...May your days be Merry and Bright...

I love this time of year to celebrate with family and friends. Here are a few of the activities that have kept us busy the last few weeks.

Zoo Lights


Pete's work Party (He REALLY did not want to take a picture so this was the face I got from him)


2nd Annual Sub-4-Santa/Ugly Sweater/White Elephant Christmas Party


Making a gingerbread house


Welcoming home my little sis from Jerusalem


Dinner at La Caille to celebrate Christmas and all of our birthdays


I hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas Holiday!

Lucky Boy

Pete was just offered an internship with the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland for the summer.

He has some exciting summer plans

Think I will definitely have to visit:)

Obsessions

Ryan’s current obsession: “heya caca” a.k.a. helicopters
Phrase I hear multiple times a day: “I wanna see heya caca” (Meaning, mom please drive by the hospital so that I can see the life flight helicopter.)
Ryan’s favorite Youtube video: a 4-minute segment of a helicopter doing backflips-once he watched it over and over for two hours or so the babysitter told us-luckily we were gone when it happened.

I get to drive by the hospital multiple times a week just to look at the helicopter. The one time Ryan actually saw it flying he hyperventilated he was so excited and then couldn’t stop talking about it-lucky for me it is making his Christmas shopping very easy. I just hope he doesn’t have a new obsession by then since they seem to change rather quickly:)

On one of our almost daily pilgrimages to the hospital

...MoNKeY BuSinEsS...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN (almost 2 weeks late)!





I completely forgot I had to dress up for work and so my SIL Jess put blue extensions in my hair-she had all her stuff out because she gave her husband an extension mullet for Halloween. Some people thought I was serious and others asked if I was Barbie or Hannah Montana -who knew blue extensions could actually be a costume.






Taking pictures of Ryan was a lot more difficult this year since he just kept running away. He was so funny because he would get his candy and then immediately open it up and eat it, but he only lasted about five houses. Hope you all had a great holiday.

...Another. Year. Older...

27. Yesterday. Wow. Starting to feel a little old...



Aside from having issues about getting older, my birthday was a great day. Ryan and I went to a pumpkin patch with our ward, I got to have lunch with my mom and sisters and received calls from the sister in NC and the sister in Jerusalem, got a surprise sewing machine from my parents (which was actually supposed to be for my graduation three years ago), went to dinner and a haunted house with my hubby, ate paradise bakery coconut-chocolate-chip cookies and see's chocolates, and filled my car up with gas for 2.99/gallon-Life doesn't get much better!

Picking out a pumpkin


Lunch with sisters


You can't really tell, but we are at The Dreaded Grove-I gave few honest screams to them

HaPPy 2nD BiRThDAy RyAN!!!

We decided after last year's extravaganza that we wanted to keep his second birthday a little more low key. We made breakfast, opened presents, went to church, and had cake with family and the birthday boy seemed pretty happy about it all.

Excited about his new buzz lightyear jammies


Eating his favorite breakfast-french toast made by his dad


Enjoying birthday cake and playing with his new Thomas trains from Grandma


Partying with cousin Grace


Relaxing after a long day of celebrating.


We LoVE you Ry and couldn't imagine life without you!

Sometimes being a mom is rough...

Don't get me wrong I love my child, and being a mom and blah, blah, blah, but some days are just rough-and today was such a day. It is never a good omen when Ryan goes to bed super late the night before and then wakes up really early-and I mean hours earlier than normal. He started the day grumpy. He napped really early and not very long and then woke up with a fever (I am pretty sure his 2-year-old molars are breaking thru). I desperately needed to go to the grocery store so after the motrin and tylenol kicked in we got into the car.

He was already upset because blankie was in the washer and couldn't come on the outing with us. Ryan has been having issues riding in the cart lately but I made sure we got a "special" cart that has a little car to ride in in the front. The novelty wore off after about 5 min of being in the store and he climbed out and started screaming when I even suggested getting back in. I let him help me push the cart, but every time I would stop to put something in the cart he would start putting his own stuff in the cart and eventually just started running away from me. I decided I had had enough of that nonsense so decided it was time to force him back into the cart. Then the screaming came back and the stares started up again. I tried to laugh about the fact that everyone was looking at me and watching me struggle with my child, but in reality I was having to take deep breaths to keep myself from crying. He was hysterical and wouldn't even take an ice cream cone (which for him is HUGE). All these old ladies kept trying to offer advice over the screaming and I know they were trying to help, but in reality they were just making it worse.

I only had a few things left to get at this point so I just pushed him around while he was screaming and made sure I only looked forward to ignore the stares. He settled down right as we were checking out and we managed to survive the trip. Needless to say, I was relieved when I sat behind the steering wheel of my car but not before thoughts of selling Ryan on ebay started to cross my mind...

...Rainy Day...

Just enjoying a rainy Saturday afternoon

Half-Way Across the World

My little sister (and one of my best friends) is half-way across the world doing the BYU semester abroad in Jerusalem, well actually Egypt at the moment. I try not to be too jealous considering I got accepted to the program and then they cancelled it on me not only once but twice because conditions were unsafe. She is having amazing opportunities and trying to take in every moment that she has in that sacred land, but sometimes it is still hard to be so far away. So this post is for you little sis-to cheer you up and let you know that we are thinking, praying for, and missing you back here in Provo, Utah-esp my crazy little son who tells me "Sissy go ba-bye":) Love you sis!





