It's fall!

Nothing says fall like...

Brigham City Peach Days! My Dad was born in Brigham, and we like to go every year, if we can. Here are the kids watching the parade. It was a really great one!

We always love the car show at Peach Days. This was one of our favorite entries.

The Fair! As is tradition in the Ryerse family, we went to the Utah State Fair. The kid's favorite part was the Little Hands on the Farm Exhibit. They loved it! Emma remembered it from last year and wanted to go there first!

Milking the cow, Cal got into that!

Emma filling up the tractors.

Cal picking apples.

Driving the pink tractor.

On the giant rocking horse in the gift shop. It was huge!

Lil' farmer Cal.

You gotta love all of the vendors selling things at the Fair. Here's one of Dave's picks!

We also saw exhibits, looking at the animals, watching the Amazon Adventure show, magicians, the robot man, and the Seal show! Here's the butter cow sculpture for the year. The title was "First Date". We thought that was appropriate, because this was the spot of our first date. Awww!

Final performances! We had our last summer concert for Ogden Concert Band at Hill Air Force Base. The kids could look at and get on lots of the planes and jets, they loved that!

OCB getting ready to play. We're now on a break until January.

Crusing to go see the fall leaves! We always drive up Ogden canyon every year and up in the mountains to go enjoy the beautiful changing leaves. They were a little muted this year, but still beautiful!I’m so grateful for the changes in seasons. Though I have to admit, every time I think of fall, and how I love it, in the back of my mind, I think about how winter follows not too far after, and kind of dread that. I am glad we get to enjoy the best of each four seasons here in Utah.

Kareoke! Emma and Cal's favorite thing to do lately is to play kareoke. They'll get something that looks like a microphone, turn down the lights, and go to town singing. It's hilarious!

Garner Village!

Emma wasn't scared by the witches this year, she loved them! Especially the hula hoop ones. She also loved Sweet Afton's, where we always go to get a treat after lunch!

The kids having a spooky time!

Cal in his skeleton shirt! He says the word "skeleton" so cute!! It glows in the dark, and he loves to go in and "oooh" and "awww" over it!
My sister Amy, Emma, me, Cal, and my mom. I love being with those ladies! We ate lunch together, went shopping, saw the witches, took pictures, and just enjoyed the girl time.

General Conference! We are so blessed to be able to hear the word of God through his servants. How grateful I am for President Monson; I’m grateful for the man he is and Who he represents. This weekend, he spoke on gratitude. I am so blessed and grateful for many things. I was so filled with the Spirit during conference, especially during the Relief Society session a week ago. Families are eternal, if we strive for that. Times are tough, but we can have peace. I am grateful for the messages of the brethren and the sisters. I was filled, and left wanting more. I always take down notes of my impressions or things that I need to do, or really liked from conference. I hope I will go over those often so I can remember what I need to be doing.
As Ryerse’s, we always go out to dinner and shopping while the men go to Priesthood session, and then do dinner together also. This year, Julie picked, and we went to IHOP. The kids were getting a little out of hand, and we all agreed, maybe next year, we’ll order in, as we’ll have two additional little ones. On the way home, I asked the girls in the back if they could find the temple on the mountainside. Emma quickly spotted it, and said “Mom, when I see the temple, I feel the Holy Ghost.” I told her that was right, and when we see, talk, or think about good things, we feel that good feeling that comes from the Spirit. I am so grateful that she is learning and going down the right path. I try so hard to teach her the Gospel and incorporate it into every day life. Emma also asked me last night to bear my testimony to her, something I try to do, but probably don’t do often enough. It was a neat experience and I’m glad she did. We’ve been talking lately about what a testimony is and how to get one. So I was glad she did. Cal is also learning. He loves looking at the scriptures, or pictures and saying “Jesus”. He is starting to pray now, he’ll say the last word we say in a group of a few words and is great about folding his arms. He also pulls out Hymn or Primary Songbooks and start singing over and over “Jesus”. I am grateful I have the Gospel and the scriptures to rely on as a mother.
80 and 90 degree weather?! It's been so remarkably warm, so we've been taking advantage of what the end of summer and the beginning of fall has had to offer. We were even able to go to the Splash Pad for a last time and it was still super warm.

Cal in Grandma's treehouse.

Here's Cal and Emma in the slide at Castle Heights Park. That was our first time going there, it was a fun park! These two have so much fun together!

School! Here we are at Preschool on yellow day, doing a science experiment. The kids really enjoy the experiements we do. I always try to encorporate some science, math, music or dance, movement, literacy, and art. I don't know who enjoys preschool more, the mom's or the kids! It is so great being able to plan the lessons and teach these cute kids!

