1st Annual Sub-4-Santa/Ugly Sweater Christmas Party

In honor of the Christmas season, I decided that I wanted to throw a Christmas party this year. I wanted to make it more than just a party so I copied an idea that my sister Catherine did and made it a Sub-4-Santa party as well. We found a family through a friend of my in-laws and then we split up their needs between everyone coming to the party. It was so much fun to be able to focus the party on the needs of another family and I was amazed at the generosity of all who came. We wrapped the presents first thing because the family we were doing it for wanted to be able to meet the people giving them the gifts.

My in-laws' friend brought the family over to our condo and we were able to meet their beautiful family. The mother had three darling children-who were so excited for the presents I don't know if they are going to be able to wait till Christmas to open them.

We had so much food and so they stayed and ate dinner with us. It was such a great experience to be able to spend time with them. My friend Lindsey had suggested that we should also make the party an ugly sweater party-it ended up being really funny. Not everyone participated, but those who did looked great. We couldn't find any at D.I. so we ended up getting both pete's and mine at Walmart in the Women's section-Pete's had sparkles and sequins on it.

We ended the night with a white elephant gift exchange-we got a reusable soda jug so big it had to come with its own carrying case. Ryan loves it and keeps trying to drink out of it, but the hole is bigger than his head.

Thanks to everyone who came and made it such a great night and also for your generosity.

Tag I'm it

My friend Megan tagged me a long time ago and I am finally getting around to doing it-sorry meg I am a little slow. I decided I must be a really weird person, because it was actually quite easy for me to think of 7 random facts about myself. So here goes:

1. I can't handle it when people chew on wood-ie. popsicle sticks, toothpicks-it makes me gag and I start dry heaving and I even have a hard time thinking about it. My father-in-law is obsessed with popsicles and thinks it is rather funny to torture me.

2. I grew up in a family of all girls and none of us were given middle names and I always wanted one so in high school I decided to start telling people we all had gems for middle names. I was Anne Crystal (beautiful isn't it?!) and the best part was that people who had known me for a long time believed me.

3. Pete and I always watch shows on the Disney Channel to fall asleep at night and I love them. Hannah Montana is my current favorite, but Pete loves Kim Possible.

4. One of my goals when I went to BYU was to make it into the police beat-I came close, but never quite made it.

5. I sing songs like Copa Cobana and Grandma's Feather bed to Ryan and I was known to make up interpretive dances to them in college.

6. I am a list manic-sometimes I make lists about needing to make more lists-Pete and I were going through some old boxes of mine when we first got married and found old lists I had written in high school.

7. I am a hopeless romantic when it comes to books and movies, but I can't handle it when people are cheesy to me in real life-Pete learned that the hard way.

So there are some random facts about me, I hope you still read my blog after reading them.....

Just me and my blankie!

Poor Ryan has had a rough week and a half. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving he had to get six shots that caused him to get a high fever and to moan most of the night. Two nights later because of his love of bananas he was so constipated he was up the majority of the night-Pete and I went to bed at 4:30 that night. He also came down with a cold, which he still has and then this last Friday his fever came back and he still has that as well. We are definitely going to the doctor tomorrow. I have felt so terrible for him, but have been very grateful for his blanket. He has recently become more attached and since becoming sick he has become super attached to his blanket. I am glad he finds comfort in something so small. I think I need to get a blankie of my own.


p.s. Jessica, I hope you notice which blanket he chose to become attached to.

CHriStMaS fEVeR!!!

Since Thanksgiving has come and gone (and it was great), i can officially start celebrating the Christmas season without getting in trouble from my little sister. I don't know why I am so excited for Christmas this year, but I just am. Maybe it is because Ryan was so little last year that we couldn't do very much, I don't know. I have been looking forward to it since the first of November and I keep telling Pete to gear up for lots of fun activities. I have been listening to Christmas music, making lists of what I want to get for my family, and if Ryan goes down for a nap I am going to get out my decorations. I think that what makes the holidays so much fun are traditions-so tell me your favorites cause I am ALWAYS looking for new ones and while you are at it you could give me some ideas about what to get my father-in-law...

