Ryan - Happy (St. Paddy's) Birthday

Yesterday, March 17th, was Ryan's Birthday!
All of the kids were gone, so for the most part, it was a little quieter and more kicked back than we're used to.
Both Ryan and I had to work, so the day went pretty much as usual. (Other than he had to drive to work with about 100 balloons in his car, a birthday banner behind his head and most of the windows in the Tahoe painted with birthday messages compliments of Chloe and Mariah.)
In the evening, we met Mike & Brenda (who happened to be celebrating their 31st Wedding Anniversary) and my Parents at Red Lobster for dinner. Then we spent awhile looking at the freaks in the bookstore, before going home and opening cards and presents with just the two of us.

I thought it was a really nice day, hopefully Ryan enjoyed it too! It is a lot of fun, having all of our 'Firsts' together.

Even Crazier than Usual

This past couple of weeks have been even busier than normal, (which is hard to believe.)
With the coming of Spring comes soccer season. the last 2 weeks have consisted of 2 soccer practices a week for Hayley, Darby, Zack and Sadie. Saturday, March 7th were the first games of the season, thankfully both Hayley and Darby play on the same team, so that limits our games to 3 a Saturday instead of 4.
Also, during the last 2 weeks, Darby & Sadie have had the normal Dance rehearsals, plus 2 performances and Dance company pictures.
Grant also started full-blown scouting now that he is 12, and both Grant and Chloe had most of last week home from school with bronchitis.
On Saturday, Grandma Nene came to visit for a week.
Everyone in the house (except me, thankfully) is still coughing to some degree or another. Ryan is starting to get MUCH better, but the Doctor said the cough could linger up to a month after he finished the anti-biotic.
Whew! I'm tired!
That's the low-down on the home-front!

Grant is 12

On Wednesday, February 25th, Grant had his landmark
12th Birthday!
He leaves for school at 6:45 a.m. so his day began with just he and I eating cinnamon rolls. He humored me singing to him with my morning voice and blew out one pink candle.

(As you can see, he obviously wasn't awake.)

He also found out that trying to lick the frosting off a candle that has been sticking in a just-out-of-the-oven cinnamon roll, doesn't work so well, because all the hot wax comes off in your mouth. YUM!

He got a 'Seat-belt' belt from the Jensen's

The family gave him a skate-board

And, Hayley and Mariah teamed up to give him a face-full of German chocolate cake. (He was a VERY good sport about it!)

This Sunday, March 8th, he will be ordained a Deacon.
We are very proud of this handsome young man!

Happy Birthday Bud!

Sick, sick, sick....

Right now our house should have a big QUARANTINED sign on the front door.
I think every single one of us is sick to some degree or another. It varies from a stuffy nose to pneumonia. Yes, Ryan has pneumonia! (He wins! He is the most ill.)
I think I may kick everyone out of the house this evening and make one big swoop with a can of Lysol.

My Valentine

This handsome man is My Valentine. The card he gave me, said something to the effect that the best thing about our first Valentine's Day together was knowing that it would not be our last. And, I must echo those sentiments. I am so in love with and grateful for Ryan. I can't imagine anything better than looking forward to the Eternities with him.
We have been married 6 months. Yesterday in church, we were asked to introduce and tell a little bit about ourselves. Everyone laughed when I said we had been married six months and had six kids.
Bringing 8 people together in our home has had more challenges than either Ryan or I anticipated. I know that I have a lot of baggage that I brought with me that Ryan has to deal with on a daily basis. So, multiply that by 8, and you can imagine that things are probably going much better than we could have realistically hoped for.
I am so grateful to have Ryan in my life. He is so patient and kind. He is such a great guy, and honestly does everything he can to be a peacemaker in our home. He is much more Christ-like than I am. He is so good to me. He opens doors for me, he always saves a place for me next to him, he helps with or makes dinner almost every night and he puts my appointments in his calendar and encourages me to go... Honestly, the list of things he does for me goes on and on.

On Friday, Ryan sent me singing Valentine to work. I was sufficiently embarrassed at having 6 people standing around my desk, singing to me. But, it was so sweet. I really appreciated it.

This is the group we had dinner with on Saturday night. It was so nice, we had a room above Staheli Catering all to ourselves, we could laugh and talk as loud and as long as we wanted to.
Brenda, Mike, Mom, Dad, Me, Ryan, Bonnie & Kenny
(Josh & Kenny have been good sports to be Valentine dates for their Aunts on more than one occasion.)

I am a Blogging Loser!

It has been almost a full 4 weeks since I updated anything on my blog.
Life has been crazy, as usual. But, more than anything, I guess I haven't had much to say. (I know, ME without much to say... it doesn't seem likely does it?)
Sadie and Darby are both dancing with the Pizazz Dance Team this year. They had 4 performances during the month of January which meant a few extra, and longer rehearsals. Thankfully Mariah dances also, so we could car-pool much of the time.
I was released as Nursery leader, and called to be the Ward Camp Director. Last year I was the Assistant Camp Director, but the Director didn't go to camp, because she had just had a baby. I guess I passed my trial run, and they decided to keep me. (OR, maybe I failed miserably, and have to do it again.)
Chloe has had my digital camera to use in her Film Making class at school. So, I will update some activities and pictures when I get my camera back.

New Year!

Wow! 2008 was quite a year!
It was a year ago that I received an email from some young guy in Arizona, saying he was "Interested" in Me. And, from there we began occasionally emailing each other. On February 14th, after having a particularly BAD day at work, I received a text message from a number I didn't recognize saying, "Happy Valentines Day" and of course my poetic response was, "Who is this?" the response was, "Ryan Allred." the emails continued until St. Patrick's Day, which happened to be Ryan's Birthday, (hmm... I'm noticing a holiday theme,) when we started 'chatting' online every night. And pretty much the rest is history...
We spent a weekend in Tucson, May 2nd, 3rd & 4th; then met again in Phoenix for Memorial Day Weekend, and after that I was hooked.
We have been married for almost 5 months now. Our lives are crazy and at times it feels like we're spinning out of control, but overall it is great!
Ryan is a great guy, and I completely adore him. And to quote a plaque I was given on my birthday, "It's never too late to live happily ever after."