15 Years Already

It has been 15 years since I said I do to my man for eternity and I would do it all over again. We celebrated our 15 year anniversary by hiking Camelback Mountain something neither of us had done even though we are Arizona Natives. It is a great hike but tough at the end. I was using my hands to climb up parts and going back down was steep but it is worth the view once you have made it to the top. After that we went to our hotel cleaned up, went to dinner and shopped. I will spare the other details but it was a great night without kids.
Here are 15 reasons I love my husband.
1. He honors his priesthood.
2. He loves to play with his children. Ryan will wrestle, play basketball, jump on the tramp, anything with Jack, Jay and Kate all the time.
3. He loves sports. He is so happy playing or watching any sport but especially football.
4. He is a very friendly man. He can talk to anyone.
5. He is comfortable anywhere. I am always amazed at how he can put his feet up and relax anywhere. He can also fall asleep anywhere too.
6. He pushes me to be a better person.
7. He has simple tastes. He is content to just be.
8. He loves Nike shoes and if he goes into a Nike store has a hard time leaving without buying something.
9. He is frugal and will take his time to find what he wants for the right price, unless it's Nike shoes.
10. He loves to shop. I know if he buys me something I will not have to return it. He has good taste.
11. He loves to run.
12. He has a lot of friends.
13. He is growing in his calling of second counselor and is learning so much from it. I love watching him conduct on Sundays.
14. He loves his family, his mom and dad, brothers and sisters, and even his in-laws.
15. He listens to me whine and lets me vent without judging me.
I love Ryan and I am so happy to have been married to him for 15 years now. I can't believe how fast time goes. I swear we were just newlyweds in PA trying to figure out how to be married. We still have some figuring out but it sure is fun to do.

Christmas

I just love Christmas. I always say my favorite holiday is Thanksgiving but Christmas is right up there. I love how my kids get so excited for it and so do I. In fact in the morning I was trying to get Jack to wake up at 6:30 when he wasn't waking up. He came into my room around 1:30 wanting Christmas to happen then and I said no so he slept on the floor next to my bed. Around 6:15 I woke up and he wasn't awake so I kept poking him until he woke up. Finally he did I was so excited for my kids to see if Santa had come. I try to explain what Christmas is about but all Kate says is "it's about fun." And it is it is fun to remember the birth of Jesus Christ, it is fun to hang out with family, and it is fun to see my children's reaction on Christmas morning.

Here are the pictures from Christmas and Christmas Eve.

On Christmas Eve we went to the Temple to look at the nativities. The Temple has nativities from around the world and if you go during the day you can actually see them. I think the nativities are so neat and love walking around the Temple without the crowds of people the Temple lights bring.

Ryan, Kate, Rolana, Rhett, Dyan, Jack, Jay and Rachelle

 Christmas Eve night we went to the Ricedorff's to eat, open presents and to do the nativity. Her are the pretty angels, Mary, and baby Jesus. Tessa, Kate, Shelley, and Callie

 The shepard  Jack.

 The wise men Jay and Kaden with the sheep, Zoey the dog.

 My kids in their new Christmas pj's. I let them open the present in the morning Christmas Eve. I was excited to let them open gifts. Jay, Kate and Jack. I did have a picture of Jack not making this face but his real smile is worse than his silly smile.

 Christmas morning. Santa brought Kate a new princess bike. That is all she asked for and was so excited to get it. Now we just need to get her riding more.

 Jack showing off the new Xbox Kinect. Santa broke down and got a gaming system for the family. I don't like gaming systems but since our summers are so incredibly hot and I was tired of the kids sitting and watching TV all day we let Santa bring the Kinect in hopes of getting our children to move more in the summer.

 Jay with the Kinect. The boys were so excited to get one. I think we were the last people on the earth who didn't have some sort of gaming system. And it has been fun playing the games. Wipe Out cracks me up and watching Jeremy dance to Lollipop was priceless.

 All ready for church. Jack, Jay and Kate they are so cute and I loved going to church on Christmas day. It really set the spirit. Although I think my favorite is when Christmas Eve is on Sunday. But either way it was a great sacrament meeting.

 Christmas night takes us to my parents. It is complete chaos but I love it. My dad reads Luke 2 and the kids all get to play with their cousins. Then the adults do a white elephant gift exchange and we laugh and eat and talk. It is a perfect way to end Christmas.

