From our home to yours...

Here's a digital greeting card to you...have a Merry Christmas!!

2009 Ryerse Rant!

No, we’ve never done a letter before, but yes, we’ve listened to your requests and have decided to do a little letter this year. Here’s the first installment of our Ryerse Rant…
Dave finished up his Bachelor’s Degree in Health Administration at Weber State University, graduating in August – Yea! He is planning on getting his Masters of Health Administration and is currently studying to take the GMAT/GRE and researching graduate schools. Dave likes off-roading on our 4-Wheeler or his bike, going to and watching BYU football games, and playing with his wife and kids.
Melanie started a very PT job with the Utah State Department of Health as a Gold Medal Schools Mentor, working in local elementary schools to promote healthy living habits. She also teaches flute lessons and plays with the Ogden Concert Band. Her favorite thing to do is be a wife and mommy, and she also likes to cook, scrapbook and read.
Emma turned three August 31. It’s hard to believe our little sweetheart isn’t so little now! She shot up this year and is now taller than most of her friends. Emma enjoys singing and dancing, reading, swimming, kitties, dressing up and playing with her friends and cousins.
Callahan had his first birthday November 28. He is a very independent boy who loves crawling and getting into trouble – diving off or climbing onto things and getting into everything. Cal enjoys watching Emma, pounding on things, listening to music, eating anything in sight and smiling.

May your Christmas be merry and bright! Love, the Ryerse’s

Mama's Wish List

Mama’s Holiday Wish List Meme

TodaysMama and Provo Craft are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I’m sharing this meme with you.

1. What 5 items are on your holiday wish list this year?

· That my husband, who has been laid off for several months, will land a job!
· Photoshop Elements
· An Irish tin whistle (I can’t find my old one).
· A cute cadet hat…without the bling though, please.
· An impractical pair of shoes decked out in a crazy color, with a buckle, and pumped heels.

2. What is your favorite handmade gift you have received?
I love making cards, and just to impress me, my husband tries his hand each year at making handmade cards for me for special occasions. I love the creativity and thoughtfulness he puts into the cards, and the heartfelt words he writes inside them. I tell him I would be happy just getting a card from him with no present, but of course, he always gets me something fun too. These cards I keep in a special box and pull out when I’m having a not-so-great day and they cheer me right up!

3. What handmade gift have you always wanted to tackle?
A hand sewn memories quilt for my husband.

4. What was the best Christmas gift you received as a child?
Kirsten, the American Girl doll I got, along with a hand-painted trunk filled with a bunch of clothes my mom made for the doll.

5. What items are on your kid’s wish list this year?
3-year-old Emma wants a baby doll, along with a baby stroller and baby crib. She really is a little mommy! Consider that wish granted!
1-year-old Callahan were thinking wants a toothbrush. He loves toothbrushes, and always wants ours when we’re brushing. He loves to play with them and his face lights up when he gets them! But Santa will probably end up bring him building blocks and some clothes.

6. What is your favorite holiday food?
Wassail…mmmmm…is that considered a food? I think I could get drunk off the stuff.

7. What will you be hand-crafting for the holidays?
For the nieces, I’m creating ribbon and tulle ballerina tutus in their favorite colors, and for the nephews, I’m sewing superhero capes featuring their initials.
For good friends and family members, true meaning of Christmas jars. I used large mason jars, decked them out by decorating them and filled them with the symbols of Christmas – candy cane, tea light candle, star cookie cutter, sprig of pine tree, mini wreath, green and red ornaments and candy, a chocolate Santa and present chocolates. I attached the story “Teach the Children” to the jars. Hopefully this will be a good reminder for friends and family of what the season is all about.
For neighbor gifts, I’ve made Christmas greeting jars. I have saved glass baby food jars, cleaned them, decorated them, and filled them with assorted holiday baubles and goodies (batteries that have the text “Batteries included” on it, a warm fuzzy holiday jar, Christmas countdown chain jar, and holiday candies).

8. What is your favorite holiday movie?
I can’t just choose one, it’s a 3 way tie on this one! Each year to get Christmas mood, I have to watch The Christmas Story (“You’ll shoot your eye out!”), White Christmas (“I’m dreaming…”) and Muppet Christmas Carol (“’Tis the season to be jolly and joyful!”).

