Christmas Lights

Since Ryan and I both were lucky enough to have Friday off, we decided to get Christmas lights put up. Last year we went to put things up but then it snowed and was snowing every time we tried, so we weren't able to get them up last year, so I am so glad we were able to actually get it done in time this year! Here are some pictures of that!

Jaycee was kind enough to hold the lights for us, even though half the time she didn't even know, 'cause she was sleeping! She was all bundled up with mittens and everything since it was pretty cold out there!

Ryan in the middle of putting them up! He says for all you scaredy cats out there, he really is safe on that step, even though it doesn't look very safe from this view. :)This is Jaycee looking at Christmas lights for the first time. She seemed to like them, it was pretty cute!

And here is the final product later that night......Grandma & Grandpa Hatch gave us the Merry Christmas sign, and Santa sleigh, and reindeer last year when they moved and were getting rid of a lot of stuff. I think they turned out pretty good!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving was great this year......we got to have 3, basically! :) On Thursday, we were able to go down to Ryan's Grandparent's house in Spanish Fork. There we were able to see family that we don't get to see very often, and it was pretty fun. Jaycee liked being with everyone too, she loves to just watch people and there she could, but she also did well with being passed around. His aunts all really thought she was cute, but two of his uncles really took to her also, and it kinda surprised us, but was really cute! :)

Then on Friday, we went over to my mom's to watch "Wall-E" with the little boys, and ended up eating Thanksgiving leftovers there....so that's #2!

Today, we were able to go over to my Aunt Terry's to have a late Thanksgiving dinner with everyone. The boys, and a few girls played flag football in the morning, and had a lot of fun! Then we all ate dinner, talked and played games the rest of the day! Here are a few pictures I was able to capture...

The girls "cheering" on the sidelines!

Waiting for dinner......the little kids were able to play with play dough, and loved it!

Jaycee's cute Fall outfit! Doesn't it just scream fall?!?! :)

Kayani is only 10 months old, and can make a "fish" face! It's sooooooo cute when she does it, though. It's her "kiss" if you say kisses, and do that then she'll do it back! I love it! It's so funny! I just thought these next two pictures were funny 'cause there's so many people squished on this couch.....and then there's....................this one.....two LITTLE boys on one big chair, with plenty of room! Who, by the way, later fell asleep, pretty much in the same position, just more on top of each other! :)

We are so grateful for family, and how close everyone is to each other! It's so fun to get together and make fun memories! Thank you everyone for all you do for us!

Yay!!!!! A New Job!

So......most of you know I was laid off in May when we had Jaycee, because Barnes Bank was pretty cowardly about everything, and said that they didn't have to hold my position because I was 2 weeks short of working there for a year!!!!!! Well, we have been looking for and financially/desperately needing me to have a job since the end of June. I finally have one, and we are so very grateful for it! I started on Friday, November 21st, but I have only been training so far, and will be for 2 weeks. I am a Corrections Clerk for Davis County. It so far seems like it will be a pretty good job. There are many things to learn and remember day to day, but it won't be too hard, I think.

The benefits are going to be WONDERFUL!!!!! That was one of our main concerns when I lost my job, and we absolutely HAD to have health insurance. We had to sign up with Ryan's work, which was a complete joke, since he is only part-time, so paying the premiums made it so that we were basically paying his whole 1st check of the month toward health insurance, plus paying basically everything for our prescriptions, and doctors appointments.

I am so grateful for this wonderful blessing in our lives! The only problem I see with it, is that it is shift work. So I get to train on days until December 5th, then I'll work the graveyard shift until December 26th, and then I'll have to work, the worst shift of them all, swing......for 3 months, and from then on it'll be 3 months each. The swing will be the worst because I will never see Ryan on that shift, except on my days off. Also, I have to work Sundays, which I have never done that before, so I'm kinda sad about that. BUT I know Heavenly Father lead us to this point in our lives, and held off on a job opening up for me to try our faith, so I know He knows what He's doing, and I will do whatever He wants/needs me to do!

One of the other problems is the uniform! :) I am not one to tuck in my shirt....ever!!!! But I have to with this uniform, so yuck! And it's green and brown, but they make us wear BLACK shoes, BLACK socks, a BLACK belt, and a WHITE t-shirt underneath. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!!!!

Anyway, I am so grateful for this position. And I just want to say THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to all our family and friends who have been able to help us with everything, but especially these last 6 months! We really appreciate you all and love you all very much! We couldn't ask for better family and friends in our lives!!!!!! We KNOW our Father in Heaven has been watching over us, and we are so grateful! This has definitely been a learning/strengthening experience for us, and we're also grateful for that. We all just need to remember that He is here for us, and He will hold us up through hard times!

Happy Birthday Nathan!

Ryan's brother, Nathan, turned 14 on Sunday, the 23rd, so we celebrated twice, kinda. He wanted to play basketball with everyone, so we all went to their church Saturday night, excluding Mel and Jeff, but our friend, Zach came instead, and played. It was pretty fun! Jaycee, Brooklyn, and Mandy didn't actually play, but they watched! :) The boys played a real game, which Ryan & Bob won against Nathan & Zach. Diana and I played some fun games like lightning, poison, and 7 on the line. It was pretty fun, I haven't shot a ball in a long time.

