Alaska

I just haven't been able to sit myself down long enough to write about Alaska and today I am putting my foot down. I will not leave this computer until I am done!

Okay so in June we went to Alaska for Justin's brothers wedding. It was to take place on Saturday but of course we wanted to see some of the sights before. So we left Tuesday the 22nd in the morning and arrived in Anchorage I think early evening (already I have forgotten). They are 2 hours behind us and it doesn't get dark there at night so needless to say Rylee didn't ever go to bed on time. Actually none of us did! :) Our 1st night we had a BBQ over @ Cody and Vanessa's house where Rylee met her new best friend Sophie.

Wednesday we drove to Seward for a 6 hour

boat trip. Luckily the weather wasn't too bad so it wasn't horribly cold on the water. During our little adventure we saw otters, orca whales, porpoises, puffins, a huge glacier, a mountain goat and another whale-actually it was just his tail.

Thursday I have no idea what we did-must have been nothing because I have no pictures so on to Friday where we drove to Majestic Valley Wilderness Lodge (not sure where this is) about 2 hours out of from Anchorage. This is where the wedding was being held and it was very beautiful. They had some planes and a little runway there that was neat to see just not sure why it was there. Forld on the water. During our little adventure we saw otters, orca whales, porpoises, puffins, a huge glacier, a mountain goat and another whale-actually it was just his tail.

got to mention that I still have yet to see a moose. Last pictures that Betty Lu and Ryan had in Alaska were full of moose and bald eagles and I haven't seen a one. The little arch is where the wedding was going to take place on Saturday. It was very cute. They had little hammocks that Rylee loved to s

wing on and when I couldn't find her I would look here or for the dogs that were at the lodge. Leave it to Rylee to find dogs.

Saturday (the day of the wedding) we woke up to a beautiful rainy day. We had had good weather up until that day of course. Isn't that the way it goes. Anyway I spent the whole day in my rollers just because I wanted to. It's funny because I won't go out in public without makeup on or in my sweats but I am ok if people see me in my rollers! It rained all day and the ceremony was held inside. It was very nice. Rylee was the flower girl and she did such a good job-she was so pretty. I was the picture taker here so the pictures suck. Then they had a dinner and the rest of the night was filled with dancing and fun. At the end we we

nt outside to this big bonfire (of course the rain had finally stopped) and this is where I finally saw my moose. Actually 3 because we saw a momma and her 2 calves.

Sunday (another rainy day) we just headed back to Anchorage and did a little tourist shopping. You always have to have a shirt that says where you went that you probably won't ever wear but you have to get because you probably won't ever go back. We also met up with Vanessa and Cody and her family and ate at Humpy's and I mention this because the guy from Man vs Food had done a show there previously so I had to try it.

Monday we left for home @ 6:30 a.m. and arrived back in Idaho Falls at 6 p.m. It's when you just want to be home and you have a 2 hour layover in Boise and you flight ends up being delayed. But we made it and it was a fun trip.

Forgot to mention the biggest news of the trip. Rylee lost her 2 front bottom teeth. She was so excited and likes to show everyone that she lost 2 teeth.

Kindergarten Graduation

What an emotional week it has been. Everytime I pull into the school and think about Rylee leaving I get very teary eyed. I don't know why it is so hard for me to see her growing up-I think it is all just happening way to quickly.

Today was Calvary's kindergarten graduation and it was so cute. They had a little program and Rylee even had a part-she got to hold the R from the alphabet bet and say "R is for reading stories, even those that brought a tear" and she did a great job. They sang a couple songs and it is probably because I am just a little biased but I always think that she does the actions the best. She is so into it! And then they called each child up to shake Principal Peck's hand and give Mrs. Thompson a hug. I was doing good because I wasn't crying and I thought I had made it through without a tear. And then they awarded both kindergarten teachers a picture of their class and all the kids had signed it and finished with a prayer. And then the tears came and they just wouldn't stop. The worst part was that I kind of snorted. Oh well, it felt good to get it all out.