Emma isn't the only one in school. Dave has been really busy lately. He is going back to school to get his coding certificate, and his classes have a bunch of course work. He is spending about 2 hours a night or more on homework. And then Saturdays and Tuesday nights, he has a GRE Prep course he is taking at the U. So he’s a busy man. Plus, at his work, they’re way behind because several people are out right now, and the float pool is being trained on the new software, so it is super stressful there now. He is doing so well though, and doesn’t complain, just does what he needs to do. I’m glad he is so willing to be a great provider!

Fall fashion! Emma's into dressing herself lately. Here's what she came up with one day. Woa!

We went out to lunch one day with friends Katie and Jasmine and Jacob. We had such a fun time together! Then we went to the Distribution Center with them, to pick out a temple dress for Katie's birthday. Emma insisted on trying on and modeling in some white!
And sporting the new color trends in makeup...he he! One day, we did sidewalk chalk, and the kids decided to chalk themselves. You can't really tell from the pictures, but it was all over!

Weddings! My cousin Jess, and her sweetheart Adam got married recently. Cal at Jessie's wedding shower...he was the only male there, but didn't seem to mind.

Here's Cal with Jessie. It was so awesome to go to the Bountiful temple to witness their sealing for time and eternity. What a blessing eternal marriage is! It brought back great memories and we got some good reminders of the covenants we've made.

Amy, my sister, has been way into photography lately. She took some dang cute pictures of the kids at the reception. Isn't she amazing? Cute Emma girl!

Little stud muffin Cal working the camera!

And, last, but not least, football! We've been enjoying watching and going to football games, especially BYU ones. The season was off to a rough start for the Cougars, but I think that things are finally turning up. If I didn't mention football, I'd be in trouble. For Dave, fall is football!

The kiddos!

It's been a while since I last wrote about the kids and their recent milestones in life, and the darndest things they say. So here we go...

EMMA

• Emma is now four, as I mentioned in the last blog post. I still can't believe it! Four!? She is proud to tell everyone she's four now.
  
• She is getting cuter and smarter each day it seems. She can identify all her numbers and alphabet, and she's writing and drawing better all of the time. I am amazed at the progress she's making.
  
• She started her second year of preschool. We do a neighborhood preschool and it's working out really well. She's the oldest this year, and helps the younger ones out a lot, while still learning new things.
  
• Many comment on her cute freckles, she tells everyone thanks, and that they're "angel kisses". Here's a self-portrait she took of herself.
  
• Emma enjoys playing with friends now. She always asks me to invite a friend over or to go to other friend's homes.
  
• Emma is a mini-mom. She takes great care of Callahan, as well as other little friends. She is already picking up on the nurturing. She sings our baby lullabies already and talks to the baby. She always asks, "How's your baby, Mom?"
  

• Emma is pretty good most of the time, but has a temper or get whiney when she doesn't get what she wants sometimes. But is getting more patient.
  
• Loves to sing! She likes doing kareoke...singing Primary Songs, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Black-Eyed Peas, Kiss, Journey and more. Her Primary Singing Leader always tells me what a great job she does singing. I'm excited to see her in her first Primary program coming up in a few weeks here.
  
• A few weeks ago, while doing dishes, I was commenting that our sink piles up so fast, and I feel like I'm always doing dishes., and we only have four I was telling Dave I hate to see what it's like when our family grows even more. Emma jumped into the conversation and said "Mom, we only have like 4 people in our family. Not like 70 or something!" She was right. (: I should be grateful we don't have 70, and shouldn't complain!
  
  CALLAHAN
  
  
• Cal is almost 22 months now, getting close to two!


• Cal loves to jump around, he jumps with both feet at the same time. He also gallops a lot, which is cute.


• Cal is very affectionate, and loves hugs and kisses, when he's not on the go. He is recently enjoying smacking his lips when he gives kisses. And I love when he gives hugs tightly around our neck. Those are the hugs I want to hold onto forever.


• Cal is growing very well now! He's actually on the growth curve! Yea!



• He is starting to talk a lot. It seems like every day, a new word or a few words strung together will come out. Among his favorite words to say lately: "Yeah" or "No", "Thank you", "Cal's turn", "Pumpkin", Names in the family, "Kitty", "Doggy", "Fishy", "Tiger", and a bunch of other animals, "I want [whatever it is he is asking for]", "Rock on!"


• Cal can throw fits like you wouldn't believe. Stomps his feet, jumps up and down, screams in a high-pitched cry, and more. Here's his little devil smile!
  


• Loves to do what Emma or the other big kids do. That includes painting nails (we use clear!) and doing hair sometimes. He he!
  


• Cal is a trouble-maker! He gets into everything, climbs on everything, and is always doing what he shouldn't do! He looks right at us and gives us this innocent, yet devilish smile, because he knows what's right and what's not by now.



• He is very busy, and makes himself tired. He won't fall asleep until he's forced to sit still. He falls asleep doing all kinds of things, eating, swinging, playing on the ground.