Santa

I borrowed okay copied these thoughts on Santa from another blog. It is how I think and how I wish I could explain Santa to my kids. I love it and love everything about Christmas. I can't wait till the morning to see my kid's faces. 
           Is there a fat guy in a red suit hanging out with reindeer and elves at the North Pole, squeezing down chimneys and smoking his pipe in people’s living rooms? I’ll grant you, probably not. But I firmly believe in all the wonder and magic and charity that Santa embodies. There is something special about Christmastime that is hard to put into words. It has to do with divine love and the incarnation of God into the form of a tiny Jewish baby.
          I admit that every Christmas morning, a small part of me wonders if there will be a surprise by the tree that wasn’t there when I went to bed the night before. Some token left by a guy in a sleigh. Every year I wake up to squeals of joy from my children and come downstairs and find that everything is as I left it the night before. But somehow I find that I’m not disappointed by this. I may have bought the gifts and stuffed the stockings myself, but all of these things become transformed in the night. By the time the kids wake up, the magic has happened. Santa has come.

Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!

          

Christmas at Disneyland

I have heard from many others that Christmas at Disneyland is a must do. Well, it's true. I loved it. From the lack of people, the beautiful decorations, the fun parade and the snow. It was all good. It was also the first family vacation we have taken all year with just my family and we have taken many vacations so that was a lot of fun.
Here are my favorites from the Happiest Place on Earth, in no particular order.
-Kate being tall enough to ride a lot more rides. We took her on Soaring over California and she asks "are we still at Disneyland?" I loved it.
-Jay finally being tall enough to go on Screaming and loving it. He wanted to go again and again. I think he rode the ride about six times. And was so disappointed on the last day because it was closed.
-Jack telling everyone "Happy Birthday" when he saw a button and then getting his own so he could have the attention.
-Ryan feeling sick after the Ariel ride. It might be one of the slowest rides yet it made him sick, in fact most of the rides made him sick.
-Jack and Jay wanting to go on the river rafting ride even though it was cold and they would get wet. They didn't care and went on the ride three or four times.
-Staying late with just Jack and getting to spend some one on one time with him.
-Leaving the park early so Jay could watch the Black Diamonds play their game. He kept insisting we leave to watch the game. I really think he wanted to be out of Disneyland before the fireworks started.
-Watching the parade. I staked out a spot early and Kate fell asleep so I made friends with the people around me and people watched. It was so relaxing and enjoyable.
-Running into my cousin Jimmy and the Severtson's. It's funny how you can be so far from home yet still see people you know.
-Getting to ride the Star Tours ride. I think that might be my favorite ride.
-Jay saying "this is the Christmas spirit."
Here are a few of my favorites I am sure I will remember more and add them later. It was a great trip and the last one for awhile. Ryan says at least five more years before we go back to Disneyland and when we do it will be at Christmas time.

My family below by the giant Christmas tree.

Jack and Kate in the teacups, Kate loves them and says they are her favorites.

Jack and me on the Tower of Terror.

Ryan, Kate and Jay on Ryan's favorite ride Monster's Inc. It used to be Jay's but Screaming took over.

The entire family on Space Mountain. Kate looks so little and said the ride when fast.

Jack and Jay on the River Rafting ride. They didn't seem to mind getting wet.

Me and Jay on Screaming, I love the look on Jay's face. He is having a ball.

My Jack is 9

My Jack is nine today. He is such a great boy and I love how he is growing. He is becoming such a gentlemen and learning so much. Jack loves to play. He can make a game of anything and is very easy going and willing to try new things. He has no fear and such a soft heart. Jack is the biggest helper. He mostly does what he is asked and tries to always choose the right. He loves sports and wants to be in a band. He is getting pretty good at the piano but getting him to practice is very hard. But once he does he loves playing. Jack loves school because it is a social place to be, not because he likes to do the school work. He loves recess and reading but struggles with his math facts and comprehension. Jack loves to get his picture taken but to get him to smile normally is a very hard thing to do. He loves to make funny faces. Jack has had about 15 girlfriends this year. Which really worries me because he is only nine.
Jack is sweet and I am truly blessed to have this boy to raise.

Happy Birthday Jack!!!

