I love this picture. I love watching Ryan be a dad. hes good at it and it makes me love him even more. I am SOOO excited to go to NewYork and just have lots of free time to all play together. Probably more excited about just having lots of time with Ryan and family, then even being in NY--although we'll have so much fun. Ryan's family is VERY fun and ALWAYS a party.

Hmmmmm

The other night we were finishing some Christmas shopping and I overheard some people right in front of me that made me think a lot the next day about what they were talking about.

This poor lady was saying that she was out on her own shopping trip so that she could feel better. She was saying that she was so stressed out and with primary activity, presents to buy, so many Christmas related activities and it would be a real miracle if she got her family letter out this year. Anyway, she looked so miserable--I wanted to just give her a hug.

I don't really know what the answer is, because i think it happens to all of us in varying degrees but it sure made me think. Why do we spend some or most of the holidays being mad, stressed, overwhelmed, etc. usually leading up till the 25th when everyone kind of relaxes--and then it is over. When we were delivering some things to people today I was thinking how wonderful it would be to go in to each home, sit down and just visit our friends. Granted it was fun to catch so many people home and talk to them on their porches, but still.... Life is just so full, huh!

Anyway, I hope that you are each enjoying just sitting on the couch and looking around your cute homes that are decorated so beautifully, reading CHristmas stories, eating yummy treats with family and even neighbors and most especially finding time to FEEL the spirit of Christ. I know I want to try harder.

nicest husband around

I just have been thinking about Ryan a lot this morning and JUST IN CASE he might happen to read "our" blog sometime in the next week....just have to say that he is the best!! I feel so thankful to be married to someone that is just so good to me, to our kids and to everyone.



Today I think I felt the baby move, either that or I was getting butterflies about doing the dishes. Pretty sure it was the former :) I dont get too nervous about dish duty! I am so glad to have the daily reassurance that the baby is doing okay.

So, I have a question for everyone: what is your favorite Christmas tradition? I really have enjoyed lately listening to people share what they do--some are really cool, some are random, etc. Love to hear one!

love christmas!!

I just love this time of year....besides the cold, love everything about it. i love buying presents and getting ready for christmas. I love decorations and decorating. I love all the great things to do with kids and with Ryan.

Last night we went and saw Forgotten Carols with my in-laws. My sister in law (Erika's) boyfriend whose named Jordan Bluth was in the show and he is just really ridiculously good. His voice is flawless. Here's his link if you want to hear some demos. www.jordanbluth.com
anyway, it was so much fun to all go to dinner and then to the show. I married into an awesome family--I love spending time with them.


We also went to see the lights at temple square the day after thanksgiving. It was C-O-L-D!! We went with jeff and anna and were worried that the kids would not want to be there after 10 minutes but they LOVED it and it was so much fun! Lil' hc when we got home.

Good times!!!

tagg-ola

my cousin Tasha--one of the greatest gals I know despite having green eyes :) JK tash! tagged with 6 things most people wouldn't know about me and that I havent blogged about (that is hard):

1-I really like rap (booty music they call it in Florida--rap dance music kind of) and LOVE to dance to that and Latin. I grew up around all kinds of great dancers at school, neighborhood and church and most everyone i knew danced any chance they could get. It has always been one of my favorite things to do since middle school. haven't had much opportunity since getting married and that has been hard.

2- i worked at Burger King when I was sixteen with my sister and cousin that was living with us for the summer and LOVED it. Who loves working fast food???? We had SOO much fun. Still one of my favorite places to eat.

3-The first time I ever ate steak was in college at my uncle John and aunt Marsha's. he made cajun steak and it was the bomb-diggity!

4-I met Ryan 5 years before we became friends and really started hanging out.

5- I like to read alot!! I love history, business books ( I really like Romney's leadership book about the Olympics, Ive read it twice and could read it again) and just good reads (DaVinci Code, vampire series, etc) that people tell me about. I hate to even start a book because its really hard for me to put it down.

6-I used to be in a singing group-Sunshine Express???--in Florida with my sisters and we'd sing at various local events. We even had matching outfits. Even more great, I took ballet and tap and performed "How much is that doggie in the window" for a recital and had a dog hat on my head that squeaked. So classic!



I tag---Amber Kay, Jaime Stephens, Lisa Ramey, Amy Palmer and Kelbel

more pics

pre-wedding slumber party....wes and cara (my little sis and bro) slept at our house and got into a wrestling match with Ryan on our bed. it was pretty funny.




what an aubrie face!



