15MAR09

Random pictures from last month...

Anya and Lex watching their moving on the plane. (Seriously, 24 hours of travel d.v.d. players are LIFESAVERS!!)

The girls and I playing on the swings at a part by my mom's.

Papa and the girls

If you have food, she will come!!! Ryan and Grandma Kerry.

Being silly with Tay.

My new fave pic of Ryan!

Ryan's first go of Ravioli Yum.

Poor Lex. She doesn't take naps anymore but we were going ALL the time so she often fell asleep but this was the best!

Quinn loving on Ryan!I was so impressed Lex climbed the wall by herself!!

Made it all the way to the top!

Snuggling with Grandma Bevvy.

Swinging!!

All ready for church.

Signing her name on Theresa's cast!

Having a picnic with Anya.

Our day of shopping in Anthem.
Major jetlag!

14MAR09

A couple nights before we left my family decided we should go to Amazing Jakes. My brother described and a "non-ghetto" Chucky Cheese. I thought that sounded good b/c I honestly like Chuchy Cheese! :) It was really fun. LEx and her cousing Travis had a great time and Ryan enjoyed playing in the baby section with Grandpa Jones.

Ryan playing in the baby area. Let me out mommy!


Playing with Grandpa Jones


Riding the carasoul with Travis!

The teacups. Okay seriously I do not do well with motion sickness. Never have. Just ask my Uncle Phylip about the time I puked in his brand new car 5 minutes after we drove off. Alexis on the other hand seems to be fine with things spinning out of control. So we got on the teacups together. Me thinking, oh she's 3 she won't want to go to fast. Hmmm not true SHE spun us so fast I had to tell her to stop b/c mommy was sick. Then I felt sick the whole rest of the night! She, on the other hand had a BLAST!


The "rollercoaster." It was kind of like a rollercoaster but basically just went in a circle SUPER fast! The ride said you had to be 4 and 36 inches well she is 36 inches... They didn't ask so she went for it. The ride went so fast I was so nervous she would freak and want to get off but no. At the halfway point they stop it and go backwards and a couple of people did get off but not Lex. I guess it's just a kid thing to love rides. I couldn't get on it. I was still sick from the tea cups! :)

13MAR09

Ryan Pyper McBride

February 21, 2008

7 lbs 12 oz

19 inches

I seriously can't believe Ryan is ONE! She is such a sweet girl and so easy going. Since we've gotten home she's started standing up in the middle of the floor for a good amount of time. She's really going to be walking soon. She loves to play and she is LOVING music. She's such a cute dancer. I was so excited that we got to do both girls birthdays in the states this year. I decided to make it easy and just do a park/bbq (Thank you dad for doing all the grilling!) Poor Ryan started running a low fever that morning and had goopy eyes and a runny nose. She got through it though with the help of her first sweets! :) I think she had a great day and I'm so glad everyone got to come!

The cake... I think it turned out pretty well doing it all myself! :)

The presents! :)

Thinking about eating the cake...

YUMMY!!!!

One Year Old

20 pounds 1.5 ounces

28 1/4 inches

12MAR09

I Love the Renaissance Festival. It come to AZ every year around Feb/Mar and when Cristine and I realized it was going to be there when we were visiting we called our moms and AZ best friends and decided to plan a girls day! :) We had a BLAST! We met up with Cristine and a whole bunch of her friends and family and my mom and Theresa. I'm not sure who had more fun Alexis and Anya or all the grownups! :) It was fun seeing it through Lexie's eyes and my mom, Theresa, me, and the girls were there from OPEN till CLOSE! We even talked the guy at the end into letting the poor kid go on a ride one more time even though he said he was closed! (Like she hadn't gone on enough rides!)

Look at her posing!!

Theresa and the girls after the maze and slide! I LOVE how much Theresa loves my girls she and my mom both practically fought over who got to wear Ryan and go on rides with Lex! :)

The elephant ride. I have to tell what my dear friend Theresa yelled while we were up there... "Monica, your butt looks so small." Thanks friend.

