! Aren't they both just so cute! Ryan and Josh get along so well. I would always find them talking and laughing together when we went to my parents house! Well I'm probably going to post more because now I know how to put pictureson my blog.

RACE DAY!!!

2007-11-19T07:48:00.000-08:00

So I finally got help on how to put pictures on my blog. (Ace helped me again, thanks Ace). These are the pictures from the race that we ran on Saturday. You have to keep in mind that I haven't been running for about two weeks before this race and I had a hurt foot for those two weeks. Some of the pictures you can see the pain in my face.

Here we are at the beginnig of the race. As You can see we all have smiles on our faces! We were ready for anything. Jared, Ace, Karina, Bob, and I were the ones that ran the race that day. Ryan was sick and wasn't able to run it with us. So he got the good pictures for us. :)

Here they are at the hill.
I think Karina was the only one

that enjoyed the hill!

If you look closely in this picture you can see Karina's face and her hair sticking straight up. I had to put this on our blog. She might kill me but I thought it was the best picture.

Here's Jared and Ace finishing the race. They did AWESOME!!

Here I am at the end of the race. I was feeling the pain. I was glad to finish!

Here's a picture of Bob. He was ahead of all of us, of course. I think he ran it in 23 minutes or something close to that.

Those are just some of the pictures from the race. After the race we all stayed to see if we would win anything. Bob kept asking why we were staying, he said that he never wins anything. It was a good thing that we stayed because three out of the six of us that ran won a prize. Bob won a turkey, Ace won a $25 gift card from Macey's, and I won a DVD player!! After the race we went and ate a Golder Corral! We had so much fun. We will all have to run another race together really soon!

Trying to Keep Up With Life!

2007-11-14T07:52:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that it is already November 14! November is halfway over! CRAZY
Anyways, for about a week now my left foot has been giving me problems. I don't know what I did but I haven't been able to run at all. Plus Ryan got his tonsils out like you all know, so we haven't done much.
Well this weekend there is a 5K race and yeah Ryan and I couldn't resist we had to sign up for it. Who knows how it will go. We will probably be two gimpy people going through the finish line. I pretty much wanted to do it because we get t-shirt. Maybe by that time I will be able to get pictures up on my blog so you can all see how we will look running on Saturday hopefully it won't be too bad!:)
You all will probably get a kick out of this! Christmas is my favorite holiday, and well we got into the Christmas spirit a little bit early and we set up our Christmas tree. I love this time of year!
I'm still trying to get used to this blogging thing. I have a hard time trying to think of things to write. But I am getting a hang of it!

I'm a BLOGGER!

2007-11-12T11:44:00.000-08:00

Okay so I am going to try this out. Ace had to show me how to start this. I started it once but couldn't remember how to get back on to write something on it.
Well, a lot has happened in the last two weeks. Ryan got his tonsils out on Halloween. It has been a rough couple of weeks. Today was the first day since his surgery that he was able to go back to work. Just last Thursday night we had to go to the emergency room because he was bleeding. But the doctor was able to fix it quickly and since then he has been getting better. Thank goodness.
Hopefully I will be better at keeping up with my blog but I guess we will see. Maybe sometime I can figure out how to put pictures on it. I will have to have someone show me how to do it. You would think that since I work in a computer lab I would know how to do anything with computers but no!:)