Nice touch....loved the shoes with the dress.



Three amigos. Aubs cousins that are around her age and her VERY best friends.

5 down, 2 to go.....in a long while

My little brother got married yesterday and it was a FABULOUS day. Will be one of the highlights in my memory book (that is my mind :)) They both were very excited and ready to be married to each other, they looked fantastic and it was fun to help them plan the reception, etc out here. She is from NC and he is from FL and they will be living down in Ft Laud...hopefully. They don't have a house yet :)



The immediate family--spouses only + grandpa (no chillins for this pic)


Can you seriously be that cute????


Linds-you look absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!!!

pure laziness...I tell ya!

I don't know what my problem has been, I have looked at the blog a dozen times since the last post and I just stare at the screen thinking how much energy it takes to post something :) I must be pregnant + mono...or something!

Its been a fun couple of weeks. Very busy. It always seems that from Oct to December life is pretty chaotic and I am not sure which end is up. I REALLY like it though and it is always fun things we are doing. I work with the young women in our church and this month we've had some fun activities. 2 weeks ago we had a Halloween carnival for all the kids in the neighborhood and it was a lot of work but turned out really cool. Here are some pics of the kids (and the big kids too).


Then a sad but also very special thing came up in October. We found out that my family is finally (After 26 years) leaving Ft. Lauderdale and moving west--right into Utah county most likely. Pretty crazy and I NEVER thought that would happen for at least 15-20 more years. We were all shocked (including my mom). But, things moved quickly as our family is prone to do and mom called and said dad would be released from his calling as Stake president a few weeks ago (he's been in the stake presidency for 17 + years, so that is all most of us remember). All my siblings talked and decided we really wanted to be there. It took a lot of planning and some really nice people to watch the kids as well as a Saint of a husband being willing, but we all made it there (Syd wasn't able but then showed up Saturday night in the middle of the conference session--mom was crying from her seat in the stands). It was a really neat weekend to all be there together and to say goodbye to so many people that have helped us to be who we are. I love Florida so much!!! The day before we all left we went to our old house (and the owner actually let us come in and reminisce for awhile), old schools and lots of other memorable places. That night we went to the beach with some of our favorite people. I am SOOOO grateful that it worked to go and glad to have gone one last time before they moved. Who knows when we'll go again. here are some pics i took before leaving. Mom, you've done amazing things with that house. The backyard is my favorite--it is a tropical paradise.


Our favorite place to have parties--the backyard. Also, where we each got thrown in on our birthdays (and many other occasions--right Carl and Curt:))

Some of our favorite people in the world--the Tua'one sisters (some of them). Hey, if you want to feel good, hang around them for an hour!!!

Hollywood house, gotta love it. Hadn't been inside since we moved. Kelli, you remember this :)?

NDN

Finally took some video this week....

Finally downloaded some pictures.

Our annual (2 years running :) trip to Hee Haw farms by our house. There is so much to do there and so many animals, Aubrie and Robbie weren't sure what to do first. Good times on the animal train!



and the Hayride






About 17 mothers in the neighborhood all decided to split up into groups of 4-5 and do preschool. Here is aubrie's SECOND time going (first was at our house and she really was confused about why she was staying home for school-rotten deal) She really likes it. good stuff.



After eating a cookie and wearing the cutest face you could ever kiss.

Something I read that was profound this morning...

"Now we find many people critical when a righteous person is killed, a young father or mother is taken from a family, or when violent deaths occur. Some become bitter when oft-repeated prayers seem unanswered. Some lose faith and turn sour when solemn administrations by hoy men seem to be ignored and no restoration seems to come from repeated prayer circles. But if all the sick were healed, if all righteousness were protected and the wicked destroyed, the whole program of the Father would be annulled and the basic principle of the gospel, free agency, would be ended.
"if pain and sorrow and total punishment immediately followed the doing of evil, no soul would repeat a misdeed (in other words it needs to be OUR choice not a Pavlovian response). If joy and peace and rewards were instantaneously given the doer of good, there could be no evil--all would do good and not because of the rightness of doing good. There would be no test of strength, no development of character, no growth of powers, no free agency, no Satanic controls. Should all prayers be immediately answered according to our selfish desires ad our limited understanding, then there would be little or no suffering, sorrow, disappointment, or even death; and if these were not, there would also be an absence of joy, success, resurrection, eternal life and godhood" (Spencer Kimball, "Tragedy or Destiny")

Aubrie

Robbie look alike

Little man

Robbie is getting so grown up. I can't believe the changes in the last few weeks. He had 3 teeth, now he has 8--some are JUST coming in. At the park the other day he started "chasing" after this puppy as fast as he could saying "gog" "gog". He walks now--the real deal. He is starting to retaliate when he gets mad at Aubrie (seems a little soon!:o) The other day she pushed him down and went back to playing and he got up and went over and hit her on the head. I just stayed over in the corner laughing which is not good, but it was pretty funny.