Riding the llama. I loved how anytime we took a pic the guy walking it would get all close to her and pose too!

The swan ride with Cristine, Aya, Erica, Monica, Lex, and Ryan. I loved how they said 3 dollars per body so Cristine asked what if he's attached? So they let the babies on for free!! HA HA!

Beautiful Princess Ryan (this kid will NOT keep things on her head!)

The fairie. Lexie was staring and staring but would not go up there with out me!

Hanging out in the grass doing what we all REALLY went to the Festival for. Sweet baby.

Eating their frozen oranges.

The butterfly ride.

Hee hee.

Pretty please can we go on just this one more ride Grandma Bevvy??


Lex before we even left the parking lot! Notice the crown and wand in her hand. What a great day!

11MAR09

Alright... now that my baby is now one *weep sob* I thought I would see how much Lex and Ryan look alike. I see so many differences in their personalities and I do think they look different but they are still DEFINATELY sisters!! :) I love looking back at Lexie's pics and seeing how her and Ryan are the same and different. Here are some stats... Ryan one year 20 pounds 1.5 ounces Lexie 20 pounds .5 ounces Ryan 28 1/4 inches (almost 1/2) Lexie 28 3/4 inches. What do you all think??

10MAR09

Valentine's Day 2009... I like Valentine's day. I am a sappy person so Valentine's day is a good day for me. However with a husband in Iraq it's not expected to be a great day. Fortunately, I have great kids, great friends, and a GREAT husband!!! The girls made me happy by being adorable in their Valentine's day shirts. My friends (who are ALL married by the way) came over so we could have a few hours of girls time on this sweetheart day. Allyson, Theresa, and Cristine I really love you girls! We hung out and went to WalMart and baked cookies! :) I also hung out with my fam and that's always good. Then there is my sweet, wonderful husband. He is not a sappy person and therefore not a big Valentine's Day guy. Lucky for me he knows I am so, although he repeatedly told me he didn't get my anything, I got home from WalMart to see these beautiful roses and lily's on my dad's counter (I LOVE LOVE LOVE flowers by the way.) I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband! I love you Travis and I am so excited that you are going to be home with us VERY soon!!!!

Valentine's Girls.

Pretty baby girl!

Lexie and Anya. Cristine ordered Anya's shirt before leaving Germany and I got it once we were there from the STORE. Great minds...



Me and my flowers! :)

09MAR09

I'm going to try to start getting pictures up of everything we did while we were in Arizona. There were SOOO many pictures. Before I went through and edited them I had almost 600 pictures just on MY camera. That's not even including the ones other people took of us!! :) What a great month!!


When I was at my dad's we went to the wildlife zoo way out in west Phoenix. It was quite a drive but worth it although I don't know if I would go every trip. It was kind of expensive and EVERYTHING cost extra but we really did have a great time.

My cousin yndee invited us and we ended up having quite a group. Myndee came with her son, Colton, then Tori (my SIL) and her 2 girls Pyper and Taylor, then Cristine (my friend from Germany) and her 2 kids Anya and Eric, plus my dad who helped us all out!! It was probably quite a site my dad and his 4 wives and all their kids!! HA HA!!

Riding around above the zoo. Lexie, Anya, and I.


Taylor was so sweet with Alexis being a great big cousin!

The coolest part of the zoo was how close all the animals were to you!

The thing was nuts. The kids were reaching their hand out and it kept trying to peck at them!

Ryan had a good time too!!

The whole crew eating lunch (Eric and Ryan were in their strollers so you can't see them!)

The "big" kids (Colton, Taylor, Alexis, and Anya)

Feeding the giraffes! They have LONG toungues it was crazy!

Before the log ride (Alexis, Anya, and me!) The girls LOVED this! I thought they would be scared but at the end they asked, "can we go again?" It was pretty dead so the guy working let us go again for free! :)
Going down the ride! We only got a little wet! :)

We had such a blast!! Thanks everyone for coming with us!! We had so much fun!!!