It had to happen sooner or later......

I started a coupon blog! Savvy Sister Shops - I launched it yesterday and the response has been great so far. Mostly due to a little local store up here that is doing double coupon week all week indefinitely!.... I owe all my success to them.
So far, it's been hard work! But I really get excited about this stuff. I just posted some deals for all you people that live down south. :) enjoy!

My blog was featured here: Freebies2Deals
Here: Utah Deal Diva (Well, mostly the store here was featured, but they did mention my blog!)
and my awesome double coupon trip in December was featured here: She Shops Smart

John also helped me put together an e-book that people can buy and it will be instantly downloaded and encrypted to their computer. I never could have figured that out! The ad for my e-book is here: www.savvysistershops.com

Wish me luck and happy shopping!

Snowy Saturday

Grandma Ryan had a birthday last weekend. So we got invited for a lunch/sledding/cake and ice cream party. We felt like we had the whole mountain to ourselves!

We discovered that it's better to be lighter rather than heavier in this sinking kind of snow. Tommy could have stayed on his sled for several minutes each run, rather than a few seconds like the adults.

Favorite picture of the day:

Man, this one really cracks me up! Is it the goggles? Or maybe the hair? The goofy expression on his face? Maybe all three. Whatever it is, this one really makes me laugh! Whatever our trials in life, we really are that we might have joy! I'm so grateful for a family (yes, all of you) that bring me joy every single day!

Grad student in the house

That's all. :)

Here we are- 2010!

New Year's Eve started out with a bang thanks to these two! These are my awesome parents, who work at the St. George Temple every weekend, so having them come up for a visit was an extra special treat! We had a big dinner, my Dad made a prime rib roast- man, it was tasty! My Dad is getting to be a great chef! (I know you love this picture, right Dad?)

We had lots of entertainment, too! This is my little niece, Lexi- we thought she looked like a little clown here, trying to pick up as many balloons as she could!
My girls love their sweet little baby cousins!
Me and my mum!

"The boys" got some pretty nice looking outfits from Grandma and Grandpa! (Yes, we got to celebrate Christmas again!)

We were so jealous of the Blackwells that got to go bowling in St. George with my parents, we had to make a trip of our own! We went to the new Boondocks in Kaysville, here's Allison celebrating! It looks like she got 8 down that time!

There is much to see while waiting for your turn!

Two cute girls! (My sister and her daughter, Mataya!)

The real reason my parents were able to get the weekend off from their calling in St. George was to attend the sealing of my cousin at the Bountiful Temple. Here they are with half of their kids. Didn't we plan our outfits nicely?

By the way, Mac Christensen was the sealer! You know, Mr. Mac and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir President? (No one seals the way he seals!)
The reception was at the Salt Lake City/County building. I thought it was cute to see these babies checking each other out! 2009 was the year for baby girls!

These are some short videos from our New Year's Eve party- Tommy is turning into a little rocker with the help of his Dad. He accidently poked his eye that night with some brushes for the drums, so you'll see a nice large band-aid over his eye. Spencer's grooving in there also. The bottom video is Lexi getting some "cha-cha-cha" action going! She's quite the dancer!

2 years ago today

I didn't want this day to end without remembering. Two years ago today, our little Matthew was born just in time to say goodbye. Our lives are forever changed. We understand better the plan our Father in Heaven has for us because of this special baby of ours. Thank you, Matthew! Our hope now is to live worthy so that we may be a family forever with you as our son!

Christmas morning 2009

We like to take a few traditional pictures of our Christmas morning.... we always take a picture of the kids before they descend the stairs and see all the goodies Santa left out for them. (Poor Becca was sick on Christmas Eve, she was still really tired in this pic.)

And we always have the kids cover their eyes on their way down, maybe a little dangerous, but essential on Christmas morning! (I'm really liking that big curl on the top of my head.)

Just a couple of cute things the girls got. Matching sweaters from Santa.