For Emily

As many of you know, my older sister Emily (the sister in the middle of the picture), had a brain tumor removed a year and a half ago. While the surgery was successful in removing the tumor, her body had a strange reaction to the surgery. A few days after the surgery she lost her ability to talk, walk, and see and she has been fighting to regain those functions ever since. She has endured intense physical therapy and many functions have returned, but she doesn't feel completely normal. She has two young children and her only desire is to be able to care for them on her own again. She is incredible and has been such an example to all of us of strength and determination. So many people have asked what they could do to help-it is so hard to want to help knowing that the things that would really solve the problem are out of our control. Last night we had the opportunity to do something for Emily that was in our control-attend a temple session in her behalf. About 70 people gathered in the Provo temple last night and many other relatives and friends attended the temple across the United States. It was overwhelming to see the amount of support people showed my sister and family last night. It is such a bonding experience to all come together for the same purpose-It has definitely brought my family closer together and made us more grateful for the things in life we often take for granted. I can only keep praying that she will be healed and then trust in the Lord that someday it will happen. I love my sister so much and I hope with all my heart that things will get better because sometimes hope is the only thing that can get you through difficult times.

BLaSt fRoM tHE pAsT

My friend Lindsey posted something on her blog about the movie Mr. Boogedy and it got me thinking about all the things I loved growing up. So I wanted to take a minute just to reminesce about some of my favorite things.

-Babysitter Club Books-I think I read each book three times, but my favorite part was that after a hundred or so books they were still in jr. high. I always loved the Super Special books.
-TGIFridays (not the restaurant, but the shows ABC used to have on every Friday-I looked forward to it all week!)
-Great cartoons including Gummi Bears, Duck Tales, Muppet babies, and Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers (I still get their theme songs stuck in my head)
-Sweet Valley High Books-these were a little more scandalous than babysiter club books but just as great
-Saved by the Bell-I always wanted my own Zack Morris and wished we had a place as cool as " The Max" to hang out
-The game Go 4 it-we used to play this for hours
-Wonderful games such as "butt" ball, kickball, and four square
-Playing with and accessorizing trolls at recess
-Playing barbies and creating my own Ken doll by putting a girl barbie head on to a popsicle stick

Sometimes I really miss being little...

This is totally not related, but we saw Dan in Real Life last night and it was so good-I would definitely recommend it!

I need your help...

As many of you know, my husband Peter has a non-profit organization called Vaccines for the Philippines. We do most of our work on an island called Bohol and he works with the government of that island to find out the projects that will be most beneficial to them. Two years ago, the government asked him to fund a water project that would help bring clean water to 12-14 communities in the middle of the island. The only problem is that it will cost around $100,000-$200,000 in order to complete and we have never taken on a project of that magnitude. Lately I have been feeling like I need a really good project to work on and tonight at dinner I decided that I was going to make the water project my cause. We are going to the Philippines in August of next year and anyone is welcome to come, but I really want the water project to be the humanitarian project that we work on this year. So here is where you all come in-We have never even attempted to raise that kind of money before and so we need ideas. If you have any connections to businesses that would be willing to donate, fundraiser ideas, you know how to write grant proposals, or you just want to get involved in something-I would appreciate anything you could do to help. There are a lot of Non-profit organizations that fund these kind of things it is just a matter of finding them. ANY ideas are welcome as I can only imagine that it is going to be quite the feat to raise this money!

HApPy HaLLoWeEN!

HOpe YoU aLL HaD HaPPy HAuNtiNG!

Hello and Goodbye

Pete loves animals-apparently we are going to have our own zoo one day. Too bad for me I am not an animal person. Pete and I have already had fish, which died, and birds which were so annoying we had to give them back to the pet store. For the past couple of years, Pete has been begging to get a kitten even though I am highly allergic to cats. He found this new breed of cat called a Bengal that was supposed to be hypoallergenic and looks like a leopard so we decided to try it out. The only problem was I was so allergic to the kitty I couldnt even be in the same room as it without my nose clogging up and my whole face itching-usually I have to touch a cat before I have an allergic reaction. So we got the kitty and three days later we had to sell it. I felt terrible especially because Ryan loved the kitty. His first real word was kitty, but he says it more like "ditty". Luckily for Pete I am not allergic to dogs, but I think we are going to wait a while before we get another animal.

Saying Goodbye

26 ToDAy and not YEsTeRDaY

So for my entire life my family has gotten confused about the date of my birthday-for some reason they can't remember if my birthday is October 21 or October 22. It has become the family joke, but in all honesty my mom asked me just the other day which date my birthday was. In the end they always remember and are very nice to me-I just thought I would clarify for them so they didn't get confused this year. All that aside, I had a wonderful day and tons of fun! I got really spoiled and got to celebrate twice-on Saturday (with a massage, pedicure and shopping) and then also on my actual birthday. Pete was so wonderful and planned the day for me. Today I got to celebrate with lunch, dinner, the nickelcade for some skeeball (I know I am white trash, but I love skeeball and Big Shot) and then we were going to go to a movie but when i called my mom to check in on Ryan and found out his fever was back I wanted to come home. Thanks to everyone for all your love and support-I definitely felt the love today!!!