Calvary has been such a great school and Rylee really had a great experience and I am a little sad that we won't be going there next year as she was accepted to the new math and science school Mountain Valley for 1st grade. I will really miss Mrs. Thompson as she has been a part of Rylee's life for so long and has always been so good to her. I don't know what we'll do without her. Hopefully we can go and visit. I will also be starting a new job as of next week of Stay at home Mom. I made the hard decision of leaving my job so I could spend some more time with Rylee. I am not sure how this is going to go as I have worked since I was 16 years old and have been full time since I was 19. I am not quite sure what I will do with myself all day especially when Rylee goes back to school. I have some that say you will find things to do and others telling me I will be bored to tears. My boss was nice enough to say that if I happened to want a few hours come fall time to give him a call he would love to have me back so that's always nice to know if I start pulling my hair out! :)

Anyway to finish up this post I'll just say ON TO NEW ADVENTURES!

Biker Babes

I really haven't done anything exciting lately so I haven't had anything to post. I work, come home and make dinner and then go to bed. That is my day. But this weekend my mom and I completed the STAR motorcycle class and I passed. I may have complained a little bit ;) but now that it is over I am really glad that I did it. I don't have any pictures of us on the bikes but I am sure it was a funny site to see. Nobody start worrying-I don't even have my own bike so I won't be terrorizing anyone on the road (yet)! I don't know that I will even get my own bike but before I would even get on the road I would definitley want more practice. I am far from being bike ready but it was really fun. Thanks mom for taking the class with me!

Crazy Hair Day!!

This week they are having something fun everyday at Calvary for the kids. Yesterday was backwards day which Rylee would not participate in. She did not to wear her shirt backwards. Today it is Crazy hair day. What I really wanted to do was a mohawk type of hair do. I found a really cute one that one of the hair blogs had for her DD but Rylee wasn't about to have a mohawk. Mohawks are for boys. Even after I showed her the little girl and how cute the hairstyle was she wouldn't do it. The only other thing I found was a lady coloring her girls hair with washable crayola markers. She said it was better than the spray color. So we colored Rylee's hair last night to save me some time in the morning and then just did some touch ups this morning and this is how her crazy hair turned out.
It's kind of hard to see because of the light but I thought it looked pretty cute. You can see the pink and blues and Rylee was really excited because she is always wanting her hair colored pink and purple. Now my only concern is that she will think she can do this all the time! :D

Mom says......

Brush your teeth or they'll get green and moldy like Rylee's! Just teasin. She was actually eating a lick-a-stick the other night and it turned her whole mouth green. I just thought it looked gross and wanted a picture of it. Her mouth was green for hours after she ate that stuff.

She is such a silly girl-she loves that kind of stuff!

So a couple of Rylee's friends have gotten their hair cut quite short. She never seemed to want hers cut (thank goodness) and I would ask her and tell her if she wanted to she could. I didn't think she would ever tell me she wanted to cut it. The day came and she told me she wanted it cut to her shoulders! I tried talking her out of it but she had her mind made up-I have to add here that I don't like this making her own decisions thing. So i made her an appointment but I made it for the next week to give her time to change her mind. She didn't. Her are some pics of her getting her beautiful hair cut.

She got about 6 inches cut off. It really did turn out cute but it is just so different. I almost don't know who she is and she looks so much older. I don't even know what to do with her short hair-I have just been lazy and been leaving it down or putting a headband in it. We (more like me) are already in the process of growing it out again!

Christmas 2009

So I don't even know if this is worth posting it is so late but whatever. You can call me a slacker!

So Christmas has come and gone once again. It was a great day. Of course we were up before Rylee-I don't know how this happens every year. One of these years I want her to come running in our bedroom waking us up and instead we wait on her. It is probably a good thing that she sleeps in a little because the day is filled with such excitement that by the end of the day she is pooped and defintley ready for bed.

Here is a picture of Rylee's little tree with a gift from Santa under it!

We of course starting by opening our presents and we all received such nice things. It was such a surprise. Justin got his electric toothbrush that he has been wanting so badly for year (go figure-wanting a toothbrush) and I got a new mixer and rolling pin as I have a sudden urge to make my own cinnamon rolls! Rylee of course got just about everything. I love watching her on Christmas-it is such a joy!

After presents we had cinnamon rolls-unfortunatley not of my own baking but Rhoades and they weren't too bad. I then had to use my new mixer so I made Paula Deens' famous white chocolate cherry macadamia nut cookies. How nice it was to have the mixing done for you!

Later we had my parents and sister and Justin's parents over for Christmas dinner. I am still a little rusty at having everyone over but it was really good and I am so greatful we could all have dinner together and just be together!