And quilts by the elves. Rumor has it they put in a few late nights to get these finished! We had wonderful, simple Christmas this year!

And now onto the "Happy New Year!"

This is why I do what I do...

Christmas came a little early today for me.... 37 items for $12.48! It was a double coupon day today at a local store. I think Santa is one of the managers. :p I've decided that my blog is all about bragging, thanks for looking!

"Say hello to friends you know..."

Allison's concert performance at the Ogden Tabernacle Saturday night!

A very musical Christmas season!

Wow! We had an amazing Sunday morning, to say the least! My awesome aunt Natalie is a member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. After we lost out (again!) from getting tickets online to the Christmas concerts, she called on Thanksgiving Day and said she had tickets available for the Sunday morning concert! Were we interested?

Let's see, what was our favorite part? It might have been Natalie Cole, the children's choir or the bells? Was it the orchestra, David McCoullough or the dancers? The decorations or the tabernacle choir? I think our favorite part was being 6 rows away from President Monson as he walked to his seat! We were able to watch him during the show, also.

The show was amazing! It truly was an experience never to be forgotten! The music was magnificent, everything was perfectly timed. It was hard not to applaud until after the 1st half hour while they recorded Music and the Spoken Word. When the recording was finally completed, the audience applauded for about 5 minutes! I was so glad that Allison and Rebecca were able to witness such amazing talent. They performed a "mini concert" after the 30 minute recording. They were still recording parts for the PBS special next year and asked us not to applaud for certain songs. Some people still forgot, even though Lloyd Newell asked them extra nice!

President Monson went up on the stage after the show with President Mac Christensen and presented gifts to Natalie Cole and David McCoullough. He said that he'd like to say to them the 5 most important word in the English language, "We're proud of you." And the 2 most important words in the English language, "Thank you." Ms. Cole and Mr. McCoullough were very gracious. They both mentioned the "special feeling" that they had while they spent time in Salt Lake City. Hmmm.... I wonder if President Monson explained to them afterward what they special feeling was? If we get nothing else for Christmas, this present was more than enough for us this year!

That being said, our favorite concert of the week was one of much smaller proportion. Becca's! She had her first violin recital yesterday and we think she did very well for only 3 months of lessons! Here she is, in a duet with her teacher, playing "Ode to Joy" by Ludwig van Beethoven. It's very short and very sweet! Way to go, Becca!

Our December so far....

Santa came to our house early this year!

....and he looked just like a peddler opening his pack!

Allison performed in more concerts, this choir really is amazing! Here's another clip for my parents!! Love you!

We've had snow, snow and more snow! The kids had to get their winter boots a little early, we couldn't wait for Santa!

Christmas turkeys? There were 3 of these guys and they had the whole place to themselves at the Ogden Nature Center. I'm very grateful for bloggers that let me know when these wonderful places are open for free. They have a huge collection of handmade birdhouses there, this was our favorite one- a little birdhouse old west town. Tommy was hilarious while we were there last Saturday. He went on a field trip with his Kindergarten class a few weeks ago, so he was the expert on the nature center. We saw the "Happy Owl." And he saw "the biggest bird I've never seen!" While driving home, we saw a train moving very slowly. He said it was going slow because it was too cold. I laughed all day. Allison and Tommy accompanied me on a super bargain trip to Target where I bought 4 boxes of Frosted Flakes, 2 4-packs of lightbulbs and some Clean and Clear face wash all for $1.24! Ha ha, it does take some planning and a lot of strategy for those kind of trips!

And, last, but not least- Christmas cookies! I thought Tommy looked extra nice in the gingerbread apron! Here he is picking out the Christmas cookie cutters.

Cutting it just right.....

Got it! Yum, yum! I hope you all are having a fantastic Christmas season!

*I realize this post has a serious lack of Becca. She has been busy going to ice skating parties, playing her violin, making crafts out of paper towel tubes and cleaning her room!

