Hot Mama photoshoot!

Check out this fun giveaway from The Lola Letters! She's my cousin, she has a super fun, popular blog, she's a photographer, and she is giving away a 'HOT Mama Photoshoot'! Fun, right? You have to go to Utah Valley for the shoot, so a lot of you are a little bit closer than I am! I want to win so I can give it away to someone else on my Savvy Sister blog- but you can win, too! Check it out!

Mini Mission Reunion

I got treated to a SUPER fun night with some ladies from my mission! All of us in the picture served missions in the London South Mission. Ironically, I never was companions with any of these ladies! Anyhow, we are all friends and the brunette on the right is from the Netherlands and came to Utah for General Conference with her family. We got to meet her cute kids and I asked them how they liked America? I forgot that they don't speak English and their Dad translated for them. They said, 'Yes', of course!

It was so much fun to meet up with old friends. The other blonde lives in Farmington and is a Relief Society President. She is such an amazing friend, and very in tune with the Spirit! I told her I couldn't come to the dinner, but then she offered to pay for my dinner in exchange for some coupons! I'm so grateful to her. She acted really excited about the coupons so that made me feel good.

Between us we have 15 children, we are all happily married and active in the church, Maureen (the red-head) is from England, but married an Elder from our mission and now lives in Farmington. Two of these ladies have also lost their mothers to cancer.... we had a lot of catching up to do, we haven't gotten together for 15 years! I thought it was hilarious that they chose a pub to have dinner at! There's no more suitable place for a bunch of London missionaries, right?

April 6

I had to get this one on here before the day is over!

We got this little handout today at my Institute class and I wanted to share.

April 6th- Many notable things have occurred on it....

The Birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem (Doctrine & Covenants 20:1)

The First Vision in Manchester, New York. "I like to think of that... being on the sixth day of April. We have no definite knowledge of it, but I believe it in my heart and in my soul." (Charles W. Nibley, CR, April 1930, 26-27)
"Then one glorious day in the spring of 1820, our tradition says that it was on April 6..." (Bruce R. McConkie, Ensign, May 1978, 13.)

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Organized in Fayette, New York, 1830.

The Death or Resurrection of Jesus Christ. "I... like to believe that the resurrection of the Redeemer... occurred on the sixth of April, though I have no definite proof." (Nibley)

The Birth of the United States of America. "It was born on the sixth of April. It had previously been adopted by the Constitutional Convention and submitted to the various States for ratification. While it was intended that the returns should all be in by the fourth of March, it was not until the sixth day of April that the electoral botes of the different States were counted by the Senate and House... And on the sixth day of April, George Washington was declared to be the President of the United States. So the nation had its real birth at that time." (Nibley)

Bragging rights

Since my other blog has taken over my life, and since I do not work on it on Sunday... I get to catch up this one a little bit tonight! Let me get straight to the bragging:

First of all.... my daughters are turning into missionaries extraoridinaire! They don't even ask me anymore if they can take a paperback copy of the Book of Mormon to give to one of their friends. They just take them. We're running low on our copies in the house.

They'll just say, "So and so needs a Book of Mormon."

Or... "So and so doesn't go to church, I'm going to give them a Book of Mormon." Sweet!

Allison even had a conversation with classmates at school that went something like this:

Classmates: "What's that book?"

Allison: "The Book of Mormon."

"What's it about?"

"It's a history of people that came to America a long time ago."

"Why is it called the Book of Mormon?"

"He was the one that put all the records together, so it's named after him."

"What was his last name?"

"I don't know, maybe that was his last name!"

Hello.... I was not having conversations like this until I was 21 and on my mission! I see evidences all the time of Heavenly Father saving his most choice spirits for these last days. I'm very privileged to have them living in my house!

Next: Tommy! He has had extreme likes and dislikes since the day he was born. His latest craze is his friends! Oh my, how he loves his friends! Especially the ones from the CTR 7 class. He's asked for a transfer in Primary, but it was declined. He noticed my friend's blog, where she had taken a picture of her son with his friend. Now Tommy insists on a picture with his friend whenever they come over! He's so happy in these pictures!

