California

How I love California. Even when I am sitting on the beach cold because of June gloom and the sun did not want to shine. We had fun and enjoyed it all.
Two sets of pictures. The first set are the pictures that turned out the best. I am glad I have a digital camera and can take multiple pictures. I remember when I would hope that the picture turned out after it had been developed.
The second set of pictures are the pictures that just made me laugh. I would get the kids all ready for a picture and one wouldn't smile or one would turn away. I was even taking a picture of everyone in the ocean and a woman walked in front of me. But they are great pictures and it was a great vacation. Thank you to Jason and Shelley for letting us crash at their place we had fun.

You know it's summer when...

You know it's summer when...

• My kids hair is green, we actually noticed it on June 9th.
• My kids tans lines are great. I think Kate could be the Coppertone baby with the white bottom and tan body. Yes, I use sunblock we are just outside swimming all the time.
• When I do laundry I only have two pairs of underwear per kid because they don't shower, they swim.
• I can't count the number of times I have yelled "shut the door the AC is on."
• I have burns on my legs from the car seat. We have leather and it hurts when it is hot and poor Kate's car seat gets so hot I have to put a towel over it so she doesn't get burned.
• My dinners consist of cold cereal, sandwiches and anything that can be microwaved. Who wants to heat up the house by turning on the oven?
• I have fruit in my fridge that tastes good and I didn't have to take out a small loan to buy it.
• The lifeguards at Stapley pool know us and know we have a family pass.
• I am counting the days down until we go to California, only five more.

I hope you are all having a great summer!!!

Utah Valley Half Marathon

Ryan had a guys trip last weekend up to Provo to run the Utah Valley Half Marathon. The run goes through Provo canyon and he says it was beautiful. He ran his race quite fast. He wanted to run a half marathon hard, since the only other one he has run was with me and for him it was an easy run. He averaged about a 6:55 mile pace. He said the last mile was killer and he only had a 7:30 pace, his words not mine. I wish I could only have a 7:30 pace. For 30 seconds I ran on the treadmill at a 6:55 pace and wanted to throw up. He was happy with his results and he is well on his way for an under three hour marathon which is his goal for St. George.

So what was his overall time One hour, 30 minutes and 58 seconds, first place in his age group.

Way to go Ryan!!!

My Kate

This is my Kate and she does and says so many funny things that I have to blog about so I have a journal of it. I have been writing down things for awhile and I am just now getting to blog about her.

First of all she is all girl. She wears a dress and twirls in it every chance she gets. It makes me laugh. She will dance around and act so girly. Yet, she wants to play ball, tag, and do anything else her older brothers are doing. So when I see this I think there is hope and she won't be too much of a girly girl and that she may want to play sports too.

The picture that looks life a black eye is actually Kate putting on make-up. She loves the stuff and everyday when I get ready she is right there with me getting ready too. I only hope she gets better at applying the make-up, but probably not since she is my daughter and I am not good at make-up.

Kate also thinks she needs to wear boys underwear. I was hoping when Kate was putting on Jay's underwear that she might want to be potty trained. No such luck she just wanted to dress up.

Kate loves her pacifier. I posted earlier that we were getting rid of it and we have succeeded in keeping it from her until night time. For one week she didn't have it and slept horribly. One night we gave it to her and she slept through the night. Since then she gets it at night only. But before we took it away we were trying to have her have it only in the car or when she was sleeping. So I would find Kate throughout the day going into her room getting her pacifier and laying down on Jay's bed. I called it her paci fix and she needed it.

Kate loves to play on the computer. Her favorite is to color a picture of the prophet on the Friend website. So periodically throughout the day Kate will yell, and I mean yell, PROPHET. I would then be expected to drop everything and set up the computer for her to color. A friend finally told me to print the picture out and that has made it a lot better. But really who can turn down a two year old yelling PROPHET?

Kate also has favorites. Well really one favorite and it is anything pink. She will get whatever it is and hold it to her chest well saying "my favorite" and rocking back and forth. It really is too cute.

Kate and I also play a game of who is the cutest. When I need my ego stroked I will tell Kate she is cute. Her response it "no, mommy cute." I will then say "no, Kate cute." Then she responds "no, mommy cute." This game can go on for awhile and I always feel good about myself after. Kate will also pat my back when I pick her up. I love getting hugs from her cause she squeezes so hard and pats my back at the same time. It is great.

