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.)

KSL News This Morning

Alli and I had an exciting morning! We ended up being on KSL news today! One of my blog readers contacted me about nominating the owner of Family Fresh Foods (the store that made me decide to start a coupon blog) for the KSL High Five Award. Well, they surprised him with it EARLY this morning and Alli got to give him his gift basket!

You can watch all the excitement here!

Tommy's Birthday

Tommy had his 6th birthday today! And.... we found our camera right after we finished the birthday cake. But, my sisters-in-law got lots of pictures for us. (Thanks, Jill & Mary!)

We had a fabulous week with John's family- his sisters from Oregon and Texas came to stay for a vacation. We went to Seven Peaks and had a big birthday party for Tommy. Thank you Grandma Ryan! She worked so hard this whole week & made it fun for everyone.

This is at our 2nd swimming party in Riverton!

We spent the week on a nice little vacation of our own- right in Riverton! We stayed with John's grandma and enjoyed the basement John built a few years ago. Everything went well.... except for the little mishap of Tommy spilling a whole pitcher of purple grape juice on the cream colored carpet. Well, I should say 1/2 pitcher, the other 1/2 did land on a red rug. Who puts cream colored carpet in the kitchen???? Well, John's Grandma. (Ryans, please don't tell- we bought an extra special cleaner and we think we cleaned it up well. Eeek!)

Update on the Ryan family

So, we lost our camera last week when we moved... that's right! You heard me right, we moved. I didn't want to tell anyone, because it's getting beyond ridiculous, but this time was not our fault!

We wanted to renew our contract with our landlord, but they got a divorce and wanted their house back. So... we got packed up and we're back in Draper with John's family. John has several job ops that he's deciding between, so we thought it best to stay with family until that is sorted out.

I'm still pretending to be in South Ogden with Savvy Sister, checking out all the unadvertised deals at the double coupon store. The truth is, I have an awesome informant from my last ward that does the work for me! Sweet!

So, as soon as we get our camera back, I'll post a picture of Tommy with his first top tooth missing- so cute! He's turning 6 next week... unbelievable! We're having a hard time knowing what to get him for his birthday, he wants everything!

And, I'll post a picture of us at Seven Peaks on Saturday. John's whole family will be here, the sisters from out of state and everything. The kids have never been to a water park so awesome, they don't even know what to expect!

And, I'll post a picture of Allison getting ready for Young Women's Camp- they are going to the Heber Camp, the lucky girls! I've heard it's the "Cadillac" of Young Women's Camps- she's going to be spoiled on her very first trip!

I also need to add to the school year report that Rebecca had an amazing year of field trips! She went skiing, canoeing, did archery at a mountain camp, and went to This is the Place Park & the State Capitol. Wow, 4th grade was great for her! I can hardly believe that she'll be in 5th grade this fall, the same grade I used to teach.

As for me, I'm still a crazy blogging mama on Savvy Sister Shops. It has been a great outlet for me during a frustrating time. There's so much more to it than I imagined! The good thing is, it's finally starting to make some money. If you want to know how, I'll gladly share my secrets!

I've got a bunch of giveaways lined up and this week's is from Jilly Bean Things- my sis-in-law has an incredible etsy shop and the winner of the blog giveaway gets to choose any item from her store! Check it out here, if you want to enter.

And now, Becca will be happy because I finally updated our blog- our pictures will be ... coming soon!

End of school year report 2010

Allison: Won almost every award that a 6th grader could receive at her school's award assembly. Included in these was the 'Hope of America' award- each teacher was able to choose 2 children in their class to receive this award.

She also auditioned for 'PAL Camp' here in Weber District and was accepted into the performing arts camp. She saved up her babysitting money so that she could attend. She had a fabulous performance last week all about Jazz music. It was amazing that the teachers could put together a show like that in one week! It makes a big difference when the kids are older and they actually want to be there.