(P.S. I am not pregnant, it is just the dress)

I have become a little OCD about cleaning my house recently-I think it is the fact that I spend so much time here-that Pete got me new cleaning supplies as one of my presents-don't worry I was honestly excited!

CRaZy TuRnS OnE!!!

This past Friday Ryan, or as I like to call him lately my little weapon of mass destruction, turned 1! I still can't believe he is that old-but I will say I am proud we have kept him alive that long-sometimes it scares me to realize how vulnerable he is and that I STILL have no clue what I am doing. We had such a great time and definitely felt the love and support of our family and friends at his party that night. Thanks to all who came and for your patience when the food showed up an hour and a half later than it was supposed to. We feel so blessed to have all of you in our lives and especially for the gift of having Ryan. He keeps us on our toes, but brings a joy into our lives that I never knew could exist. Happy Birthday Ryan!

P.S. As I was looking at the slideshow I realized that I should explain something. You may have noticed the beautiful (meaning discusting) thing on Pete's upper lip-He and his friends thought it would be great to form a club and all grow mustaches since they can at BYU. They even created a facebook group called the "Push brooms".

Can't get Enough of This

I could stare at this little kid all day long. I love the way his eyes sparkle when he smiles, how his eyelashes clump together when they get wet, and how the dimple in his right cheek somehow melts my heart. It is amazing to me how much love you can feel for something so small.

They're BACK!!!

Last year before we moved into our condo (and right before Ryan was born) we started attending our new ward. A woman came up to Pete and I at church and said that we would be future neighbors and she felt it was her duty to inform us that we had bats living in the attic of the condo we would be moving into. She said that they also had them and that the bats weren't that bad until they got into your house-just what I wanted with a new baby on the way-rabies coming into my house! We did in fact have thousands of bats living in our attic but we never had any problems with any of them getting into our house-until now. We hadn't even seen them for months until a couple of weeks ago we realized that they returned and I have been able to hear them flying around during the days-it has been creeping me out. Then Wednesday night I was the only one awake around eleven p.m. when I saw a large brown creature flying down the hallway towards me. I, of course, started freaking out and went running around the room to only be chased by the bat. I crouched in a little ball on the floor and started yelling for pete to wake up and save me from the situation. Finally he heard me and rushed downstairs. I was totally frozen (I know this picture is sounding very pathetic-but trust me it was really scary) and didn't know what to do. I finally made it upstairs and pete was able to get the bat out of the house. Then Thursday night I was washing the dinner dishes and saw another one flying down the hallway. It went into hiding for a while and finally made a reappearance so Pete and our friend Kevin could chase it out of the house. We survived the last two nights without more bats, but I am starting to feel like I live in a haunted house! I guess I can just claim that they are my Halloween decorations...

My Own Little Vampire

Don't be deceived by the peaceful look on Ryan's face in this picture-it is all a cover up. Teething has turned my little boy into a vampire-not only does he look like one-his fangs have broken thru before his middle front teeth-he has also decided that he does not need to sleep anymore. We have been up almost every night this week. I feel so terrible for him because he has three teeth coming in right now, but i am so tired. He also has quite the little temper-I have never seen him so fiesty before. I only hope that his teeth will break thru soon-I am exhausted and I miss my pleasant little boy.

The Best 5 Years

Somehow 5 years has past since September 7, 2002. We have experienced joy, laughter, sadness, surprise, tragedy and peace, but each of these experiences have been more enriching because we have been able to share these moments together. I love having an entire day dedicated to celebrating the joy that you have found because of another person. I feel so lucky to be married to such an amazing man. One of my favorite things he does is on every 7th of the month he wishes me a happy anniversary-I think he has forgotten only twice (literally). I know that so many of you are married to incredible people and I love to share in the happiness of others so if you read this please tell me one thing that you love about your honey!