9. Favorite holiday song?
Again, one is not acceptable! Winter Wonderland/Silver Bells/White Christmas medley by the Carpenters. And “I Saw Three Ships” by Jon Schmidt.

10. Favorite holiday pastime?
Settling down for a long winters nap.

Send us a link to your post to info@todaysmama.com with “Wish List Meme” in the subject line. You can even tag a few friends to participate in the meme. (Spread that holiday cheer!) Thanks to all of our generous sponsors that helped make Mama’s Holiday Wishlist possible!

Happy Thanksgiving/1st Birthday Callahan!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I hope it was a wonderful holiday for you and yours. I have so much to be grateful for, I am so blessed with so much!

This years Turkey Day started out by watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Emma loved it! Especially all of the giant balloons! We all decided it would be fun to go in person someday.

Then we went over to the Turkey Trot 2 Mile fun walk. Dave and I ran the 5 Mile race 5 years ago, and since then we've tried to do it. The race begins at Ogden Regional Medical Center (where Emma and Cal were born). It's great because the registration fee is canned food. So it's a good cause, and it's fun to do something active on the day where we usually sit around and eat the most. My parents and brother Mark came with us this year. Here's Dave pushing Cal in the stroller.

Emma getting a ride in the stroller. She was excited by all of the dogs that were there! I was joking that they should rename it the "Doggie Trot" because it seemed that everyone had their dogs...or goats! He he! A family brought their goats to walk with them. They were tied to ropes. It was a silly sight to see!

Cal staying warm in his stroller.

Our walking group - Uncle Marko, Grandma Di, Emma, Melanie, Dave, and Callahan.

Then it was off to the Stoddard family lunch at Grammie's house. Last year, Callahan missed out on it by one day! This year, he loved it all, probably because he loves to eat so much! Maybe that's why he was pushing so hard to get our last year on Thanksgiving, he could smell all of the yummy food!

"Yum! I love turkey!" Emma kept saying. Yep, she does love the tender, juicy white meat called turkey, along any other meat. We did a family night lesson on Gratitude last week. We played a gratitude game and it was cute to see what she was grateful for. "Daddy, Mommy and Cal, our family. Food to eat. Our house. My toys. Kitties." These and more were some of the things she expressed gratitude for.

After eating, we went outside to play a little bit in the sand box, and to play in what little snow there was, and talked with the relatives. Cal had a great time and was smiling all day!

Turkey face! After my side, we were able to go to Dave's side, where we helped get everything ready and I made orange rolls and dinner rolls. It was a lot of fun! We had a delicious meal and interesting conversations, then played Apples to Apples.

Callahan's first birthday was on November 28. It is hard to believe it! Where did that year go? He is getting to be so much fun and each day is an adventure with Cal.

Cal, Mommy and Emma by the Christmas tree before Callahan's party. Daddy was at the BYU game.

Before Callahan's birthday, we had a good time playing together. Here's Callahan with the bubble wand in his mouth.

We had his birthday party at Grandma Sue & Grandpa Dan's house. Here he is in his birthday outfit. What a cutie! Though he is 1 now, he is still in 6 to 9 month clothes. Silly boy! When we took him in to his 1 year appointment, we found out he is just over 16 lbs. Many ask us if he's 6 months old, but nope! He's a big boy now! But he is a very little dude!

Eating dinner. Callahan loves being able to eat what we eat now! Yeaaa!

We had an Elmo/Sesame Street birthday party for him. Emma helped to pick out that theme. Here's one of the cakes I made.

And here's the other Elmo cupcake cake!

Singing Happy Birthday to Callahan, Ryerse/Stoddard style. The Ryerse's sing Happy birthday crazily! (I don't think crazily is a word, but it's appropriate here and it's the first word that came to mind)

Daddy helping Cal get some sweet stuff. He liked the frosting the best! Dave and I had frosting all over us!

Yummy cake!