Rebecca: Won several art contests during the year. (But never received the $100 by the way, we were misinformed about the prize!) She and her best friend played a violin duet for the end of year 4th grade talent show. She and the same best friend also qualified to compete in the district Math Olympiad in the Tangram contest. They took 1st place! Becca was so proud- she earned her first medal ever!


Thomas: Went from recognizing a few letters at the beginning of the year to reading sight words, sounding out words, and counting every thing he sees. He had a fantastic team of teachers pulling for him this year and we are so grateful. We are considering a repeat of Kindergarten because he's been so delayed in academics, etc. He's certainly taught us a lot in these short 6 years!

Our new family picture!

My Riverton Friends

I get to come and see you on Thursday night at Jenni's! You probably received an invite through Facebook to the coupon class. If you didn't receive an invite, then please just come! It's this Thursday night, June 3, 7 p.m. at Jenni McCoullough's! I really want to show you how coupons can make a big change for your family. I recently told more about my story on my blog and also on another blog, Couponing to Disney. If you have a minute to read those, it would mean a lot to me. The response on Couponing to Disney's site was great and I hope that my experiences help families in whatever situation they may be in.

We are still looking for work, but we have been able to make it through this storm because of coupons. I can still go shopping, because so many items are cheap, FREE, or I can even make some money on deals with Target gift cards, etc. It is amazing!

It would be so fun to see you all on Thursday night. I wish I could visit more often! ;)

Photoshoot

ALL the Blackwells got together for my parents' 60th birthday parties. It was so much fun! My cousin Laura came to take some professional photos. It was my Dad's wish to get a picture with him and Mom and all the grandkids for their Christmas card! What a fun thing to want for your birthday, right? Above is my grandparents with some of their great-grandkids.

(Allison looks too grown up in this one.)

All the boys!

Yes, we love our kids! My sister Lindsay has the great idea to
take a picture of the people taking the pictures- fun!

All the girls! Little Mataya didn't like sitting in the wood chips!

Thanks, Emilee- I borrowed these from your blog. :) Me and my

brothers and sisters. I love them all so much!

My smile is way too big in the above pic, I was trying to put all my weight on my 'little' brother there! My cute pregnant sister is on top!

The WHOLE family! It's amazing that Laura got such a great picture of this many people at once. I love you, Mom and Dad! Happy Birthday!

Target Optical and FREE kid's glasses

I know you may have already seen this over on Savvy Sister Shops, but, just in case.... I wanted to be sure that you know that Target Optical is giving FREE glasses to elementary age kids!

This was a great find that someone e-mailed to me and I feel it's especially helpful for families! There are only a few Target Optical stores participating in this, and they are all in Utah! If you know of someone that needs to buy glasses for their kids, please send this story to them. More details are here.

More dress-up fun at the Treehouse Museum

"I dub thee... Sir Thomas!" Tommy & his Kindergarten class had a field trip at the Treehouse Museum. He was chosen as the 21-year-old knight, the one that gets the armor! The Treehouse volunteer is showing the "king" how to dub Tommy in the pic above.

Yay! Sir Thomas!

The kids are looking at the knight's armor here! Ooooh... aaaahhh!

Preping for the armor helmet- first the little black cap... I don't know what this is called.

Next came to chain mail. Everyone in Tommy's class got to feel it before he got to wear it. It's really soft!

And... the helmet! It was really heavy, so he only wore it for a second or two.

They are acting out a story where the knight marries the ugly princess. The king lost a contest!

He kissed her (not really) and she turned into a beautiful princess! Whalaa!!
Next came the theatre where all the children got to dress up and play parts of the Three Little Pigs Story. Tommy was a crow. This group of birds helped the first little pig to build his house of straw. Well, the other birds are helping and Tommy is posing for the picture!

There we go... now he's a good little bird helper!

And to top the day off, one more dress-up: the firefighter! This was a super fun field trip- I'm so glad I was able to go!

