The Weekend of Ryan

I'm two weeks behind posting about this! Its been hard finding time to blog lately...

Ryan's birthday is June 14 (also Flag Day!) and it falls pretty close to Father's Day each year. This year his birthday was on Saturday and Father's Day was the very next day, so we had one big weekend of celebrating Ryan! This year he turned 29...crazy! I can't believe that much time has passed since he was the 22-year-old I married! I make a big deal out of all birthdays and celebrations, and even though we didn't throw a big party or anything, I wanted the weekend to be special. Ryan's brother Eric and our sister-in-law Hayley offered to watch Thomas all day Saturday so Ryan and I could spend his birthday together, kid-free. Thanks so much guys!

So, for Ryan's birthday we just drove around doing whatever Ryan wanted to do. We went to look at furniture/home decor, went to the Parade of Homes, got ice cream, went to a couple dirtbike shops, and we tried to go see the cool new Harley Davidson dealership in Lindon but it had already closed. For dinner we went to McGrath's fish house, which was kind of a gift to Ryan in and of itself...I really don't like seafood and Ryan can never get me to go to a seafood restaurant unless its his birthday! I do like Halibut, so that was my saving grace. Ryan got the King Crab, which he absolutely loves. Then we went to see Ironman, and we both really liked it...we love all superhero movies. The end of the movie definitely indicates there will be a sequel and I'm so excited! (For those of you who haven't seen it yet, make sure to wait til the very end of the credits for an additional scene!)

Ryan is really hard to buy gifts for, since the major things he's into, like dirtbiking, are hard for me to do any shopping for without him there showing me exactly what he needs/wants. And he usually has a hard time even coming up with things he needs or wants, because he just gets them himself! Well, this year Ryan actually had a suggestion for a gift...a Blu-Ray DVD player. I don't think he was fully expecting to get one since they're so expensive, but a couple weeks before his birthday we were at Costco and were looking at the Blu-Ray players, and I decided to just spoil him and get one. Ryan was so excited about it...it was worth it!


So, even though Ryan got his big birthday gift awhile before his birthday, I still wanted to get him a something for the actual day. I am very insistent that people celebrate their birthday on the actual day, even if they already did something to celebrate it previously or they are planning to celebrate it at a later date. I think the actual day should always be recognized! So, I ended up getting Ryan a couple of Blu-Ray DVD's: the just released action movie "Jumper" which we hadn't seen yet, and a scenic documentary called "Over America." Ryan loves that kind of stuff...I got him both the "Planet Earth" and "Blue Planet" documentary series for Christmas and he watches them all the time. Thomas got his Daddy a birthday gift too..a whole bunch of chocolate! =)

One sad thing was that Ryan got very sick the week or so before his birthday. He was coughing terribly and it got so bad he couldn't breathe well, especially at night, and he started to think he might have bronchitis. He finally went to the doctor and was diagnosed with Pneumonia! I freaked out a little bit, but the doctor gave him three different medications, including an inhaler, and they helped Ryan start feeling better really quickly. The doctor said it would probably take a full month for Ryan to get back to 100%, but I was so glad he started feeling better before his birthday.

And how sweet is this? Just a few days before his birthday, while he was sick, Ryan brought me home a bouquet of lilies! I had pointed out recently that I was acquiring a lot of vases (because for special occasions Ryan usually gets me these lovely flower arrangements already in vases) and I mentioned he could just get me a bouquet sometimes instead, so I could use my vases more. So just a couple days later, he did! I was very impressed. =)

So, on to Father's Day...I wanted to give Ryan something separate for that day and make it special too. (I love to give gifts! Can you tell?) =) The one thing I had to get him was a tie. Ever since I was pregnant with Thomas on Ryan's first Father's Day, I've made a little tradition of getting him a tie every Father's Day. I love shopping for ties! I got him this really classy, dark blue and black striped one. I always tell Ryan the Father's Day tie is from Thomas, because isn't a tie the classic gift for kids to give their dads? As Thomas gets older it will be fun to have him help me pick it out, along with whatever siblings might come along (...no, that's not an announcement folks!). Ryan likes to barbecue, so I also got him a nice set of grilling tools, and I got him one of those nice charging stations that holds your phones/MP3 players/PDA's and has places to put your keys and wallet and stuff. We love it! It keeps things much more organized and nice-looking...no ugly tangle of wires!