After the cake, it was time to open presents! Cal got a lot of fun presents, an Elmo stuffed animal and Sesame Street books from Emma, a Busy Ball Popper from Mommy & Daddy, a couple of toy cell phones, a helicopter, a JD Tractor, a nails and hammer set, a cute hat and gloves, and more!

Opening presents together.

Emma was a good helper with Callahan and didn't seem jealous at all. What a good big sister! Cal just loves her! It's so fun to see these two interact!

During Cal's party, he fell asleep! I guess all of this birthday business wore him out! Happy Birthday, lil' Callahan! We love you boy!

We did have to do the party late, due to the BYU game, which is where a few family members went that day. It was a mediocre game. Luckily, the Cougs came out on top! I think they're really a better team this year, though they didn't play well that day. Unfortunately, that game was truly overshadowed by Max Hall's lame comments. I couldn't believe he said what he did! I was ticked off at first that a member of our church, and really a representative of "The Lord's School" would say that. I was dissapointed in him. But I do feel for him, as I read and saw more about what led up to it. I feel for him and his family and what they had to go through. If someone was throwing beer and cussing at my family, had to be escorted by the cops, or had a giant blow up doll of my mom and decided to do suggestive things to it, the rivalry would get personal for me too. But I think he went way, way to far! Next time, he should think before he opens his mouth , just as he thinks before he snaps the football. A good lesson for all of us.

Here's a funny "New Inspirational Poster' that my brother-in-law sent me that I wanted to post.

Enough talk about that. Now let the Christmas season begin!!

The F's of Fall!

I love fall...such a great time of year! This year, our fall has been all about F's - fair, fun, flu, football, and finding employment!

The Utah State Fair started fall off nicely!

Here's Dave milking a "cow"! Yeah, he likes to milk it, that's for sure. For those of you who don't know, our first date was at the Fair, and so we go every year.

The unusual is always found at the fair. This year, we ran into this crazy robot man.

As soon as the robot started talking toward Cal, he began screaming! It was pretty sad!

Now he's happy!

The butter cows - I think Emma is drooling! She loves butter and tries to eat it plain!

E

mma riding on the "sweet John Deere" (as she described it to us) that was at the Little Hands on the Farm exhibit.

We also always go to Peach Days up in Brigham City. Our favorite entry in the parade are the Star Wars characters each year!

Dave at the car show. He really liked this car.

Emma waving at the parade! She loves parades!

Our family under the shade of the tree. Little did we know, right where we were sitting is where the new temple will be built! How exciting to have another temple within close driving distance!

Fall is oh-so-fun!! This year, fall began so warm! We were able to play outside lots and have fun, even swimming at the end of September!

Fun with friends! We've been having Aidan and Maddie Mead coming over twice a month all day, and there have been lots of good times. Here's Emma and Aidan with their messy hands making some playdough.

And the googly monster eyes they made.

Vampires!

For Callahan, it's always time for FOOD! Here he is after falling asleep in his food.

Emma doing her makeup. Yep, she's growing up way too fast!

Callahan eating, again! He loves to eat and loves to get it all over, too!

Emma's favorite activity lately is dressing up. She loves to play pretend! We go to the D.I. and find new dresses for her and she just has a ball!

Cute little boy! He's getting so big though! He loves to watch his big sister, that's what he's doing in this picture.

Emma posing for a picture in the high-heels she was dancing in. She was eating an orange, but she's always ready to ham it up!

Callahan - so much fun! His sore on his face is from a sunburn. He wasn't out in the sun long, but with the skin cream he has for his eczema, we thing he had a wierd reaction.

And now to the not-so-fun F of our fall - the FLU! Dave, Cal and I all got the swine flu. Luckilly, Emma never got it. Needless to say, we're glad that's over with. Poor little Cal didn't want to do anything! He just wanted to hold me and moan. He had a hard time breathing. It was pretty scary, but he got over it.

Here's Dave in my "original snuggie". My mom made these for us for Christmas when I was a teenager. Amazingly, it kind of fit him. Usually, he'll pick up my clothes and say "I wore that size in 3rd grade!" We'd get the chills and then be really hot when we got the swine flu. Dave and Cal also got the stomach flu this past week.