I thought I would share the most "special" pictures I had of Ryan:)

Congrats Jess and the Spanish Fork Kite Festival

My sister-in-law Jess got married on September 4th in the Mt. Timpanogos temple. The weather was great and it was a beautiful reception. Congratulations Jess!

Me and Katie (my other SIL-everyone is convinced we are sisters) waiting for Jess to come out of the temple


The beautiful bride


At the reception


Ryan wouldn't get out of the picture when they asked for just flower girls-so here he is being a flower girl!


Getting out some of his endless energy


We went with my SIL Sam and her girls to the Spanish Fork Kite Festival-too bad for us it ended literally minutes before we got up to it.


There were only a few kites flying when we got there, but luckily for us the sunset made up for it all-it was INCREDIBLE!

Vaccines for the Philippines Humanitarian Trip 2008

First of all, I have to say a HUGE thank you to my husband for the hundreds of hours he spent preparing for this trip-it was, in my opinion, the best trip so far-and I also want to thank the amazing volunteers we had this year. We had around 30 volunteers come over with the organization. We ran into some cultural glitches along the way, but those things that could have been a big problem made the trip more memorable and seemed to give us some incredible opportunities that we never could have planned. The work was more difficult and labor intensive than we have done in previous years, but everyone worked so hard and didn't complain about the difficult conditions. We started work on 5 houses and provided 3 free medical clinics in different towns on the island of Bohol. We also made sure that we did a lot of fun things-going to the beach, jumping off waterfalls, playing with monkeys and island hopping to name a few- to balance out the work. It was the first year that I wasn't ready to leave when it was time to go home.

The whole group right before we headed into the jungle to haul our wood out for the houses


In the middle of the jungle getting the wood for the houses-this was the COOLEST day! Later we found out their was a huge cobra nest right next to where we were getting our wood.


My friend Katie and I throwing candy out to the kids


Showing off the chocolate chip starfish


Hanging with the darling filipino kids
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Mixing the cement for the foundations


At the beautiful Bohol Beach Club


My cousin Nate and I with the famous transvestite at the giant python cage-yes that is a man-it did two lip syncing performances shortly after this picture


Pete helping the dentists at one of the medical clinics


The special forces army invited us to their camp and let us shoot their huge guns. I was horrible and they told me I needed a lot more practice.


In front of one of the houses we started


This was our beautiful backdrop for where we built the majority of the houses-the town was called "Behind the Clouds"

Aaahhhh....It's so nice (and a little sad) to be home!

It is so great to finally be home! Ryan remembered who we were and seemed to learn TONS of new words while we were gone-but he won't let us leave him for a second-he even comes with us into the bathroom. We got back last Thursday from the Philippines and then a couple days later headed to Lake Powell for a Reichman family reunion. This summer has been so crazy and has flown by-literally going from trip to trip with just enough time in between to get caught up on laundry and pack for the next trip...

And while I am not complaining in anyway about being gone-it is still great to be back in my own house and in my own bed! I have so much to get caught up on and can't wait to read what everyone else has been up to.

Reality check-I go back to work tomorrow which is always a little sad but I am more sad to realize that summer is ending and Pete will be going back to school to start his Master's program in a week and a half-oh well life has to go on right?. I am going to post pictures from our trip to the Philippines so check back-it was amazing! With the last of our trips over for the summer, I keep trying to think up little weekend outings to have something to look forward to so if anyone is up for anything fun just let me know...

Since Pete's been gone...

I had been a little worried about Pete leaving me alone with Ryan for two weeks before I join him in the Philippines, but somehow it has gone by quickly and now it is the night before I leave to travel the 30 hours over there. Pete has to go over early each year to set up all the humanitarian work that the rest of the group will get to participate in. I have been really busy between family being in town, work, a concert, a family reunion and getting ready to go on my big trip. I have definitely had a few breakdowns since he has left, but overall it has been okay. Here are some pictures of what we have done since he left.

The Colbie Caillat/John Mayer Concert-John Mayer sounds amazing live


Horseback riding with my sisters and nephews at the Ranch we stayed at for our family reunion.


Ryan was in HEAVEN with so many rocks to play in and throw at other people


This was what happened when we attempted to play tennis in the dark-I went to hit a wild ball not knowing the tennis court was surrounded by a swamp and ended up covered in mud. We laughed for about 10 minutes which was good since it had been a really hard day with Ryan.


Riding the zipline. The ranch had so many fun activities to do and when Ryan napped I took advantage of that time to have some fun.


Where we spent the majority of our time. Notice Ryan is covered in floaties-that is because he thinks he can swim and doesn't want anyone to help him in the pool.


Another one of the places we spent a lot of time at during the family reunion. I think I heard: "Wow, he is SO busy" from almost all of my aunts and uncles. Someone asked me if he even knew how to walk since they only saw him run.


Hiking in Zions-it was beautiful!


Well, I am pretty much packed and just waiting to go. Wish me good Luck-I am starting to feel my usual pre-trip anxiety (turbulence is not my favorite thing) and I am really sad to leave Ryan for two weeks. It should be a wonderful experience-we are building houses this year which I am really excited about-I keep telling myself it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity each time I get to go over. Thanks in advance to my wonderful mother-in-law and my Mom for watching Ry while I am gone-I hope they don't sell him on ebay. I will be back in a couple of weeks!