The cutest kitties you've ever seen - any takers?

About a month ago, we made a startling discovery! A cat decided to have kittens under our deck! We had seen this mommy kitty prancing around our condos for several months, and then it was like she dissapeared. Little did we know she was busy having babies - five of them - and they made their home under our deck! Dave thinks it's destiny... but back to the story. Once we figured out they were there, we began feeding the mom cat and taking care of her. She is a calico, Emma chose the name Callie for her. She is a very good cat - very well-tempered, clean and quiet, and loves to be cuddled with (this is starting to sound like a personals ad). She is also very good with kids and doesn't even get upset when Emma tries to pick her up or grabs her tail! She can live outdoors or indoors, and seems to like the combination of both. The five kitties are just as good as the Mom, and they are oh-so-cute! There is an adventurous orange one that likes to play. Two black ones, one long-haired and one short haired. One is also very energetic, and the other one is a little more shy. There is a calico one that looks like the mom. And then there's a black one with white paws that is very small. They are all so cute, and we love them, but just can't keep them. They're now starting to wean and starting to eat kitty food, and we can't afford to keep feeding them all! So, if you or someone you knows wants a kitty, please let us know! We want to find good homes for these sweet kitties. If anyone knows me, knows I'm not the hugest fan of felines, but these cats are changing my mind. They're so fun and good! Up top are some pictures of some of the kitties, not all of them are very good, because the little ones get kind of scared of the camera. But please ask around, we need to find these kitties a place to live before winter comes. Please?! Let us know if you're interested. Thanks!

Happy [Belated] Anniversary!

On August 10, Dave & I celebrated our 3rd Anniversary - hooray! It's been an awesome few years! It was Dave's turn to plan the celebratory activities. Since the actual date was on Sunday, we had the fun on Saturday. We were both a little sick, but didn't let that stop us. We started out at the Clark Planetarium to see the IMAX Movie of "Fly Me To The Moon". One of our first dates was at the Planetarium, so it was fun to go back. The movie was really cute. The other movies I've seen there have been more documentary-style movies. This was kind of like a Pixar one and it was 3D and everything. We then hung out at the Planetarium, where this picture was taken, on the "moon". After the movie, Dave told me it was time to shop. He's not a huge shopper, but said we could go wherever I wanted and take as much time as I wanted and get what I wanted. So we shopped for a while, that was fun. Then we had dinner at Ruby River - delicious (that is the new word Emma learned yesterday)! And then went for a drive. We reminisced a bit about our courtship experiences, our wedding, and the time we've been married. We ended by getting concretes at Nielsen's Frozen custard and went on a drive up to the Bountiful Temple, where we got married. It was a fun night to be together! On Sunday, our actual anniversary, it was pretty much a normal day...we exchanged presents and cards. We did have to speak in church though. Dave had to speak first - ha! So he did the introductions. He started out by saying it's a good day for the Ryerse Family, as it was our 3rd Anniversary. He said it's been the best three years of his life, and he's loved every minute of it. Then he said that it just keeps getting better...but it doesn't just get better, you have to make it better, he said. Then he told me how much he loved me and how kind and forgiving I am to him. He transitioned into his talk than on the topic of forgiveness. It was fun to hear him say that in public, he mostly just tells me these types of things when we're alone. But he's right, it does just keep getting better, but it doesn't just happen. You have to make marriage happy and good. It reminds me of an Ensign article that was featured several months ago about how marriage is like a garden - it needs to be weeded, watered, and tended constantly. That has really stuck with me. I am excited to see where our garden goes and how it grows in the future! My Dave, you are my sunshine! I am grateful for what you bring to my life. It's been a great ride... thanks babe! I love you!

I-Da-Ho!

