Ryan-head

What is his name? Ryan Robert
How long have we been married? Eleven years and 4 months
How long did we date? We met right before my 14th birthday. Needless-to-say, we didn't date until he returned from his mission, when I was 17. We then dated off and on for 2 years and 5 days, then were married. If only Dec 23 hadn't been a Sunday that year, we could have been married on the anniversary of our first date.
How old is he? 34
Who said I love you first? Me
Who is taller? He is, unless I wear heels and/or stand on a stool.
Who sings better? We sing duets together. His tenor and my soprano. Need I say more?
Who is smarter? We are smart in different categories.
Whose temper is worse? I think me.
Who pays the bills? Automatic Bill Pay. ;)
Who does the laundry? Me, with a little help from our kids. And he helps fold the clothes that are piled on the bed before we can go to sleep.
Who cooks dinner? If it's fish, he makes it. Otherwise, I enjoy cooking.
Who drives when we are together? Usually Ryan.
Whose parents do you see more? Our parents live less than a mile apart. When we go to visit family, we stay at his folks' house but we spend time at mine as well.
Who eats more sweets? Me. It's easier to eat them, when there are a lot of options of sweets to eat at home. And I can make cookies with my children any time I want. Now I want something sweet to eat. Great.
Who mows the lawn? Sometimes I do, sometimes he does. In a couple more years, we hope to let a kid of ours share that task.
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? He does. But I don't usually get up on the wrong side of the bed. haha
Who asked who out first? I called and asked him, on the day after he returned home from his mission, to go to a concert. He was unable to go because he had to go see his little sister sing in a concert that same night. He asked me to go ice skating a few days later.
Who kissed whom first? It was mutual.
What is my favorite thing about him? Ryan has a way with words. The letters and notes he would write while we were dating and the ones he still writes are beautiful.

Sewing with Stacy

Last Wednesday, Stacy took me out to celebrate my birthday. We went to JoAnn Fabric with no children! There was a great sale on fabrics and threads, so I bought some material to make me a skirt, Sabrina and Roderic some shorts and Hyrum a romper. On Thursday she invited me over to sew in her sewing room. Sewing with a friend is great. Sewing with a knowledgable seamstress with 3 sewing machines in one room is amazing! I got all the fabric cut out for the skirt, shorts and romper and then sewed the romper. When I had Hyrum try it on, to see how it looks, this is what I got:




Then, on Monday, my mom emailed me about costumes for our upcoming family chorus barbershop concert. I had the idea that I could make them up for Sabrina and Janica. Stacy provided the patterns and once again I spent yesterday and today working on these 2 dresses. I may even be brave enough to make matching shirts for Mom, Shanda and myself.


I hope to soon get back to making my skirt and the shorts for Roderic and Sabrina, but at least it is not shorts weather yet.

Big Surprise

Ryan really likes to spoil me. A lot. Birthdays. Christmases. Anniversaries. Valentines. One year for Mother's Day, he got me matching towels, bath mats and accessories for our bathroom. This birthday was no different. I felt my birthday couch was overflowing with presents from him. And then at dinner he pulls out another surprise.

It's an ION Tape2PC Cassette Archiver. The name says it all. It's a dual cassette tape deck that has a USB cord to attatch to my PC. Press play on the tape deck, press record on my PC and all of a sudden I can digitize our ENTIRE tape collection! You may have noticed that I haven't blogged in a while. Well I have been on the computer. I've just been turning my favorite tapes into mp3s.

I now have the 1993 Utah All-State Choir concert on my mp3 player! The Book Of Mormon Seminary music "Free to Choose" can be played again at my house! Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry, Be Happy", BYU University Chorale from 1995. Even piano accompaniment practice tapes of songs I sang in high school. My playable music library has been expanded!

The software is easy enough to use. I'm hooked. Anyone have a tape they want me to digitize?

This day in history...

April 15, 1865
President Abraham Lincoln was officially pronounced dead at 7:22:10 a.m. having received a gunshot wound in his head the night before while attending "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theatre. He was the first US President to lie in state.

April 15, 1912
The RMS Titanic sank in the early morning hours. Two hours and 40 minutes after striking an iceburg. On its maiden voyage. I have never seen the movie "Titanic" with Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.

April 15, 1955
Income tax has been collected by the US Federal government since the 16th ammendment to the constitution was passed and rattified in 1913. However, tax day has not always been on April 15. It was changed to that day in 1955. I have never gone to the post office to postmark my tax return on my birthday. This year we filed in February and got our refund 12 days later!

