We do cool stuff, too...

I guess this blog doesn't have to be all about our kids? Sometimes John and I do interesting things, too. (Emphasis on sometimes.)


John was able to go on a trip to Kansas City, Missouri. He went to check out the meeting place for some training their company had planned. The meeting place checked out, so he had the afternoon to travel a bit. He drove over to Independence and Liberty.





Something I didn't know about Liberty Jail is that there is a building built around the jail and visitors center. Brrr... such a cold place!


This view shows the thickness of the walls of the jail. You can see the tiny window above the mannequin's head as well. Dreadful place, but wow- the revelations Joseph Smith was given here!




This is one of many beautiful sculptures at the Independence Visitors Center.


This picture is my big adventure "out" -paid 89 cents for the items above and got a $10 coupon to spend next time! I'm also in the middle of redesigning and moving my blog to Wordpress. I guess Wordpress is the way to go for a commerical website- who knew?

Shelley is helping me out once again with a new header and pictures- thank goodness! My goal is to be as much worth financially at home than I would be teaching school. Hmmm... I'm getting there! (Having 9 piano students helps as well.) I also want to help other stay-at-home moms as well, so it's all good.

The other exciting thing about the shopping picture is the new washing machine! (Well, new-used.) Our old washer was dying and we knew it needed to be replaced soon. It was leaking sporadically and the repair man told us that when the pump finally went out, we would have a flood. Eeek. We had a tender mercy (for a washer... I know!) in that the pump didn't give out until the payday that we intended to get the new washer. Luckily I was watching carefully when the water started to spew out and I was able to stop the washer before we had a real flood. Just one of many blessings- we are always in awe of Heavenly Father's goodness to us!

Tips Of Becoming A Mom

By Rebecca Ryan

1. Potty Train Kids

2. Make Food Everyday

3. Get Kids to school on time

4. Pay the Bills

5. Stop Fights

6. Get Ready for a teen

7. Pay Water Bill

8. Pay Electric Bill

9. Pay Sprinkler Bill

10. Buy Clothes for kids

11. Get a Wedding Ring

(I found this list today in Becca's notebook and I'm hoping she doesn't mind that I publish it. It made me laugh!)

SnOw DaY!

This is not a doctored photo- it actually snowed in Dallas, Texas today! The kids were SO excited! We scrambled to find our snow clothes and gloves, church was canceled after Sacrament Meeting- it was a nice day to enjoy!

Thomas even broke out the sled to use in the driveway. We let them play in the snow on Sunday- this may be our only chance all year long. ;)

Our view of church as we left early. Thomas was cheering when he heard the news...! We're waiting to see tomorrow morning if they decide to cancel school. The town is ill-equipped to battle snow and ice.
We also went ice skating yesterday, so we feel like it's really winter now! I was able to earn tickets for skating through my blog- yay! It's one of those love/hate things with my blog. Sometimes it's grueling work and I sometimes wonder what in the world I have done, but then I get cool things like skating for free. We've never taken the kids to do this before, so it was extra fun.

Tommy was extra hard to help- he has a knack of putting all his body weight on you through his arms- wow! John and I did best when we each took one hand. He thought he was big stuff and now thinks he can be a hockey player....! We'll see...

The girls loved it and had a great time. They have also been before with church groups or friend's birthday parties. (I got my hair cut and my kids and John think I look like my sisters. I think they're right!)

Thomas Ryan

Thomas (as he prefers to be called) is so cute when he reads! He's having a great year at school and we are so thankful for wonderful teachers.

Recent quotes by Thomas that we never want to forget:

"Is heaven in Utah?"

"How are we going to give Matthew the cake?"
(On Matthew's day, we always have angel food cake.)

"I can't go on a mission, I don't know how to drive!"

Merry Christmas & Our Happy New Year!

Santa got cookies and Sprite this year. (Thomas thought that the milk might get too warm while waiting for Santa.) Oh, and we always leave a banana for Rudolph. Allison had 2 elves visit her classroom in Kindergarten and they told the children that Rudolph prefers a banana over carrots. Silly Rudolph always throws the banana peel to the ground on Christmas Eve!

Our beautiful girls.

