Kids at Christmas

Hey everybody, Ryan here. I know I know, I have never posted on this blog EVER but I decided to post some Christmas pictures of the kids. Really the whole reason we took these pictures is because Jaimee finished making Rylee's Christmas dress and we had to take some pictures of it on Sunday. I gave Jaimee a sewing machine for her birthday and she has been learning how to make different things. She made some pajama pants for the kids for Christmas and Rylees dress was the latest undertaking. It turned out looking REALLY good! (Good job Jaim, you rock!!!) My kids are so lucky to have such a great mom!

And can I just say having kids during Christmas time is the best thing EVER! They are so fun...anyway enjoy the pics!!!!

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

You may (or may not) have been wondering what we've been up to lately well, here you go this pretty much sums it up...

Self-Portrait!

Carter!

Rylee

We have been playing in the snow, going to see Christmas lights, and getting ready for Christmas. I am happy to report that for the first time in our married life, our shopping was done and almost everything wrapped a whole week before Christmas. Hopefully that will help us focus on the true meaning of Christmas. It has been fun and spiritually uplifting to teach our children about the birth of our Savior and I hope that we are better at focusing on Him and His life this holiday season and throughout the whole year.

Cute Kids!

I know I've been posting a lot more than usual lately, but I was so excited about these pictures, I had to share. My amazingly talented sister-in-law took them (check her out here, she is so talented). Anyways, there isn't one picture I don't LOVE, but I'm too lazy to post all of them so here are my favorites!

Silly boy he did this face all on his own without being prompted!

Watch out ladies!! He is so grown up and handsome!

This one captures Rylee's personality perfectly I think. She is pretty mischievous!

So sweet!

Aren't they the cutest? Thanks Hanna! You're the best!

A Blast from the Past

I was working on updating Rylee's scrapbook today. This usually leads to me spending most of the time that I have looking at all the pages I have done for both of my kids. I thought I'd share some "blasts from the past" courtesy of my favorite kiddos! WOW! They grow too fast!

Happy Halloween!

We had a busy, yet fun Halloween weekend! Friday night my grandparents had a party at their house and we had so much fun however, all my pictures from that night are blurry. I'm NOT a photographer in any sense of the word! Anyways, Saturday we carved pumpkins; visited great-grandparents; had Ryan's family over for dinner, trick-or-treating, and games after the kids went to bed. This year was my kids' first year trick-or-treating and it was about the cutest thing I've ever seen. Carter kept telling us to "stay right there, I can go by myself." And Rylee was HILARIOUS! The first door we went to, the nice man that lives there answered the door, gave them each one treat and Rylee promptly smiled up at him and instead of saying "thank you, " she said "I want more!" It was slightly embarrassing, but really funny. Every house we went to, she would just stand there after they gave her candy and look at them like "is that all you got?" Then she would run down the stairs and beat us all to the next house. Here's some cute pictures of the days' events...

My little cowboy and witch

Rylee the witch with her signature "cheesy smile"!

Carter the cowboy or "Tex"!

Ryan carving pumpkins with the kids. He is such a good daddy!

The finished products! When Rylee chose to have a smiley face on her pumpkin, Carter decided he MUST have a pumpkin with a frowning face!

Rylee posing by the pumpkins on the porch

Carter eating dinner at our fun and festive party! (Side note: see the black witch's pot? Well, that was supposed to be smoking from dry ice, however, when I retrieved the dry ice bag from the freezer, it had evaporated. I was sad, who knew that could happen? Apparently everyone but me!)

Rylee "eating" dinner!

Life's Lessons Learned

I've been doing A LOT of thinking lately about my life as a mother and in general and I realize that over the past year, I have learned some very important things:

Good friends are irreplaceable!

I have a bad habit of taking friends for granted. Since moving away from all of my friends, I've learned that I need to cherish my friendships more and be a better friend too!

Ryan is my BEST Friend!

I've known this since I was 16 or 17, but it has become more evident over the last year and especially in the (almost) 6 months since we moved. I've learned that a marriage (and a friendship) is something you work on every single day and that it takes work on both sides. I'm just beginning to realize how much I need to work on, but one day I hope to be the kind of friend/spouse that he is to me!

And lastly I've learned...

My babies are miracles!!!!!

I have SO MANY regrets when it comes to my kids. I regret every time I rolled my eyes and whined when one of my babies woke me up in the night. I regret all the times I haven't played with them or simply just held them. I regret every time I have complained about them to friends, family, or whoever would listen. (I know that I will continue to complain because I am only human I just hope to do it less).

They aren't babies any more and everyday that passes they grow bigger and more independent. I have been wanting a baby for a year now and it just isn't happening. So much of this experience has been difficult for me. I hate that I constantly feel the need to justify why I am so upset about not being pregnant. While it is true that I do have 2 beautiful children, the prospect of not having more is still hard for me. For me, my two kids are the reason I want more. I love my kids more than any mother has ever loved her children ( I know every mother feels that) and I can't even begin to imagine not experiencing the miracle again. I know, I know, I'm being selfish when so many in this world don't have ANY children. I want to not feel this way, I want to feel satisfied, but I'm just not :). So I guess what I am trying to say through all of this rambling is that I've learned to cherish EVERY single moment I have with my kids because I might not get the chance to do it a third time.

Disclaimer: I don't mean IN ANY WAY to minimize those people who have real infertility problems. I will NEVER know the hurt that those women have gone through and I don't mean to put myself in the same boat as them. My doctor is optimistic that I will be able to have more. I am by nature an impatient person and that is my problem and I hope I haven't offended anyone with this post!

