just some thoughts...actually a lot of thoughts!!!

My mom is getting ready to go on a month long cruise. I was excited for her . She loves to travel especially with her "hiking buddies" is what I like to call them, because when I was young we would go hiking and camping and biking and four wheeling and cross contry skiing and snow mobiling, but mostly hiking with them all the time!! I need to find me a fun little group like that!! Anyways When she told me she was leaving for that long it made me a little sad. I have starting going over there quite frequently and I have come to enjoy it so much!!! It is even better watching my children bond with my mom. My brother Clay and I decided to get her an early christmas present for her trip a camera and so we thought we would give it to her on Sunday Dinner. Sunday dinner use to be an weekly thing that my whole family use to do every Sunday. It all started wtih my dad, when my mom went to Europe for a month. My Grandparents invited my dad to come to dinner every Sunday and so he did. It has been a tradition that I have come to love. When I was young I loved to go to my grandparents and play wtih my cousins, but now that I am older I love that I have a reason to go visit my grandparents every week, because for some reason we tend to need reasons to ssee people that we love. But it has been a great way to keep our family to see each other although lately to seems we don't get together as much as we should. When Bryce and I first started dating it took me a while to invite him to sunday dinner. My grandma instantly loved Bryce she liked flirting with him. She even gave him her picture of when she was younger! But things got complicated and soon it became a struggle with Bryce and I whose family we would spent time with on Sundays! It really irratated me at first, but now I am glad that we went through that struggle long before we ever got married. It was really hard for me to detatch myself from my family that I grew up with and the one that I building wtih Bryce. I think it was a hard adjustment for my mom too especially since Bryce and I started dating right after my dad died. I always use to side wtih my mom about everything no one was ever allowed to get mad at her. I had her back no matter what!! But Bryce and my mom didn't always see eye to eye on everything and it tore me up. I wasn't sure where my illiance was. Anyways I feel like things are better now back to where they use to be, and I think that my kids have helped with that. My mom had brought over a friend from her past. She knew him from Swan Lake. My grandpa told me that the first time that she went there she went kicking and screaming, but once she met some of the guys there. She seemed to have a pretty good time. The next year my grandparent told her that she could bring a friend, but she said I don't want to share those boys with a friend, Steve, my moms friend, just so happends to be one of the boys. and he is single too I might add. I always thought that if my mom ever wanted to re-marry I would be totally okay with that. I only want her to be happy, but there was something about seeing Steve there that brought a flood of emotions that I didn't expect. I still wouldn't mind if my mom wanted to re-marry, but oh man do I miss my dad. I wish he was here to see what amazing kids I have. Steve sharred some stories with me about my mom and dad when they were younger. He said that he instantly had a conection wtih my mom. He felt like he was friends wtih one of the Dallas cheerleaders. She was so gorgeous and full of life. I have seen pictures of my mom when she was younger I know she was gorgeous, but it made me happy to hear someone talk about her like that. I have always that that she was an amazing mom, but seeing how much my kids love her just makes me love her even more. When we first got to dinner Ryann every minute wanted to go tell Granny something. Her head couldn't fit through all the chairs and so she ran all the way through to kitchen to get to the other side of the table so that she could talk to granny and then she would come back just so she could ask me if she could go talk to granny again. I loved it, but I think my mom loved it even more!! Major was no exception as soon as he saw my mom, he wanted her and only her! and if she set him down then he would just sit there and cry and cry until she picked him up again. I sure do miss my dad, but I am so thankful that I still have my mom here and it made me realize that I don't want to take advantage of that. I saw steve this past week at grandmas again. My mom was still on her trip...made me think of the story of my dad. Who knows what will happen!

