This is how people informed family and friends of what they were having before the INTERNETS.
And if you cant tell from the video, its a boy.
P.S. With my bracket victory the boy will be named Buckbeak.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Sweet or Sour Sixteen?
So I am sure you are all wondering how our bracket contest is shaping up. Being the competitive person that I am I have tried to play it cool but I am totally still in the game! I am only three picks behind Ryan... my best showing ever. Not bad for only listening to ESPN Radio on Wednesday mornings as I drive to work with Ryan. Colin Cowherd is partially to thank for me still being in the game. Thanks Colin!

The only thing is that this next round is going to make or break me. I like when it gets down to less teams and you start caring more and more which team wins. Here's to hoping it is a Sweet Sixteen for me!
Something that made me smile and laugh lately was this list that Ryan's sister found a couple of months ago. I had to do something for our ward's Relief Society activity that was from the decade of the 90's. It reminded me of the list and so I looked it up. I thought that I would put it here because most of you are about the same age as us and probably identify with the things here.
You Know You Grew Up In The 80's or Early 90's If...
1. You've ever ended a sentence with the word "SIKE"
2. You watched the Pound Puppies.
3. You can sing the rap to the "Fresh Prince of Belair" ..and can do the "Carlton".
4. Girls wore biker shorts under their skirts and felt stylishly sexy.
5. You yearned to be a member of the Baby-sitters club and tried to start a club of your own.
6. You owned those lil' Strawberry Shortcake pals scented dolls.
7. You know that "WOAH" comes from Joey on Blossom.
8. Two words: Hammer Pants
9. If you ever watched "Fraggle Rock"
10. You had plastic streamers on your handle bars... and "spokey-dokes" or playing cards on your spokes for that incredible sound effect.
11. You can sing the entire theme song to "DuckTales" (Woo ooh!)
12. It was actually worth getting up early on a Saturday to watch cartoons.
13. You wore a ponytail on the side of your head.
14. You saw the original "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" on the big screen...and still know the turtles names.
15. You got super-excited when it was Oregon Trail day in computer class at school.
16. You made your mom buy one of those clips that would hold your shirt in a knot on the side.
17. You played the game "MASH" (Mansion, Apartment, Shelter,House)
18. You wore stonewashed Jordache jean jackets and were proud of it.
19. L.A. Gear....need I say more?
20. You wanted to change your name to "JEM" in Kindergarten. (She's truly outrageous.)
21. You remember reading "Tales of a fourth grade nothing" and all the Ramona books.
22. You know the profound meaning of "WAX ON, WAX OFF"
23. You wanted to be a Goonie.
24. You ever wore fluorescent clothing. (some of us... head-to-toe)
25. You can remember what Michael Jackson looked like before his nose fell off and his cheeks shifted.
26. You have ever pondered why Smurfette was the only female smurf.
27. You took lunch boxes to school... and traded Garbage Pail Kids in the schoolyard.
28. You remember the CRAZE, then the BANNING of slap bracelets.
29. You still get the urge to say "NOT" after every sentence.
30. You remember Hypercolor t-shirts.
31. Barbie and the Rockers was your favorite band.
32. You thought She-ra (Princess of Power!) and He-Man should hook up.
33. You thought your childhood friends would never leave because you exchanged handmade friendship bracelets.
34. You ever owned a pair of Jelly-Shoes. (and like #24, probably in neon colors, too)
35. After you saw Pee-Wee's Big Adventure you kept saying "I know you are, but what am I?"
36. You remember "I've fallen and I can't get up"
37. You remember going to the skating rink before there were inline skates.
38. You ever got seriously injured on a Slip and Slide.
39. You have ever played with a Skip-It.
40. You had or attended a birthday party at McDonalds.
41. You've gone through this nodding your head in agreement.
42. You remember "Popples".
43. "Don't worry, be happy"
44. You wore like, EIGHT pairs of socks over tights with high top Reeboks.
45. You wore socks scrunched down (and sometimes still do...getting yelled at by "younger hip" members of the family)
46. You remember boom boxes.. and walking around with one on your shoulder like you were all that.
47. You remember watching both "Gremlins" movies.
48. You know what it meant to say "Care Bear Stare!!"
49. You remember watching "Rainbow Bright" and "My Little Pony Tales"
50. You thought Doogie Howser/Samantha Micelli was hot.
51. You remember Alf, the lil furry brown alien from Melmac.
52. You remember New Kids on the Block when they were cool... and don't even flinch when people refer to them as "NKOTB".
53. You knew all the characters names and their life stories on "Saved By The Bell"
54. You know all the words to Bon Jovi - SHOT THROUGH THE HEART.
55. You just sang those words to yourself.
56. You remember watching Magic vs. Bird.
57. Homemade Levi shorts.. (the shorter the better)
58. You remember when mullets were cool!
59. You had a mullet!
60. You still sing "We are the World"
61. You tight rolled your jeans.
62. You owned a banana clip
63. You remember "Where's the Beef?"
64. You used to (and probably still do) say "What you talkin' about Willis?"
65. You had big hair and you knew how to use it.
66. You're still singing shot through the heart in your head, aren't you!!!
(I guess that I had better site my source to be proper... here is the link:http://www.momsview.com/discus/messages/74/29528.html)
I have to admit, that I had fun pegging my pants, layering my socks and finding the perfect spot for my side ponytail. My friend in the ward even had one of those t-shirt clips. The only thing that I was missing was my L.A. Gear high tops.

