As Promised...

Ryan and I were engaged on July 28, 2006. Almost 4 years ago. It was such a wonderful time in my life! It involved early, long, tiring days at hair school and late nights with my sweetheart. Good thing we didn't date for very long, because who knows how long I would have been able to keep up the whole get up super early for school then stay up super late to be with Ryan routine :) My typical habit was to stay late at school to make up for my missed hours (since I was nearing graduation and didn't want to have overtime fees), put a few dollars in my gas tank with my tips from the day and drive to Erda as fast as I could (literally)! We watched movies, sat on the porch, talked. Makes me smile just thinking about it.

We had planned a weekend trip to Ryan's family's property at Bear Lake in late July. We were going to leave on Friday after I got done with school and stay until Monday. I called Ryan on Thursday night to see if our plans were still the same, and he was quite short with me on the phone. I thought for sure he was going to break up with me (Keep in mind that at this point we had been dating for only 2 months). I found out later that the reason he was so impatient on the phone was that he had been talking to his dad about asking me to marry him and didn't have much time to talk at that point.

I woke up with a terrible headache on Friday morning and decided not to go to school. And since I wasn't going to school, why not just go to the lake early? So we did (Ok, maybe my headache wasn't THAT bad). Only problem was that Ryan had arranged to pick up my engagement ring that afternoon before we were supposed to leave. And since I was with him and we were leaving early, he couldn't very well do that! So he had to make secret arrangements for his mom to pick it up. When we met his mom up at the lake, Ryan handed me some meat and asked me if I would go put it in the freezer. I thought it was a little weird, but I did as I was told (They had to get rid of me so that they could do the ring hand-off!).

I don't really remember the rest of the day, but that evening we decided to go down to the lake. Only you're not suppsosed to be on the beach after dark. Rules? What rules? So we started up the four-wheeler to head down the road. But this bike wasn't just any four-wheeler. It was a special bike that had to be jump started every time you wanted to go somewhere, and couldn't be turned off until you made it back home. We made it down to the beach on the noisy beast and left it running while we went for a quick little walk. We looked at the stars. Ryan said something that made me cry. And then he pulled a diamond ring out of his pants pocket. With the four-wheeler humming in the background, he asked me to marry him. :)

7 Months!

Olivia turned 7 months this last week! I am so excited for her to be growing big and strong, but I did realize how much she has grown after holding my 3-week-old niece. She really DID used to be that tiny! What?! She is doing so many funny and cute things! Here are some facts about Olivia at 7 months:

• Weighs close to 17 pounds

• Was diagnosed with VUR (vesicoureteral reflux) early in the month. She came down with a fever, tested positive for a kidney infection and had an ultrasound and dye x-ray to find the problem. Her bladder refluxes urine back into both kidneys, causing infection over time. Repeated kidney infections are not good for the kidneys (obviously) so she is on low-dose antibiotics (not crazy about this) until we can get into the urologist in a few months. Basically, baby with kidney infection=no fun for anyone, so we continue the recommended course of treatment for the time being.

• Sits up really well! She still tips over occasionally, but is better every day!

• We may have officially outgrown the Bumbo, but it will make one last hoorah to Nauvoo. Can't beat the compactness of the bumbo as a seat/highchair on the road!

• Sleeping through the night! Just kidding. Had to throw that in there. LOL (FYI: still waking up four+ times a night. Eats more in six hours at night than the rest of the day combined. Should fix that one of these days. But for now, I just get the bottles ready before bed and go with it. :)

• Eating solid foods like crazy, and loving them!

• Had her first Fourth of July and went to bed early :( The life of a baby. LOL

• Loves other kids. Like, a lot. Loves to share slobber. Delicious.

• Says "Mamama" all the time, but not sure she is really talking about ME. Still, I'd like to think all of that coaching has paid off. :)

• Has one Great Grandma Boehmer that cannot wait to get her hands on her!

• Will be taking her first real road trip this week to visit Nauvoo and St. Louis. Can't wait to meet/ see all of our loved ones!

• Olivia's favorite thing is to watch videos of herself on our phones. Her next favorite thing is to eat paper. I actually had Ryan google 'edible paper' today to see if there is such a thing. Turns out, there is! It's for cake decorating and such, but sounds like the perfect church toy to me. This baby has SO many toys, and yet, she chooses to love the cell phones and the paper. Why even bother buying toys, I say. Yum. Paper.

Chris in pics + I need photoshop

This is Chris, 17. He was my victim today. I do love taking pictures. I need a good camera. And photography lessons. Then I need photoshop (Or any editing program that has more options than 'contrast' and 'brightness' :). And someone to teach me how to use it. Brittney? :)

Family Photos

Everyone was kind enough to humor me and even wear semi-coordinating clothing. I think they turned out great. Thanks to the Barney's for letting us use your beautiful tree (Ryan and I have wedding photos from the same spot) as a backdrop.

Happy Birthday Brian

Dear Brian, it is that wonderful time of year during which we are the same age. For the next six weeks we shall share the magical number 23. And since we're getting old, I think I should definitely apologize for a few of the terrible things I have done to you over the years. So...