The Black Diamonds

There is a new football team in town. The Black Diamonds. Jay has created this team and they are good. They never lose and play teams such as Show Low, ASU, Oregon, the Packers, the Patriots and even the Cardinals. In fact coming up on Saturday the Black Diamonds play ASU and the winner then will play LSU. Jay swears there is a team and wants to watch them constantly. When the game is on Jay will give you a play by play and let you know who is winning, who scored a touchdown and how many field goals were blocked. It is great fun to listen to Jay describe the team and the game. The best part though is to listen to Jay describe the uniforms. I was under the impression the Black Diamonds would have all black uniforms, but I was wrong. There are two uniforms. The first one has purple helmets with a green face mask and a red diamond on one side and a blue diamond on the other. These uniforms are mostly black but the numbers are brown. The other uniforms are orange and white with black helmets. At one point the uniforms had all of the colors of the rainbow on them. But I guess Nike was able to get new ones for the team. I hope he always has this good of an imagination.

Kate's dance

Kate had her first dance recital and it was so dang cute. I am in awe of what Miss Beverly can get the girls to do. Kate was so excited to go and when we walked into Stapley's auditorium she got scared and said she didn't want to do it. I dropped her where she needed to go but first had to snap a few pictures of her not smiling. The performance went off without a hitch, I am sure Beverly would disagree, but the girls did great and now that Kate has one performance under her belt maybe in the next one she will do that much better.

Kate at home before the performance, she was a mermaid.

 Kate not smiling with her friends, Jersi, Keelie and Trissy.

 Kate and Keelie after the performance Grandma Goodman gave them flowers and it made Kate's day.

So thankful

I have so much to be thankful for. This past weekend I was reminded once again how nice my life is. I love Thanksgiving. It is my favorite holiday. I love spending time with my family, eating and remembering what I have to be thankful for. I took all of one picture on Thanksgiving and it is of the girls. I love these girls. I have been blessed to have so many great examples of women who are strong and faithful in the gospel. Thank you for your wonderful example and service to me.

The next day I woke up way too early because I had gone shopping for Black Friday on Thursday night and got home around 2:15 and got to sleep around 2:30. Jay came into my room around 7am and was so excited to make posters that day. Jay and I were laying  in bed and talking when Jays says "mom, lets get some breakfast." So I say, "what you are making me breakfast in bed?" That was all it took and Jay was off to the kitchen to make me breakfast. I had to get a shot of him walking in the door and what my breakfast was, a bread and butter sandwich, banana and a cup of milk. It was yummy and I love that Jay did this. I even got to stay in bed a little longer so I wasn't nearly as tired.

 Later that Friday we got to drive up to Prescott Valley for Abby's baptism. I didn't get any pictures of her but I did get a shot of my family. We had such a great time going to visit the Platts and hanging out with my family. We were fortunate to get to stay the night and had fun hanging out watching football and chatting. Karrie was a great host and I can't wait to go back to visit. I told her to expect me for weeks during the summer.

On Saturday we got to drive up to Flagstaff for the Show Low High School State Championship football game. Unfortunately they lost to Blue Ridge but we still had a great time cheering on the Cougars and hanging with Ryan's family. The Ricedorffs are great and always make me laugh.

I had such a great Thanksgiving weekend and I have so much to be grateful for.

football

We had a successful football season. Jack's team only lost two games and we thought they would go further in the playoffs but lost in the first round. Jack was bummed but we had a great time cheering him on. In one game when there were only five players Jack got to play the entire game and had two pick sixes. He loved it.

Jay's season was not as successful but you could see a difference in the players from the first game to the last. I don't think Jay won a game all season but he scored two touchdowns and in one game he says he pulled "like a 100 flags." The two times Jay scored a touchdown he says "I looked back and saw a kid coming to pull my flag so I turned on the jets so he couldn't get me." He was so fun to watch and I know we will be watching many more football games in the future.
Below are pictures of Jay playing football. He improved so much and had so much fun.

Jack was the quarterback and said at the beginning of the season he was going to be the "next Rathen Ricedorff." Gotta love the confidence.

From here to there

We have moved from here

To there about a quarter of a mile from our old house.

