Rylan Smarts of July

(July 1, 2010)
With sword in hand Ry came up to me and said in urgency "Mom I hear someone at the door. I think it's a bad guy. Let's go get him."
He handed me some random toy to fight the bad guy with, we ran downstairs, opened up the door and started fighting the bad guys. When I thought we got them all he said "Wait, there's more. It's a Lamanite"! More fighting ensued and we were victorious!

(July 5, 2010)
After not getting something he wanted...
Ry: "Dad, you're wicked"
Me: "Where did you learn about being wicked?"
Ry: "From the Lamanites"

He's got the Lamanites on his brain!

(July 8, 2010)
Again, after not getting his way...
Ry: "Mom you need to go to prison"
I didn't even ask where he learned that one because I knew his answer would be "from the scriptures"!

(July 16, 2010)
As soon as he woke up this morning Ry asked me if I wanted to play trains with him. I had a ton of stuff I needed to get done so I told him I'd play with him later that day. He asked repeatedly if I could play and I kept telling him he had to wait. Finally after I had Abbi and Asher down for a nap I asked him if he still wanted to play trains. He ran over to me and excitedly asked if I really was ready to play. Then he said "I've been thinking about you all day!" I was so glad I made that time for him. Love my boy!

(July 17, 2010)
Rylan loves to check the clock to see what time it is.
Ry: "What does 1,2 make?"
Me: "You know that one. What do you think?"
Ry: "I don't think. Just tell me."

Little Kickers

Rylan started his very first soccer class! Kevin took Ry on Tuesday and came home a bit frustrated. The class is one hour and about halfway through Rylan declared himself all done and just sat around for the remaining time. Truthfully this surprised neither of us but we're always hopeful of finding something that really interests Ry.

On Thursday, Kevin had a soccer game of his own so I took Rylan to class with Asher in tow. Asher was more into it than Rylan! I kept Asher on the sidelines dribbling his own soccer ball up and down the field while I cheered Rylan on. After a drill they started their game and Rylan did great for most of it! He mainly ran around in the huddled group around the ball not really watching where he was going so I'd have to point out to him when the ball was close so he could kick it. When he actually did kick the ball his face would light up and he'd look up at me with a big smile. I think with time he really will enjoy playing soccer! And hopefully over the next couple of weeks we'll have some action shots rather than a picture of him hanging out with a cone :)

I'm So Eskited!

For months now Rylan has been asking to go bowling. I think it started when he saw a Curious George episode where George went bowling. After seeing that he wanted to play bowling games on the computer or the itouch. Every once in awhile we'll pull out the empty apple juice bottles and set them up as our bowling pins and go bowling in the living room. But still, Rylan asked and begged and pleaded to go bowling. So when I told him we were gonna go, he smiled real big and proclaimed "I'm so eskited!!"

Fat Cats has free bowling for kids during the summer so we took advantage. We met up with Tami, Kacy, and their kiddos for strikes, spares, and admittedly, a few gutter balls!

What's up with that eye? This was the best picture of him smiling at me!

Check out that form!!

Rylan rocked it on his second game! I'm pretty sure that 93 even beat my score. Next time I'm using the bumpers :)

Look at that momma go! Kacy bowled holding Finn the majority of the time and she totally beat me both games. Sadly I came in last in both games. I used to be pretty good at bowling, sad!!

The three mommas bowled on one lane, the 4 girls bowled together in one lane, and the 4 boys bowled in the next. Perfect!

Yep, Asher was there, too! He didn't get to bowl but he sure did like all the balls. Holding him while bowling didn't improve my game any (and honestly probably didn't make it any worse!) but he did like feeling like a part of the bowling adventure!

When we were all finished I took off my shoes and socks. Asher has a thing for socks and he wanted to wear mine so I slid them right onto his feet and up his legs. I about died laughing when he was walking in front of me and I saw this.

I'm pretty sure he gets those calf muscles from his daddy :)

A Busy, Fun Day

Kevin's cousin, Jen, came into town from Oregon so yesterday Angela set up a play date for all of us. We met up at the Discovery Museum at the Gateway and I conveniently pulled into the parking garage after Jen and Angela! Steph was with Angie and we met up with Aubrey and Mary before going into play...and of course we had our kids with us :)

These sweet little boys melt my heart :)

Rylan's very favorite part was the "construction zone". But he wasn't about to even start playing until he had the worker vest and hard hat! He waited patiently until there was a vest and hat available and then he got to work. He wasn't shy about helping other kids load up the bricks and working the crane. He loved it! Asher walked around pushing one of those toys that have the balls in the center that pop up when the toy is pushed. And he said "pop pop pop" as he walked along. I finally talked Rylan into venturing off into other areas of the museum to play with his cousins and see what else was around.

