Yes, Rylan is still in his pajamas. It must have been a rough morning...or maybe just a lazy morning.

The other day the twins came over while Tami took Mykenna to lunch for her birthday. Since they came around lunch time Tami sent sack lunches with them and she had made one for Rylan too. Ry was soooo excited! He and Kaleb sat down at the table right away and sifted through their lunch like they had just found a treasure box and each thing inside was extremely special. "Yummy--cheese...oh, I got peaches! Look, a BROWNIE!!!" It was so darn cute. Kade carried his sack around for at least 20 minutes before he was interested in sitting down and eating. I found it interesting that Kaleb and Rylan both ate their brownie first before eating the actual lunch, but Kade ate everything before he even opened his brownie.

And speaking of the twins, Rylan loves them. Seriously, LOVES them. All day long Kaleb and Kade come up in our conversation or in his play time. He'll be playing with his trains and I'll hear Ry saying "Choo choo...up the hill to Kaleb's house". Or he'll get the play phone, open it up and ask me to call Kaleb/Kade. We'll get in the car and he immediately asks if we're going to Kaleb and Kade's house. Actually, he usually just says "Kaleb-Kade" like it's one person (but he does know one is Kaleb and one is Kade). When I'm getting him dressed he asks if Kaleb-Kade got dressed. And while he's dressing sometimes he asks about each specific item of clothing--"Kaleb diaper change? Kaleb wears a shirt? Kaleb put pants on, huh." It's funny. The days when Ry actually gets to see the twins usually go smoothly (until he has to leave!) because I have a bribe. Am I evil? I'm constantly using the twins to get Ry to do things cause he does them much faster..."Clean up your toys so we can go see Kaleb", "Hurry, let's change your diaper so we can go see Kaleb". (Kaleb does come up more often than Kade usually.) But I've learned that I cannot mention the twins before nap time or bed time because Ry is a little obssesive and dwells on things. If the twins are coming over before a nap and I tell Rylan before his nap, there will be no nap. He will be so excited he won't stay in his bed and he'll continually ask when they are coming. So I have to keep it a secret until after his nap and then I have a bribe for the afternoon. I had to tell Tami about it and she laughed saying that Kaleb is the same way. She said the other day they were in the car and out of the blue Kaleb said "Rylan is my friend". Oh, so sweet! I just love it that they are such good friends and I hope that we can always live close so they can continue playing together.

Party Time!

I love my birthday. I think everyone should have a super special day at least once a year. Usually my birthday is celebrated for at least a week. I'm always telling Kevin "I'm going to get a pedicure today for my birthday" or "I scheduled us a trip to Disneyland for my birthday". Seriously, I always have things to do and give the reason that it's for my birthday...girls night out, out to dinner, a stop at the ice cream shop. I just love it! Maybe it's just the only time of year where I have an excuse to indulge. This year was no different. I've already mentioned a few things I did for my birthday (and our Disneyland trip is coming up muy soon!). One more thing I did this year, that I think will just have to become a yearly tradition it was soooo much fun, was a party at my house for February birthday girls in my ward and neighborhood.

Jessica M. helped out and we had such a great time. I was originally going to only invite girls I knew (imagine that!) but Jessica is such a sweet person she suggested I invite the girls in the ward I didn't know. So I did, and I am so glad. I made some invitations and Jessica deliverd them to each girl. (Well, I gave Jana hers because I wanted to!) Everyone was invited to come over for dinner and cake at 6:00pm on the 21st. 12 girls were invited and there ended up being 9 of us.

I made Cafe Rio style salads for dinner. My mom called about 5:15 and of course I was stressing because Asher needed to eat, his diaper was leaking, Rylan was being crazy, and I still had lots to do for the dinner. Luckily she lives close so she came over and made the rice while I fed Asher. She also chopped up our lettuce and shredded the chicken. What a lifesaver! By 6:00 I was mostly ready, just had to cook the tortillas. I had kept Kevin busy all day cleaning, buying balloons, helping decorate (I really didn't decorate much, but he did nearly all of what I had in mind) and when girls started showing up I kicked the boys out of the house. Kev and the babes went to my mom's house. (My mom brought Asher home just before 9:00. She said Kevin wanted to finish watching "My Cousin Vinny" and Asher was hungry so she offered to bring him over. Either Kevin was really into that movie, or he just didn't want to be in a house full of girls!!) Of course Kev had to put on Planet Earth before he left. I tried to tell him that wasn't really a girl thing to watch, but he insisted!

While I was cooking up the tortillas we all just chatted. After we ate dinner we played a game of Apples to Apples sitting on the floor. Jana won, but I was close! She reached 10 cards first, but there were several of us close behind. I'm just glad everyone had at least one card! I have this mixed personality where I'm competitive and I really want to win, but I want everyone else to win too so we all can have a good time. Of course you don't have to win to have fun, right? Anyways, after the game we had a chocolate chip cake that Jessica brought which was yummy and beautiful. Then it was more talking before it was time for the partying to end.

