...Aquarium...

After our nice 3 days of BEAUTIFUL weather the snow and cold weather came back... blah. I love the snow until New Years and then I'm over it. Rylee gets so restless in the house all day ( so do I), so we try to do one thing a day to get us out of the house. My friend Barb nannies for a family in Salt Lake, so we met her and her nanny girl up at the Aquarium in Sandy. We took Rylee a few times last year, and she LOVED the sting rays. We couldn't get her away from them. That was about the only thing she liked though. This time she liked everything except the sting rays. Her favorites were the penguins, and the tank full of bright colored fish.  She had fun running from place to place, and at one point got lost. I couldn't find her any where! Just when I was about to freak out some one found her by the exit door. I was so grateful she hadn't ran outside, or had something worse happen to her. 

Besides all the fish and having fun with Ry ( and loosing her), I had a great day with Barb. It was good to chat and catch up on things! I'm so thankful for good friends in my life. 

90%of the pictures we took that day looked like this. she couldn't stop looking at all the fish. 

Barbs little girl... she is so pretty.

The penguins

Of course she has a corn dog... one of the only foods she will eat. It takes her about 2 hours to finish one, but hey at least she is eating. 

She was kissing the snake bye... gross nasty snake was bigger then me. 

After the aquarium we went to Tai Pan, and then me and Ry stopped at my Aunt Judy's house. Ry loves to play with her crazy dogs. Judy and I had a good visit, and Ry had fun playing with all the toys! 

...Time to feed the ducks again...

A couple weeks ago we had a few really nice days. Rylee and I spent a lot of time outside playing, going for walks, and feeding the ducks. I was surprised that she remembered the ducks from last year, and knew exactly what to do when we got to the park. She grabbed the bread out of my hands and started throwing big pieces to the ducks. There was still snow and mud on the ground so we couldn't get really close to the pond without sliding in. Most of the bread was on the cement or way up on the bank. When it was time to go Ry threw a huge fit that I'm pretty sure made everyone at the pond stare at us. I cant wait for summer when we can be at the park everyday! 

All ready to go feed the ducks... you got to look your best for that!

These ducks scare me 

Waving bye to the ducks.

We love Salem!  

...Random...

I always have a bunch of pictures that are just random that I don't want to do 10 posts about each one, so here they all are. I'm pretty sure everyone is of Rylee... what else would I take a picture of?!
 I don't know why there is a box around this... weird!  

Texting on Grandma Paula's phone.

Daddy and Ry drumming

I have wanted to get Rylee a rain coat for a long time, but spending the $30 on them was ridiculous. So, when I found this one at Childrens Place for $2 I had to get it. Its huge on her, but she loves to wear it! 

Before we leave the house she has to always tell the cat bye like a 100 times. When Moe Moe doesn't look at her she gets mad and says bye until she finally turns and looks at her. 

Lately she will stand in the fridge and decide what she wants to eat. 

This day she picked a hard boiled egg! 

R and her friend Taylor at the gym daycare. 

These two either fight over everything or are best friends! 

I love those little hand! 

After the bath she loves to get her hair dried. If I am drying my hair she will come over and lean her head by mine and tell me its her turn. 

Don't you love Chasey's gloves? He wears them at night with lotion cause the concrete ruins his hands.

She poses for pictures now. 

We moved the computer into the kitchen. Its been nice to have it there, but Rylee thinks its a play thing. She is always on it and pushes buttons until it shuts down.  

Looking a little homeless

She loves to sit in the cats bed.

... Greatest Thing On Earth...

Everyday I feel grateful for Rylee, but lately as she is getting bigger and more grown up I realize how fast time goes. Last year at this time she was just crawling, now she talks my ear off and runs everywhere! She can count to six, knows a few of her colors, wants to dance to every song she hears, and is the 

GREATEST THING ON EARTH!!! 

Chase and I say oh man remember when we could sleep in or go to bed at 6 cause we were exhausted? Remember when we could run to Chilis at 9:00 at night to get chips and queso and then come home and watch any movie we wanted? All the times our date nights started at 8 and ended after midnight? Those were some of the funnest days together, but trading it all for what we have now is not a question! To be able to hear Rylee say her prayers at night and ask for more milk and get woken up at 3 am only to hold her tight and rock her back to sleep. All the messes we have left at restaurants cause our daughter had to have just one more pack of crackers to smash then throw on the floor. All the little kid movies that Chasey and I now know every word to... even better when Chase calls me and says he has been singing Yo Gabba Gabba at work all day! Rylee makes our lives so great!!! Everything about her is perfect! 