The next F of fall is FOOTBALL! Dave loves football! And I can say, I'm trying hard to enjoy it! I like football, but for me, it's kind of slow.

Here is the painful TCU vs. BYU game we went to. We have season tickets that we split with Dave's brother Randy, so the boys go to 2 games together, Dave and I go to 2 together, and Randy takes a date to 2 games.

Notice the smiles on our faces? Yeah, that picture was taken before the game. He he! We have the coolest people that sit by us. All of these old ladies who scream the whole game and get more into it than their husbands, and Dave's bosom buddy on his left that he discusses the games with.

We went to the WSU homecoming game. Cal had a good time, but got sunburnt, as I mentioned. My mom is a Weber alum, by the way.

Emma is a little wildcat fan! Here she is holding her purple kitty!

Weber State, Weber State, great great great!

Viewmont Vikings! Dave played football at Viewmont High School, so we went to a game one friday night. Emma loves letters, and thought this V was so cool!

Emma wanted to take pictures at the game. Here's one she took. Callahan really just wanted to get down and crawl in the stands. You can't really see it, but Dave has a Vikings football shirt on.

Finding employment takes us to our last F. Dave has been searching, applying everywhere (well, every hospital or clinic) for the last 3 months! It is so frustrating for him because he tries his hardest, and nothing. The lower grade jobs all go to those without degrees, because he's overqualified and they'd have to pay him more. And the higher-paying college degree jobs all want people with 3 to 5 years of experience. And it's really to the employer's advantage right now, as there are so many applicants for each job. Many other jobs applications or resumes have been sent on to the next level, but then Dave will get an e-mail saying they are canceling that job all together and giving that work to another person to do to consolidate. So poor boy! He has had kind of a hard time. But he has an interview Monday, so everybody wish him luck. Thanks to everyone who has been praying and fasting on our behalf. We really appreciate it and have been greatly blessed by the Lord.

Speaking of jobs, I kind of started my own little business this past month. I named it Jar Bazaar! (but I'm also considering "All Bottled Up", what's your vote?) and I make things with jars. I got the idea because I hated throwing away all of the baby food jars, because we don't have recycling for glass, and I knew there must be something that I could do with them.

My friend Calena Miller asked me if I wanted to do a boutique with her, so I decided I'd do it. It was a fun experience! And I got an idea for what people like, and if there is even a market for this type of thing.

I make "Greeting Jars", like greeting cards. It's like a card/little present in one.

Some have candy or treats in them.

This is a "Date Jar". Dave and I started our own date jar 5 years ago, and a friend suggested I make some and sell them. They are filled with fun date ideas. Each week, the husband/wife is instructed to take turns picking an idea out of the jar, and do the necessary planning for a great date night! I also made kids/toddler's idea jars, so when kids say "Mom, I'm bored!" they can pull an idea for a great activity to do at home.

This is a "warm fuzzy" jar. None of these picture have the labels on them, but the finished product has a quote by President Monson.

I make holiday jars with things in them - candy, ornament hangers, batteries with labels that say "batteries included", and Christmas countdown chains. They are for giving as little neighbor or friend gifts.

The large holiday jars have all of the symbols of Christmas in them, and attached is the story "Teach the Children the True Meaning of Christmas". Each jar has a chocolate santa, star cookie cutter, red and green ornaments, candle, mini-wreath, pine sprig, a candy cane, and chocolate gifts.

This is the Thanksgiving jar, filled Thanksgiving Blessings mix and a label explaining what Thanksgiving is all about.

I can make custom jars for weddings, party favors, place settings, gifts, etc. Here are a few of the wedding rice jars.

I made these little pincushion jars also. They turned out pretty cute.

So that's about it! This blog brought to you by the letter F and the number 2!

This is Halloween!

I know it's been a while, and I need to update, but I just had to get to Halloween! Halloween is probably one of our favorite days of the year! We love it! Take a peek at some of some of our fun Halloween happenings...

The Halloween Carnival at Tolman Elementary. Here's a pic of the kids with Grandma Sue and Auntie Julie!

Rat football was Emma's favorite thing at the Halloween Carnival.