So we spent last weekend in Idaho, Twin Falls to be exact. Lots of Dave's family is from there, and Sue (mom) grew up there, so we really wanted to go to the temple open house. That was the main purpose of our trip, but we did some other fun things as well. We drove up Saturday afternoon with Dave's siblings, Randy (the chauffer - ahhh! Hold on for your life!) and Julie. I didn't notice many of the surroundings, or don't even remember what movie they watched on the way up. I was too busy indulging myself with Breaking Dawn, the latest in the Twilight series that came out early that morning. Pretty good. I'm more than half way through it now, and can't wait to see what happens. Anyways, back to the story. So we drove the 3 hours it takes to get there, and got to Uncle Mac & Aunt Marsha's home and hung out there for a while. Then we went to a place called Gertie's Brick Oven Cookery. It was a buffet-style pizza place, and it was crazy! Here are just a few of the types of pizza we tried (or turned our noses up at and said "eww!"): Cashew Chicken, Seafood, Pepperoni Ranch, Hawaiian, Double Cheese, Crab, Idahoan (had hash brown potatoes and bacon on it), and Idahoan with Ranch, Classic pepperoni, some weird kind with peppers and what they called "sausage" on it that was really cow heart. Yeah, before you loose your lunch, they had yummy dessert pizzas including Bavarian Cream, Blueberry, Raspberry, Chocolate and Caramel, Cinnamon Swirl, and my favorite, the Reese's Pieces. Yum! We would get a piece, and then cut it up, so we could sample lots of different kinds. If you're ever in the area, it's worth stopping. We met Dave's Uncle Parry and his wife Angela, and their four kids there. One of them is from Parry's first marriage, Frank, and he lives in England with his mom, but he's here for the summer. He's about 15 now, and Dave was shocked because hadn't seen him since he was a little boy. His accent was a crack-up, he was a cool little dude. They had an aviation theme too, so I thought the decor was fun. And it was a hit with Emma. They had a little arcade, and some rides for little kids. Emma liked the "Kiddy Red Baron" she rode on. We went then to Dave's cousin Michael and his wife Melody's home in Twin, where we just talked for a long time with all of Dave's other cousins who were there, and then played American Idol on the Wii. Then we watched the second Singles Ward. I liked it better this time, the first time I saw it, it wasn't as fun. But maybe that's because we ended the movie at about 1 a.m., and we all know how I get when it's late! (: Sunday, we went to church at a retirement center. Mac & Marsha help run their sacrament meetings there. It was sweet! The opening prayer and song, the sacrament (one lady tried to swallow the cup and wouldn't let it out of her mouth...that was interesting), and then two short talks that couldn't have lasted more than 5 minutes, and then the closing song and prayers. Short and sweet. But I missed going to RS and Sunday School. We went back and played at Mac & Marsha's house. We rode their four-wheelers all over their property, that was kind of fun. Dave loved it...that's one of his dreams someday to get a bunch of ATV's for our family to go riding lots together. Emma had a great time, too. We just hung out and played at the house that afternoon, and then all of the cousins and their wives and kids came over for a ham dinner. It was fun to see that family, because we don't see them very much anymore with everyone all grown up and busy and stuff. We talked for a long time with everyone, and chased Emma in the backyard. Which brings up a great blog article for next time...the names we've thought of for our little boy. Don't even ask, everyone was, and you don't wanna know! (Ha ha, some of you know what I'm talking about). Monday, we woke up and had a fun breakfast on the back patio with everyone. Then we went to the Twin Falls temple dedication - the true reason for the trip. There is a large stake center adjacent to the new temple, so that's where we watched the video. Then we went through. It was relatively small, but beautiful! My favorite part was a mural they have in one of the instruction rooms of Twin Falls and the surrounding landscaping. They had deer on it, and even a tiny lizard they had us find. It was neat. All of the volunteers were great, one thing I love about the church is how organized and efficient it is. And the volunteers are so happy. Even a little boy who had a broken arm was in charge of holding the main doors to the temple open, and he had a large grin on his face. I thought that was cool. Emma loved the chandelier in the Celestial Room and was pointing and staring the whole time. She was very reverent though. Most of the time. She also said "I see the temple" throughout our time there. We checked things out from the outside after that, and headed back to the stake center where they had cookies and drinks, and elaborate decorations and displays. It looked more like a ritzy LDS wedding reception in the cultural hall/gym than part of the open house. But it was pretty cool. After that, we said our goodbyes to the fam. It was great too, because Grandma Lilly, who isn't very mobile but Twin Falls is such a part of her, was able to go. I think she enjoyed it. We made a run to Sonic for happy hour (the Ryerse's are crazy about Sonic!), and then drove home, again, I read all the way. Emma sang half of the time to keep her self entertained, which was cute. Her favorite song? "I Love to See the Temple" of course!

Hollywood, here we come! Well, kind of...

This past Sunday, my sis-in-law Julie texted us and asked if we knew we were on a commercial. We had no idea at all! A few weeks ago, we went to the Discovery Gateway for the opening of KSL Channel 5's new Media Zone exhibit. Amanda Richardson, my good friend & "twin" hooked us up, as she works for them and was in charge of coordinating lots of it. So we had a great time enjoying everything there. I haven't been to Discovery Gateway yet, but loved the Children's Museum on Beck Street growing up. But we had a great time there, and a few times it seemed as if the camera was following our family around, getting some footage we thought for the news clip that they would inevitably have on the 10 o'clock news. We watched the news that night, and didn't make that, but I guess we're on a commercial to advertise this new part of Discovery Gateway. So Julie recorded it and we watched it a couple of days ago. We are walking into the entrance of Media Zone together at the very beginning of the commercial. If you haven't been there yet and have kids, you should really go. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any links to the commercial online, but I'm posting some pictures we took there. One is of us in front of the green screen in the bottom left corner, and the TV screen on the top right corner. The next is of Dave and Emma in the Life Flight Helicopter. And the last is of Emma on the horse by the farm.