Christmas morning- oooh, the anticipation!

We're at some shops near John's work. (Santa got him a new office.... his very own!) This is a posh part of town and the closest we could get (as far as lights go) to Temple Square. We went to John's work party and had a great time. He works with some wonderful people and we were so glad to meet them.

We've got to get one of these for our yard next year!

Believe it or not, this was the best pic we could get of the Texas cousins together! (Sorry, Henry.) The kids love having Jane and Henry over!

This is before.....

And this is AFTER!!! Can you tell the difference? We got a nice camera, we're so excited! (The first few pictures were taken with a camera that we returned to Wal-mart....)




Great picture of John with his kids! (I need someone to photoshop me out... or in? this one!)


We missed getting Allison's school picture, so we ran over to get one on Sunday. Happy New Year all!

'Tis the Season... for Camping!

This post will have no pictures in it- but I have many great excuses. Our camera broke and it looked as though it was dropped. Mysteriously, no one knew anything about it. Hmmm.....

We also got a disposable camera for Rebecca's camp, but scanner is also broken- so no camp pictures... yet.

So, Rebecca was waiting for her big Pine Cove 5th grade Camping trip in December. I know- camping in December? Apparently, camping weather is better in the winter and the spring in Texas. The summer is just too darn hot!

We squeezed Becca's camp fee into our budget (we're just getting over the "deposit" hump from the move) about a month ago. I started to think I was crazy to send Rebecca on a campout with a bunch of people that I do not know for 3 days and 2 nights. I was really regretting not signing up as a chaperone. (The district pays for most of the parents food, etc. for the trip.)

So I asked Rebecca if I could still sign up for the trip and she said that there were so many moms that wanted to attend that they had to have a drawing for chaperones. Hmmmm.... oh well.

About a week before the campout, Becca came home super excited and said there was an opening for a mom chaperone! It took a little bit of juggling with the kids' schedules & piano lessons, but I was able to go with her!

Wow, this camp was AMAZING! It seriously was like a vacation for me. (3 days with no cooking or cleaning? Nice!) They have a Pine Cove Camp website if you'd like to check it out.

To sum it up: pine trees, lake, zip line, bird show, lemur jumping in Becca's lap (she was in heaven!), petting snakes, a hawk, and a sloth, riding horses, archery, geocaching, building mud structures, smores by the fire, heated cabins and showers. Was this really camping? I'm thinking maybe not. Oh, and if you ver are in charge of feeding hundreds of people at a time, we learned a very efficient way to set it up. No standing in line with a tray!

I was very impressed with the counselors at the camp- they were great! They are all college students, or just graduated from college. The camp is normally a "Christian Camp" in the summers. I gave one of the counselors Becca's pocket size Book Of Mormon when we were getting ready to leave. I had it in my purse to read on the way home. I don't know what she thought of it, but I saw her showing it to another counselor on our drive out and they were smiling and looking through it. Maybe they thought it was totally strange, but you never know...

Stay tuned for more camping adventures from the Ryan family coming up... soon! Allison's YW camp is scheduled in March- during Spring Break. And John was just called as the assistant Scoutmaster! Wow, you know he can't get enough of camping. (Yeah, right.)

Anyhow, we now have another camera and we look forward to posting pictures of Christmas! We love you all and hope you're having a wonderful holiday!

Family Pictures 2010

This was the winner for our family picture this year- (despite Tommy's funny face)! We took our own pictures again- not bad for setting the timer, right? (Please say yes!)


Thomas made up for his funny faces this year by giving us this extra nice smile!


Pretty Becca!


Allison looks more grown up everyday.




The sisters


Here's just one of our outakes this year. I don't have the energy to post all of them this year!


Okay, here's one more. :) Typical of our days at home. Tommy teasing his sisters and me trying to stay calm.


Allison's All-Region Choir. She's on the front row- second from the right. We started to see why All-Region is such a big deal here. Kids from 33 schools auditioned for this! We're very happy that we made the investment in her black dress last year.



This is a quick 16 second snip of one of their songs. They sound GREAT!


We thought we got there early, but ended up on the back row.