Tiger Woods in the Flesh

So to say that Pete is obsessed with golf is an understatement-I really think he would eat and breathe golf if he could. He has already made it very well known he would golf every day if his life allowed him to. One of his dreams has been to see Tiger Woods play in real life. With our fifth anniversary coming up I wanted to get him a really thoughtful gift-so i surprised him with tickets to a PGA tournament in Boston. I kept telling him that I was the coolest wife ever because I was allowing us to have an entire vacation dedicated to golf and I think golf is boring. We flew to Boston Friday night and got up really early Saturday morning to go to the tournament-thanks to our wonderful mothers we left Ryan at home. Surprisingly, the tournament was really exciting and I found myself getting really into it. I was actually the one who said we should stay longer. It may have been that Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, and Vijay Singh, the three best golfers in the world, all teed off together and we got to follow them around all day-it was really sad no one cared about any of the players. We had such a good weekend and we kept wanting to call it our honeymoon. We decided that we want to have a honeymoon every five years because we have so much fun with just the two of us!

Outside the tournament-they didn't allow cameras inside the course so we had to settle for the parking lot


We ate at the oldest restaurant in the U.S.-It was opened in 1826!

Wicked

"Popular, You're going be popular!.. La, La, Pop-u-lar"
For my mom's birthday my WONDERFUL sister Catherine bought tickets for my mom, my sisters and I (plus my dad and one brother-in-law) to go and see Wicked in L.A. I was a little skeptical that it could REALLY be as incredible as EVERYONE had said it was, but it completely exceeded my expectations! It was amazing! When it was over I just wanted to sit in the theater and watch it all over again. I absolutely loved it! It was a quick trip to L.A., but every free minute we had we spent laying out at the beach, boogie boarding, and riding beach cruisers along the boardwalk. If you could take away the terrible traffic I think southern California may be my dream place to live.

Addictions

So I decided that it is a really good thing that I have never drank or done drugs because I have the type of personality where I get addicted to things very easily. Once I get hooked I can't seem to get those things out of my head and I don't get sick of them. Some of my latest addictions include:

1. Tennis-I am not very good, but I love to play and wish I could everyday it is so much fun!
2. Reading-Pete and I have started having reading dates when Ryan goes to sleep-the other day he asked me when we became one of those couples that reads together all the time instead of going out.
3. Blogs, blogging, blog hopping(or stalking as some may say)-I am new to this world and I think it is so great to stay in contact with people.
4. The Twilight Series (or as someone in the Wall Street Journal called them "the LDS Vampire Books"-just what our church needs), it is really too bad that Edward doesn't exist because sometimes I start thinking vampires are real. It is kind of sad though because my little sister and I talk about Bella and Edward as if they are our best friends.
5. The singer Colbie Caillat-I could listen to her CD all day long and never get sick of it
6. See's Chocolates-I usually go there once a week-I am waiting for them to recognize me-Everyone needs to try a butterscotch square at least once in their life.

Incredible Photographer

My sister Rebecca is an amazing photographer. The coolest thing is that she has made quite a little business for herself with her incredible talents and she has pretty much taught herself. You should see the pictures she takes of her kids-I wish she could live at my house and take pictures of our lives all the time. She came out over Thanksgiving and took pictures when Ryan was just six weeks old. Don't worry I just ordered the prints like a month ago and Ryan is almost ten months old. Now I just need to get them hung up. These are a few of our favorites. She just launched a new website for her photography called Darling Art by Rebecca Mudrick Photography. If you get a chance check it out the link is underneath my friends section.

For all His hard work

Congratulations, Pete! Pete recently went back over to the Philippines to receive an award from their government for the humanitarian work he has done over there. I am so happy for him-he has put his heart and soul into his non-profit organization and the hundreds of hours he has spent have been recognized. Not that he has ever had that in mind-he does it because he loves those wonderful people. I am so proud of him!



P.S. A cool little side note-if you go to lds.org and click on Newsroom (on the right-hand side of the home page) Pete is featured in the top story!

Intervention

I am a book cheater. I will admit it. I compulsively read the end of books long before I am actually finished. I always go back and read the middle, but for some reason I can't handle not knowing what happens. My problem is that I am an end-reader with a conscience-I regret it every time that I do it. So when Harry Potter #6 came out I told everyone that I wouldn't read the end. I got within like a 100 pages and then skipped to the end. When I found out what happened I was so upset I stomped upstairs crying and had to get into the shower to calm myself down. At that point pete decided to hold an intervention for me. He said when the 7th book came out he was going to cut the book up and give it to me chapter by chapter. I realized he would be back in the philippines when the book was released so I thought I was home free. But instead he recruited my mom and little sister (who can't stand my little habit) to take care of the dirty work for him. So here is a picture of my anti-cheating version of HP#7


p.s. I finished the book without cheating, but I did try to get information out of my little sister since she finished before me-but she wouldn't tell me anything.