Asher got pretty wet in the water and they both liked sitting in the stationary cars. After a brief period of time Ry asked if we could go back over to the work zone. Again, he waited until he could wear a vest and hat and then he jumped right in. He and one other little boy worked really well together stacking and lifting--and mostly in silence!

Rylan fillin up with Lincoln and Luke both driving!

Jen had to get going so we said our goodbyes and shortly after the rest of us left as well. We headed over to the food court for a little snack and then parted ways at the parking garage.
Asher fell asleep just after we left the parking garage and Rylan followed not long after. Good sign of a fun time!

Heather Keil was in town so we stopped in Riverton on our way home to see her and her boys. We went to Arctic Circle for some sweet potato fries and ice cream while the boys shyly played together and Heather and I talked. I love when she comes into town! Now if only I could talk Kevin into taking a road trip out to California!! When we left we were both surprised to get in our cars to see that it was 6:00--we should have just eaten dinner there!

Rylan is usually scared to go down these enclosed slides. After we had been at Arctic Circle for awhile he went down on his own! But then he came up to me and said "I went down the slide...do I get to play the ipod now?" Silly boy!

When I got home I basically got the boys out of the car, brushed my hair and sneaked out of the house to go to book group. I know...what a fun day for me, right?! We met to discuss 'The 5000 Year Leap'. I tried and tried to read the book but ended up falling asleep each time. So I maybe read 50 pages and finally gave up after it was overdue from the library. There were several girls who made it through it and a couple who liked it. The discussion breezed over the book and we talked other political subjects for quite some time. I'm not a political person at all so it's always interesting to me to hear these girls debate. And what's even better is how we can all leave friends! :) It was a fun, late night and I was exhausted.
It's very rare that we have such busy days. Much less a day full of one fun activity after another. So FUN!

Another fun day at the Dinosaur Museum! Tami's girls said it had been too long since they've been there, so off we went. We got a late start and ending up first meeting at Del Taco for stomach aches, I mean, lunch. I sure do wish there were more food options up there.

There used to be a discovery portion just before the dinosaurs. Well now it's a Nasa Blast exhibit that teaches about light. There were some really cool things there that Tami and I were fascinated with...seeing the blood vessels in your eyes and how the blood pumps with your heart beat. Some of them were hard for even the older kids (8, 10, 12 years old) to see how they worked. But we all had fun with this little light experiment.

There were different colored lenses and about 8 different pictures. It shows how different colors of light filter out other colors. Some pictures you couldn't even tell what they were with the naked eye until you used maybe the red lens. Cool! There were several hands on activities to show how light reflects, bounces, and filters. It was a fun little exhibit!

The dinosaur museum was the dinosaur museum. We always enjoy it but I don't know that I have anything else to add. Rylan still weighs the same as the Othnielia dinosaur and probably will for several years :) Brooklyn took care of Asher for me...she's great to have around! Oh, and Asher had lots of fun getting his feet buried in the excavation area!

We had swimsuits for the kids so we headed over to Noah's Ark since the ark was working today. I didn't get to just sit on the bench like I did last time. Asher laughed and laughed splashing in the water. A little girl about his age started chasing him and splashing him and he wasn't goin for it. He was running away and that little girl just kept following him. He was looking at me like "How do I get away from her?". I just laughed...he's so dang cute he's gonna have to get used to the girls chasing him :)

It was a nice hot day to spend some time in the water. There was a different part of the Nasa Blast exhibit there in the discovery gardens that we didn't even check out because we stayed at the water. Guess we'll have to go back!

Ever since we took this picture...