I am sorry for never letting you play with my barbies. I preferred (and continue to prefer. LOL) my imaginatory games in solitude, but all you wanted to do was be Ken.

I'm sorry for calling you "Brianna" for however long that phase went on.

I'm sorry for always being jealous of your ability to make friends. Let's be honest, you're just more likable than I am.

Mom: "Jayelle, do the dishes."

Jayelle: "Ok."

Jayelle: "Brian, Mom said you're supposed to do the dishes."

I'm sorry for that.

He's a good guy. I'm proud to have him as a brother. I really do have the best family. I think I know how I got thrown into the group. You know how when you're trying to make even teams to play softball or something and you have one weak player and you're not sure where to stick 'em? So you put that person on the team with the most strong players so that they can make up for the weakness of that one. Yup. I am on the team with the strong players so that they can make up for my weaknesses and strengthen me. True story. Love my family!

Saturday Sunshine

• This week went by quickly! That is good for two reasons. First, because I am counting down to our Nauvoo trip. And second, because I have been very worried that being a stay at home mom would make the days just draaaaaaag on. But they don't. I keep very busy. And feel pretty productive. Most of the time. Good.

• I had a BLAST at the splash park with Laura and Brittney and their kiddos. Olivia hated the water. It definitely wasn't her bathtub. But we had a good time and she stayed pretty content just sitting on the grass with mommy and sucking on a carrot.
  

• I worked on our 72 -hour kits this week a little bit. I basically just took stock of what we have, got rid of what had expired, and made a list of what we need to replace. Olivia didn't have one previously, so I started hers with the basics and we'll get everything back in place a little at a time! Because being prepared is expensive if you try to do it all at once!

• Brother Heder was my seminary teacher (I can't remember what grade) for one semester in high school. He lives up the street from my parents and is in their stake presidency. His wife's blog has been on my blog list for the past six months. She created the blog in January to share the experiences they had as Brother Heder underwent treatment for Leukemia. He passed away on Wednesday. This is sad news, but the light in all of this is that he was such a great man and is free of pain now. If you have a minute, read some of the posts from their blog. They are short and touching.

• Olivia has been taking two two-hour naps each day. One in the morning from 10-noon, and one in the afternoon from 2-4. This is heavenly. And although it restricts me a little as far as what time I can run errands and such, I am totally ok with that. For 4 'free' hours a day, I'll take it! (and by 'free', I mean laundry, cleaning, and dishes)

• I cooked dinner every single night this week. They were not spectacular meals. And probably not even well-rounded nutritionally, but I made them. And I have discovered two things in this process. One, that there are a lot more dishes when you eat strictly at home. And two, you have to clean the kitchen three times as often when you make three meals a day. I live in the kitchen. Which is ok, I suppose.

Monday: Pizza

Tuesday: Chicken and Zucchini

Wednesday: Tacos

Thursday: Fettuccine

Friday: Stir Fry

• This was a conversation between Ryan and I yesterday:

J: Don't we have free tickets to Toy Story 3?

R: (grumpy voice) Yeah, but why don't you give them away because we can never go to movies anymore. We didn't even go to Iron Man 2. (huff)

Little does he know that I've been planning a surprise date for us to the movies for a week and a half now. I've made arrangements for Olivia (thanks Brit), bought the candy (yes, we sneak it in inside my purse. Naughty, I know), and made a fake excuse about a primary activity to make sure he's home. It's nothing big, but I hope he's surprised and I'm completely excited about it. Oh, the little things you look forward to once you're a parent. LOL

Saturday Sunshine...

• The noise Olivia makes when she sees the cat is SO cute. I can't really explain it, but it's so much more gentle than her other noises. Like she's talking to the cat. Love it.

• Brian made it home and was able to make it to Tyler's graduation. He's been in the middle east since last October, so this was the first time he met the baby. Olivia just loves him. We are just so glad he's home safely. It was hard on him. He's seen things I cannot even begin to imagine. He's got the brightest red hair (definitely the reddest from my side of the family) and I kind of hope Olivia's is like that when it comes back in :)

• Tyler's graduation was great! I was so stressed out by the time we got there, between getting there on time and then walking down the steep stadium stairs with the baby (I made Ryan carry her. I seriously had anxiety about falling all the way down those crazy steep stairs with the baby.). I think Olivia could pick up on my lack of calmness because she was fussy the whole time. After Tyler completed his parts in the program and his name was read, we left. I was just so uptight thinking that everyone around me was getting irritated about every peep Olivia was making. Yeah. Gotta get over that.

• Ryan works late four nights in a row this week. This is NOT a sunshine, because I hate being home alone but I am trying to see the positive. It gives me all evening to work out and clean after the baby goes to bed. I never get anything done until Olivia is down for the night, so good thing Ryan doesn't come home at 5 every day because he would definitely doubt my homemaking abilities.

• Seeing all of our families was so good this week. We love all of you!

• We are having 'pigs in a blanket' (hot dogs cooked inside crescent rolls) for the first time since I was probably 10. Yum!

• Vain moment: My new swimsuit came and it wasn't complete torture seeing myself in it. A plus.