And... this is a huge miracle- Tommy is learning to read! I didn't think it would be possible during this year of school. He has had an amazing team of teachers and has been able to have a lot of one-on-one help this year. Thank you, everyone, for your thoughts and prayers on his behalf! We just saw his grades for the 3rd term, and WOW! He has grown and learned so much this year. We are so blessed with this sweet boy of ours.

Rebecca's Washington D.C. trip!

By Becca and Mom
The mall!!!!!!(Nothing to do with shopping.)

The Hope Diamond- oooh... aaahhh!

At the Butterfly Garden. We love this picture and entered it on KBYU's 'See the Good in the World' contest. She's had such great luck winning contest lately that we're sure she has a great chance of winning a prize! (Again.)

Dorothy's shoes from 'The Wizard of Oz'! Do your kids know about that movie? My friends and I were talking about this and we realized that a lot of kids don't even know what 'The Wizard of Oz' is! For shame!

This guy really doesn't need an introduction.... but here goes, it's Kermit the Frog!

Becca and Grandpa at the Mall

Eternal flame at the gravesite of John F. Kennedy

Rebecca and Grandma- they were tourist buddies for the trip!

Miss Gertrude McFuzz

These video clips are of Allison playing 'Miss Gertrude McFuzz' in her 6th grade play 'Seussical.' There couldn't have been a better way to finish out her 6th grade year! This is a lot of footage, but there were a lot of grandmas, grandpas, and cousins that weren't able to make it in person. Thank you, Alli, for all the joy you bring to us! You were so great and so funny in this!

Becca's week of weeks!

It all started on Friday, when she got a package delivered to her desk at school! She had been published in this:

And won this handy dandy little IPOD NANO!

On Monday, we found out that she was published in the Standard Examiner as a winner of the 'Create an Ad' contest!

Oh, she won this for the ad contest:

And, to top the week off, she's flying here on Friday with my parents. Talk about a fantastic week! We're so proud of you, Becca!

Plugged in?

Yes, this was posed. And so was the next one, I was trying to get a 'natural' pic of Becca as she headed out for church today. She's such a little fashion diva! It's hilarious!

A package of googly eyes

We bought a package of googly eyes to make some of these. They're prayer rocks! (Thanks to my friend Heather for this pic! ;)


The new package of 'eyes' sparked some serious creativity in Becca! She went to work sewing, stuffing, and glueing together puppets! I had her take a picture of them to show you. The ostrich, the dog and the elephant.

...and I will pour you out a blessing....

So, I wanted to share with all of you some of the amazing blessings that the Lord keeps pouring into our lives! We just finished our 4th month of living on our food storage, and our cupboards and shelves have never been fuller. We have truly been blessed in a remarkable way.

I know now that the Spirit was driving my decisions and my actions last September. That's when I started using coupons and looking for bargains. I was VERY driven to restock our 3-month supply of foods and pretty much turned it into a full time job. When we found out that John would lose his job on October 20, I knew why I did what I did the month before.

Anyhow, we had to slow way down on what we were able to buy for our family, but I still kept an eye out for super cheap and FREE things to add to our storage. I eventually figured out a way to print coupons online for free. Then, the store around the corner started their new policy of doubling coupons, so I was able to turn around and use those coupons to get FREE food! I wanted to post these videos (they are from my private 'Savvy Sister' blog) because when I reviewed them, all I could think was "Manna from Heaven!" I am so grateful for Heavenly Father's blessings in our lives and for always providing the things that we need.

I have more to say about all this, as some really wonderful things are happening- but I'll know more later this week, so I'll post them later!

This could also be titled, "How to stock your freezer for next to nothing!" I am really picky about the deals I get and I've been able to fill my freezer with lots of things for rock bottom prices! I want to show you what some of the possibilites are with these short videos.







P.S. I didn't pull out the ugly freezer stuff- frozen meatloaf and hamburger. I like to brown a whole pack of hamburger at once, and even add in some boiled wheat to make it stretch further. I'll freeze two cups at a time in a bag and whalaa! Instant meat ready for a recipe: tacos, spaghetti, sloppy joes.