So, after church on Father's Day Ryan opened his second set of gifts and we had a one-day-late birthday cake (a fabulous German Chocolate Cake made by Eric & Hayley...thanks again guys!). Later that night we went out to my parents' house for dinner, which we do most Sunday nights, but it was especially nice to be able to see my Dad on Father's Day. I got him a tie too! =)

I want to thank my husband for being such a wonderful daddy to our little son. Ryan is such a patient, loving father and I love to watch him and Thomas together...Tommy loves his daddy so much! I want to thank my Dad, who has always been a great teacher and example. He taught me to make good choices, to have confidence in myself and to be strong in the face of adversity. I also want to thank my Father-in-Law, Glenn, who welcomed me into his family from day one and has always been so kind, caring and supportive. Thank you all for being such awesome Dads! I am blessed to have such good men in my life and I am so grateful for each of you!

As Fate Would Have It

Ryan's younger brother Eric and his wife Hayley were recently living up in Salt Lake where Eric is studying engineering at the University of Utah. They both work full time and don't have any children yet, and they started looking into buying a home with a rental, since they were going to be around for awhile before Eric graduates with his Masters. They found a really nice side-by-side duplex that had already been remodeled, was close to TRAX (the commuter train) and already had a tenant living in the other side. They went for it and on Saturday, June 7th they had moved out of their apartment, had all of their possessions loaded in a truck and drove over to their duplex to move in. Here's a few photos of the inside...so cute!

When they got there, Hayley went over to visit with the tenant for a minute, and Eric went inside to discover that since they had last been there the apartment had totally flooded! They found out a line in the swamp cooler had broken and it was apparent that it had been flooding the apartment for several days. So, obviously, the damage was pretty considerable. Ryan and his older brother Nathan were on their way up to help unload when Eric called and told them the news. Ryan told Eric to come put their stuff in our garage, and Ryan called to tell me what had happened. When they arrived I fully expected to find Hayley sobbing. I was amazed when I opened the door and she was totally calm, and was even smiling in amusement at their bad luck. They have been handling the situation so well, much better than I could have possibly done!

Here's the after photos:

One lucky thing was that they hadn't closed on the duplex yet and still had the option to back out. They spent a lot of time talking to the insurance people and the contractor that had been hired, and were really impressed with how quickly they started taking care of everything. After taking everything into consideration they decided to go ahead with the purchase. They are even going to benefit from what happened because several aspects of the apartment will be updated where they weren't before, at no cost to them.

Ryan and I offered to let them stay with us until all the repairs were complete...we have a guest room and a bathroom that gets used hardly at all (except by Thomas) and we were glad to have some space to offer to them. So for the last few weeks we've been "roomies"! It has actually been a really fun experience spending time with them and getting to know them better...they haven't even hit their 2-year anniversary yet and they've always been teased about being the "reclusive newlyweds." They're great...they help us out with Thomas all the time, insisting we go on date nights! We take turns cooking dinner for each other and they are awesome cooks. It has been a lot of fun and I think we will have a hard time getting used to not having them around when their house is done! (And I'm not saying this just because I know you'll read it Hayley! =)

They still have a couple weeks before the house is ready to move into and I think its going to look great. It was so nice before and now it will just be improved! Isn't it interesting how life works sometimes?

Goin' Swimmin'

Last year Thomas and I took a swim class especially for moms and babies at the Provo Recreation Center with a bunch of other moms from our ward. It was so fun, I definitely wanted to do it again this year! A couple months ago, before we moved, I started looking into finding the nearest pool to Saratoga Springs that offered classes. Through a friends' blog I found out about the Lehi Legacy Center...it is the coolest place! They have all kinds of programs, camps and classes. The building has 3 gyms, an indoor track, a weight-room, cardio-room, rock-climbing wall, a daycare, and the Aquatics Center is awesome. The pools are open year-round and they have a sliding glass ceiling and walls they can open or close depending on the weather. Inside there's a big waterslide, a leisure pool, lap pool, hot tub, lazy river, a really cute "waterslide baby mountain" and this huge, cool fort with a giant bucket drop! The lazy river also goes outside where they have a kiddie pool and a bunch of picnic tables and lounge chairs.

