29APR08

We got home from Holland late Friday night and we were exhausted!! We had such a blast though!!!! We even had to come home a day early b/c we ran out of room for stuff!! HA HA!!!! So Monday we traveled all afternoon to get there. It took a while b/c we had to stop a lot to nurse Ryan, of course. Then Tuesday we went to the tullip gardens and oh my gosh they were BEAUTIFUL!!!!


Lexie posed this herself!! It was a little tunnel and she had to do it twice!! There was so much for her to do there!!

There was also a petting zoo there and I swear that alone was worth the money! My little girl LOVES LOVES LOVES animals!! She even kissed and hugged them all bye even though some of them it was on the butt! She didn't care!

Then on Wednessday I decided to keep the girls home in our hotel so that they weren't having to get in and out of the car all day. We were ALL tired of the car. Lucky for us there was a bird park right by our hotel and it was free for us since we stayed there. They also had a HUGE park so we were there for about 5 hours with Lexie just playing and me "wearing" Ryan or having her in the stroller (her and Lexie switched off!) Here is Lexie feeding the birds. She actually liked it until this mean bird came and that's when I remembered to take a picture!!

On Thursday we went to a shoe and cheese factory! Anyone who knows me knows I love me some cheese! So of course I bought 3!!


Then Friday we drove home but we stopped at a WWII place on the way. There was a great guy there telling me all sorts of stories (when we first got there it was dead so he had a lot of time on his hands.) He was there when the Americans liberated his city and he just had so much gratitude. It was great (although I thought it was funny b/c he asked me if I was British! HA HA!) There was a really pretty grassy area and Alexis ran around picking flowers so I had to snap a bunch of shots there.

Totally random, Ryan seems to really be able to find her thumb way easier than she should be!!! I take it out and stick a pacifier in every time I catch her but my dad and aunt thought it was adorable. Okay so it is!! I just don't want her to be me and such her thumb till she's 12!
Ryan has been smiling like crazy but I can't seem to catch it so here is the best one I have so far!!
That's about it for now! Alexis is loving "school" and really catching on! I'll be reading books and she'll point out all the A's and B's she can find!! :)

Travis is doing well. He's in Baghdad now but that's not where he'll stay. For now it's nice though b/c he's able to get on-line pretty often! He's just doing a class right now and then he'll meet up with the rest of his company. He says he's good just bored. He's even tired of the internet (crazy for him!!) My dad is in Sweeden till tomorrow and then he'll be here till Saturday so we're just going to enjoy his last few days!!!

19APR08

My dad is here!!! I am so excited! We leave on Monday for Holland for a week! I am a little nervous about traveling with 2 kids but I will have my dad, his sister, and his cousin. All are grandparents and none of them get to see their grandkids very often so I'm pretty sure I will have some help! I will have to post some pictures when we get back!! I'm speaking in church tomorrow. Ugh I hope it goes okay. You would think with how loud and outgoing I am I wouldn't get nervous but I definately do. Luckily my dad will be there to sit with the girls so that's a huge help!

I wanted to mentions someone who is on my mind today. My friend Ryan Bean (most of you know who she is.) Tomorrow would be her 27th birthday. I think about where she would be and what she would be doing. She was an awesome girl and I miss her like crazy. I am lucky and grateful to have her family still in my life. She is obviously who my little Ryan is named after although not b/c she died but b/c I loved the name and loved her and always told her I wanted to name my daughter Ryan also. We get lots of looks when we tell people she is a girl and her name is Ryan and I love it!! :) One day I know I will see her again! Love you Ryan!

08APR08

Well I just wanted to let everyone know Travis left today for Iraq. His orders say 455 days and that is so far away right now!! We will get into a routine and it won't be as hard but I really hate when he leaves. Probably why I'm up messing around on the computer when I should be sleeping!!! I have lots of goals for while he is gone and I'm really going to try to get them all done. Here are some of them...

- Read my scriptures every night
- Start "school" with Alexis. I found this great website to help me and I'm super excited! I think we will both benefit from it. If you're interested the website is www.letteroftheweek.com check it out!
- Scrapbook, scrapbook, scrapbook! I'm only about 6 months behind with Alexis but now with 2 kids I really have to try to stay caught up! I love doing it but sometimes I get distracted with other things.
- Organize a few things in my house that have been driving me crazy. You know when you move and you put things away and then as you're living there you realize it's just not a good place for that stuff? Maybe not but I'm realizing I want to change some things around.
-Lose this baby weight! I want to lose about 40 pounds! I've started getting up about 6 to get my work out in before the girls get up and that seems to be working out well!!!

There's more but those are my big ones. Please remember to keep Travis and all the troops in your prayers. I will keep you updated with how he's doing when I know something. They're saying the communication this time may not be great but hopefully we'll hear something every so often! I am soooo sooo sooo proud of him and what he does!!

01APR08

Just wanted to share a few pictures...


I finally got the bedding in for Lexie's room so here is her finished room!




Alexis and Ryan

EASTER!!!

The Easter bunny (Lexie wouldn't go without Travis!)

Coloring Easter eggs.



Easter Dresses (THANKS GRANDMA KERRY!!)

Daddy even went to church with us!

Hope you all had a great Easter! Travis should be leaving very soon. We're going to miss him like crazy but we know we're where we need to be! I love my little family!