We are so grateful to have these blessings...Emma and Callahan...in our lives! They sweeten our days and we don't know what we'd do without them! We're excited to see them continue to grow and develop, as well as add another little one down the road!

Emma's Fourth Birthday!

Emma is now four! I can’t believe my little girl is that old! For her birthday, we woke up and decorated the house a little bit. I made a cute balloon “Happy Birthday” wreath with Calena a few weeks ago, so I displayed that, along with balloons and signs and other fun things. Here it the wreath, I thought they turned out really fun! Thanks, Calena!

We made chocolate waffles with cinnamon honey butter for breakfast and sang to her. Even Cal was getting into singing to her. She was very excited about this birthday!

Then we went to a dance class at the Ogden Eccles Dance Center. My friend, Jasmine Draper, teaches little girls there, and it was “bring a friend day”, so Jasmine invited Emma to be her friend and try it out. Emma had to take Callahan with her to go out on the dance floor. Emma would drag him around and help him do the moves. The little girls were so adorable and just said the cutest things! Once, when Jasmine instructed the girls to reach their arms up up and grab some “peanut butter” so they could squish it between their feet, Emma blurted out “Callahan is allergic to peanut butter”. Jasmine was so good and it was fun to see her in action. It was fun. Emma especially loved the bar, and is now practicing different things she learned in class at home. Later on, we looked at her baby book and made cupcakes together. We had yellow cake with chocolate fudge frosting, and decorated them with sprinkles and little bowling pins. We had a little birthday party for Emma on her real birthday. We went to Fat Cats, and Emma was able to invite three friends to come with us. We went bowling, ate pizza and breadsticks and pop. The kids were just loving the bowling! Emma has such fun friends, I’m grateful for that. Then we opened presents and had the cupcakes.

I accidentally deleted all of the photos from her actual birthday, which made me cry, and cry hard! ): I wish I had them, there were some stinkin' cute ones, but I guess I can’t turn back time. So I’ll try to remember the memories the best I can if I can't get them. In the mean time, I'm working to try to recover them.

On Saturday, we had a family party for Emma. It was a “Hello Kitty” themed party. It was fun, because she was into the whole planning and deciding what she wanted to do. We did it at Cheese Park in Bountiful. The kids played at the park for a while and the adults visited. For lunch, we had hot dogs (that’s what Emma really wanted and begged for, even though I tried to convince her otherwise. She replied with “It’s MY birthday, so we can do what I want.” Yep, she was right) with all the fixings and homemade corn dogs and all different types of salads. It was actually pretty good, if I must say so myself, though I’m not a huge hot dog fan. Here's the little birthday princess!

Part of the fam enjoying each other. It was a hot day!

Then we did silly string, which Emma’s been asking to do for several months now. We just had fun getting each other and sneaking up on family members. It was a fun thing. It was water balloon time after that, which was just as fun! Emma knows how to plan a party!

Dave thought he got me good...

But check him out! Gotcha!

We then did cake and ice-cream. I planned out a cute Hello Kitty cake design I was going to do, but then Emma told me I needed to revise it and make a Hello Kitty Kiss cake. Emma has this strange fascination with the band Kiss. She said she wanted a cake that had Hello Kitty that looked like a Kiss band member with her tongue sticking out like Gene Simmons. Yeah, I don’t know if many four-year-olds know who Kiss is, let alone ask for a birthday cake featuring Kiss. I tried to talk her out of that many times, but she was firm, saying that it was HER birthday, and she really wanted that. She was telling everyone she was going to have a Hello Kitty Kiss cake when they asked about her birthday. So I couldn’t let her down. I thought it turned out pretty well, for a Hello Kitty Kiss cake…what a combination! I used mostly fondant, and some regular butter cream.

Right when we took the lid off the cake holder, Kaison came up and snatched the tongue off the cake and ate it, which was hilarious! But I never got a picture of the cake with the tongue and everything. Oh well. I’m jinxed this birthday! Luckilly, Amy was there with her awesome photography skills and captured the above pic of the cake. Emma also requested Playdough ice-cream, which is her favorite. We sang "happy birthday" to her, in the crazy Ryerse style.

Here's Emma blowing out the candles, again a pic courtesy of Am! Thanks!
Then we did presents. Emma got spoiled, as always! Everyone is too kind! She got tons of fun things and is having a great time playing with all of the goods. Then Dave and Randy had to head to the BYU game, so things kind of disbanded. Here we are opening presents.

My mom took Emma birthday shopping to pick out some toys. She had a great time. After looking up and down aisles of toys, when she saw this iron, she exclaimed, "This is what I've always wanted!" Even better, the name of the iron is "My Fantasy Iron." Man, I wish I had fantasized about ironing. That's on the bottom of my list of household chores I enjoy. It was cute though!

Happy birthday, little girl! Mommy and Daddy love you so much! We can't believe how fast you're growing! You are such a cute, talented, smart, sweet girl and we are so happy you're in our family!