House sneak peek

After much delay, here are a few shots of our little house. What we naively thought would be a quick 3 week job turned into a 9 week job. many thanks to my parents for the patience... although I think they knew we were crazy for thinking it would only take 3 weeks! We ripped out floors, baseboards, scraped and re-textured ceilings, painted, put in new floors, plumbing, lights, and a whole new kitchen. Brett installed the toilet himself - I am so proud of him! ( insert at his request - he did much more than just that...) We still need to fix up the garage, paint the outside, get a new garage door, put in a fence AND a yard.

Mucho work-o.

But, we own a house and hopefully, after all is said and done, it will be a good investment. That is what brett and I have to remind ourselves when we feel ready to pack up and move back into an apartment :)!

Here is a BEFORE shot of the front room - not very great, but all we have.

AFTER

BEFORE of the bathroom. Disgusting with a capital D-I-S!AFTER. Still a little work to do as you can see, but it is coming along. We are going to put shelves in that open space in the wall.The BEFORE kitchen. Also GROSS!
The AFTER. I wish you could see the ugly lowered ceiling and florescent lights in the before version. We love that we knocked those down! We are happy with the kitchen, but it sure was drama trying to figure it out!

The rooms are still a mess, so those will be forthcoming. I am looking forward to decorating and giving it a homey feel. It is a blank canvas waiting to be worked on... please feel free to come do it for me!
Thanks to our wonderful family and friends, we have successfully gutted and renovated a house. We could not have done it with all your help... you know who you are!

St. Nick Day

Brett wanted to start the German tradition of St. Nicholas Day in our family. Ryan totally loved the idea.

Chocolate in shoes + 7 am = a great way to start the day.

Brett assured me that there is more to this tradition than giving kids candy... but he couldn't remember. Ryan wouldn't have cared about anything but the chocolate anyway!

There is always next year!

Two Years Old

Our little baby is now our little man! How blessed we have been to have him in our lives. Ryan is Mister Sunshine and is always making us smile and laugh. He is "spirited" and sweet as can be.

We had a fun celebrating his big day.

The morning started with balloons and presents.Breakfast in his new Woody Bowl ( this kid LOVES toy story)! New trains!
Dad took the day off and we went to the Orange County Zoo.He didn't really like the goats - I don't blame him. I didn't want to touch them either!

We couldn't be luckier to be little Ry's parents.

Actually, according to the doctor's stats : Weight 90%, Height 75% and Head-Off the charts,

little isn't really what people think of when they see him.

But he will always be my baby!

Halloween 2009

Potty Training

You know you're a mom when you begin to use the word " underwear" in your prayers. I did that for my first time the other night - the night before I started to potty train Ryan. I used the boot camp method which consists of staying home for THREE days straight. He ran around in underwear all day and I siad " Tell mommy if you need to go" and "are you Dry?" about 100 million times! After three long days Ryan is potty trained and will sleep through the night and stay dry!

Veteran's Day

When I flew to Denver last month, I saw an army guy ( for lack of what else to call him) staring in my direction. I noticed that he was actually staring at Ryan - staring at him like he was thinking about his little boy at home. Then I saw the army guys' friend - other army guy - sit next to him. He was young and wore a wedding ring. Then third army guy joined them an they all smiled at Ryan.

I started thinking about how much they were missing at home. How much their wives and children must miss them. How much I couldn't bear to have Brett be gone from Ryan and I for a year or more. And how much their hearts must miss their families. I thought that I should tell them thanks for their sacrifice, but I felt dumb.

I saw them again as we passed through security. I thought about their sacrifice again and couldn't hold back my feelings any more. So, I walked right up to them and said " I don't know how to say this... but thanks... for all you do." And then I started balling. Right in front of them.

The big army guy said" Hey, why you crying... stop crying... you are making me all sensitive..."

They others guys just said you are welcome and looked at me like I was a freak.

I just couldn't help it. The reality of what they give up to protect our country hit me like a ton of bricks. So I cried, and I felt stupid, but I am really grateful for those army guys who leave their families to help keep my family safe.

Thanks army guys past and present!

( that includes navy, air force, and all other forces!)

Denver

We made a trip to Denver to see the new Andersen cousin. Baby Ryder! He is such a cutie! Ryan loved being with his older cousins. The weather was a little different there than in CA. All we brought was sweatshirts and it turned out to be 19 degrees! So we bundled Ryan up in my sweatshirts and he still had fun in the cold!The Andersen Boys We went to an indoor play place called Monkey Bizness. One of our ( I liked it as much as the kids did) favorite things was the 15 foot slide. I was a little nervous at first, but I had to be brave for Ryan.
Our first ride!After a few tries, Ryan was ready to go all by himself. It was hard for me to let him go, but he loved it. That will be the story of my life as he is growing up, right?Brooklyn and Ryan
The kids helped my make caramel apples. Always a delicious treat.Too bad Denver is so far away! We miss you guys!

Sunday

Gotta love days like this:

Ryan went to sleep late and woke up early.

Ate 2 packs of M&Ms during sacracment meeting to keep him quiet ( at 9:00am).

Wouldn't go to nursery ( like he ever has) so we spent the last 2 hours running around the church.

Afterward, we went to our new house to try to get Ryan to take a nap.

He wouldn't.

Waited for the bishop where Ryan soaked himself while trying to get a drink out of the drinking fountian. I should have stopped him, but it was too funny.

Met with the bishop where Ryan pulled pictures off the wall, pulled stuff out of drawers and colored on himself and the bishop's desk with a highlighter.

We then shoved the screaming child into his car seat to drive home.

And then he crashed.

Isn't he an ANGEL!

Ryan's First Trip to Disneyland

My good friend wWendy took us to Disneyland. Tyler got to go with us. We had a blast. Ryan, on the otherhand, wasn't so sure.

This pictures sums up how he felt about Disneyland. Insert a " NOOOOO" here!Tyler had fun! We were glad he could come!

Thanks, Wendy!

St. George Marathon

Over Conference weekend, my friend Wendy and I ran the St. George Marathon. It was #2 for both of us! We had a great time! We drove up with Brett and Ryan Friday night, ran the marathon Saturday morning and hopped back... ok more like dragged ourselves into the car and went home that afternoon. Yes, we are crazy.

They drove us up the canyon at 5:30 am. Wendy and I were on the last bus in the last seat. Great timing. They started the race about 10 minutes after we arrived. I was a little nervous about how I would feel during the race being that the last time I ran 26.2 miles, I was 20. But, I felt even better this this time. No walls, no blisters, no hurt toenails and I was 5 minutes faster than I was back then! It was a great experience. The best part of the race was as I approached the finish line and I saw Ryan on Brett's shoulders. It was such a sight for sore legs to see my two favorite boys waiting there for me. This is the third race in a year that they have supported me through. What great guys I have.

More marathons to come... who is with me?

( I already know that Wendy and Lorraine are in!)

sorry about the small pictures... I copied them from the marathon site and this is as big as they would get!