Pumpkin Party Toddler Time at the Treehouse. Their costumes weren't done yet, so we put Cal in his Batman pajamas, and pulled out Emma's Cinderella dress from her birthday.

My Prince came to rescue me!

We made some fun Halloween crafts, including Mr. Bones, our milk jug skeleton, and here are some bat finger puppets we made.

My Wicked pumpkin I carved! I thought it turned out pretty well.

Our family of pumpkins. We had our pumpkin carving party and watched "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown", made caramel popcorn balls for the neighbors, and ate pizza and pop.

The kids pumpkins. Emma's was a kitty and Cal's was a baby.

This was the night we went to the Halloween block party in Grandpa Dan and Grandma Sue's neighborhood. The kids warming up afterwards.

Emma drinking her Jones soda, candy corn flavor. We hung out with Amy and Kolby at Grandma Di and Grandpa Scott's, ate jack-o-lantern pizza, did spooky sidewalk chalk and more!

Cal with his "Got Candy?" shirt. We let him try a few tastes of chocolate and suckers and he loved it and got the biggest grin on his face when it melted in his mouth. When we took it away, he screamed!
Emma trying on my Elphaba tights.

This year for Halloween, we were the cast from Wicked. These costumes were months in the making, as we really get into this holiday in our home and we are planning well in advance. I think they turned out pretty well, what do you think?

I was Elphaba, the witch.
Dave was Fiyero, the stud of the show.

Emma was Glinda (or Galinda) the good witch. Here she is at our ward Halloween party with her cute friend Arianna. Our last day in the University 15th ward was this past Sunday, we're moving on to the family ward. We'll miss everyone!

How does she compare?

Callahan was a flying monkey, and unlike the slightly frightening version in the musical, he was a cutie!
Trick-or-treat! Emma really got into it this year. We went with Tayla and Kaison, our neice and nephew. She kept asking me "Mom, is it really Halloween?" like she was in disbelief. And her and Tayla would run from house to house, so excited! It was pretty fun! I loved seeing all of the other cute kids in the neighborhood.

While trick-or-treating, many would say to Emma, "Oh, what a pretty princess!" She would look at them and tell them simply that she wasn't a princess, she was a witch. "I'm Glinda the good witch." It was also funny because Tayla was the wicked witch while Emma was the good witch.

We always have a chili party on my side of the family for Halloween. We ate chilli and all the fixings, had Halloween cookies and more. We had a great time playing ghost dart ball, and pin the nose on the pumpkin. Here's the Stoddard crew. Marko dressed up like an emo boyscout, my Mom was Sherlock Holmes and my dad was a Utah fan.

Happy Halloween!

Whirwind August

Hello friends. So here I am giving a monthly update yet again. Lots happened during the last month, it's gone by so fast. Here's the run-down:

We went to Bear Lake at the end of July/beginning of August. It was so much fun! We went with my parents, my Aunt Christie, her kids Tyler and Jess, and Jessica's boyfriend Dave (or Dave #3 as he's known in the family). We had a great time making dutch oven food, talking, playing games, and having fun on the beach and in the lake. Here are some pictures from our little trip. I love Bear Lake!

Burying Uncle Mark in the sand.

Squirting Grandpa Scott with the water gun!
Emma got one of her books out of her backpack and started reading to Abby, Jess's boyfriends dog. It was so cute!Waiting for our dutch-oven dinners to finish.

Nothing says camping like S'mores. Emma loves them!
Cal was not a happy camper. He was sad he couldn't get down and play because he would really try to eat the sand. So we had to restrict him a lot.

Having fun playing on the beach.

Splashing in the water.

Eating the sand. Taking a break to eat some lunch. Cheeto fingers!
The day we got back, Dave went to work, as usual at Consulmed and got laid-off. In a way, we were glad because lots of junk is going on there. They were sending the workers in his department home early every day or asking them not to come in because there was no work. So we kind of had a feeling. But it was a really bad time to do it. He would be doing his internship during the entire month of August, so he wouldn't be able to get another job, because of his wierd schedule. So we've been applying for jobs all over ever since, but still no luck. If anyone has an opening for a new Hospital Administration Grad, let us know! (: We've also been researching and getting information about graduate programs for Masters of Health Administration degrees.
Dave finished up his internship at McKay Dee Hospital in the Pediatric Department on the 27th of the month. He had a great time doing that, and loved working with Neil Garner, who was over him. Which, by the way, if you live in Ogden, vote for him for City Council here in the upcoming election. So Dave's been home most of the time, which has been so nice, but at the same time, we are really looking for something, and soon!