So we made it on that, and then the second TV appearance came yesterday, July 23. Every year, we attend the Handcart Days parade in Bountiful. Dave and I have both been attending for years, as both of our families are from Utah. I was sitting in the truck bed of Dave's parents truck with Tayla and Emma waiting for the parade to start when a Fox 13 camera man came up to me and asked me a few questions about the parade, why I like it, why I come, etc. Jerry (bro-in-law) was standing by me and they interviewed him too. We thought that was kind of funny. But then the camera man went down about a half a block to the rest of the Ryerse's, not stopping to talk to anyone else. This was pretty funny we thought, because we didn't tell him we were related. So he went and talked to Dan (father-in-law) and Julie, and interviewed them for some sound bytes. He came back to us and asked us if all of us were related. We just laughed and I told him that we just stand out. So we watched the 9:00 o'clock news on Fox 13, and sure enough, they showed some of the parade highlights and then showed a clip of Dan first saying that he likes the parade and it's a great family tradition. Then they showed me and Emma with Tayla running in the background (caption underneath says "Melanie Ryerse" on the top line and then "loves the parade" below). They took the part where I said I like the parade because there are big floats from large organizations, and small stake floats, and it's just a fun thing for families to do. We all cracked up when we watched it. Again, I couldn't find the video of that online, but we're putting a picture up of Emma and Tayla at the parade right after the news guy came to us.

So we've made two TV debuts in a week, which we thought was kind of funny. Do you think I need an agent? Ha ha!

Bear Lake

Each summer, our family goes to Bear Lake. This year, we camped at Rondezvous Beach on the South end of the Lake. I love the bright blue water and soft sand. We went with Grammie (Dad's mom), my parents and Aunt Christie's crew.

Monday, we went got to camp, and set it up. We had to move once, because the campers next to us were in our spot. For some reason, we always seem to end up next to crazies, and that wouldn't be the first time on this trip. They were drinking a lot and smoking right in front of their kid's faces, which made me kind of upset (cough cough). Luckilly, we were far enough away the drift of the smoke didn't get to us, and they kept their drinking mostly under control, though they'd get a little wasted late at night, but then sleep in past when we woke up. We got the tents and gear up and ate some lunch, and then we hit the beach. The water wasn't as cold as we were expecting (for Bear Lake - it is pretty chilly) and it didn't even bother Emma at all. We were more wimpy than she was. She jumped right in and was giggling in delight, she loves swimming! She kept trying to dive in. We were holding on to her each time, but she still swallowed some water, which didn't see to bother her much. She even enjoyed being on her back. We went back to camp and ate a spaghetti dinner. Then we made a fire and enjoyed some s'mores (one of the best treats ever, in my opinion). We went to bed, soon after. Our air mattress got a hole in it, and we couldn't find it. So when we first went to bed, we were very comfy, but by the time we woke up, we were basically lying on the ground. We were too tired to notice though, because Emma woke up and threw up during the middle of the night. She was fine after that and before that, though. But it was sad.

Tuesday, we woke up and talked and played games. Then we ate some lunch, and packed our stuff for Minnetonka Cave, which isn't very far at all from Bear Lake, just over the Idaho border, on the East side of the lake. This was my second time going there, it was pretty cool. We saw several pack rats, which was kind of icky, but the cave itself is a wonder! It's actually one of the largest caves in the U.S., but not many people know about it. The formations are awesome. Among my favorites, the "bacon" and these large formations in the picture above, the one in the middle looks like Jabba the Hutt to me. Grammie was having a hard time making it up and down all of the stairs, but she made it, which we were glad about. After the cave fun, we went to go get a "Famous Raspberry Shake" (doesn't every restaurant there have "the one" that is famous?). My favorite is Laketown Drive-In. We also got fries which were yummy! After that, we went back to the campsite and played more, did the fire thing again (You can tell Dave's an Eagle Scout, he's a pyro and thinks he can make the best fire around!)

Wednesday, we packed our stuff up, and then hit the beach for a day of fun in the sun. It started out great. We swam, played in the sand, walked along the beach, found little shells, chased the seagulls, took naps on the sand. But then in the afternoon, our neighbors on the beach had a little too much booze to go around, and the extended family got in a big fight over basically nothing. Two women started a catfight/fist-fight, we think it was a mother/daughter (the fat lady in the blue dress, and the skinny drunk blonde is how Dave describes them when telling the story). Everyone was yelling obscenities like I've never heard in my life. I felt like I needed to wash my ears out with soap after hearing that! The kids were acting like nothing was wrong, which was sad, because you know they're used to it. That broke my heart. So then the men got into a large punching brawl. One guy got in his car and tried to run over one of the guys, who jumped on his car and tried to fight back through the window. It was crazy! Dave called the Rich County cops right when the ladies started throwing punches, but they said they were busy, and didn't show up until a half an hour later, which is when we left. It was really sad, there's nothing I hate more than contention, and especially domestic abuse. It makes me way sad. They weren't super close to us on the beach, there was quite a big space between us, but we could still hear it all, and how can you ignore that? So that was a bummer end to our fun summer trip.