Tonight she wouldn't go to bed, so I sat and rubbed her back and sang to her until she fell asleep. I want her to let me do that forever. I want her to be my baby forever, but I know she has to grow up. I love to go into her room after she has fallen asleep and get her out of bed and hold her. Sometimes I bring her into our bed and just hold her. I love in the morning when she wakes up and says "hi momma!" It makes me so happy every morning. I love when she runs to me and wraps her leg around me so tight and squeezes me. Tonight she grabbed my cheeks with her little hands and said, " momma kiss and huggies pwease?" I cant get enough of her. I know I spoil her, but how can you say no when she looks at you with those big blue eyes and says "pwease I have it momma pwease?" She can have whatever she wants!! 

I wish I could video tape everything she does. She makes me laugh all the time, and makes our home such a happy place. We are so thankful that she is ours and she is healthy. I am so thankful to Chasey for working so hard so I can stay home and raise her too. She truly is the GREATEST THING ON EARTH!! 

 

...Our Valentine Weekend...

For some reason holidays at our house always seem to last a few days... its kind of fun that way though! 

I'm just going to be honest here and say that Valentines is the stupidest holiday. 

I don't think there needs to be one day where you tell someone that you love them and buy them things to prove your love. I think that flowers or presents or treats on a random day of the year means a whole lot more then if you get them on Valentines! My husband likes the way I think cause it lets him off easy! We usually take some money and we each go buy what we want and call it good. This year I got new running shoes and Chasey got a new DVD player for the car.  Happy Valentines to us. 

Even though I think its the STUPIDEST holiday, having kids makes everything more fun... especially holidays. So, while I want to bahumbug Valentines, this year we had some fun! I want Rylee to grow up with memories and traditions that she will remember forever, so Rylee dear Valentines at our house is celebrated for you! 

We took some Valentine pictures to send to the Grandparents in Florida.  

Then we got all our packages ready to send! 

Sorry Shae, I didn't get your address in time so we ate the treats! Ill send your boys something else for Easter or something! 

Here is how into Valentines we are.... 

Saturday night we planned to go out to eat. Chasey had worked all day and Ry hadn't napped yet, so we thought okay an hour nap, two hours tops, and then we will go. Ya, 4 1/2 hours later we woke up not wanting to go anywhere. Cereal  sounded good to me to eat. The ONLY reason we went out was because Rylee woke up at 7:30 from her nap ( just like we did) and we knew she wasn't going back to bed any time soon. We headed over to Cracker Barrel and barely kept our eyes open during dinner. We took Ry to Walmart to let her pick out a Valentine present. We ended up getting Beauty Beast... I think more for us then for Rylee. Which by the way is a very violent movie. That Beast has issues! Then we made our couches into a bed and went back to sleep! 

We always make sugar cookies or cupcakes for the neighbors and my family for Valentines. That's one tradition that I have always done. So, when no Sunbeams showed up for church on Sunday I left and went home to bake! One of the counselors in the Bishopric collects Sock Monkeys. I found that oh so stylin red one at Walmart and had to get it for him.

Delivering our treats. Ry loved giving everyone their plates of goodies! 

Did I mention that it was BEAUTIFUL day?!?! It was in the 50's and the sun was out! We played outside all day and had a BBQ! Rylee was so happy to finally be able to swing, go see the horses, run on the lawn, and chase the cat. It was a great afternoon. 

We took some treats to Grandma Betty. She wouldn't look at the camera cause she said she is ugly. Funny Grandma. I finally got her to look against her will. 

Valentines we woke up and had heart shaped waffles and strawberries with pink milk, Ry's favorite! 

When I tell people my 20 month old picks out her own clothes they look at me like I'm lying. She brings me what she wants to wear and if I don't put it on her its a fight. Some days I fight with her  and make her wear something that matches, but I have gottent to  he point where I don't really care anymore. Pick your battles, right?! I put her in the heart pants and the rest is pure Rylee! 

Ry with her Valentines for Taylor, Megan, and Mindi.

We had another nice day so we went for a 3 mile walk. Rylee loved it, but fell asleep half way through it. 

That night we got pizza, and in the spirit of Valentines we got it heart shaped. 

We hope you all had a great Valentines, we sure did... even though I think its a stupid holiday!