Dear Daddy,

We've missed you so! (Especially when you're gone for a birthday & an anniversary!) While you've been gone... we had just a little bit of fun. All three kids performed in the 3 Nephi pageant.


This is what your son looks like with makeup on!


This is where your daughter picks up a fake rock to use for hitting Timothy on the head.


Meanwhile... Tommy and Becca were sweet little Nephite children.



Their annual picture with Jesus!


Then we headed for Marysvale and Tommy had a dream come true when a nice cousin offered his little dune buggy to ride in! He got to go twice!


Becca also got a ride- Allison was too busy building a dam in the river and playing lifeguard with Abbi and a bunch of 3rd cousins.


Look at this little hawk hanging around Mom and Dad's place! It even landed on the car and Becca was sure to get pictures.




This is where I grew up!



We headed for the Piute Reservoir, but not before we tracked down these marshmallows. We called my Dad the "Marshmallow Hero" because he turned the car around when he saw the delivery pull up to the store when we were leaving. He even helped them unload the marshmallows!


We would have missed out on this without those marshmallows...



We then skipped down to St. George to see this little princess! Our newest little niece and cousin, Zoe!


We also checked out the new Blackwell pad in St. George!






Enjoying the water and the red rocks!


The birthday boy and girl!




The sweet mom of the the sweet little girl.


Back to Draper to celebrate the birthday again!




Rebecca ordered Hawaiian Haystacks for her birthday dinner!



New clothes for the birthday girl! (Do you like her crown?)


She's 10! Time for the traditional piercing of the ears!


Ahhhh... it didn't feel good! She was regretting it at this point.


She made up for the pain and suffering by buying these pink, fluffy, polka dot, flip-flop slippers with pom-poms, bows & metal peace sign charm. What a girly girl indeed!


Ahhh! Feeling better already!


The girls received some new jammies tonight from a favorite family of ours up here and they had some fun with the camera! (Oh, do you like Tommy's new haircut? We went super short!)


We're all packed and ready to go, Dad! We love you and can't wait to see you tonight! (Yes, I'm sure they'll be up THAT late.)

Can you guess....?

Let's see if you can guess where the Ryans are moving now....!

Here's a pic of Becca's new school "shoes":



And here's a pic of Tommy's new shirt:



Yee-haw! Did you guess.... Texas!? You're right! John is down there already- he's a working man again! We're moving to the Dallas area and we are really excited. Here's a little bit of what happened to bring this big change. But before I do, I must say that these wonderful people are our heroes:



This is John's sister, Mary, and her husband, Josh. (Thanks for letting me steal your pic from Facebook.:) Josh & Mary moved to Texas last fall when Josh got a job after finishing his MBA at BYU. To make a long story short, Josh decided to take a new job at Ford and needed to leave his current job. He recommeded John take his position when he left. He fortunately had built a great relationship with his employers and they decided to interview John. John did a few interviews via Skype and we found out about 2 weeks ago that he was hired!

Wow, what a blessing in these crazy times. We really appreciate all of you that prayed and fasted for and with us through these 9 1/2 months (yes, really) of unemployment. We appreciate those that looked for ways to help and lift us. It truly has been a trial of patience and faith. This is such a great blessing and a Win, Win, Win for everyone involved. Josh needed to leave his job, the company needed to fill the position and John needed work. Yay for all three! Isn't it interesting that we were in a position that we can just pick up and leave at this point in time as well. This job makes us feel happy that the others didn't work out! The Lord has blesses us and watched over us always... of course!

So we are leaving at the end of this month. John flew down to Dallas last week to start work and is staying with Mary and Josh. We love and appreciate them so much for their help and support! John will fly back here on the 25th and we will pack the truck on the 26th (it's nice that all of our things are already packed!) and drive the 27th & 28th. Then we'll be official Texas residents! We're so excited for the new adventures that await us.

Disclaimer: The pictures are not the "real" boots and t-shirt of B and T. I don't have my camera equip. w/ me so I had to improvise and steal some pics from the net!

Forgiveness

Wow, this is amazing! I just saw it for the first time tonight. In case you missed it, here you go...enjoy! (FYI- Grab a Kleenex first.)