But overall, it was great, and camping and water and family are some of my favorite summer things, and Bear Lake is one of my favorite places.

Snakes and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

We found out that we are going to have a BOY! Hooray! We would have been happy to have either, but it's great to have at least one of each. I had an inkling that it would be a boy, based on the way I felt, compared to my pregnancy with Emma. So I was right, and lots of others thought it was going to be a boy as well.

Daddy, Mommy & Emma went to the appointment at Ogden Regional last Thursday. We had an interesting experience, as the hospitals are experimenting with something new, and we got to be the guinea pigs. They call it tele-natal medicine. We had a x-ray tech in our room taking the ultrasound pictures, but instead of the doctor being in the room discussing the images, we had a doctor from Salt Lake via a webcam. She appeared on half of a large screen TV in our room, while the ultrasound pictures were on the other side. It was kind of cool.

The baby was moving around tons, he is a mover! They couldn't even get any good pictures for a while. The tech kept joking that when he was done exercising or jogging, she could get her job done. Everything looked great, and the tech and doctor both said that it was definitely, without a doubt, a boy. He is "well-endowed" as Dave said. Of course, I couldn't really make out the part that they were pointing to that indicated that. But most of the time, I can't tell what anything is. Good thing they explain it well, and label it on the pictures. The doctor said he will be a little stubborn boy, but he is absolutely perfect. To that, I said "he'll be exactly like his father, then." Which is true. Dave is stubborn, but perfect! The doctor said she would give him 100% if the ultra-sound was a test, he passed with flying colors. So we're blessed he looks good and healthy. I thought the cutest thing was that he opened his mouth really wide and was sticking his fingers in his mouth. It was funny.

So we'll have a son, and Emma will have a brother, on or about December 5. The measurements also pointed to that due date. So we're excited for you, little boy, and can't wait until then to really see you!

Hooray for the Red, White & Blue!

There's nothing better than Independence Day. We've had the opportunity to celebrate it a few ways the past few weeks...


In June, the traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall came to Ogden, and we went to go see it. It was a neat experience. As soon as we got near the wall and displays, we could feel the sacredness of the ground we were walking on. Though I've never known anyone personally who has died while in uniform, I almost felt a connection to those soldiers & their families who have sacrificed so much for people like me, who they have never even known. I feel so grateful for their service, not only those who died in Vietnam, but all of those soldiers who have fought for our freedoms since America's infancy, and those who continue to defend what we believe by serving in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other places. God bless the troops!

Of course one of the best things about the month of July is the fireworks! We love them! We went to Eaglewood fireworks on July 3, and sat with the Ryerse and Stoddard families. The festivities began by going to Spanky's in Bountiful for sandwiches, then homeade Reese's Ice Cream, staking out a spot on the green, and waiting. Emma loved them! "Oooooh!" "Woa!" "Yeah!" "Fireworks" she would say. The finale at Eaglewood made her go crazy! She stuck out her tongue and was hooting and hollering. Everyone around us was laughing pretty hard. We've been to 5 firework shows so far this year, and look forward to even more.
On July 4, we drove up to Huntsville for their parade with the Stoddard crew. It's a fun, small town parade. Lots of tractors, Marlin K. Jensen of the 70, and horses stole the show. One of the great things about the summer and holidays is being able to be with family. We had a picnic with the Stoddard/Richens family in Ogden. Dave, Suz, Alex, Kyle and Morgan Stoddard from Spokane, WA were down, so it was great to see them. But it was hot! The nice thing about having families that live near each other is that we get two Thanksgivings, two Christmases...we can usually work it out. We had a smashing BBQ at the Ryerse home that evening, and went to Davis High fireworks. That has got to be my favorite firework show. The fireworks are in sync with music that is playing, and it's always awesome. Last year, they did the song "Don't Worry Be Happy" and smiley face fireworks went off right when the lyrics said "be happy". This year, they did an Indiana Jones one that I particularly liked, along with the traditional patriotic songs. I'm kind of a sap, but I began tearing up a few times when some of these songs about our country played. Luckilly, no one saw! It's amazing how many great opportunities and freedoms we have by living here. This is a blessed land, and I am so overwhelmingly grateful for all we have!