Also, the cranberries for 25 cents each (!) were bought at Carl's Super Saver in Ogden. It's a little bit of a "dodgey" store, but wow- what deals! This was the same place that I bought the applesauce cups for 10 cents each. The cranberries were on sale 4/$1 right after Christmas. You can freeze cranberries for a YEAR, so I bought 12 bags! I'll use them throughout the year for cranberry salsa, an awesome cranberry cake recipe that my friend Rekehl recommends, and for homemade cranberry sauce whenever we have turkey- yum!

Praxis Test

This is the last post about me for a long time, I promise! It's not often that a Mom has to take a written test, but that is what I did about a month ago at Weber State. In order to keep my teaching certificate current, I have to take classes and tests, etc. and renew my license every three years. So.... this time around I decided to finally take the Praxis test. (I've been putting it off for about 6 years now.) This test covers areas in Language Arts, Math, Social Studies, and Science.
I was surprised to get an envelope a couple of weeks ago with a folder in it that said 'Excellence' (pictured above) on it. Inside, was a certificate and a letter saying that I scored in the top 15% of all test takers that have taken the test! I know that it's not genius level or anything, but as a stay-at-home mom, I'll take what I can get!
The certificate said: "Your exceptional performance earned a score that ranks within the top 15% of all test takers who took this assessment in previous years. This achievement indicates a high level of proficiency in an area critical for professional educators."
Honestly, I'm just glad I passed- I was worried about wasting the $130 I had to pay just to take it! Alrighty, so there you have it. Like I said, that's the last post about me for a LONG time.... we will return to our regularly programmed posts all about A and B and T, thank you!

Guess what?

I started teaching piano lessons! So far it's been great. I'm realizing that it's much easier to be a teacher than the student- I'm not the one that has to practice all week long! (Although I should.) Some parents in my ward asked me if I taught lessons and I kept saying no. Then I thought, "Why don't I?" Well, for years this was the reason why not:

But now that Tommy is growing up and getting more independent, (again, thank you public school!) I think I can swing it. I got my first 3 students last week and another girl will start next month! I'm so excited!

P.S. If you could all include us in your prayers, we would really appreciate it. If you're wondering why I'm doing the coupon blog and teaching lessons, etc. just read 'Start Rowing' in this month's Ensign. Our family knows, but John actually lost his job last October. I know, again, the Ryans are on the financial roller coaster. We didn't say anything because we knew a new job would be right around the corner- unfortunately we were wrong! We would appreciate your prayers, thanks so much! The Lord has blessed us soooo much! I'll write more about all of that later.

Follow the prophet? Yes, I think I will.

I need your help! Will you please speak up over here:

http://thelolaletters.blogspot.com/2010/02/heather-said.html

and reveal yourself as an intelligent, wonderful woman that follows the prophet? I mentioned on my cousin's blog that I 'follow the prophet' and 'he knows the way' and I've been accused of being childish and naive (go figure.) This was in response to a book review where the author explains that women are happier if they a. get married later b. have children later and c. have fewer children. (Hmmm... I wonder where those ideas came from?) So, if you have anything you'd like to say, go check it out! I think it'd be awesome if we all left a comment about how we are intelligent, fun-loving, spiritual women that actually follow someone besides Oprah Winfrey. (Did I just say that? Yes, I think I did.)

**WOW! If you want to read an AMAZING comment, read the one by Jill Collier- you are so awesome, Jill! She's my super cute, talented, best mommy, sister-in-law! Way to go, Jill!

Grandmas may not like this post... involves kids and snakes!

The kids and I took advantage of the FREE Science Saturday up at Weber State University last weekend. Little did we know that we would be making some new friends!

Don't you love how calm and relaxed Becca is holding a baby python??

Then, we met the full size version! Eww!! My kids didn't mind petting this huge 15 foot guy. (Even Allison.)

Yep, Becca looks like a professional snake handler here.

How did you do Grandmas? Did you make it to the end of the post?? Pretty gross, eh?

Our little drummer boy

I couldn't help myself... I had to post all four- he kept getting better and better!