He LOVES balls. Any. He will watch kids at the park playing with them for a long time. He sat on my lap on the couch during the BYU football game for awhile--just watching the game.




He is pretty intense about things. If he doesn't like something he'll let you know. What a cutie-patootie.

Park picture...and a few others (you know)

well....

I could probably write everyday (well, that might be an exaggeration) cause its so fun. But I always think that I have to wait till something "cool" happens...but I don't want to leave my loyal 2 person reader base (my mom and Ryan) waiting for weeks. So, I'll just go with "mom cool" and tell you the top 5 things of my day:

1-Aubrie didn't have ANY accidents today. That alone is reason for icecream to end the day.
2-My friend and fellow Saint, Amy, watched our kids while I went to the temple and it was HEAVEN.
3-I ate Cafe Rio tonight (I could stop there really).
4-Robbie slid down the slide at the AF park, 20 million times, mostly by himself and once doing the splits--I was laughing pretty hard.
5- Ryan just told me that he and Aubrie had a conversation that went something like this:
Aubrie: "Dad, lets put this kid to bed and eat a popsicle and watch football on the couch"
Dad: (chuckling) are you referring to Robbie?
Aubrie: "yeah dad"

oh yeah and Ryan and I are about to watch The Holiday. I really enjoy that movie.

PO!

Cute little buggers....

I read this qoute once and love it:
Kids faces say alot, especially the mouth part. I promise you I cannot BELIEVE the amount of talking Aubrie does everyday--its tires me me watching her. She is amazing.

Today and yesterday she said 3 things that really stopped me in my tracks.

We were passing the dentist and she says "look, there's the hospital where they take your diaper off and check and then they put it back on". I was so confused for a second and then I realized she was confusing the dentist and doctor and that she was right, every time I take Robbie in for his wellness checkups they always take off his diaper and make sure everything is okay. WHO thinks of that...and remembers.

Last night we went through her whole bedtime routine and I leaned over her bed for the last kiss and hug and she says smiling "and you love me a lot, huh?" I was cracking up.

"Mom, when dad comes to my house, dad and I are going to sit on the couch and have icecream together. Yep, that's what we are going to do!" .......OH REALLY!!!




Gotta love it!

Newest nephew....

They are comin fast and furious!!! This is Jeff and Anna's newest. A whopping 9' 3'' and black hair.

Presenting: Beck McIntire Jordan

Oh blessed Sundays...

They honestly used to be my favorite day of the week (except when their was a party on Friday :). However, since having children sometimes they seem like the longest days.

Today was classic. I was SOOOO close to going home in the middle of sacrament meeting--unfortunately. Ryan was out of town (this was the 4th day) and the kids (well, all of us) were a little grumpy from the get go this morning. After many diaper changes, convincing to PLEASE put on a dress, cleaning up many messes from breakfast we made it downstairs to get in the stroller. Of course, the stroller has a flat tire, so I pump it up in my white skirt and we head off to church--about 15 feet later the tire is completely deflated--so I push it flat the whole way. I think Robbie is teething-plus he's sick and he was going crazy from the moment we sat down--which is unusual for him. After throwing a bottle at the people behind us and I don't know how many things at the people in front of us, while screaming 1/2 the time--I was sweating by this time--I was just praying that we could stay in there for 15 minutes. I finally found one toy that distracted him, within 1 minute Aubrie had grabbed it out of his hands and I had to go get her down the bench. I brought them into a room to try and put Robbie asleep because I had no one to keep Aubrie. Aubrie kept asking me "why aren't we going to church". She took off her shoes and thought she was at the playground.

finish later...gott clean up smooshed raspberries off the floor. :) JOY!

he's here....

the most exciting news of all, is we have a new nephew. Brandon Robert Call...born a few days ago. AND, we'll have another one in ONE week.




HE'S HUNGRY!!!!

And their off...

Ryan, his dad and brudder....are off to a weekend of sports. It is going to be so much fun!!! I'll make sure he posts about it with pics afterwards. It isnt that fun that we've only seen each other for about 30 minutes in 2 weeks, but...that's okay.