I've really been wanting to get rid of those temporary paper blinds. 3 years is long enough! It was one of those things that we just got used to and I rarely even thought about them. But knowing we had 3 Christmas pictures taken with those paper blinds in the background really got to me. (And maybe next year we'll sit so the Christmas tree shows!) I've been on a mission this year to find just what I wanted. I've looked at other people's homes to get ideas, looked through magazines and online...until I came to the conclusion that I just wanted something to replace those things. So one day while I was at Target I found some curtains that I liked well enough and could picture hanging in my house. I went for it and I'm so happy I did!! Kevin hung them up last Monday on his day off (I always seem to have projects for him on his day off and then I always say "On your next day off we should get out and do something fun"!) And here's what it looked like:

And then we did a little something more to add to this front room (which should have been more of a priority since everyone who comes to our front door sees this room). We had been talking about having a short getaway for our anniversary. As I was looking for a bed and breakfast I suddenly became more practical and decided I'd rather spend that $200 on something else. So I gave Kevin a list of options of things we could do for our anniversary and what we ended up with was dinner and a movie and shopping for a picture of the Mt Timpanogos temple (since that's the temple we were married in). Perfect! And then guess what...I decided to get the mail since it had been several weeks (our mailbox is just so far away, like a block!) and in there was a coupon for 75% off clearance pictures at Deseret Book...and it just so happened that it was good for the next couple of days! I love it that I have good luck like that! But wait, the good luck continues...the picture we wanted back before Christmas, was now on clearance! Can it get any better?

(Just pretend that pillow is moved over to your left a couple inches. But it rarely is because hiding behind all those big pillows is one of Rylan's favorite hiding spots. And you know what? Sometimes you really can't even tell he's back there!)

Our recent additions really make the room feel cozy and happy and welcoming and now I like to look over there throughout the day :)

Discovery Gardens...kind of

Our first visit to the ark at Thanksgiving Point...and the ark isn't even working. Bummer! But that's ok. The kids still know how to have fun! There was water for them to splash in and the little water spot where water shoots out of the ground was on so they played in that for awhile. They also visited the bear cave and fed the koi fish and just ran around being kids. Asher spent most of his time by me while I sat with Tami on the bench in the shade. It was a very relaxing day out :)

My boys are so handsome! Even when they give me looks like this:

Daddy Time

We all love it when daddy is home. The boys like climbing on daddy and playing whatever he wants to play. Even if it involves being knocked over by a big bouncy ball! We finally took down our paper blinds (hip hip hooray!!) and as I was getting ready to throw them in the garbage to say goodbye forever, Kevin had a better idea. He got out the crayons and it was coloring time! Asher and Kev spent some time coloring and Ry gave a few scribbles here and there.

Cheese!

There's always some sort of monster or chasing or hiding and seeking...while I'm throwing away their coloring project! (C'mon I've been waiting a long time to get rid of those things!!)

Angie called asking if we wanted a little picnic table they no longer use. YES! She delivered it to Kevin at one of his soccer games and we put it right to use. Megan, Camryn, and Gavin were over one night and we all enjoyed pizza outside in the wind and shade. I love summer nights :)

So the night Angie delivered the table to Kev, she called asking where he plays soccer. I had no idea! I mean, I'm pretty sure it's in Salt Lake but that doesn't really help much. So she called back later and said they found some soccer fields and were wondering what color of jersey's the Doyle team wears. Oh my gosh, I didn't even know!! It was a bit embarrassing. I began to wonder why it never occurred to me that I've never washed a jersey. I admit I still don't know where it is he plays, but I do know that someone else washes all the jerseys and brings them back to the next game...and their team is orange :)

Check out that belly!! I think Asher needs some pajamas that actually fit :)

Girls Camp!

I was recently called as the Young Women's Secretary in our ward--wahoo!! I came in the middle of all their Girls Camp planning and I wasn't necessarily needed up at camp because they had plenty of leaders. So yesterday afternoon I went up for the evening and got there just in time for the Values Walk. It was fantastic! It was neat to see leaders from our ward and friends from the stake dressed up and telling stories of women with touching stories to tell...Marjorie Pay Hinckley, Mother Teresa, Anne Frank and many more.

This is our YW Pres as Marjorie Hinckley--cute :)

After the Values Walk and the flag ceremony we hung around waiting for our bishopric to arrive with dinner. They were late but everyone was appreciative of the pizza and ice cream! Then we played games, sang songs, and talked a lot!
We have adorable girls in our ward and I can't wait to get to know them better. Their testimonies were touching and very sweet--tears and giggles and all. They all get along so well together...I really do look forward to being in this calling!
I left after testimony meeting along with another leader. We followed the 2 bishopric members down the canyon which was nice. Close to midnight I got a call from Tami telling me to call Kevin because he was worried. I was just about home but called to let him know I was in the neighborhood. He was on the phone with my mom. I thought for sure he'd be sleeping...guess I should have called as soon as I got out of the canyon! We made it safe and sound and I was so tired I went to bed with campfire scented hair :)