Nine Years

Nine years ago I married this handsome boy.  We have squished a lot of life in those nine years, four  kids, three moves, two degrees and one life together (cheesy I know, but true!). 

I found and watched our wedding video today.  It made me smile.  I loved seeing how happy we were.  I wouldn't want to go back to that point in our lives again however, because I love how happy we are now.

About a year and a half later we welcomed Kaitlynn to the family.

Two after that we were blessed with a boy, Jack.

Not long after Jacks birth Ryan graduated from BYU with a bachelors in nursing.

Another two years later almost to the day Olivia arrived.  We went bowling for Jacks 2nd birthday and Olivia was born bright and early the next morning.  

When Olivia was a little over two months old we packed up everything we owned.

Moved across the country.

Riverside Missouri has been our home ever since.

We had two weeks to get adjusted to things before Ryan started school again.  Here he is on his first day.  He did not want me to take his picture.  Glad he smiled though!

After a year of living here Kaitlynn had her first day of school.

The next year tiny Hannah was born.  Unlike Olivia who was a week late Hannah came ten days early making her our smallest baby.  Even though she is our tiniest baby she has the biggest smile.  

 Ten months later we celebrated another degree for Ryan, this time with his masters.  Smart boy.

Lastly on our timeline, Jack started kindergarten in the fall and is loving it.

I am so grateful for the past nine years.

I hope the next nine years are just as full.  

MaryLynn's Bed

After Kaitlynn got her doll for christmas Ryan said something about making MaryLynn a bed.  Kaitlynn was all over that project.  Between her enthusiasm and Ryan's need to try out his new saw, they had a bed built in couple of days.  Next step was to paint it.  I now have a few small spatters on my new carpet downstairs.  Sigh.  

After the building and painting were done then I stepped in to finish off the job.  Kaitlynn measured, cut, pinned and sewed.  She really did a wonderful job.  

We used some old fabric I had.  I was really pleased to see how well it went with her bed.  

This is one happy doll in her custom homemade bed.  Kaitlynn is working on embroidering MaryLynn's name.  She wanted to make a pillow with her name on it.  We have one more pillow to make for the last finishing touches.  

It was fun to share our hobbies with Kaitlynn and it didn't hurt that it cost us a fraction of the price of a real doll bed.  

Zoo

Saturday we used our christmas zoo pass.  The weather was chilly but the sun was out so we made the most of it.  We layered up with sweaters and coats and enjoyed the animals.  The polar bear is one of their main attractions and he is always entertaining but he was really enjoying the cooler weather.  He was in a very playful mood jumping off the shallow end of the pool to flip over in the water then he would push off the glass to swim around a rock to do it all over again.  So fun to watch.  We even got splashed on.  

Hanging out by the polar bear tank.

Ahh, the sun is too bright!

The penguin exhibit is new and it pretty fun too.  The let you get pretty close to the penguins.  Hannah liked looking at them at a distance though.

Watching the penguins fly underwater.  

The have a sky coaster that goes over the African animals.  The weather too cold for them but we took the ride any way just for the fun of it.  Kaitlynn and Jack felt so grown up riding on their own seat. 

Again they were demonstrating their independence by riding in the back of the tram rather than with the family.  Funny kids.  It was nice not to have any crowds.

Looking at the Kangaroos.  They don't even fence them in.  I guess they just know not to wander away. 

Kaitlynn is always a great helper.  She and Hannah are checking out some Monkeys I think.

Waiting for the Sea Lion show. 

Worst treat on a cold day. They are eating ice cream.  I refused. 

Terrible picture of Hannah but its all I took with them together on the marry-go-round. 

The one picture of me just to prove I was there.  

Staying bundled up and warm.

You know an event was a success when the return trip looks like this.

Even though not all of the animals were out we had a lot of fun.  I am sure we will spend many more day at the zoo this year.  

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Christmas was perfect this year.  Kaitlynn and Jack woke up early and woke up the rest of the house.  The only real problem though, was Ryan.  He was on call at the hospital and didn't get home until the late hour of 7:35 a.m.  I wouldn't let the kids go down to the living room until he got home.  They thought they were going to die.  Kaitlynn even grab my phone and sent Ryan an urgent text telling him to hurry.  It was kind of fun to have all the kids bouncing in our bed waiting for their daddy.

These pictures are in no real order.  I didn't want to spend the time making it chronological.  I am just pleased with myself for getting pictures up here, period.  

Jack kept going back to his book about super hero's in between opening presents.

Classic playing in the box instead of with the toy picture.

Hannah needed a turn in the box too.

 The mess once everything was opened.

Jack with his presents.  He got a football, Mizzou jersey, pants, shirt, Marvel Hero's book, fleece blanket, camera and piano lessons. We found it is ridiculously cheaper to by a real camera rather than a kids play camera. 

Kaitlynn in her christmas sparkle outfit. She got a fleece blanket, American Girl book series of Carolyn, and the Target My Generation Doll (the cheap version of American Girl Doll), a rainbow loom and piano lessons.

This is Ryan's big present.  He went for a year without any candy, pop, ice cream, cookies or really anything delicious to earn this beautiful saw.  He was pretty giddy about it.

This pretty little girl got a new outfit with boots and looks stinking adorable in them!  She also got an elephant toy that shoots balls out his nose.  

Olivia got a fleece blanket, princess stuff, and a teacup set from the thrift store with matching gloves. We have been playing tea party at our house a lot so I knew I wanted to get her some teacups but refused to pay $20 dollars at wallmart for some tacky plastic stuff.  Now she has a real cups that make a real clink sound.  I am sure they will break but for the price I payed I am okay with that.

Hannah especially liked the clink sound from the cups as she stacked them again and again.

I am really happy about something.  I was really spoiled this year.  Ryan got me an electric tooth brush (the top thing on my wish list), a jewelry box and a Fitbit band.  I love the fitbit band.  It tracks so much info even my sleep habits.  I average about a mile and a half and go up the stairs about 20 times just walking around my house in day!

I just love his face here.  Family gifts were some board games and a year zoo pass.

I love my little family.

Random picture taken on the last day of the year.

New Years was super exciting. We had dinner with our neighbors; pizza for the kids and cheese fondu for the adults.  It was delicious! 

Then we went over to our house to let the kids have a sleepover.  Well kind of, we put them to bed and their parents took them home when our party was over.  To ring in the new year we played clue and settlers.  I know, wild night! This may be the first time in our marriage that we have actually made it to midnight. The only reason we did was so we could end last years new years resolution.  As mentioned earlier Ryan went without anything yummy for the year, I supported him only by saying no to candy and pop for the year.  That was enough for me. 

So at midnight I ate the candy I missed the most, swedish fish.

Ryan had cookie dough ice cream and reece's pieces.  We both enjoyed our warm root beer.  I forgot to put it in the fridge earlier.  Oops!

A few days before New Year's Kaitlynn made some comment about how it wasn't fair that the only the adults got to stay up so I off handedly said if she could stay awake that long then I would let her stay up.  I never thought she could do it.  She had no problem staying awake and most of the night she just sat on the couch reading a book! I think she was waiting for a party to happen.  The most exciting part for her was the root beer floats.