Re-living the 90's, closely monitoring my bracket, and trying to keep Luke off of whatever he has decided to climb on has kept me pretty busy as of late. I enjoyed the 60 degree gift of a day last week. It was one of those days where everyone climbs out of their holes and goes to the park, co-eds are laying out, couples are making out, and everyone seems to be running. I have not enjoyed the spring blizzard that has descended on us tonight. Hope it melts by tomorrow!
The only thing is that this next round is going to make or break me. I like when it gets down to less teams and you start caring more and more which team wins. Here's to hoping it is a Sweet Sixteen for me!
Something that made me smile and laugh lately was this list that Ryan's sister found a couple of months ago. I had to do something for our ward's Relief Society activity that was from the decade of the 90's. It reminded me of the list and so I looked it up. I thought that I would put it here because most of you are about the same age as us and probably identify with the things here.
You Know You Grew Up In The 80's or Early 90's If...
1. You've ever ended a sentence with the word "SIKE"
2. You watched the Pound Puppies.
3. You can sing the rap to the "Fresh Prince of Belair" ..and can do the "Carlton".
4. Girls wore biker shorts under their skirts and felt stylishly sexy.
5. You yearned to be a member of the Baby-sitters club and tried to start a club of your own.
6. You owned those lil' Strawberry Shortcake pals scented dolls.
7. You know that "WOAH" comes from Joey on Blossom.
8. Two words: Hammer Pants
9. If you ever watched "Fraggle Rock"
10. You had plastic streamers on your handle bars... and "spokey-dokes" or playing cards on your spokes for that incredible sound effect.
11. You can sing the entire theme song to "DuckTales" (Woo ooh!)
12. It was actually worth getting up early on a Saturday to watch cartoons.
13. You wore a ponytail on the side of your head.
14. You saw the original "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" on the big screen...and still know the turtles names.
15. You got super-excited when it was Oregon Trail day in computer class at school.
16. You made your mom buy one of those clips that would hold your shirt in a knot on the side.
17. You played the game "MASH" (Mansion, Apartment, Shelter,House)
18. You wore stonewashed Jordache jean jackets and were proud of it.
19. L.A. Gear....need I say more?
20. You wanted to change your name to "JEM" in Kindergarten. (She's truly outrageous.)
21. You remember reading "Tales of a fourth grade nothing" and all the Ramona books.
22. You know the profound meaning of "WAX ON, WAX OFF"
23. You wanted to be a Goonie.
24. You ever wore fluorescent clothing. (some of us... head-to-toe)
25. You can remember what Michael Jackson looked like before his nose fell off and his cheeks shifted.
26. You have ever pondered why Smurfette was the only female smurf.
27. You took lunch boxes to school... and traded Garbage Pail Kids in the schoolyard.
28. You remember the CRAZE, then the BANNING of slap bracelets.
29. You still get the urge to say "NOT" after every sentence.
30. You remember Hypercolor t-shirts.
31. Barbie and the Rockers was your favorite band.
32. You thought She-ra (Princess of Power!) and He-Man should hook up.
33. You thought your childhood friends would never leave because you exchanged handmade friendship bracelets.
34. You ever owned a pair of Jelly-Shoes. (and like #24, probably in neon colors, too)
35. After you saw Pee-Wee's Big Adventure you kept saying "I know you are, but what am I?"
36. You remember "I've fallen and I can't get up"
37. You remember going to the skating rink before there were inline skates.
38. You ever got seriously injured on a Slip and Slide.
39. You have ever played with a Skip-It.
40. You had or attended a birthday party at McDonalds.
41. You've gone through this nodding your head in agreement.
42. You remember "Popples".
43. "Don't worry, be happy"
44. You wore like, EIGHT pairs of socks over tights with high top Reeboks.
45. You wore socks scrunched down (and sometimes still do...getting yelled at by "younger hip" members of the family)
46. You remember boom boxes.. and walking around with one on your shoulder like you were all that.
47. You remember watching both "Gremlins" movies.
48. You know what it meant to say "Care Bear Stare!!"
49. You remember watching "Rainbow Bright" and "My Little Pony Tales"
50. You thought Doogie Howser/Samantha Micelli was hot.
51. You remember Alf, the lil furry brown alien from Melmac.
52. You remember New Kids on the Block when they were cool... and don't even flinch when people refer to them as "NKOTB".
53. You knew all the characters names and their life stories on "Saved By The Bell"
54. You know all the words to Bon Jovi - SHOT THROUGH THE HEART.
55. You just sang those words to yourself.
56. You remember watching Magic vs. Bird.
57. Homemade Levi shorts.. (the shorter the better)
58. You remember when mullets were cool!
59. You had a mullet!
60. You still sing "We are the World"
61. You tight rolled your jeans.
62. You owned a banana clip
63. You remember "Where's the Beef?"
64. You used to (and probably still do) say "What you talkin' about Willis?"
65. You had big hair and you knew how to use it.
66. You're still singing shot through the heart in your head, aren't you!!!
(I guess that I had better site my source to be proper... here is the link:http://www.momsview.com/discus/messages/74/29528.html)
I have to admit, that I had fun pegging my pants, layering my socks and finding the perfect spot for my side ponytail. My friend in the ward even had one of those t-shirt clips. The only thing that I was missing was my L.A. Gear high tops.
Re-living the 90's, closely monitoring my bracket, and trying to keep Luke off of whatever he has decided to climb on has kept me pretty busy as of late. I enjoyed the 60 degree gift of a day last week. It was one of those days where everyone climbs out of their holes and goes to the park, co-eds are laying out, couples are making out, and everyone seems to be running. I have not enjoyed the spring blizzard that has descended on us tonight. Hope it melts by tomorrow!
Sunday, March 15, 2009
You can't pick your friend's nose...Or their bracket
2009 NCAA Mens Basketball Bracket