A veteran story

It being veterans Day I thought I would share a story from one of my favorite veterans My dad served in the Vietnam war, and every so often they would have to do a fitness test. Part of this included jumping out of airplanes. My dad hated this the most of all the obsticles that he had to do, and it didn't help that he had sprained his ankle a couple of days before his test. He told me that he knelt down to says his prayers the night before his test and pleaded with Heavenly Father to help him with his test that he might be able to pass it. He said that he called upon the blessings of the word of wisdom. He had always stived to live the word of wisdom, and to keep his body healthy. When he woke up in the morning his ankle still hurt, but he was able to do what he needed to pass the test. Not only was my dad a patriot, but he was also hard working, and a man of God. My dad never talked about Vietnam in fact I know very little about that war. This was the only story that I had ever heard of his experience, and he wasn't even the only who told it to me, it was another guy in my ward when I was younger who was substituting for one of my teachers in sunday school. I am grateful that he told someone his story. My dad was a quite man. He wasn't one who shared his feelings a whole lot, and like I said before we never talked about Vietnam, but one day in priesthood our bishop who wasn't the bishop at the time, probably one of the nicest guys you would ever meet. he would never say anything to offend anyone, but he was speaking light about the Vietnam War, and my dad got up and put him back in his place. He reminded them that many people haven't had to see the things that he saw and that it isn't something we should talk about so lightly. I think that is a good reminder for all of us. It sure did make an impression on Bryce!! Happy Veterans Day Daddy I miss you so much! On a side note today is my grammy's 86th Birthday, the kiddos and I made her a card that had their handprints and footprints on it. It made my grandma light up. She showed to everyone at least 3 times. It made me happy that she liked her card so much! My grammy is losing her memory quite fast. Just her short term stuff. She tells me the same stories whenever I go over there, but I don't mind. Today however she told me a story that I hadn't heard in a while! She told me the story of the day she met my grandpa. We joked that she robbed the craddle because he is a year and a half younger than she is. She said that when she first met him she thought that she would introduce him to her younger sister since they were closer in age, but more she got talking to my grandpa she decided that she didn't want to introduce him to anyone!!! She told her sister "Go find your own Rulon!" and so that is exactly what her sister did! She married a Rulon too! My grandpa owned his own business for a while called Jordan Builders, and my grandma work right along side with him doing his book work and managing the money. The more that I think about that the more I am amazed that they could work in a business together. I think Bryce would probably want to kill me!!! Grandma said that sometimes things got tight, but he would give his money to the employees first and then take whatever was left over, and sometimes that wasn't much of anything, especially after paying tithing but they lived off of bread and milk and they always managed to get by. I love that about my grandpa it is so rare to see that in people! Grandpa said that when he proposed to my grandma he made her propose to him next. Marriage was a joint effort that they both had to be commited to, and I think that they have done a pretty good job at it just as long as my grandpa doesn't call my grandma "the Boss". We sang Happy Birthday to my grandma 3 times. Ryann had been eyeing that pink birthday cake all night, but I told her that we had to wait to sing happy birthday. She said okay I will sing happy birthday to her, and started singing away. My grandma didn't hear her, so we all sang it again! Now can we have some birthday cake Ryann asked? Jeanne told her that she would go get the spatula so that she could serve it, and when she came back Ryann asked again. Now can we have some pink birthday cake, not yet my grandma said you have to sing happy birthday to me first!! and so we did!! Just like we were singing it for the first time!! Grammy was grinning ear to ear!! I would have sung it to her 10 more times if she wanted it. Ya just never know when it is goig to be the last.

How was your day?

Ryann was sitting on Bryce's lap today and asks him,"how was school today dad?" "Good" he replied, "I learned about making n-butylbromide from n-butylalcohol through the sn2 mechanism." "oh!" Ryann said very enthusiastically, "I love it!!!!"...Lol I am so glad that Bryce has someone who shares his passion. Then Bryce asked her about her day. "I went to granny greats and to grannys and we paint pumpkins. Then Ryann tucked Bryce into bed with her horsey so that they could go night night. She even turned of the fan for him. Is she the cutest thing or what!?!?!?! I love watching her mothering insticts come out of her at such a young age!! As mentioned before we went to granny's house to paint pumpkins Ryann loved it!! Granny had her paint one of the odd shaped pumpkins black so she could turn it into a bug agreed, but then later decided that her bug was that she was painting was too scary!!! Lol she cracks me up!! We love going over to grannys house!!!

Fhe ghosts

I was pretty proud of myself the other day! I was thinking I was mother of the year material!! I had planned an FHE lesson on the Holy Ghost, and thought it would be fun to do a little festive dinner to match the lesson, so I made ghost pancakes and witchy sausage fingers. I thought it looked pretty awesome even if it was breakfast for dinner! My family however wasn't quite as impressed. Major was so hungery he didn't care what he was eating!! I'm not sure if the witch fingers creeped Bryce out or if he didn't like the idea of having breakfast for dinner, but he opted for yesterday's leftovers, but Ryann loved it!! She even thanked Heavenly Father for her Ghosty Pancakes, but I think it confused her a little when it came lesson time. I told her we were going to talk about the Holy Ghost, and she said Ooo Ghosts are scary. I tried to explain to her that the Holy Ghost wasn't scary, but that he helped us when we do get scared. I wasn't sure if it was clicking for her or not, but the next day we saw some ghost halloween decorations and she said Ooo mom look at the scary ghosts, then thought about it for a minute and said really confused, "But they aren't scary? they help me feel better??" Maybe I am not mother of the year material after all!!!

On a cuter note. Ryann loves it when we have FHE, and she loves to color a picture after the lesson is done just like in nursery. She carried her picture around the house and told me that it was her homework!!

Crap all over me

Bryce fell asleep pretty early tonight. When I got to bed he was all wrapped up in our blanket, so I tried to tug some free for me. Bryce woke up startled. "Wait, don't do that, you are going to get crap all over me!" he said "what crap?" I replied "I don't know... the crap I've been working with". "Oookay" I said tugging the blanket a little harder. "No stop! It's going to get all over me!!!!" "Oh my gosh Bryce it's all over your face!!" *Bryce frantically rubbing his hands all over his face, then rolls over and goes back to sleep* lol I love messing with him when he sleep talks!!!

Yes sir

We were coming home from seven peaks and I told Ryann to put her seat belt on. She responded, "yes sir!" Lol I seriously don't know where she picks this stuff up. As long as she is responding in a positive way she can call me sir all she wants in fact I'm wondering if I need to start doing things a little more military like!

