"i can see clearly now!"

Ryanna is absolutely thrilled with her new glasses! She insists on wearing them constantly and does a pretty good job at leaving them alone. She spit-shines them when they're "dirty" and always puts them back into her little case. She beams up at you, waiting with bated breath for you to praise her on her spectacles! Not to mention she looks adorable. Not exactly sure where she gets the nearsightedness and astigmatism. I blame her dad.

She keeps saying, "NO WAY!" at things that are far away and "Oooohhhh! I didn't know that's what it looked like!" Because she couldn't see things that clearly...until now!

Carter looked so handsome in his little outfit. He can finally fit into these 18-month-old church clothes that were Dawson's. He's so snazzy!

At the times of these photo shoots, Dawson was catching some Zzzzz's and didn't want to be disrupted. Oh well, next time! And YES, those are pajamas. I can't seem to keep him out of them. Pajamas are what he wears these days. I have to bribe him to go to school in normal clothes!

pretty important papers

Dawson loves to create shapes out of paper and scissors. He found some paper on the table and started cutting and snipping away. Every so often, he'd ask me, "Momma, what shape is this?" (meaning, "what state does it look like?")


He was so excited because he made an Idaho shape and was working on Colorado.


After a few more minutes of cutting, Ryan went to go reach for a couple of his papers that he needed and then asked Dawson, "Wait a second, son, WHERE exactly did you get that paper?"

It dawned on us, Dawson had been using Ryan's brief as fodder to make shapes from!We were in giggles as Ryan said that he's got a few more copies he can work from. It's a good thing too, that brief has many, many, MANY hours invested in this Appelate Clinic stuff.

It's actually a pretty cool thing for Ryan to be involved with because he's one of two law students working on this brief that has been filed for the Ninth Circut. (Mom, you'll be glad to know that he can do this because of his Learner's Permit!) In April, he's going to San Fransisco to argue infront of the Ninth Circut for his real client! Go Rysie LawyerPants!

it's about time

I still have 47 days left! Grrrrgh.

That's still 1128 hours!

That's 67680 minutes!

That's.....I'm not even going to say how many seconds!

Until when? Until I get to visit my parent's house in Shanghai! I'll then be able to see:

I'm so excited!!! I woke up in tears one morning last week because I missed my little brother so much! I can't wait to see you!

don't sneeze

Last Friday morning, I had Carter on my lap and my nose began to itch. It itched and itched and I could feel it coming on. The mother of all sneezes. I braced myself and craned my neck hard to starboard. "ACHOO!"

My neck flew back, as my muscles seized up in my neck and shoulder. My right arm was tingly and three of my fingers started to go a little numb. The pain was shooting down my back as I put Carter down and told Ryan that I hurt myself.

I went to go lie down on the bed and did my best to get comfortable. My neck felt like it was on fire. My shoulder and my neck were so tight that I could hardly get into a position that would allow it to stop hurting!

Several ibuprofen and hours later, I could actually sit up without the searing pain shooting down my arm and back. I put on a happy face for my grandparents when the arrived and when we went downtown to trick-or-treat; but I was so excited to get back home and into my pajamas and get into my lovely bed. My neck was so stiff that I couldn't even turn my head to the right. I just thought that some rest would be fine. After hardly sleeping that night, because of the pain, Ryan convinced me to going to Quick Care and see a doctor. The doc asked me what happened and could hardly control his giggles when I said, "I sneezed." I was told that I gave myself whiplash, and sprained my neck. I was given some large pharmaceuticals and instructions to rest. I asked him if I could have that in writing.
I hurt my neck and squished some nerves, that explains why three of my fingers were numb and it hurt to be upright! I guess it doesn't take much to hurt yourself, there is lots of complaints every year from sneezing. Evidently, injuries include hernia, muscle tears, hip damaged, nausea, inner ear damage including tinnitus, lung injuries and much more. With something as forceful as a sneeze behind a strained neck, it's possible to hurt yourself! A sneeze can be between 95-650 miles per hour!

I tried going to church, but I was in pain and my sweet friend, Ashley, had to cover playing the piano in Primary and doing her Sharing Time. Thanks Ash, I owe you one.

Even today, it's still extremely tight and tender but I can at least function. I'll survive, I suppose. Moral of the story, sit straight up when you sneeze. Otherwise you'll give yourself whiplash and a pain-inducing embarrassing story.

in a galaxy far away in northern idaho

Dawson was so excited for Halloween, he even slept with his little spider ring!

