Duck Hunting 2012

Yep!!! It is that time of the year again.  It only took 4 times of going out but was finally lucky enough to get one.  Here are some pictures.  Ryan loved to play with it and just wanted to hold it.

Family Pictures 2012

Our cute neighbor, Nan, really wanted to take family pictures for someone.  So we of course volunteered!  They turned our really cute!!

Friends

 Ryan LOVES his friends.  He plays with them every chance he gets.  We live in such a great little area and I love that we have all have friends.

This is Preslie and her grandma.  Grandma comes and watches Preslie while her mommy does her student teaching and her daddy is at school.

Kyndee, such a sweet little girl

Ryan and Preslie are best friends.  They are so cute together.  We keep trying to get a picture of them holding hands, but when we actually have a camera only one of them is willing to hold hands.

They all love each other.  Kyndee's sister Reagan is missing from this picture

Time to Slow Down

The last couple of months have been so busy.  I don't think we have had a single weekend where we haven't had at least one thing going on.  On top of everything that has been going on I have been super busy with school and Ben has been busy with work and school.  I have so much homework due on Monday's.  I feel bad that Ryan has to watch more cartoons than I would like so that I can get it all done.  Luckily, things are starting to slow down.  I look forward to being able to spend some quality time together as a family.

On the list of things that need to slow down is Ryan.  He is growing up way too fast.  He is learning so much.  I LOVE when he learns new words.  He is getting so independent.  He wants to be just like mom and dad.  We have been taking advantage of the cool weather to go on many walks; one of his favorite things.  We have also been spending as much time as we can playing outside before it gets too cold.  

Tiff and Jason

Ben's Sister Tiffany and her husband Jason

Tiff and Jason are two of our favorite people.  Jason was offered a job near Chicago about a month ago.  He has been gone for a few weeks and Tiff stayed here until after Aaron's wedding.  Jason came back for it.  We are excited for them but at the same time we are very sad to have them so far away.  Ben's going to miss having his brother-in-law to hang out with.  Good-byes were pretty emotional for everyone.  We look forward to when they come to visit!  Good luck in Illinois Tiff and Jason!  We love you guys!!

American Falls

I forgot the camera at home so there are no pictures of this vacation :(

Over labor day weekend we went to American Falls, Idaho to visit some of my family.  We went to see my aunt, uncle, my cousin and her husband and their kids.  My aunt recently quit her job and started a day care.  She had kids there every day but labor day.  Because of this we didn't really go and do anything, but we still had so much fun.  Ryan loved playing with his cousin Kylie.  She is just a few months younger than him.  Ryan loved playing with ALL the new toys, he loved playing on the swing set and the big slide outside.  He loved playing in the sandbox and the water table.  We went to the fish hatchery and fed all the fish.  Ryan had SO much fun.  He was pretty mad when it was time to leave.  When he ran out of food for the fish the first couple of times he would get mad.  After that he realized he could just pull Daddy over to the fish food to get more.  One of the best things about visiting family (besides the fact that we got to see them of course) is that we had a free place to stay, and free food.  We didn't have to do anything.  

3 Years

Ben and I celebrated our third anniversary at the beginning of this month.  Ben took me to Melina's (ok, it used to be called Melina's, now it's Bella's) for dinner.  Afterward we went to Toads and had fun on the go-karts and hanging out in the arcade.  It's amazing that in a matter of just three years it feels like we have always been together.  I can't imagine my life without Ben.  He is such a great husband.  I thank my Heavenly Father everyday for him and for Ryan.  Ben is such a blessing in my life.  I'm grateful that he works so hard to support us.  I love you Ben...more and more everyday! 

Grandma's Visit

My grandma came to visit for a week.  She came to our house one day for a couple of hours and than the next day we went to my dads and spent most of the day there.  It has been a long time since I have seen her.  I don't remember her last visit, but I remember the one before that.  It was good to see her.  Hopefully it won't be too extremely long before we get to see her again.
 

Grandma taught us how to make her cheesecake.  I didn't get a picture of the final thing but it was so, so good!!

Ryan LOVED the dogs and cat, especially the cat.  This cat would let him do just about anything.

My dad has a squirrel nest in the rafters of his carport and the mama just had babies.  This little baby must have tried to follow his mama when she left and fell (a long ways down) onto the cement.  He was still alive.  We stuck him back up next to his nest.  We stuck a pillow on the ground just in case he fell out again.  Well he did fall out again and landed next to the pillow.  Mama came back about that time and she was not happy!  She ran across the roof which scared me and than she jumped off the roof and landed literally inches from me.  She went to her nest and we were able to put the baby in a little box and stick up there so she could take it back to the nest.  It all ended well.

The Move

 At the end of February we moved...again.  This is our third place in almost three years.  I know we said this about our last place, but we plan on staying in this apartment until we can afford to buy a house.  We love the place!  My favorite part about it is that there is a dishwasher and Ben's favorite thing is having a two car garage rather than a one car.  Our old place had two bedrooms and one bathroom.  This place has three bedrooms and two bathrooms.  It has a fenced in backyard.  There is a playground and a gym (which we still have yet to use). 

Kitchen

Dining Room

Living Room

Office

Ryan's Room

Second Bathroom

 

  

 

My Mischievous Little Boy

Ryan has done some funny mischievous things lately.

Climbing all over the boxes when we were packing

I got Ben some carmal popcorn stuff and Ryan got the bag out and ripped it apart so he could have some.

He thought it would be fun to climb in the dryer and does this quite often now

He got a hold of a pen and drew on his face (he was mad that I took the pen away)

He was standing on a chair playing with mixing bowls while I did dishes. I turned my back to grab something and he climbed onto the counter.

Yesterday he was sitting on our bathroom counter while Ben and I were getting ready. He grabbed my perfume (At this point we had our backs turned) and he sprayed himself with it, so he got to smell like mommy yesterday. Today he grabbed Ben's deodorant and put the lid in his mouth, so today he smelled like daddy.