There are certain things in life that Annalyn does better than I do, and I have come to accept it. Making German pancakes, matching my ties to my suits come Sunday morning, getting a positive result on a pregnancy test. But 2009 is my year. It's on and she is going down. Winner gets to pick the name of our future child so obviously there is a lot riding on this. (DO NOT SCREW ME ON THIS 16th SEED CHATTANOOGA). I do have a secret weapon though, I saw this guy playing for them last week.


In closing I am glad to report Biscuit is almost fully recovered from his Pneumonia spell and Luke and Annalyn are both throwing up with much less frequency. Mostly due to not being sick. When they do throw up it's usually because I make them sit and watch "Disorderlies" with me.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Blue Grass & Quiet Books
Last weekend we needed a quick get away. Luckily Ryan hobnobs in all the right circles... ok, maybe just some of them... he has a friend who was kind enough to let us use his cabin up in Teton Springs or Victor, Idaho. The cabin was beautiful as you can see from the pictures.

It is on the market so anyone who has a couple of million dollars to spare, I would suggest you look at it!

It was nice to just have a change of scenery for a day or two. Saturday we met up with Kellie & Layne for lunch. They were on their way to go skiing so we tagged along for awhile. The day was beautiful and the slopes looked great.

It made me want to go skiing, even though I have only been once and am kind of afraid that I would blow out my knee if I tried it right now. So instead of skiing we showed Luke where he and Dad could hang out in a couple of years. He loved it. I don't know if it was all the action, the sun, or the cool hat he was wearing but he was so good the whole day.

On the way home Ryan got the urge to listen to a little Bluegrass music. He enjoyed it so much that he is now into Bluegrass music. So if you know of some good groups, songs, or where to find whats hot in Bluegrass let him know. Luke is taking to it too. We are considering signing him up for Banjo lessons as soon as we can.