Then we all went over for his birthday dinner on Sunday, and had cake & ice cream for his birthday too! So, happy birthday Nathan (or "Fat Dog", as Ryan would say, or "Uncle Fatty", as Jaycee will eventually say)!!!!! :-) It's weird to see him grow up so fast............only 2 years ago, when we got married, he was just below Ryan's shoulders, but now he's about 2 inches taller than Ryan! He's grown so much since I met him, and that was only 3 years ago!

Waiting for Mommy

I sat Jaycee up on the counter this morning while finishing getting ready, and she kept looking into the mirror to look at herself! It was pretty funny, so I tried to capture it. I just think it's funny that whenever we stand in front of the mirror, she'll look at you in the mirror, you'll see that in the first picture. Then the second one she was looking at herself, but she also found her jacket to lick to death! :)

Seeing basically two Jaycee's in this picture makes me think of what it would be like if we really did have TWO of her.....I don't know how some of you have done it with twins, triplets, etc.!!!! I'm so glad we only had one baby in that batch! ;) I mean, she's cute and all, and we love her to death, but oh boy, oh boy, two of them would be so much harder.

Little Laundry Helper

This is how Jaycee helps me with her laundry....

....playing in the empty basket! :)

Piggyback Ride!

Just because life is so fun with a little one, I thought I'd share our fun times. Ryan decided to give Jaycee a piggyback ride, and this is how cute they looked! :)

She actually did like it, she was smiling till the flash went off, of course! They're so darn cute! :)

"Look Mom! No hands!" Notice Ryan is leaning over more since she decided to show off!

30 Years!

My Oldest Brother, Cody, turned 30 on November 7th, but he was still finishing training in Oklahoma then. He got home on November 15th and Ronnie threw him a surprise party! It was pretty fun! We had our immediate family, some of Ronnie's family, and some of their friends there to celebrate! Cody is now done being away from his family and starts his Air Traffic Control job in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, November 18, 2008. Ronnie and the kids are very excited to have him home for good now! I am glad too, 'cause with him being gone so much, I almost forgot how much fun he was! :) He is a good brother, husband, daddy, and uncle! We love you Toady!!!!!

Jibber Jabber

This little girl of ours is just too cute! I've mentioned how she does her ventriloquist thing before and I was able to catch it on video. It kinda sounds like "da da" so Ryan counts it as her saying his name! :~) Which I don't blame him, but we all know it's just a noise! Only the first like 6 or 7 seconds is actually something, though.

Jaycee was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO tired so she snuggled in to her daddy's arm, but since the Jazz game was on she could not take her eyes off of the game! She loves to watch sports with her dad, and it makes me laugh. But it's pretty cute!

Rub A Dub Dub

Tub time has been so much fun lately! We used to have her bath in the sink, but a few weeks ago, she decided she could splash EVERYWHERE, so it was moved into the tub! She loves to play with her rubber ducky too. I let her play for a little while before we start washing, since she puts everything in her mouth, as you can see in the pictures. :)

We Love Veggies!

Jaycee has now started to eat some vegetables. She is doing really well with them, and I am sooooo happy about that!

She LOVED the carrots!

She didn't mind the peas, but made more faces with them than with the carrots.

Bob's Birthday Party

After the photo shoot, Jaycee and I hurried to meet everyone else for Bob's birthday. His birthday is tomorrow, the 10th, but we celebrated it tonight.

Blowing out his candle. Yes, only one, he's WAY too old to have them all on there! :)

Everyone playing together, except the birthday boy.....try to find where he might be......NOT playing with everyone else!

Jaycee playing with Grandpa & Grandma

Cute girl trying to push the toy, but it didn't work too well, when the toy would move, and her feet would stay. :) She's learning, though.

Ryan decided to try on Brooklyn's hat! He's so funny!

Photo Shoot

So, we set up a background at Mom's house to take pictures of all of my Grandpa's Great Grandchildren. There are 10 small children, and 5 of them are under the age of 9 months! It was fun though, and actually turned out pretty good. They all did really well! I made all the girls' bows. It was my first attempt, but I think they look okay.My brother Cody's kids: Talon, Owen & Kayani

My brother Benji's kids: Ethan & Aubree

You've all seen her before......Jaycee

My brother Richie's daughter: Sierra

My cousin Shantel's girls: Sarah & Lyndi

My cousin Ty's daughter: Kirra

The whole group! Pretty good, eh? Ty did a wonderful job!

The three boys

The five girls born in 2008! Top: Jaycee 6 months, Kayani 9 months; Bottom: Kirra 6 weeks, Sierra 3 months, Aubree 2 weeks

Mom with her SEVEN grandkids! So much fun!

This is the behind the scenes picture. We had so many people in that room trying to get it to look good, and it did! Thanks everyone for all your help, and your cute kids! :) Fun times!