website

Ryan has been working on his website for a while and is pretty much finished. Give it a look here

Hubby

I haven't had much to blog about lately, so I will accept the tag from Becky.


1. What is your husband's name? Ryan
2. How long have you guys been together? married, 8 years. marriage and dating, 9 years
3. How long did you date for? a year
4. Who eats more? depends on what it is. I look like I do because my body doesn't metabolize quite as fast ;)
5. Who said "I love you" first? He did and I said "o.k."
6. Who is taller? him
7. Who sings better? What he sings is limited, but I will give him credit because he has a much better ear. But I am getting better and carrying a tune.
8. Who is smarter? Ryan is far more intelligent and knowledgeable. But I have much more street smarts than him.
9. Who does the laundry? Me
10. Who does the dishes? me
11. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I do because Ryan cares about which side he sleeps on. I think it's kind of weird.
12. Who pays the bills? I do the physical bill paying, he brings in the cash.
13. Who mows the lawn? neither, he's been lucky enough to not really have much lawn where we've lived.
14. Who cooks dinner? I do but when he does it's always delicious and flavorful.
15. Who is more stubborn? me. He used to be but has humbled himself more than I'm ready to.
16. Who kissed who first? I kissed him. I was visiting UT for a week and didn't have time for regrets.
17.Who asked who out first? He came to visit me in CA and I took him out on a date.
18. Who proposed? He did and he will regret the way he did for the rest of his life. Long story bu he pretty much had the ring in his pocket and was way too anxious.
19. Who is more sensitive? he is. and he is much more sentimental.
20. Who has more friends? me
21. Who has more siblings? same but I do have 2 step sisters.
22. Who wears the pants in the family? we all wear pants. And we actually have our own pair, so I wouldn't call them "the pants". sometimes the girls wear skirts.

I'm going to go ahead and tag Brooke, Holly and Liz

For Brody's birthday, he got a $20 bill from Great Grandma Chris and knew exactly how he was going to spend it. We went to the store and he proudly carried and purchased his new spider man suit. It cracks me up when he wears it with the mask.

Spanish Fork Fiesta Days

One thing I love about Utah is that most cities have their "city days". This week was Spanish Fork. I feel like I've been lacking in the summer activity department lately so Spanish Fork gave me the boost I needed.
Monday we went to the craft sale and then watched the "Stock Parade". It was a parade of all the animals in the Rodeo and of course those cute cowboys. It was a lot more fun than I thought it would be and they threw tons of candy. Then that night, all the carnival rides were 1 ticket, so the kids had a fun riding rides.
Tuesday we did the Rodeo. Cowboys are serious athletes and tough ones at that.
Wednesday mom needed to rest after Brody's whirlwind b-day.
Thursday we got up for the main parade. I hate parades. The kids had fun but the cowboys still threw out more candy at their parade.


collecting candy at the Stock Parade

they were pretending to be the cowboys and cowgirls from the parade on their horses


at the Rodeo. Our boots were packed away so they didn't have their full get up on.

Main Parade

We are happy, there was just no announcement of a picture being taken



Thanks Spanish Fork for helping time go by faster for Ryan's return home.

Brody turns 5!

We had a pretty fun day.

first we had to open some presents, of course.
He got a batman car from Abbey, Batman and Joker figures from Cloe and a remote control truck from Mom and Dad.

Then we went swimming. The lifeguard had to file an "incident report" on Brody because he was drowning. He jumped in where it was deeper than he thought and she had to pull him out.

We came home and he opened more presents from G'ma and G'pa Allen.

Then after dinner, we went to the Spanish Fork Rodeo. Brody said he didn't smile in this picture because he said his tummy was hurting.



He also got to choose the menu for the day and we had:
Breakfast: fruit loops cereal and watermelon
Lunch: noodles with white sauce (didn't quite taste the same as it did when I'd cook it in Italy)
Dinner: Pepperoni Pizza

Brody what do you want to do before you turn 6?
-go to Chuck E Cheeses
-go bowling
-go to Sea World
-swimming lessons

camping

Do you ever have those moments when you really don't want to do something but you know your kids will love it? And you tell yourself "I"m doing this for the kids, I'm going to take one for the team and they will have so much fun it will totally be worth it." That is what this camping trip was. I'm 26 weeks pregnant and Ryan is out of town. We went with his family and planned on staying 3 nights but I only lasted 2. It wasn't so bad, I was just exhausted. Luckily, Ryan's brother and our brother-in-law took the kids fishing a few times and I wasn't required to go! The kids had a blast and cried when we left before everyone else. I'm glad we went and could make more memories but I will never camp without Ryan again. It's just not the same to do those sorts of things without the whole family and my BFF.

bringing their bikes was the best idea. They rode these up and down the road all day

Abbey and Sage checking out the dead squirrel

eating Grandma's pancakes for breakfast

blog books and swingin solo

I got my blog book yesterday that I made on blurb.com and it is so cool. I love it, I will never scrapbook again. They are inexpensive and really nice. This particular book, documents our time in Italy and it's fun to look back on. Now it seems so weird to think we were there.