I really had such a fun night and I'm looking for any excuse to have another party at my house. Thanks to everyone who came and thanks to Jessica for all your help. And of course thanks to my hubby and my mom for helping, too :)
While Kevin and I were cleaning and getting things ready, Kevin set up a movie for Rylan in our closet!

Kevin had the day off for President's Day. Of course I was super excited because I love having my hubby home. I think he gets a little bored though because in his words "There's nothing to do in Spanish Fork". I know for days like this he'd prefer living up closer to his brothers (and sisters, too!) so he could play video games, or hang out, or do whatever brothers do when they have the day off work! Anyways, I suggested we go bowling but that never happened. Instead Kevin spent a long time building a train track with Rylan and then we ended up at Shopko to buy some more hangers for the boys. (One day they will have dressers in their rooms for clothes, but for today their clothes will be hung in the closet.) We stopped and got a pizza for dinner and then we went to Cold Stone for some ice cream (and I wonder why I can't get rid of this baby weight!!). If you register on Cold Stone's website then you get a free ice cream for your birthday and since it was recently my birthday, mine was free! And then on Monday nights, kids get a free ice cream with the purchase of an adult sized ice cream (which we didn't know until we got there). So the three of us got our own ice cream and we only spent five bucks--awesome! Rylan asked over and over again for gummy bears. I didn't even know he knew what gummy bears were. Kevin informed me that when he goes to nursery they give him one gummy bear. No wonder he loves nursery so much!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Nobody ever told me 30 would feel so young!

On Saturday my parents watched Rylan while Kevin took me to a late lunch at Chili's followed by a movie (Taken which was intense but good!). I even convinced him to stop at Krispy Kremes on our way home to get me a donut :) Why do I like donuts so much? He's not a huge donut lover so it's a rare occassion when we get donuts...I was excited and thoroughly enjoyed mine! We came home to a very hyper Rylan who had lots of fun with grandma and grandpa eating popcorn and apple slices for dinner. It took him awhile to calm down for bedtime so Kevin and I could cuddle up on the couch and watch some tv.
On Monday, my actual birthday, I received lots of Happy Birthday phone calls and emails. I like to feel special :) Jana came over and brought some home made bread--delicious! I met my sisters, sis-in-law, and mom at Brick Oven for dinner. I seriously don't remember the last time I was there. I got the calzone (of course, I LOVE calzones!). It was good but not as good as Pizza Factory's calzones. We talked too much and missed our movie so we just sat and talked some more. It was a nice relaxing evening.
I came home to a yummy surprise from my sweet hubby. He had made me a Strawberry Danish Dessert Cake--one of my all time favorite desserts. It was his first attempt at making this cake and it looked great. The topping didn't quite set so we thought we'd give it overnight and eat it on Tuesday. Well, Tuesday it still wasn't set, but we dug in and enjoyed it so much, Kevin licked his bowl clean!
Tami called Monday morning offering to take Rylan for the day for my birthday. Super sweet of her, but Ry had a horrible cough and runny nose so I wouldn't let her take him. So instead, she picked him up Tuesday morning (he was much better). I got to exercise without as many interruptions and it was great. In fact it was so good I did two dvds! After showering and feeding Asher I headed off to Rod Works and Wal Mart. Such a difference shopping makes without a toddler! I called her on my way home and she was on her way to drop him off. Good timing.
I usually plan a ton of stuff for myself for my birthday but this year I took it easy cause we're going to Disneyland with some of my fam in a few weeks! YIPPEE!! I'm also having a birthday party at my house for some neighbors and ward members who also have February birthdays. It should be fun!


I had to put a couple pictures on because Asher just cracks me up. In nearly every picture that Kevin took Asher is looking where he's supposed to be looking...at the wrapped gift, at my new jeans (Yippee!!), whatever. Anyways, it was funny.

Rylan is getting so good at eating with tongs that I'm starting to think it's a sign of the future...perhaps a mission call to Japan? Oh, I know they don't eat with tongs there, but it takes some skill and could later lead to a chopstick skill, don't ya think? (And yes, if you noticed that is a hershey's kiss on Rylan's plate. He got into the primary bag and dug out the bribes!)

This past Sunday two people commented to me (one of them being my mom) on Asher's flat head. My mom reasurred me that it's a sign of a good baby...I don't have to hold him all the time. But she still encouraged me to do something about it. I remember Ry's head getting a little flat as well and I always just thought they grew out of it. Anyways, the girl at church that commented on it said she's getting her daughter a helmet to help with her flat head...what? Really? So I've been really trying to get Asher to lay his head to the side. If I put him in his bed already asleep then I can turn his head and it stays that way for a little bit. But when he falls asleep on his own he is always looking straight up. I've been giving him extra tummy time but the last few days he'll just start sucking his fingers and fall asleep on his tummy. Which brings me to his finger sucking...he's doing it more and more. I always think it's cute but I certainly don't want it to lead to bad habits. Will he grow out of it?



I just love it when he holds in his pacifier! Isn't this boy a cutie?