Hey, anybody gotta job for me?

I started a job not too long ago, and now it's really starting with school back in session. My new job title is a Gold Medal School mentor, I work for the Department of Health. The Gold Medal Schools program is in most elementary schools in Utah, and it promotes healthy eating, exercise, and staying drug and alcohol-free. I help organize GMS assemblies, activities to promote the criteria, help the kids walk the Gold Medal mile and get excited about the program, decorate the bulletin boards, track the miles the kids and faculty walk, and lots of other odds and ends. So far, I've really enjoyed it, and it is a program I believe in. It's just 8 hours a week, so I'm not away from the fam too much, and actually, I can take the kids with me a lot. So it's been really nice, and I've enjoyed what I've been doing so far.

I also recently started playing with the Ogden Concert Band. We have already played at Hill Air Force Base and Layton Ampitheatre. I've really enjoyed it - it gives me something to practice for. And as much as I like playing solos, I love playing with a group. Band nerd for life! Here we are at HAFB. And a picture of Cal crawling (yes, he's crawling all over now!) and Emma by a "Sweet giant tire!"

We celebrated our anniversary on August 10. We had a great time! We went to Corbin's for lunch, which was delicious. Then we had a day riding up Farmington Canyon and by the "B" in Bountiful. It is always so much fun to get away from the kids and not have to worry about them. We stayed overnight at the "luxurious" Motel 6, which is about all our budget could afford. We watched our wedding video and talked and just enjoyed each other. I made heart fruit pizzas that we ate. The next morning, we went swimming and laughed a lot. It was great, and I love my sweet Dave. He is so good to me and I'm grateful for him and all he does.

Here's a pic Dave took of me, overlooking Morgan. Happy anniversary!

We went on a "staycation" with my parents, Marko and Amy & Kolby. My dad got us all Salt Lake Connect passes for two days. And we were able to do lots of fun things with them.

Day 1 we visited the Zoo. The Zoo is always fun, my favorite thing was a baby giraffe that was born a few days earlier. Also, there was this monkey that was going crazy. It was making the wierdest sounds!
Next, we were off to This is the Place Heritage Park. We went on train rides, visited a few of the homes and Emma rode a pony. She did a great job and loved every minute of it.

We went to the Gateway next for the Clark Planetarium to see a few shows. We saw one about Saturn and then a 3D Bug one. And looked around at all of the displays.

We went to Discovery Gateway for a while next, and then to the Lion House for a yummy dinner.

Day 2, we started out at Thanksgiving Point and the Museum of Ancient Life. The best part for Emma was building our own dinosaurs, and playing in the sand.

Here's Prehistoric Dave...Shark Attack!

We then went to the Living Aquarium! We liked the exhibits, Emma drove the boat, Cal was fascinated by the fish, and we saw a bird/exotic insect show too.

Last, we drove up to Snowbird to ride the tram. The view was breathtaking!

We've also been keeping busy this month with playgroup events and fun with friends. Here are some pictures of Emma and her little buddies this summer.

Uakea, Emma and Arianna at the Dinosaur Park for Playgroup.
Cal & Emma...yum! Dino burgers.
Emma and Maverick eating ice-cream on a hot summer afternoon.
Emma and Tayla dressing up. That's one of Emma's favorite things to do lately!
Emma at Katelyn's birthday party. We've had lots of birthday parties this month, as many of Emma's little friends were born right around the time she was. It's fun having so many friends so close in age.

Cal is now 9 months! As I mentioned earlier, he is now crawling! He's been crawling for about a month and a half now. He loves his new independence from crawling, and loves pulling himself up onto things and cruising around. He is a dare-devil! He is always getting into everything, and a very busy kid. He also got two teeth on top, for a total of two teeth. But he is getting big and doing a lot.