April 15, 1977
I was born at 12:48 p.m.! The fouth daughter (fifth child) of Glen Earl and Faline. This cute picture is of me and my sister Keturah (who should start a blog).

April 15, 1985
I was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints by Grandpa Bateman. My family was in Mesa, Arizona visiting cousins. It was a Monday morning.


April 15, 2008I woke up to a birthday couch decorate just for me! Ryan got me fabric napkins, a coffee grinder and a USB microphone. Watch out SingSnap, here I come! FYI, the coffee grinder will be used to grind flax seeds and other seeds that can then be used in making breads and such!

Photos from Oregon

Ryan loves taking panoramic pictures with our camera and then use PhotoStitch to stitch them together. Here are some from our recent trip to Oregon.


The lighthouse at Cape Meares.


Wahclella Falls
A cliff along the hike to Wahclella Falls. And then the Falls.


Multnomah Falls
Funky 1970s colors on a shot of Multnomah Falls. The upper falls from the bridge. The bridge with Sabrina and the falls behind. Sabrina, Hyrum and I are tiny specks on the bridge in the first and last photo.

The Costume Party

The queen lights the rocket boosters.

'Synomym Girl' (Word Girl's super-twin sister) and the cake.

Sabrina's costume party was a hit! The first guest to arrive forgot to wear a costume, but we took care of that quickly with the pioneer outfit I made for Sabrina last spring. We played 'Curses', which they all totally loved, 'Pass the Parcel', and 'Musical Spots'. The fondue was delicious. They liked the chocolate more than the cheese. It is amazing to me how much kids don't like birthday cake. I think I threw away about a quarter of the cake (partially eaten pieces on the plates). In the future, I should probably serve smaller portions, so there is more cake for ME to eat. Cream cheese frosting and all. And raspberry filling. YUMMY!

9 is Nifty!

Nine years ago I became a mother. My precious baby girl was born.
My how time quickly passes.

This morning we woke up to a new family tradition. (Thanks to the Schultz's!) Ryan and I had such fun wrapping her presents and decorating the birthday couch just for Sabrina. She even got her own box of Disney Princess cereal! She did jump the gun and open 2 presents before I got out of bed, but I asked her to wait for her dad before opening the rest. She got a digital tuner/metronome for her violin, a map of the Pacific Northwest, a new shirt and skirt (that matches the one I made for Aanja), a dress for her build-a-bear (from Hyrum), a set of 10 finger puppets (from Roderic), "The Wizard of Oz" and "Alice in Wonderland" books, and a cool coupon to go buy and make a model rocket with her dad!


Tonight we are having a costume party with some friends. She is still undecided on what she'll dress up as, so you'll have to check back. We're going to have fondue and play some games. I made this most adorable cake with the help from Family Fun.

I Looked Out the Window...

and what did I see?


This is what we woke up to this morning. The sandbox is full of the recently played with sand toys. There are pea and lettuce sprouts coming up in the garden plots. I am really glad that I have not yet pulled out the capris and shorts for daily wear! Perhaps I'll still get to see 'popcorn popping' on my birthday.

How Can I Keep from Singing?

On my last night in Portland, Milaka invited me to attend "Chorus" with her. Doug was willing to watch my 3 children and put them to bed, yippee!

She is a member of Pride of Portland, a womens a cappella chorus that sing Barbershop. It was amazing. The director was so fun to watch and sing for. He had a way to make you want to sing better. We rehearsed the three songs they're working on for the international competition this fall. I was Milaka's shadow, and stood by her the whole time, even when the assignments were changed. I had a hard time falling asleep that night because I had so much adrenaline from the good music.

I do want to be a member of Sweet Adelines International and sing in a Barbershop chorus. Perhaps I can have that happen sooner, than later. I'm glad my mom introduced my sisters and I to the wonderful world of Barbershop singing. It is nice to have a part of my own. As Milaka told the ladies who asked at chorus, having us sing together in a quartet is the way that our mom got us to get along when we were younger.

The King of April Fools

Ambrose told Sabrina this morning at breakfast that Alton is "The King of April Fools." When Sabrina mentioned that to Milaka as we went to IKEA, she told us about last year, when Alton took a white pony-tail holder and wrapped it around the spray nozzle at the kitchen sink, so that when you turned on the water, you were sprayed.

When we got home from our shopping excursion, Alton came over and told me quietly that I should avoid using the kitchen sink for a while. A few minutes later, Doug turned on the water and got sprayed. He got a gleam on his eye, didn't say a word. Milaka was standing in the kitchen as well. More minutes pass and then Milaka turned on the water and got completely sprayed. So wet she had to change her shirt. What a lucky mom she is to be the mother of "The King of April Fools."