Fish Stories

The last time Ryan went fishing this is what he saw.  If it weren't for the pictures (and even with some of the pics:)  ) I would have thought this was just a big fish story.  If you know Ryan you know he LOVES flyfishing (like at times I wonder what his true love is j/k).  He hiked down to the river and he saw some big "things", and when one of the "things" moved he realized they were big fish and he got really excited.  Then he looked up and saw this giant bull moose just about 25 yards up the river from him so needless to say it was probably one of the coolest days of his life. He said the biggest fish (and all 3 cutthroat he caught were pretty big, 20+ inches) was about the size of the silver salmon (not the King Salmon) he caught in Alaska and our guess is it was 27 inches.  The best part of the story is that when he got home and was telling me all about it, he checked and the area was closed to fishing.  Go figure, the biggest fish are in a closed area!  He sure had a lot of fun fishing illegally, and we know that ignorance sure is bliss!

So Grown Up!

Alli is now 5 months old!  I am amazed how fast time goes by.  I decided to give her a little rice cereal and as you can see, at first she was not sure what it was or what to do with it.  She is such a fun baby, I love being a mom and am SOO glad that I do not have to go back to school next week.  At times I have been missing getting my classroom ready and being with the teachers I taught with because they are the best ever, but since I can stay home, I really don't think I could leave her everyday and have someone else be taking care of her most of the time.  I love this little girl and am so happy to be her mother!  I am excited to see what her future holds, but at the same time I am nervous for any hard things she will have to go through.  I know whenever I participated in things my mom was always nervous for me and now I see why, because you only want the best for your child.  She loves to laugh and give people smiles if they talk to her.  She makes us so happy, and we feel so blessed to have her!

Mr. Athletic

My husband never ceases to amaze me.  Yesterday he ran in the Salem Days "Fun Run" 5k (3.1 miles) and he came in with a time of 20:46 or 6:41 per mile.  The only people in my family who have run faster are my mom and older brother so this really impressed me! I ran the St. George marathon 2 years ago and was going to last year, but since I was pregnant with Alli we deferred to this year so he did his longest run ever on Friday (8.2 miles, him pushing a stroller up all the hills and most of the way).  When he came in my mom was helping at the chutes and she told him he won, he looked a little confused as he looked at the people in front of him until she clarified that he won his age group.  So he won his age group (24-29) and was 14th overall out of close to 400 people!  To top this off they had a pull up contest and he easily won that as well.  Funny enough I was trying so hard to get a picture of him running, I missed him coming in so the picture here is staged after it was finished.  I had someone hold Alli and I went across this bridge, but he had already gone past where I was on the other side and by the time I realized (from looking at the people coming past, who I knew he would beat) he had come in and gotten a drink and fruit from the place they had set up.  So when I went to pick up Alli from the lady, he husband and she asked what he had done to his arms.  Ryan and I were both confused until they clarified that his arms were really muscular, the funny thing is that he hasn't seriously lifted since the beginning of the summer, if not longer!   They told the age group and overall winners they could ride in the parade.  Ryan didn't want to, but when the "float" came by he ran up so I could take his picture.  Since he won his age group he got a medal, which Alli really enjoyed.  She was very curious when we put it on her.  It had this paper with instructions for the parade and she actually pulled this paper tag off and tried to eat it (we fished one chunk out of her mouth).  I am realizing I have to be much more careful about what is around her now because she is FAST at getting things close to her and putting them in her mouth!  

Such Sad Eyes. . .

     

Earlier this week there was a day when Allison cried for over an hour and I could not figure our what was wrong.  I still don't know exactly, eventually she fell asleep and when she woke up she was a little better, but the poor girl takes after me and when she cries her face gets all splotchy. That is one of the few times she has ever cried that much.  

     I can not believe how much Allison is growing and changing.  At her 4 month check up (almost a month ago I am quite slow) she weighed 14 lbs 3 oz and was 25.5 in long so she is average for weight and above average for height.  Her little face is not quite so chubby anymore, she is kind of skinny, but really long!! She is such a happy baby and brings us so much joy.  She has really come more alive and interacts much more so here are some of my favorite things from the past month or so.  She sucks on her bottom lip so it looks like she doesn't have a lower lip, she doesn't do this as much the past few days, instead she keeps her mouth open really big, but it was so funny to me when she would do it.  