Aubrie started gymnastics today and it was about the cutest thing...EVER!!! Her and her friend are doing it together and they were absolutely ecstatic today. Her favorite was "the crab and the frog" is what she told her dad when he came home--and then proceeded to demonstrate. They warmed up with all the classes together for about 20 minutes and they did a lap around the gym--Aubrie was running as fast as her chubby little cachetes would let her. She is pretty fast actually. The started off on the spring board and they had to "stick it" and then put their hands up in the air. She thought it was a trampoline and they had to keep encouraging her to jump ON TO the mat. Pretty cute! I'll take video next week and post it.

Vivan las chiquitas

For my birthday Ryan surprised me with a trip to San Francisco to visit my cousin Tara and one of my good friends Marisa. It was ideal! Really!

We went to Stinson Beach and laid out, read and ate lunch there just off the beach. Great good, perfect weather (in spite of the FREEZING water), relaxing nap etc. It was so relaxing! The beach was right below huge cliffs (See pictures) and with the fog burnt off it was a sight to behold!








That night we went downtown and ate at a fantastic pizza place! It was the best pesto pizza I've had. San Francisco is so small and just an experience to see. The architecture is very unique and very uncharacteristically couldn't stop staring and commenting on it. I loved the cable cars and the terraced and landscaped apartment high rises everywhere. The hilly roads and variety of gente.




Sunday, it was a different experience going to a singles ward again. Testimony meeting was so quiet--gotta love that. We made a great dinner, just talked, went on a long walk with Tara and then played Nerts with a bunch of people that were VERY intense about the game. Good times!

Monday morning we started off the day with a "run The Dish"--the famous run up on Stanford campus. It was great exercise!!! The went and got a great pedicure/manicure (for VERY cheap--didn't understand a WORD the lady said, but she was happy), lunch at a cafe and then headed downtown again to go shopping. I LOVE H&M!! Last stop was Fishermans Wharf and Ghiradelli Square--yummy sundaes! There were performers everywhere--scary clowns, live robots and my favorite...break dancers! It was wonderful!

Thank you Tara and Marmar!!

family noticias

Seems like everyone has some big change that just happened or is coming up...

Chad and Syd are having a baby tomorrow :)
Jeff and Anna will have a boy in two weeks
Carl and Court are pregnant...again :) which is FANTASTIC!!
Curtis is getting married to Lindsay Anderson from NC in Novemeber
Cara started middle school last week
Robbie took 5-6 steps yesterday and Aubrie learned to write her name

GTGTGT!!!

What a month...

As I mentioned earlier, we have a flurry of celebrations in August and, as a result, this month has just flown right by. I turned 29 on August 13th, Aubrie turned 3 on August 15th, and Robbie turned 1 on August 20th. And...Ryan and I celebrated our 4-year anniversary on August 20th as well. Here are a few pics from all the events and a few others:

With the assistance of her cousin, Aubrie opened one of her many b-day presents. This gift from Grandma and Grandpa is now Aubrie's official "Popsicle bench" on our porch.

Aubrie had a separate b-day party with all of her friends. There was a kids' pool, water obstacle course games, a pinata, pizza, ice cream, and gifts from friends. She was pretty spoiled and now "My Little Pony," "Strawberry Shortcake," and "Baby Doll" sets are now part of all our lives.

Becca (the water games organizer) with Aubrie, Jack, and Elmo the Pinata at Aubrie's b-day party. NOTE: The expression on Elmo's face is indicative of the beating he must of sensed was about to come his way as the fury of ten 3-year olds' crave for candy would be unleashed on his weak cardboard body.

All the neighborhood kids at Aubrie's b-day party enjoying some fast-melting ice cream cones.

Thanks to my husband who acted as "Mr. Mom" for the weekend and a little planning on everyone's part, we had a fun over-nighter in Park City with some of my favorite past roommates. From left to right: Patty, Tara, Me, Becca, Mindy, and Anna.

Robbie's newest b-day acquisition: a 4x4 super-powered 2 hp fire truck. Aubrie has helped him get the feel of it and he has been so cute riding it all over the house and almost down the stairs.

Aubrie's new baby doll from her b-day. She can change its diaper, feed it, and put it to sleep. She's going to be a great mother some day to Robbie and other future syblings.

We put Robbie on Aubrie's bed to wake her up the morning of her b-day. Robbie was being pretty cute trying to get her to wake up. They are both so cute to watch in the morning as they eagerly anticipate the awakening of the other so they can finally play together to start the day.