City trees and lights

This last weekend, we had a night in the city of Ogden! There are many beautiful things to see at Christmastime. We went to the annual Christmas Tree Festival, and that's where we met Santa. There's more to the story of the picture I posted last time. After we took the pictures, got the candy canes and chatted to Santa and Mrs. Claus for a little bit, we walked away and Tommy started crying like his heart had broken! :( We realized he didn't get to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas! "Oh no, Tommy! You can always write Santa a letter!" Well, this wouldn't really do, he kept hugging me and crying. So... we backed up into the line again and told Santa that Tommy missed his turn to tell him what he wanted for Christmas. Santa listened to Tommy and then handed us a card to tell us that we could write to him and he would send us a picture of himself feeding Rudolph! The address.... well, it's top secret of course, but we're sending our letter to Harrisville!

Allison joined a children's choir a few months ago, "Kids Are Music" and they had their first performance last night at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building! Hey... we know someone that works there everyday!

Grandma Ryan!


The choir sounded beautiful and I'm so happy for Allison, she always performs with confidence and smiles! She got a small solo part singing "Holly Jolly Christmas" with two other girls.




We recorded a video for the family that won't be able to make it to the other performances. All the rest are in the Ogden area! And, lucky me, one of them is for our Relief Society Christmas Party! This song is so beautiful, titled "Adeste Fideles" and is mostly in Latin in case you're wondering what in the world they are saying! ;) (Allison is on the 2nd row, about 3rd from the left and has her hair pulled back in a bun.)

Why We Believe

Yes, Santa, yes! We believe in you! We know that those who don't will get coal in their shoe! (Or something like that.)

You make childhood magical, remember going to bed on Christmas Eve being filled with excitement? You knew that Santa and his reindeer would be there soon ready to fill your stocking!

You inspired my children to write darling letters such as these.

You are a great motivational reminder when my children are being "naughty"- the elves are watching you all year long, didn't you know?

We love you, Santa and we believe! Do you believe, too?

Happy Thanksgiving from the Ryans!

We hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

We love you and we feel overwhelmed with the many blessings our Father in Heaven has given to us. Have a fantastic day!

President Hinckley

So, I heard the funniest stories about President Hinckley last week... I wanted to share a few! I got these from a speaker on the BYU channel, his talk was about how our weaknesses can become our strengths.

• Sister Hinckley had always wanted to see the ocean. She finally had her chance later in life when she was traveling on assignment with her husband. When they got to the ocean, they got out of the car and Pres. Hinckley said, "Okay, now you've seen the ocean, let's go."
• The Hinckley family always went to visit the cemeteries on Memorial Day at 7:30 a.m. The reason? So they could beat "the crowds."
• "The crowds" to President Hinckley meant about 10 cars at a time in any given place, parking lot, etc.
• President and Sister Hinckley always went to wedding receptions 30 minutes before they started. Again, they didn't want to get caught in the crowds. The speaker inserted here that he was sure that the wedding party was still setting up the reception when the Hinckleys arrived.
• Once a summer, the Hinckleys would load the family into their car and go to the drive-in movie. But, the family never stayed to see the end of the movies! Again, President Hinckley just had to leave early so he wouldn't get "boxed in" and not be able to drive out right after the movie was over!

What? President Hinckley wasn't perfect? From the stories told, he was a little bit impatient about getting things done. But.... this is where the lesson came in. President Hinckley liked to get things done and do it in a hurry and with efficiency and precision. There were 47 temples in 1995 when he was sustained as the President of the Church. It took the church 165 years to build these temples. In the next 5 years, 55 more temples were dedicated. Amazing! All because of an amazing prophet, blessed to be able to make his weaknesses his strengths, Gordon B. Hinckley.

Excellence

Allison had her first Young Women's 'Night of Excellence' tonight! John and I are still wondering how we got into this situation.... This is her little display table, we used pictures from The Sound of Music and Peter Pan and also the music that she plays and sings. We are so proud of our excellent Young Woman!