I love solid foods! There has never been a food we've tried that Callahan hasn't liked. Making the escape! He'll see something he wants, and books it, he can get going fast! He's a very determined little boy!

Crawling Cal...

The kids playing together. They do pretty well most of the time. Callahan can actually kind of play back now, so that helps. And Emma just adores him, and is nice, mostly! It is the cutest thing when Callahan wakes up and sees Emma for the first time, he just lights up and gets so happy! He loves his big sis!
Emma is now 3! I can't believe she is that old already! Where does the time go? She is really growing up and getting cuter each day. She makes us smile a lot, and we love what she adds to our family. She had a great birthday! It was her first friend birthday party, and we did a Prince/Princess Party.

Here's how her birthday cake turned out.

Emma dressed up like Cinderella, her favorite princess! During the party, it ripped down the middle, and she and the rest of the kids were jumping in puddles, it was pretty funny! So needless to say, her dress was toast. But she had a great time, and that's what matters.
The kids decorated crowns with little jewels (or some of them did...he he! Some have a longer attention span than others). They turned out pretty cute!


The Frog Prince hopping contest.
Aidan and Tavin side-walk chalking.

We had a little princess tea party with crackers, meat and cheese, egg salad sandwiches, vegetables and fruit wand kabobs, and princess punch.

The baby blanket!
Singing "happy birthday"!

Cinderella made a guest appearance. And some of the little girls dressed up also, so it was really cute!
On Emma's real birthday, we went to Chili's for lunch. She loves Chili's (though she's only been there once ever before. Anytime we pass there or Applebees, she'll yell "Chillllis" or "Apple-bees!" out loud). She had fun and loved finding the pictures of Chili's in the restaurant. And she loved the cheesecake she ordered! (I guess she takes after her mom!)

We had her family party that night at the splash park. Emma loves that place so it only seemed appropriate! We had pizza and salads and slushies to eat, on Emma's request. Here's her cake for her family party. That one was a quicky, and it split down the middle because the jello center was too heavy for the cake.Blowing out the 3 candles.Opening presents. A kitty! Emma named this one "Whiskers"Marko and the girls relax after running in the water.Sadly, the summer is sliding away and coming to an end (dontcha just love puns?). It's been a great one, but we look forward to fall and the upcoming year and all it will bring!

The Campbell's Condesned Version of Our Summer so far...

The past month has been exciting for our family! June 26 brought the return of my little brother, Mark. We are so excited to have him home now. Here's Emma with the sign we made for him. We also decorated his room with balloons and signs. He got a kick out of them.

"Hey Emma, do you remember me?" is what Mark said to Emma. He loved being the cool uncle before he left, and he's now resumed his post, though it took Emma a couple of weeks to get used to him. She wouldn't even give him hugs, but now she laughs and always asks me "Mom, where's Marko?" "Let's go see Marko!". (Sorry, my camera was turned on the wrong setting, so lots of these pictures were blurry)

Here's the group who picked Marko up from the airport. Marko served in the Chile Antifagasta mission. He looks about the same, though he's got a great tan and wears glasses a bit now. He also acts about the same, though you can detect that Chilean spanish accent still, and he'll be talking in English, then slip into his espanol. It's pretty funny.

Marko with his sisters! We all love Marko, he's such a great kid! A few days after Mark got home, he was off to Michigan to see our oldest brother, Adam. So we haven't all been together for over two years, but hopefully we will all reunite this November, when Adam, Meghan & their new little baby Steven will be coming to visit us in Utah.

We had a great time the day he got home. We had a steak lunch, and then just talked and listened to stories and caught up. Marko also brought home some souveniers and trinkets. Here's Emma trying on a soccer jersey he brought home.

The family group shot after Marko's homecoming. He did a great job speaking and our little Marko is not so little anymore. He's grown up now! It was so good to hear his testimony also. I'm grateful to have family members who are going in the right direction.

Marko and Cal have already bonded (it didn't take long for Callahan, like it did for Emma). Here they are playing together. Mark is so fun with kids, they all love him!

Classic Stoddard sibling pic (Adam, we can photoshop ya in!). We've used this pose since Adam left on his mission several years ago.