I was so excited to discover the Legacy Center! I signed Thomas and I up for a Mom & Tot swim class that started at 10 am, the perfect time to give me a chance to get out the door and to get back for Thomas' naptime. So, every weekday from June 2nd-June 12th Thomas and I went swimmin'. We loved it! The class was pretty loosely structured--we played games and sang songs, just teaching the kids to be comfortable in the water at first, and then tried to teach them basic things like kicking, "scooping" or paddling, blowing bubbles, swimming on their tummies and laying on their back. We held our kids while doing all of this of course, we weren't expecting them to truly learn to swim by themselves. Thomas was cute though, because he was often impatient to get to the play areas or wherever he wanted to go, and he would start kicking and struggling to get out of my arms, like he was trying to swim there himself! Funny little fish. Last year he took to the water really well, and this year he was even more into it! One of his favorite things to do was climb out of the pool on his own (with me there spotting him) and then jump off the edge into my arms. He wanted to do it over and over again!

Our teacher/lifeguard Kallie was so nice and was the mom of a toddler herself. One of the things she challenged us to do was to work up to a point where we could dunk our child (quickly) all the way under the water. I did this with Thomas in our class last year and he did really well at about 10 months old. So at the end of the first day of our class I tried it again and dunked Thomas all the way under, and he did great! He came up spluttering a bit but didn't cry at all. The great thing about this year is that I can explain to him what's going to happen and he really understands...I could tell him that I would count to three and then put him under the water, and that he needed to shut his eyes and blow his bubbles. The teacher also told us to blow in the kids' faces right before we put them under, because it would make them close their eyes and (supposedly) hold their breath. Pretty much all the kids in the class got good at being dunked. Sometimes Thomas even started getting excited about it, probably because of all the praise he got afterward!

The class was so fun and even though it was a little hard to have to load Thomas in the car and go somewhere every single weekday morning for two weeks straight, I was really sad when it ended. The Legacy Center opens to the public in the afternoon, and Thomas and I have gone once since our class ended. It is so much more crowded during public hours and was a little overwhelming to both of us at first. During our class there were very limited numbers of people in the pool and we got used to having a lot of swimming space to ourselves! =) But we'll definitely be making many more trips there this summer. Our subdivision is building a brand new clubhouse that is supposed to have a pool, and I wish they would hurry and finish so I didn't have to drive 15-20 minutes to go swimming!

The very last day of class I decided to risk the life of my digital camera and bring it into the pool to get some pictures of my cute water baby. Thankfully I managed to get a few good shots without dropping my camera in the water and ruining it!

It Begins

About an hour ago I put Thomas down for a nap. When I go to lay him down he always says "tummy" because he prefers to sleep on his stomach. Its so cute because he lays exactly the way I used to before I got pregnant: on his stomach, with his arms tucked under him. I've never been able to get comfortable sleeping that way again since pregnancy...I got thoroughly trained into side-sleeping I guess! Anyway, when I laid him down he put his hands up by his mouth with his face down in his hands. Then he must have blown out some air or sighed loudly or something, because he blew a strong, clear, bonafide fart sound on his hands! He's never done this, we have never shown him this and it happened completely by coincidence! He erupted with laughter and of course continued to do it over and over again. I was trying so hard not to laugh out loud because I didn't want to encourage him....he was supposed to be going to sleep! But it was so funny and cute how delighted he was at his discovery. Before I busted up laughing I decided to just go out and see if he would eventually get bored with it and fall asleep. But, his achievement had gotten him pretty excited and he just started talking and playing and jumping in his crib. I finally had to go in and lay him back down. He went to sleep that time, and here I sit!

So begin the days of my son amusing himself with fart noises. Oy. =)