Halloween

Happy Halloween

We had a great Halloween. We went to my parents ward party and met up with my mom and Matt, Julie and her family and Joe and his family. I always love seeing the family. We ate yummy chili and great fry bread (I think I had 4 pieces of the fry bread, it was that good), and then went trick or treating around the neighborhood. It was great especially listening to Kate and Keelie call each other Tinkerbell and Annalise. Once we hit all of the houses we wanted in my parents neighborhood we went back to my own neighborhood and met up with Jason and his family. Jack wanted to go to all of the scary houses and now Kate will not sleep in her bed at night. We had a great time and can't wait till next year to see what my kids will dress up as.

Jay (Vampire), Kate (Tinkerbell), Jack (Zombie)

Taylor and Jack both as Zombies I think.

The three little princesses.

The group of kids, minus Keelie, Jay, Jack, Ty, Wyatt, Taylor's friend, Taylor, Kyley (as a pregnant teenager), Hadlie and Kate.

Jay's second lost tooth

I have no pictures of Jay's second lost tooth just a funny story. Yesterday was Sunday and Ryan was in Primary giving a spiritual thought. Jay was also in primary and has had a loose tooth for awhile. Well, while in primary Jay walks up to Ryan and says "here hold this." Ryan was thinking what is this. It was Jay's tooth. Ryan then asks Jay "when did you loose this" and Jay says "just now, here take it." So no drama or pain in the second lost tooth just like the first one. So that night Jay puts his tooth under his pillow for the tooth fairy to come. This morning he wakes up and can't find his tooth and there is no money. I should now tell you that I knew the tooth fairy was not coming because all she had was a 20 and Jay was not getting a 20 for a tooth. Anyway Jay says to Ryan and I, "I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't find my tooth and had $2.00 so I put the money in my wallet and went back to sleep." I look at Ryan and mouth did you do this because I didn't and Ryan says no I didn't do anything. But the tooth is not under the pillow. We look around and find the tooth but Jay still swore that he got $2.00. I am thinking great the job is done. When Jay starts thinking maybe it was a dream and then counts his money in his wallet and only has $8.00 not the 10 he should have if he got the tooth fairy money. So he figured out the tooth fairy didn't come and now I need to break a 20.

California

Finally I am posting about the family trip to California. After my cruise Ryan met me in Cali and we partied it up going to Disneyland (where I took two pictures total, where it was crazy busy, and all my kids wanted to do was go to the beach, I know my kids are spoiled, but it was fun). We also got a smoking deal on a time share hotel, The Newport Coast Villas. It was actually more like an apartment, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, full kitchen and family room. It was nice. So we invited the Platts and Joe and Cassie and split it three ways. One hundred dollars for the three nights and four days. Not bad. The only bad thing was listening to a two hour time share presentation. But we figure it's the Platts or Joe and Cassie's turn to go next year. We figure we can stay in this hotel for the rest of our lives without buying the timeshare if we work it right.
We had a great time. I am glad Karrie decided to come, she was iffy because she was by herself and Joe and Cassie were great. Joe takes the kids on adventures and entertains them.
Here are the pictures below.
My family, it is so hard to get us all looking and making normal faces at the same time.

The entire group, Jake, Jack, Dyan, Karrie, Jay, Ryan, Kate, Hannah, Abby, Annie, Keelie, Hadlie, Joe and Cassie. It was so nice to have so many kids, my kids were entertained and so was I because I had so many adults to talk to.

Jack and Jake showing off their mad hops. We went to Laguana Beach a couple of times and the boys loved jumping off the boardwalk.


The three little girls. Kate mostly played with Hannah but the girls still stuck together and played. It is so fun to watch them interact.

Abby and Jay were inseparable. They hung out the entire time. We liked to call them the skin and bones club and they are the only two people that can actually join. They had many games going on and were in there own little world the entire trip. I loved it.

Kate and Hannah, playing soul surfer. They pretended to be Alana and Bethany the entire trip. They would take turns being Bethany and walk around with their arm behind their back like it had been bitten off by a shark. The best part was Karrie always had to be the mom. So whenever they called for mom Karrie had to help out.

The girls at the beach. They all loved being outside and playing.

Keelie, Abby, Kate, Annie, Hadlie, and Hannah

Ryan and Jack hanging out. I love how Jack looks up to his dad and I love how Ryan just hangs with him and talks with him.

The kids at the beach. It was a great trip and can't wait to go next year and not have to listen to the timeshare presentation.

Jake, Jack, Hannah, Jay, Abby, Annie, Kate, Keelie, Hadlie

Kate and Hannah again playing "Soul Serfer." It entertained them for hours.