Blonde Harry Potter

I don't how this got started, but the girls decided that Tommy should dress up like Harry Potter tonight after family home evening. It started out pretty innocently, then they got more and more excited about this- as you will see with these pictures! Tommy was a VERY good sport and an even better poser!

This one is where he sees the 3-headed dog!

That's all.... just wanted to share!

Mother's Day Walk at WSU

Tommy's still wearing (part) of his Sunday best!



We found this cool little 'trick duck'!

Mom fashion show

I was invited to a 'Girls Night Out' for Allison's Young Women activity. I knew that they were to serve dinner, but that's all I knew about the night. Allison had this huge shopping bag with her and told me that I couldn't look at it. Hmm.... something was up!

So, we get to the church and the place is decked out with flowers and a gorgeous display of the dinner foods. We played a 'Newlywed' type game where they tested us to see how much the mothers and daughters knew each other.

After dinner, the Young Women President announced that the girls brought some items to 'dress up' their Moms for a Mom Fashion Show. The girls were to dress up their moms with accessories and such and then tell special things about them. Oh boy, I knew why Allison was being so secretive with the shopping bag. I saw some of the other moms getting dressed up in things like gardening gloves and hat, one mom was wearing a Lowe's apron and bandana on her head, a lady we visit teach had curlers in her hair and a leopard skin print robe on, and another was wrapped up in a toilet paper dress.

Allison took me to the restroom where she said I should get changed. I was nervous about what dress up accessories she pulled out of the play area. We get into the restroom and she pulls out.... a bridesmaid's dress! (Yes, Melissa, the one from your wedding!) Allison took to heart the whole "Fashion Show" idea and thought that I should look my very best. She also brought my heels and a flower clip to put in my hair. I thought it was so sweet!

When I walked out in front of the other girls and moms, this is what Allison said about me: "My mom likes to think of fun things for us to do. But we can't spend a lot of money, so she makes a game out of pullling weeds and raking leaves. She also makes good food and she knows how to make everything homemade like bread and milk." She said some more things, as well, like she has a dress like the one she dressed me up in, etc. She's just adorable, and I wanted to share this story with you, and also have it recorded so I'll always remember.

Happy Mother's Day to all you awesome Moms!

Primary teachers

Tommy has these amazing Primary teachers. They are a retired couple that LOVE their huge 15+ kid CTR 5 class. We took them some treats about a month ago just to see them and chat for awhile. We met their 2 little dogs and noticed that their family picture included their dogs.

So, when Tommy came home from church last Sunday and told us that one of their dogs got run over the day before, we were really worried. It's all he could talk about. "The doggy ran out the back door and the car runned him over. And he died."

When Becca said the prayer on the food for dinner, Tommy scolded her for not blessing the Burkes because their dog died.

He also added another little tidbit about the Burkes running into a moose! What!?

Anyhow, we were worried for the Burkes losing their dog and we decided to take them another plate of cookies. What else can we do when someone loses something/someone close to them?

We get to the Burkes house, and their 2 dogs are running around the house! They were probably wondering why we were coming over with treats in hand... again. So we tell them that Tommy told us that their dog got run over the day before and that he was killed.

They said, "Oh, we told them about our little dog that was killed on Halloween two years ago!" Okay, well he got part of the story right. He just got the day that it happened a little off. At least we know that he's listening in Primary, right?

By the way, the Burkes had run into a moose! They had a terrible accident two years ago in Wyoming. They ran right into a standing moose on the freeway. Wow. They showed us the pictures of their truck. Oh my goodness! It's a miracle they are still alive. We're glad they're here to teach our innocent little Primary boy.

By the way, Tommy still scolds us for not praying about the little dog that was killed in car accident. :)

Treasure

We found John's Cub Scout shirt in one of his old boxes! This truly is a treasure. It looks brand new and as you can see, Tommy is super excited to be wearing it! It's hard to believe he'll be wearing it for "real" in about 2 more years.

Thanks, Mom for saving this treasure for Tommy!