My lastest project is a quiet book for Luke for church. I looked online for some patterns and got some good ideas. It looks like everyone just kind of makes up their own. I have been working on some ideas but could also use some outside advice. If you have made one, seen one or just have an idea I would love to hear it. I will definitely post pictures when I get this one done. I am sure it is a bigger project that I think it is but I have had fun thinking of ideas and trying to put something together.
One last explantion to all of you who wonder why I let Ryan post our pregnancy news. I figure that this is his blog just as much as it is mine. All of his friends deserve to have a taste of his sense of humor... uncensored. He was so excited to announce our pregnancy and I made him wait longer than he ever wanted to. So I decided the least I could do was to let him announce it in his way. In his words I just wanted to "keep it real"!
It is on the market so anyone who has a couple of million dollars to spare, I would suggest you look at it!
It was nice to just have a change of scenery for a day or two. Saturday we met up with Kellie & Layne for lunch. They were on their way to go skiing so we tagged along for awhile. The day was beautiful and the slopes looked great.
It made me want to go skiing, even though I have only been once and am kind of afraid that I would blow out my knee if I tried it right now. So instead of skiing we showed Luke where he and Dad could hang out in a couple of years. He loved it. I don't know if it was all the action, the sun, or the cool hat he was wearing but he was so good the whole day.
On the way home Ryan got the urge to listen to a little Bluegrass music. He enjoyed it so much that he is now into Bluegrass music. So if you know of some good groups, songs, or where to find whats hot in Bluegrass let him know. Luke is taking to it too. We are considering signing him up for Banjo lessons as soon as we can.
My lastest project is a quiet book for Luke for church. I looked online for some patterns and got some good ideas. It looks like everyone just kind of makes up their own. I have been working on some ideas but could also use some outside advice. If you have made one, seen one or just have an idea I would love to hear it. I will definitely post pictures when I get this one done. I am sure it is a bigger project that I think it is but I have had fun thinking of ideas and trying to put something together.
One last explantion to all of you who wonder why I let Ryan post our pregnancy news. I figure that this is his blog just as much as it is mine. All of his friends deserve to have a taste of his sense of humor... uncensored. He was so excited to announce our pregnancy and I made him wait longer than he ever wanted to. So I decided the least I could do was to let him announce it in his way. In his words I just wanted to "keep it real"!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Bloggers Block
I have been wanting to blog for awhile now but everytime I sit down to do a blog I can't think of one thing to blog about. So I log onto others blogs to see what others are blogging about and before i know it that eats up all my blogging time. So tonight I am going to just blog ... stream of consciousness style.

Things have been a little crazy on the work front lately. We have had a lot of changes and are getting ready for some more. Ryan has been great at handling most of the drama by himself. i.e. employees not getting along, residents driving managers crazy, millions of maintenance requests, you get the picture. I am busy in the background (in other words at home on my computer) working on the financial end of things. Where checks went, who has paid and who hasn't, making sure employees get paid the right wage for the right amount of hours, billing residents... that kind of fun stuff. I do go down to work on Wednesdays. That is my work day. My sister-in-law is a great babysitter and volunteered to watch Luke so my Wednesdays were more effective. I recently weaned him and so he stays at home all day long. She used to bring him down half way through the day so I could feed him. I sure miss the little guy on those days. It is hard to be away for so long, on the other hand it is sure nice to hang out with Ryan all day, kind of like a day-date. Reminds me of the old times.

Our latest drama is that someone hijacked an email account that we had together. I tried logging on last week and couldn't get on. They had changed our password. No, big deal you think, answer a couple of security questions and change your password back. Well we had set up this account over 5 years ago and couldn't remember the answer to the question. "Where did you meet your spouse?" We tried EVERYTHING! So we get locked out of the account and proceed to call Yahoo. Do you think that they were any help? They were so kind to give us 3 more guesses per call. Then we had to hang up and call again. After about 5 hours of calling, getting too frustrated to think and about 80 wrong answers we gave up. Stupid that there were NO other security questions that we could answer just that one. And yes we know where we met but there are a thousand ways to describe it... we even tried pre-existence! We suspect that this hacker somehow changed the answer as well. Anyhow we now hate yahoo and have a new email address. Unfortunately the scoundrel hacker got onto our ebay account linked to this email and tried to buy himself some european sports gear. I saw the $250.00 dollar debit in my checking and called Ryan to see what he had bought. It wasn't him so we got on the phone with paypal, our bank and anyone else who would talk to us. We did catch it in time and got our money back and changed our passwords and email accounts. We had everything going to that account so it was a long process to change that. I think we have cleaned up most of it. Moral of the story: change your passwords often, know your security questions, and watch out for internet crime!

Luke is doing great and continues to be the light of our lives. I just keep thinking that each stage is funner then the last. We were wondering last night which stage of kids would be our favorite... or would they all hold their wonder? He and Biscuit are becoming good friends. Luke's favorite place to crawl to is the back patio door so he can bang on the door until the dogs come up to the door. He laughs and bangs on the door. It drives Biscuit crazy and he eventually starts barking at Luke... which makes Luke laugh even harder.