Halloween was a blast! Grandmother Velta and Papa Moe came down from Hayden and spent the day with us. We went downtown and trick-or-treated in the afternoon, came home and had some delicious food that they prepared for us. They are wonderful and we were sad to see them leave so soon.

We had Princess Leia, Darth Vader and Baby Yoda this year. Carter wouldn't ever sit still long enough to get his picture taken, though. But he was a cutie!

After dinner, Ryanna almost couldn't stand the excitement and couldn't wait to hand out the candy to the trick-or-treaters that would soon come to our house.

She waited....
and waited......
and waited. Not a single trick-or-treater came!

She was so sad!
Finally the doorbell rang!! Jason, Diane and Eddie His Royal Puppiness came to visit! They were our only visitors that night, Ryanna gleefully handed them some candy and her job was done! Carter was more than happy to share his lolly with him. Eddie is such a good sport!


Diane had this awesome contacts that turned her eyes into black stars, which really spooked Dawson. They looked great!

trick or treat?

Wishing my Dad a very happy and relaxing birthday today! We love you because:

You're fashionable:

You're the epitome of handsome:

You're a cool biker-dude:

You can fix anything!

You have a strong testimony and are an example of faith:
You're my hero!


We love our Grandaddy! Happy Birthday!

getting a rise out of me

I started the morning with a smile! It was 7am and I had a craving...

I needed Buttermilk for the Cream Cheese frosting that I was going to make to top off the rolls, since I woke up the other morning and thought, "Today feels like a Cinnamon Roll kinda day!" I ran to Safeway. Arrived home, got out all my ingredients, warmed up my Kitchen Aid and went to work.

I was a couple steps into my recipe when I needed to help two children. Got one a bowl of cereal and changed the other's diaper. Went back to what I was doing...or so I thought. I was waiting for the yeast-step in my recipe and realized that there wasn't one. Then it came to me: I was on the wrong page of the book!

I dumped out all the sticky goop that I affectionately called "my warm up" and washed my bowl. I then found the CORRECT page and got started again. I use Saff Yeast that doesn't mix directly with fluid, so I have to time it just right to be able to get it activiated. I heated my milk, dumped in my flour, added some salt and made a little doughball. Carter needed me again. Thus my concentration was broken; and I thought I knew where I was in the recipe. I added salt. And then my egg, etc etc etc. Long story short: I ADDED TWICE THE AMOUNT OF SALT!

It's 10:30am and once again, I dump out my bowl, wash it and glared at the ingredients. I say to myself, "I WILL MAKE CINNAMON ROLLS OUT OF YOU IF IT KILLS ME." I measure and time everything just right, the kids are fine running amok all over the house and I'm ignoring them to the best of my ability. Everything was going smoothly and I was letting my machine knead the dough while I ran and put Carter down for his nap. I just needed another cup or so of flour, and then it hits me. I'm completely out of flour. COMPLETELY OUT. I need more flour and I don't have it.

I sit down and tears start flooding my eyes. I have been trying to make this stupid dough for hours now and I'll never be able to get it done! I am a mess, I have white powder spots all over my black shirt and apron, I have dough-like goop in my hair and up my arms, I spilled some of the oil on me and I neeeeeeeed flour!

I go back to Safeway, puffy cheeks and all. Grab one bag of flour, pay and come back home as fast as I could.

Got home, tore open the flour and dumped a little in. It was just enough that it made the dough come off the sides of the bowl and it was ready to rise. GUESS HOW MUCH FLOUR I USED????? Less than 1/4 cup. That was all. I was FUMING by now and thought it best to let the dough rise while I cooled off. I fed the older two kids lunch and did some dishes. PUNCHED the dough down. It rose again and an hour later I was ready to roll it out.

Everything went fine from here on out, except I ran out of butter. They turned out delicous if you ask me! This is NOT the first time making these, and I guess that I was just more distracted than I thought.

By the time that I got done making the last batch, it was 2pm. I had been in the process of getting this buggers done for nearly 7 hours. I'm not craving them anymore.

cheesy smiles

I know that it seems like all I do is take pictures of my kids! It's TRUE! Absolutely everything that Carter does is sweet and precious and makes my heart melt. He's eating cheese and I find myself grabbing the camera! You'd think he's my FIRST! I am just seeing him grow up too fast before my eyes and I'm starting to realize that he's not such a baby anymore. AND I'm having a hard time trying to decide to cut his hair. It's always in his face and I think it's about time...so I'm trying to capture as many moments as I possibly can before the first official haircut that makes him suddenly look older!