Ryan left yesterday to New York for 5 weeks! He's doing that painting course again this summer up in Hunter, NY. He is already very missed! Speaking of missing, he will miss out on moving back into our house. Poor guy, no heavy lifting for those fragile artist hands. I'm predicting some complaining posts in the near future about missing my husband.

I need some advice. Do you have a Dr. you recommend? I had an awesome one for all 3 kids that no longer delivers babies. I've been to 2 now and have not been happy. I'm hoping for some recommendations or I just may have to go against my husbands wishes and go with nurse midwives.

Brody and Gavin's B-day Party

Gavin is Brody's cousin and best bud. They are so cute together when the play and are 10 days apart. Gavin was born on the 11th and Bro on the 22nd. We had a joined party for them this year as an excuse to get together with family and because Ryan will be gone for Brody's actual Birthday. We went up to Ryan's brothers house, Jeremy and stayed way too long. In a good way of course. It was wonderful because the kids played with their cousins the whole time and not much parental interaction was necessary, so plenty of visiting was accomplished. We did the usual, pizza, COSTCO!!!! cake (first one of the year for me, yum yum!), presents and candles. Ryan wasn't so aggressive with the picture taking so not the best documentation. But he got some good presents. T-ball set from Gavin and his sisters, skateboard from Grandma Brown and Optimus Prime and Megatron from Cloe and Abbey. I'd say he made out pretty well and lets hope he doesn't brake another bone on that skateboard. As much as I try to encourage him to be careful and sit on the skateboard, I'll never win.








One more thing, my sister-in-law drove me out to Daybreak community while the kids watched a movie. I had never been out there and there are some cute houses! It looks like a really fun place to live and I loved the style of homes, so cool.

1st swim lesson

I have really been slacking on the blog because I've been doing a blog book on blurb.com. You've got to make one, so cool and addicting. I'm making it of our time in Italy and there is now way I could have scrap booked all those photos for under $100. And not to mention, couldn't have done it in the week it's taken me to put the book together. But I realized I need to journal a little more and maybe a few more pictures. I'm always sensitive to the viewer thinking I don't want to bore you, but now I wish I would have added more journal entries. So from now on, I will only think of myself.


Every year, swim lessons slip my mind because I assume Ryan will teach them and I just don't think of it when it's time to sign up. Ryan taught as a teenager and he taught the little 3 and 4 year old kids. Isn't that so cute! He said he would even make them jump off the high dive! And they would do it!! I finally scheduled a time and then Brody broke his clavicle. So the girls swam and he sat the bench in the hot tub. So glad he doesn't have a cast! They have the hottest swim teacher, great eye candy while I'm sitting on the deck. And I was surprised at how well they listened and followed his instructions. Abbey couldn't take her eye off the "little pool", which is the hot tub.




preparing herself to touch the bottom

the 4th

We had the usual 4th of July celebration. BBQ with family and then entertain the kids with fireworks. We went to Ryan's uncle's house in Provo and waited and waited for the Stadium of Fire show to begin. Right as the show began, Brody fell and broke his clavicle! Poor kid was in so much pain but I couldn't stop thinking of having to go to the ER without insurance. We took him in and sure enough it's broken. He broke the other side about 2 years ago. He was tough and the Dr said he was trying to avoid doing X-rays, to save us money but because he wasn't acting like he was in too much pain, he couldn't quite tell if it was broken or if his shoulder was just out.

But I do love the 4th of July and it's meaning. It's one of my favorite holidays and I'm so happy to be in America this year for it. I love this country and respect all servicemen who serve our country.

Provo Freedom Festival

To get into the spirit of the 4th, we took the kids to the Freedom Festival on the 3rd. And I was once again disappointed in all the booths. They all seem to be people selling stuff they've made, and way over price. I'm all about being crafty and making money (I've done it myself), but come one, $25 for a ribbon tu-tu! I'll force myself to make one at that price.
Anyways, the kids had fun once we bought some juice and corn on the cob. We watched the performers and when they were finished, my kids got on the stage and tried to copy them. It was funny to see the moves they picked up on.