Mark loves helping out with the kids and playing with them. Here he is after feeding Cal. Marko adjusted pretty quickly to life at home. The day he got back, he was cranking his SKA and rock music up loud while he took a shower, and asked to pull the car over to get a jr. bacon cheeseburger at Wendy's on the way back from getting mission pics at Costco. He's pretty funny.

Ah, the dog days of summer. Emma and Cal love summer, as I do. Somuch fun and so much to do!

One night, we went to the Mayan for dinner, and then to the REAL SL soccer game. Emma had so much fun playing on the statues outside while we were waiting. She loved sliding down and climbing on them.

Once we got inside the Mayan, it was a different story. "This is spooky" Emma kept saying. Se did like the waterfall, and the food, but I think the lighting, sounds, and cliff-divers scared her.

Here's Dave & Emma at the Real Game. It was pretty fun, and REAL actually won, which was great, because they haven't been doing so hot this season. It was a pretty exciting, fast-paced match.

Cal, the little soccer fan...
Emma is having a fun time with Callahan, and he's able to handle a little more now. She is very sweet to him (99% of the time! There are occasional incidents) and loves to help me with him and play with him. She calls him "Handsome Man", "Little Boy" and "Cal Boy" the most. My favorite is when she speaks to him in "Motherese", that high-pitched Mom to baby talk.

Our day at the Zoo was fun! Emma loves the Merry-Go-Round (She thinks it's called the "American Round") but doesn't like the animals that go up and down.

The waterfountain, it's a classic! That's one of the things I remember from a young age about Hoagle Zoo. Here Tayla and Emma are enjoying a drink.

Callahan was a happy boy at the Zoo! I personally think he could get away sneaking in with the Chipmunks exhibit, with his cute two front teeth. Oh wait, they don't have chipmunks at the Zoo.

"How do you measure up?" Most ask if Callahan is 4 or 5 months, but he's almost 8 now. He's always been a little guy!

Little Pioneer Girl! Emma had a great time with Pioneer Day. Her most recent favorite song is "Little Pioneer Children". She sings it all of the time. And the oxcart one. She likes that one too.

Emma and Callahan in the parade! Yee-haw!

For our ward's playgroup, we created our own "covered wagon" and entered it into the Ogden Pioneer Days Children's Parade. We had a great time! Here's what we came up with:

I don't know if you can see them, but we had "seagulls" flying from the truck. It looked kind of fun (great idea, Natalie!)

Here are some of the ward buddies in the float. From left to right, Natalie Chesley and her little girl Alexia, Vladimir Canro, Arianna and Amanda Canro.

Emma and Arianna on the float after the parade. Arianna thought it was too loud and had her hands over her ears the whole time. Emma said during the last few minutes "Mom, are we done yet?" and she began crying. She was done. Good thing this parade wasn't very long!

We went to the rodeo, and our own little rodeo queen had a fun time at her first rodeo. She really liked those horses!

Callahan at the rodeo. He really liked trying to eat the camera, like he's doing here.

The Ogden mounted police possee. That was pretty cool. They were making all kinds of cool formations and doing fun tricks. I didn't know they existed!

Pioneer Day! The Bountiful Handcart days parade. Emma and Tayla loved the candy and marching along with the music. It was hot, but worth it, it was a fun parade!

Emma watching the fire engines pass by. "They're too loud!"

We had a yummy pioneer-authentic (or as close as we could get...I'm sure the pioneers would be living it large with this food) dinner. Here's Kolby, Emma, Mark, Dave, and Cal helping finish up the dutch oven cooking. We had ham, baked beans, pioneer salad and dressing, homeade whole-wheat bread and jams, and peach cobbler and homeade ice-cream for dessert. It was fun.

Later on the 23rd, we saw the Meuller Park fireworks. Callahan has loved fireworks this year, and Emma still does. He was also fascinated by the glow sticks, which Grandma Sue has in large supply.The Handcart Days festivities at the park. Emma loved swinging more than anything (well, and the snowcones!). Phew! Okay, I'm done now! I tried to keep it brief. Hope everyone is having a great summer!