Also one day I was putting her down for a nap only to discover she had Cheetos in her pocket. I guess it is that third child thing and needing to hoard food because the older kids take it.

This story is my favorite and it came from a woman in my ward. In sacrament meeting Kate way laying on her tummy, knees bent and leaning on her elbows with the scriptures open (upside down but still open) in front of her. She was turning the pages as carefully as her little fingers would let her. Then when she came to a page with highlighted verses she would touch them before turning another page. My friend and her daughter couldn't get enough of this and I am so glad she emailed me the story. I had no idea she was doing this since Kate was in the aisle and I was sitting next to Ryan. Ryan was annoyed that Kate had taken everything out of his scriptures and wasn't really paying attention. But when I read this story it made me smile.

I love Kate and love all of the silly, fun, sweet things she does.

Jay

My Jay is five. Five years ago today Ryan had a broken ankle and I was having a baby. We were not in good shape, but we survived and have our Jay McRae Ricedorff. He is such a sweetheart, when he wants to be. Last week when we were hiking I was carrying him on my back and tickling him with my hair. He then tells me "mom your hair is soft." I said that is so nice I like it when you say things like that. He then proceeded to say "you like it when I tell you I love you , and that the church is true, and that I feel the spirit in my heart and head." See he can be so sweet and then the next minute decide he doesn't want to be and push Kate down.

Jay is now wanting to be called Alvin. There are days he will not do a single thing I ask him to unless I call him Alvin.

He is going to be starting pre-kindergarten, as we like to call it, in the fall since the plan is to have him do kindergarten twice. We like the idea of him being the oldest instead of the youngest. Even though I think academically he would be fine. He is just a little bit smaller, and by smaller I mean he weighs next to nothing, than the average five year old so we will have him be older. His weight could probably be contributed to the fact that he only eats a few things... cotta (cottage cheese), hot dogs, fruit snacks, grapes, pizza, canned green beans (on occasion), eggs, bananas, string cheese and that might be it. It is a battle each night at dinner to get him to eat. He usually goes to bed hungry. I feel bad but I want him to eat.

Jay is also working on his contractions. Usually he doesn't use them which is probably best because when he does he says things like no I amn't. Which I think means no I am not. He uses this contraction often and I try to correct him but yet I think it is cute so I don't try too hard to correct him.

He is my Jay and I will keep him even though he keeps me on my toes.

Memorial Weekend

How grateful I am to the many men and women who have gave their lives for this great nation. Because of their service and the service of the men and women who survived I am free to enjoy the many activities this nation has to offer.
I love Memorial Day weekend. Every year we head up to Show Low so Ryan can play softball, have I ever taken any pictures of that, no. But I did take pictures of the wonderful hike we went on. On Sunday afternoon Rebecca took us all on a hike. It was a two mile stroll next to a stream that ended at the fish hatchery. It was beautiful and the weather was perfect. It was so nice to be outside and enjoying each other's company. We had a great time and I can't wait till next year to celebrate Memorial Day again. Thank you Randy and Rebecca for opening your home to us and thank you Rathen for giving up your room.

Pictured: The group of hikers, Jack and Rhett trying to catch a crawdad, Ryan, Kate and Jay playing in the stream, and Kate playing in the dirt at the ball field, I think she got the dirtiest.

Drive in movie and more

We loaded up the truck with a mattress, blankets, and lots of treats and headed to the drive ins to watch "Shrek Forever After". The movie was all right but we had so much fun hanging out in the back of the truck and playing. We made sure the kids and adults got a nap so staying up late was no big deal. We all made it through the movie and had a grand ole time. Great idea Ryan I am happy to be married to you.
Now for the more part. It is a sad day in the Ricedorff home. We have given Allie our dog away. The kids are all so sad and will ask us when is Allie coming back and we have to say never. I liked having a dog but she was just too big for our little family. She liked to jump on poor Kate and knock her down and then Kate would scream and Allie would think it's play time. It was just too much, maybe someday in the future we will get another dog.
I have also taken the pacifier away from Kate. It has only been a day but I think she is figuring it out that it is no longer available. We will see how the night goes, cause she didn't take a nap for me.