This is random, but kind of cool- this hot air balloon went right over our house! It was so low, we could see the huge fire inside and the people in the basket. The kids took lots and lots of pictures.


Rebecca also had her share of singing and performing this month. The 4th and 5th grade classes at her school performed "Kickin' It With Africa"- with lots of fun singing and drums based on African music and based from the World Cup games held in Africa last year. (Becca is on the back row in the grey t-shirt.)



Here's a sample of the fun they had that night!


Mom and Tommy in the audience. This is another typical sight when we attend public events. Tommy gets a little antsy!

REAL Salt Lake in Dallas!

This little cutie (along with her brother and Dad) was able to go to a REAL Salt Lake game in Dallas! Becca insisted that she and Tommy have the REAL sign painted on their faces and that they cheer for REAL. She said everyone at the game thought they were a little nutty. When Becca's classmates found out who she rooted for, they thought it was even worse!

I was able to get the tickets for free through the work I do on my blog, then we found out parking was free as well! The popcorn and drinks were $9.50, so I guess it balanced the trip....(:

Dallas FC won this game 2-1. Better luck next time REAL!

(P.S. Do you like the weather...? These pictures were taken on Oct. 30- crazy! We've been getting Christmas decorations out- early, I know- it seems so strange to get them out when it's 70 degrees outside!)

Happy Halloween & All-Region Choir!

John and I actually dressed up (a little) this year! A witch and a cow- there you go. We haven't dressed up for years. I think we're going to put some thought into it next year, the prizes for costumes at our ward's trunk or treat were awesome! (Like water park and NBA tickets awesome.) We're hanging out by the bounce house here.

Tommy was a little Darth Vader (only because his Storm Trooper Costume did not show up in the mail- boo!) He would run to the car and have a few bites of his dinner and then run back to the bounce houses for more fun and excitement with friends!

The scene near the bounce house. I really like the big furry boots waiting outside!

Becca and Allison both invited friends to the Trunk or Treat. Becca is a hippie here with her friend 'Cleopatra!'

The kids in the backseat. Allison dressed up at 'Elphaba' from Wicked. She is saving up all her birthday/babysitting money to hopefully see the play one day.

Allison dressed up three times last week for 2 parties and one Young Women's Activity where they 'reverse trick-or-treated' and took treats to an assisted living home.

Allison also got her choir solo. Her choir will be singing "God Bless the U.S.A" for Veteran's Day during lunches next week. Allison also tried out for the Middle School All Region Choir on Saturday. What a surprise when we got a call from her teacher saying she made it!

Allison didn't even want to audition for the choir, she heard that only one person from each school is able to join. I encouraged her to at least try, that the audition would be a good experience. Well, two people from her school are in this year and she is one of them! We had to drive to Carrollton (about 45 min. away) for her audition. We waited in a middle school cafeteria until it was her turn. The cafeteria was PACKED with students and parents. Music is a BIG deal in Texas! The auditions were held for most of the day.

Allison's audition was for judges sitting behind a screen. They don't want the child's looks, dress, etc. to affect the judgment of their voices. She sang two solo pieces for them and then they gave her a piece of music that she had to sight read for them with "do, ra, mi" notes. She really felt good about the audition- I told her to pretend like she was trying out for a play and I think it worked! I reminded her that she needs to show that she can sing well when auditioning for plays, so I think that thought motivated her.

So, when we found out that she made the Region Choir, we were thinking, "Now what?"

So far we know that they have a big Saturday practice and perform in a concert that night. We also know that she will have the chance to audition for the All State Middle School Choir. Anyhow, we are really proud of her and happy that she will have this opportunity this year! She's so easy going and takes all the changes in her life in stride. Way to go, Alli!

Postscript

I finally figured why I'm not able to open some of your blogs! Anyone that has shabby blogs.com or cutestblogontheblock backgrounds- I cannot open your pages from my computer. Weird!

I just tried to add a background again and then I couldn't open my own blog! I took the background off and then I was good to go again. Has anyone else had this problem?

Anyhow, I can read your blog from John's computer, but not mine- so it's not convenient, but I can still read it at night.... namely Mary, Lorenne, & Crystal- I can't open your blog and it makes me really sad! :(