Ryann had a little lamb

Ryann loved playing with her little lamb today! she like going down the slide with it and making it go down the slide by itself, she like to helping it walk up the stairs, and she like drinking her milk with her sheep she took that thing everywhere she went today!

Sewiouswy that's wedicouwis

Today I gave Ryann a bath, she wanted to get out before we were done washing her hair so I poured a bucket of water over her head she looked at me when I was done and said "sewiouswy"

A few weeks ago we were going to a fundraiser for my little niece London. On our way we stopped to get food for the kiddos I got chicken nuggets for Ryan and fries for major since he isn't able to eat chicken nuggets yet Ryan was excited about her chicken nuggets until she some majors fries and then all she wanted was his fries I told her she had to eat a chicken nugget before she could have a fry . She told me she didn't want the chicken nugget she only wanted a french fry but for some reason I insisted what she eat a chicken nugget first ( ya know cuz chicken nugget are healthier and french fries???) I already picked my battle and so I couldn't give up now but neither was Ryan . I handed her a chicken nugget and I asked her if she was going to eat it her reply was, "NEVER"  I looked at Bryce in shock and asked him did she just tell us never? I am Not sure where she got that but it sure did make me laugh!... she never did get any fries

Another time we were driving in the car and Ryan wanted some candy I told her I couldn't open it right now because I was driving and that she would have to wait she started to get a little concerned and said, "but mom it's an emewgency!!!"

Bryce took Ryan on a little date to the gas station where he got her a drink and some nachos he even let her ride in the front seat with her she gave him a big hug the whole way home and told him she loved him fowevew and evew

I am writing this on my phone with the voice recorder and Ryan is copying every thing I say when I just talked about going on a date with her dad to the gas station she got all excited and raised her hand jumping up and down sayings we got a winner. I need to start recording her everyday because she keeps me laughing all day long. She says the funniest things and I have no idea where she picks it up

one day I was feeding major and Ryan kept pestering us I told her to go play somewhere else while I was feeding brother she looked at me and said "oh you are feeding brother you're boobies?" I didn't really know how to respond so I just said yes now go play!

I've been potty training Ryan and one day she wanted to go on the big potty instead of her little potty so I put her on the big pottyshe was sitting there for a while and I soon got distracted doing something out while I was waiting for her to peeall of a sudden I heard this voice coming from the bathroom saying, "mom get me outta of hewe!"

Road rage

I always blame Bryce for having road rage but I'm pretty sure Ryann has learned her road rage from me. Whenever we get in the car she always blurts out, "you kiddin me"? The other day I was headed to my moms and we were stopped at a stoplight Ryann was apparently in some kind of a hurry and said, "keep goin mom, keep goin" I guess I should practice what I preach...

Easter

Like every Holiday this year, these two little cuties made this one so much fun. We first started celebrating when we went over to grannies and colored eggs and went on easter hunt. Ryann loved coloring the eggs. I thought we were only going to do like maybe four eggs, but grannie made at least a dozen and Ryann dipped every single one of them in every single

one of the colors at least like 10 times. I thought the eggs were going to turn out brown, but some of them actually turned out very pretty. When Ryann was done coloring we cracked all of them so I made so deviled chicks for everyone. Ryann liked everything up to that point. She took a bite of the egg and then gagged for I am not kidding the next 5 min. It was a good thing granny liked them though because she is going to be eating eggs for a while. Granny was a really great sport about letting Ryann be a two yr old being completely messing and exploring everything. It of coarse could not have made me happier to see her having so much fun. Then my mom hid some eggs for her and faith to find. Faith found most of the eggs and Ryann ate most of them. So by the end of the day all the hard boiled eggs were cracked and all the candy was eaten. The day was a huge success in my book. We also celebrated Easter with Grandma and Grandpa Erickson. We started off the day at the park flying kites. The Vernal cousins were in town and all of us loved playing wtih our cousins. Next we had a Easter Hunt in Grandma's backyard. Ryann didn't find a ton of eggs, but she loved and got so excited at everyone she did find! Poor dad had to work the whole weekend. Even on Easter Sunday. So we didn't look for our Easter baskets until after he got home from work, but we kept busy with church and going over to great granny's for sunday dinner. Major loved sitting on granny's lap and help her eat her mash potatoes! On the way home I kept telling Ryann that the Easter bunny came to our house and hid a basket full of treats and toys. The Easter bunny hid her basket in her favorite hiding place, the shower, so she found it right away. Ryann got all of her favorite things in her basket. A necklace and bracelet, sunglasses, sidewalk chalk, and bubbles, and her most favorite of all were "MAMO" jammies, she kept running all the around the house saying "MY MAMO, MY MAMO!!!!" For the next week Ryann kept asking if we could find her easter basket! Major didn't show quite the enthusiasm as Ryann did, but he seemed pretty happy with what he got too. Since dad missed most of the festivities he had to make up for it. Major loves playing wtih his daddy! I was the luckiest one of all I got to celebrate Easter with my little kiddos All the eggs and candy in the world couldn't be better than these two!