My last thought for the evening is how grateful I am for the power of prayer in our lives. I had made it a new years resolution to make prayer more a part of my life. Several times in the past month I have found myself on my knees during the day pleading for guidance, peace and the spirit. Each and everytime I have seen the influence of the Lord in my life. I don't think I would have paid attention to they small blessings had I not made it a matter of prayer. I am grateful for a loving Father in Heaven who knows and loves each one of us.
Things have been a little crazy on the work front lately. We have had a lot of changes and are getting ready for some more. Ryan has been great at handling most of the drama by himself. i.e. employees not getting along, residents driving managers crazy, millions of maintenance requests, you get the picture. I am busy in the background (in other words at home on my computer) working on the financial end of things. Where checks went, who has paid and who hasn't, making sure employees get paid the right wage for the right amount of hours, billing residents... that kind of fun stuff. I do go down to work on Wednesdays. That is my work day. My sister-in-law is a great babysitter and volunteered to watch Luke so my Wednesdays were more effective. I recently weaned him and so he stays at home all day long. She used to bring him down half way through the day so I could feed him. I sure miss the little guy on those days. It is hard to be away for so long, on the other hand it is sure nice to hang out with Ryan all day, kind of like a day-date. Reminds me of the old times.
Our latest drama is that someone hijacked an email account that we had together. I tried logging on last week and couldn't get on. They had changed our password. No, big deal you think, answer a couple of security questions and change your password back. Well we had set up this account over 5 years ago and couldn't remember the answer to the question. "Where did you meet your spouse?" We tried EVERYTHING! So we get locked out of the account and proceed to call Yahoo. Do you think that they were any help? They were so kind to give us 3 more guesses per call. Then we had to hang up and call again. After about 5 hours of calling, getting too frustrated to think and about 80 wrong answers we gave up. Stupid that there were NO other security questions that we could answer just that one. And yes we know where we met but there are a thousand ways to describe it... we even tried pre-existence! We suspect that this hacker somehow changed the answer as well. Anyhow we now hate yahoo and have a new email address. Unfortunately the scoundrel hacker got onto our ebay account linked to this email and tried to buy himself some european sports gear. I saw the $250.00 dollar debit in my checking and called Ryan to see what he had bought. It wasn't him so we got on the phone with paypal, our bank and anyone else who would talk to us. We did catch it in time and got our money back and changed our passwords and email accounts. We had everything going to that account so it was a long process to change that. I think we have cleaned up most of it. Moral of the story: change your passwords often, know your security questions, and watch out for internet crime!
Luke is doing great and continues to be the light of our lives. I just keep thinking that each stage is funner then the last. We were wondering last night which stage of kids would be our favorite... or would they all hold their wonder? He and Biscuit are becoming good friends. Luke's favorite place to crawl to is the back patio door so he can bang on the door until the dogs come up to the door. He laughs and bangs on the door. It drives Biscuit crazy and he eventually starts barking at Luke... which makes Luke laugh even harder.
My last thought for the evening is how grateful I am for the power of prayer in our lives. I had made it a new years resolution to make prayer more a part of my life. Several times in the past month I have found myself on my knees during the day pleading for guidance, peace and the spirit. Each and everytime I have seen the influence of the Lord in my life. I don't think I would have paid attention to they small blessings had I not made it a matter of prayer. I am grateful for a loving Father in Heaven who knows and loves each one of us.

Saturday, February 7, 2009
Word Up

what we have REALLY been up to...
We scoured the Internet to find some of our favorite recipes. These are Famous Buffalo Wings.
Luke and I have tackled some needed Snow Plowing.
Going through some old pictures...



And...
The last week of January we were able to take Luke out to the Cemetery to see the quads. He seemed to enjoy the snow. Last year the snow was so deep and we had no headstone so we weren't able to make it all the way there.
I wanted to take a second to say to our friends and family who happen to stop by the blog, thank you.
We have a member of our stake presidency who lost his daughter when she was 18 in a car accident and who I feel really understands true loss, and has given me strength by his example had me thinking about our own small experience. What we have learned? What do we still need to learn? And how important it is to have sympathy for others going through a difficult stretch of their own? What I think I take away from it isn't the pain of the loss, or in our case we feel the loss of some of the experiences that we would have gone through, but instead, a deeper compassion for those who are going through hard times of their own. The loss of family, job and financial troubles, sickness, worry for loved ones, all of these things are affecting those around us.
Our experience just happens to be one of those trials, and while we have used many shoulders to cry on, we need to offer the same to those going through difficult times of their own. The hard experience seem to be able to make us more aware of the feelings and emotions that come with difficult times. How do we express our gratitude for those who have helped us? How do we provide support to those who are in their own difficult experiences now? Hopefully by sharing our small testimony of gratitude for all blessings. Even blessings of loss. We are appreciative of all that has been done for us and want you to know our thoughts and prayers go out to all.
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