Disclaimer #2: I don't usually post these kind of personal things because I don't want you all to think that I am throwing myself a pity party, as I mentioned above, a lot of my hurt and frustration stems from my personality flaws (impatience, drama, anxiety, etc.) I simply felt the need to vent since part of moving included missing out on my weekly venting sessions (aka playgroup).

Carter is 4!!

How time flies!!! Carter turned 4 a couple of weeks ago and I can't believe he is already that old. Seems like just yesterday we were anticipating his {late} arrival. Now he is so independent. He is 4 going on 16 and it is such a bittersweet feeling for me. He has been my little buddy who makes me smile every day for so long and now he has decided that he doesn't need me around all of the time. It's sad to think that he might be the only little baby boy I get and he is so grown up, but at the same time it's so fun to watch him grow and learn. Happy Birthday Carter! I love you more than you know!

Carter's "birth" day

His new Buzz Lightyear bike!

Dinosaur legos!

Lego birthday cake

Birthday breakfast-pancakes yummy!

Another Update!

Nothing new or exceptionally exciting going on at the Lloyd household, but here are some little tidbits.

My baby girl turned 2!!!!! I can hardly believe it's been 2 years since this little princess joined our family! She is every bit the fiesty little girl she was born to be :).

Other than Rylee's bday, we haven't really done anything spectacular. Ryan's sister's family visited from Texas, but for some reason I don't have a single picture of the fun things we did. I am really bad at that.

Mostly we've just been hanging out at home...

And taking the occasional trip to the park.

The kids get bigger every day I swear and they regularly remind me that they are no longer babies. In Rylee's words, "I not a baby mommy, I Rylee Danny Lloyd!" They are so cute and fun and I am SO GRATEFUL for them and for Ryan!!!

Side note:I know some people have requested some pictures of our new house, but I am being selfish and waiting until we paint to post any.

Finally- AN UPDATE!!

I know you've all been anxiously awaiting a post from us, so here it goes :)! These pictures are backwards because I can't figure out how to rearrange them the way I want!

We spent the 24th of July with Ryan's parents. We had a BBQ, let the kids swim in her kiddie pool and then did sparklers. The pictures kind of speak for themselves...

We went to the fabulous Ogden Pioneer Days Rodeo. It was way hot until the sun went down, but it was so much fun!

Mostly since we moved, we have been spending A LOT of time at Bear Lake...

We have been having a great time this summer despite missing all of our friends like CRAZY!!!!! I didn't realize how much it would hurt to leave everyone, but I am trying to adjust and I love love love our new house and yard and I am trying hard to love our new ward too!! We are nursery teachers now, so we have made many friends under the age of 3! Hope everyone is having a great summer!!

PS Ryan and I ran our first 5k last weekend!!! WAHOO!!!!!! It was so fun and we will be doing it again.

Mother's Day and Moving!

Last weekend was both moving weekend and Mother's Day weekend. What a crazy/exciting weekend it was! We loaded up the moving truck and hit the road. It was REALLY sad to leave all our memories and friends behind. We unloaded our truck and then we began the unpacking process! Where in the world did we get all this stuff!??? Sunday was of course Mother's Day. Ryan spoke in our old ward (of course he did a GREAT job) then we headed to our "new" home where Ryan and the kids napped and I unpacked some. Later we had dinner at Ryan's parent's house and went to visit his Grandma Lloyd. It has been a crazy week, but hopefully things will get back to normal soon. We love our new house (sorry I haven't found the camera yet to take pictures) and we have met some of our neighbors. Thanks to all who have helped us in the moving process! We couldn't have done it without you!!!!

Side note on Mother's Day: This was my 5th Mother's Day since having kids (if I count the year I was pregnant with Carter). What a life changing 5 years it has been! Being a mom is both the hardest and greatest thing ever. I am so grateful for my mom and Ryan's mom and for the years they have devoted to being mothers. Until I became a mother myself, I didn't understand what a sacrifice it is! Thanks to all those moms (and moms to be) out there for being amazing and sticking with it!!

More Easter Pictures!

Here are more of our Easter pictures. They are in random order because I hate rearranging them :). We took lots and lots this year. We had a fun-filled weekend. It all started Friday. We headed up to Davis County for the inspection of our soon-to-be new house and stayed for the evening with Grandma and Grandpa Lloyd. We had a picnic on their lawn for dinner and then Grandma and Carter made Easter sugar cookies. Saturday morning we went to an Easter egg hunt with some of our playgroup friends (thanks to Jen for planning it). Saturday evening we colored Easter eggs. Carter loved this, Rylee just wanted to drink the dye :)!! Then Sunday morning the kids discovered their Easter baskets and after church we headed to Aunt Erika and Uncle Mark's house for Easter dinner and another egg hunt (courtesy of G & G Lloyd) with some of Ryan's side of the family. I had a hard time getting Carter to understand the true meaning of Easter, but I tried, maybe next year?!

Rylee in her Easter dress at Mark and Erika's.

This is her signature "cheesey smile"

Carter finding eggs at Mark and Erika's house

The finished products!

Coloring eggs with dad (notice Rylee's cute little stinker hand reachin for the cup of dye).

The Easter Bunny came!!!!!

Making cookies with Grandma Lloyd (notice Grandpa in the background making frosting for the first time! Good Job Grandpa!)

Eating the candy after the playgroup egg hunt

Some of our playgroup friends!

Rylee just wanted to swing