Florida Fun

We just got back from a week in Florida with Pete's family. It was so much fun! It was really hot and extremely humid, but we loved it and had such a great time. Ryan was amazing and held up so well without being able to take good naps and being in the heat all the time. I had been really worried about the plane ride with Ryan, but with a little help from our friend benedryl the worst of our worries was the turbulence that was making me sick. We went to Magic Kingdom, MGM studios, Animal Kingdom, Epcot, Typhoon Lagoon (my personal favorite), ate in lots of great restaurants and saw a Cirque de Soleil show. I was glad to get back to dry heat, but we loved every minute while we were there.

After getting completely soaked on a ride in Animal Kingdom

Ryan getting to meet cars

Ryan's first kiss

Disney family photo (yes, we are dorks!)

Ryan's favorite food for most of the trip was his finger

Ryan Kimball

Ryan is in such a fun stage right now-I am totally addicted to being around him and miss him when he is asleep-kind of. His personality is so much fun and I could watch his facial expressions all day and be entertained. He will be nine months old on Thursday and it kind of scares me how fast time is going. I just wanted to post a few of my favorite pictures that we have taken recently. As you will see we are a little camera happy.

Climbing into the TV Cabinet

White-trash Ryan

We are leaving for Florida this week and because of how hot it will be we decided to break our rule and allow ryan to wear tank tops-I kind of feel like they are a little white trash for boys.

Ryan's first and last biter biscuit (we never knew how messy they were, he was completely covered in slime)

Ryan showing off his obsession of playing with rugs

Bath time

Books

Over the last few months I have fallen back in love with reading-I can't seem to get enough. It is so nice to be able to read whatever I want and not be forced to read textbooks. The last five books I have read include: A tale of two cities, the emperors of chocolate (I lost interest and didn't finish this one unfortunately), Twilight, New Moon (the two most addicting books I have ever read), and Harry Potter #6 for the second time to prepare myself for the release of the seventh book. I am always looking for good books to read and so if you have any suggestions please let me know-I would really appreciate it!

Independence Day

The fourth of july is one of my favorite holidays and I love that Provo makes such a big deal about it. Holidays can get a little crazy having both families in town, but it was still so much fun! We spend the morning at the parade, went to a barbeque, went swimming with cousins, went to another barbeque, and then did fireworks. We were all a little exhausted since the three of us had been in the ER till two in the morning the night before. Ryan somehow opened a bottle of adult tylenol-so much for child-proof caps-and had six in his mouth when I found him. We had no clue how many were in the bottle, but after a call to poison control, a trip to the ER, a blood test, and a lot of worrying we found out that we had caught him in time and that he had not swallowed any. It was such a relief!
Splashing in the pool

Swimming on the fourth was ryan's second time in the pool and he absolutely loved it-as you can see by the crazy splashing! The first time we went he was really hesitant, but that day he was a little fish and could not get enough.

Hanging out with mom

At the Parade

Ghetto Bootay Runners

This weekend I ran in the Wasatch Back Relay with 11 other girls. We each ran 3 times and ran a combined total of 177 miles. We started in Logan and ended in Park City, Utah. Our team was called the Ghetto Bootay Runners and as you can see from the picture we had a really cute costume to go with our name-it seemed to attract a lot of attention. It was one of the most difficult things I have ever done, but also one of the most fun. We were split up into 2 vans-each with six runners. I was in the first van and so we were the ones to start the race. My first run was 5 miles at 3:30 in the afternoon in one hundred degree weather. Two people had to be picked up by ambulance on my run because they passed out due to the terrible conditions. We started the race Friday afternoon and finished Saturday at 5pm. I was so exhausted when I got home I fell asleep at 8:30pm and didn't wake up till 7 the next morning. Even though it was one of the most terrible, awful, and miserable things I have done, it was also one of the most rewarding and I am definitely going to do it again next year. (Pete thinks I am crazy)

Van #1 Before the race began

Before my night (and 2nd) run-I got to wear such a pretty vest and headlamp

Just a couple of the many dirty old men who asked to take their picture with us. We had finished the race at this point

Philippines 2007 Pictures

Here are a few of the hundreds of pictures from our trip
At the beach

Preparing to paint the hospital walls

Dropping off supplies for the bathrooms

Mixing cement for the bathroom floor

Jumping off a bridge-it took me a little while to get the courage to jump