     

She is so fun to play with because she will laugh (A LOT) a

nd smile (even more).  I think her favorite time of the day is either bath time or when Ryan gets home from work.  In the bath she splashes (sometimes getting water in her eyes and she wonders who did that to her) and scoots herself up and down the tub.  She just smiles the whole time.  When she realizes Ryan is home her face lights up and she gets big smiles on her face.  He is such a wonderful father who loves playing with her.  She loves rolling over and is constantly getting stuck because she can't quite roll back yet.  She also loves to stand if you hold her hands and she will stand for quite a while.  She also likes to sit up if you place her in a sitting position and be there in case she falls over, but she is always trying to pull herself up to a sitting position so before too long I think she will sit herself up.  I just feel so blessed to be her mother.  She is so smart and it is so fun to watch her try to figure things out and just play with her toys that before just were fun to look at.  She totally holds her head up when she is on her tummy until she gets too tired and then face plants.  She also scoots herself, but she can only go in a circle so I will put her to bed in the middle of her crib on her back and she will turn over and scoot so she is almost sideways and then sleep on her side.  The thing she does the most though is jabber, this has gone on for a while, but it just gets to be more and more all the time.  I need to put a video up of that.  I am sure this is more than you wanted to know about our baby girl and it is pretty typical stuff, but I am loving every new thing that comes along and don't want to forget what she does.

These are is just random pictures (still in her pajamas for this one:)  ), but I thought she looked so happy!  P.S. Thank you so much to all those who gave Alli cute bows and flowers- specifically Kate Call, Annie, and Cori.  If it weren't for you guys, my poor little girl would have to wear mine which aren't nearly as cute!! 

Bon Voyage

This past week my brother James and his wife Natalie (and their adorable baby Scott) moved to Des Moine, Iowa to start Medical School.  I am so excited for them, but will miss having them around.  I am so excited for when Bryan (another older brother who just graduated from medical school and is in Ohio doing his residency) and Annie and their darling girls and James and Natalie will all be back.  Hopefully they will live close enough that our little kids can play together often. I miss both brothers and their wonderful wives!  Anyway, the night before they left we went out to eat, but my oldest brother is on a family vacation with his little family and Phillip went out to the car during the picture and Ryan was working so it was a small group for the pic, but we had a lot of fun eating and hanging out.  I am so excited for them to start this adventure they are on and felt almost a little left out that after two summers of moving away I was the one staying home.  I decided to make them a "going away" present which Scott is holding.  Alli has little fleece toy with ribbons around the edges that she loves she we made one for them to take with them.  Hopefully Scott will like his as much as Alli likes hers.  (Bryan and Annie, there is one for Audrey coming.)  And I had to get a picture of the two cousins together, but Alli looks much bigger since Scott is in his car seat, but thank you James for holding her!

Sound of Music

Last week Ryan bought a piano for us.  On his way to work I was talking to him and could hear piano music, sure enough 2-3 hours later he signed the papers on a piano.  He kept calling making sure it really was a good piano and that it had everything I wanted etc.  We had looked at pianos since last December, but kept putting off buying one.  Ryan finally took the plunge and just bought it.  It got delivered a week and a half ago on Tuesday and except for the picture of it on Ryan's phone that is the first time I saw it.  We are pretty excited about this new addition.  It is a really nice piano with great sound quality so I am sure it will get a lot of use over the years.  

     I am sure my mom is happy because that means less little kids coming for lessons at her house, she has been very nice to let me teach lessons there for the past 8 and 1/2 years.  It is crazy to think I have taught lessons that long!!! It has been fun playing it the past few days and it is great because Ryan has enjoyed playing it as well.  He is so thoughtful to put off the nice basketball hoop and other things he wanted to get the piano.  It is so fun because when he comes home some nights he will go in and play the piano which really impresses me since he taught himself on his mission!  I LOVE playing the piano so it is wonderful to have a piano here so I can go in and play if I want to.  I have become very rusty over the past few years since I haven't played as much, but unfortunately for anyone around, I love it even more.  Now I have no excuses!