Happy Birthday Mom!!

We had a nice day Yesterday. Lucy Called and Sang Happy Birthday to Grandma and Bryan and Chelsey sent Mom some flowers. It was a perfect opportunity to try the new Frontrunner train so we rode down to the Gateway in Salt Lake City, had dinner, watched a movie, and came home. We even did the silly staff at the restaurant thing. The new train is nice. I hope a lot of people ride it and they stay off my highway. The kids came over last night and brought a cake. It was all a lot of fun. (If only the Jazz had won.) Nancy's foot seems to be getting better. Maybe in a month or so she can get rid of her brace.

Happy Late Easter!

I finally got a picture of George in his cute Easter outfit given to him by Bobby! He was not very happy as you can see, and had just thrown a bit of a tantrum previous to this picture. He doesn't like to get his picture taken, he only wants to look at the pictures on the digital camera screen.

Abby and Ollie Annual Easter day photo

Finally Abby doesn't Squeeze Ollie to death while getting a photo!

Happy Birthday Bryan!!

Well it's been a rough thirty years but we've made it through. I was worried about him and the teddy bear. He finally quit sleeping with it last summer. May you have a joyous and blessed year. Your Mother and I love you so much! (Check out the featured celebrity on the slide show)

Mom's Doing Better

Mom had Surgery on Thursday. The Doctor was quite hopeful that this would help her. He said the surgery went very well. She is getting around now and looks forward to life after the next 3 weeks when she will be on crutches. Thank you all for your calls and flowers. We so much appreciate your support

Wanted: VISITORS!

This morning the kids and I drove a family to the airport in Fresno. Lucy couldn't get over the fact that we weren't picking up Abby and Oliver and we weren't going to Grandma and Grandpa's house. The family was going to visit their grandparents and Lucy said, "THAT'S NOT FAIR! I DON'T GET TO SEE MINE!" It was quite depressing for the two of us. Who is going to come and visit us??

Wow, we really work here

If you have been watching the news lately, you might have heard my boss, Kay Granger, mentioned as a potential running mate for McCain. Last night on Fox News, they talked about her. If you missed it, you can see the clip here.

Now, I don't think Kay will really be McCain's choice for VP, but stuff like this reminds me how neat it is for Bryan and me to be right in the middle of all the pomp and circumstance of Washington politics. It can be a grueling, thankless job sometimes, but once in a while, when I walk into the Capitol, I think, "Wow, I really work here."

And if that isn't enough to entice you to come and visit, I don't what is. So come, visit early, visit often.

Why you should make sure the batteries work in your smoke detector

Well, we were saved by the "bell" (smoke detector) tonight. At about 8:30 the smoke detector downstairs went off, So Heidi and I ran down to find the furnace had been on fire. I opened the front cover to find the wires still smoking. I called my neighbor who is an HVAC guy and he came and assesed that we definatley need a new furnace. SO, with that said you can send your contributions to the "keep Ryan and Heidi family warm this winter" fund, or donate at your local HVAC Dealer, make sure you mention "Heidi" so that we also get the matching payment from the goverenment program that has been set up to help those in just this type of situation, (thanks Hillary!). God bless you all ahead of time for your generous donations! :) And go MAC!

Snowbasin with the Thompson

Well, as you can see it was a good thing Olly wore his vintage WWII Russian Padded helmet on his soujourn down this 50' Rock hard snowpile. Yes he survived and only complained that he got snow down his back... He also won the big air contest. And last but not least my two (maybe 3 if we find out Heidi is having a girl) favorite girls in the world. It was nice to just be a kid again.

A Boy and His Blanket

Graham is getting more and more attached to his blanket. When he gets out of his crib in the morning, he has to bring it with him to breakfast. If he sees it, after being away from it for an hour or more, he starts fussing and running to it like he has found an old lost friend.

Extreme Home Makeover

For the last week, my parents have been here visiting. They just left this morning. Because they're so great, they helped us decorate our apartment while they were here. They really did a lot of manual labor, and everything looks great. Beth and Jason can attest to how boring and bland our apartment was before. I had to share some of the pictures. And, of course, a big THANK YOU to Matt and Nancy, who gave me some Home Depot money for my birthday. We put it to good use. Also a big thank you to Bryan, who put together a lot of new furniture.

This is the kitchen. Bryan put together the sideboard. We don't have a lot of counter space, so these additions were great.


This, of course, is the boudoir. It's amazing what curtains and a few throw pillows can do.

This is the dining room. Ignore all the stuff on the table. That mirror is gigantic -- I love it.
This is the living room. Try to imagine it before -- basically nothing on the walls (which were white), no curtains... It turned out really great.
We had this weird corner where there was in indent in the wall. My mom had a great idea -- build shelves there. This is the result.

A Winter Pick-me-up

This is George's favorite video to watch these days! It is from one of the happiest movies ever - "Enchanted." He loves it for some reason and he always laughs when the prince gets run over by the bikers. I have been a little depressed so it is so fun to watch with him. I hope you all enjoy it, and that it brings a bit of happiness to this yucky winter!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRYU4cqUAUs

Did you know that Christmas is over?

Well, tomorrow is February so I guess the holiday season is finally over. Time to get back to work. This month has been great. I have just hired two new agents and they look like they are going to do well. Brad Nye (Yes, my next door neighbor) is giving it a go as well as Brandon Fenwick. Looks like a boomin year for the rug business. Mom sure misses you guys. We can't wait for the triathalon in about a month. Take care.

A Shout out to Chelsey!!

I forgot to blog on Chelsey's birthday, January 4th. I did remember to send her a birthday text though, so I half remembered!!!

Chelsey is such a grand addition to our family. She fits right in. (some days probably not the best compliment). Most of all she and Bryan are a great pair!!! We were so happy to have you home with us for awhile. I look forward to coming and seeing you in May!

I hope you had a good birthday, and enjoy your painting when your parents come.

Happy Birthday Maggie!!!

Today was Maggie's birthday. I have been thinking of her all day, and hope that she had a good day.

Maggie is really incredible. She says she has no friends in LeMoore, yet everytime I call she is reading a book for some book club or throwing a baby shower for a friend with another friend. For a person with no friends, she sure keeps busy!!!!

Maggie is a good daughter and sister. She was always kind of a peace maker in our home. She was part of the younger kids and older kids, too. We are proud of Maggie and how she has built a good life and family. She is an example to all of us. She has strong values and beliefs that she can keep and still be a good friend to everyone!

I am glad that Maggie is part of our family. I wish that she lived closer, so we could be a part of her everyday life a little more!!!

Sure is quiet!!!

We had such a great time with everyone here. Sometimes the tension is up, but for the most part I think we did great, biting our tongues and letting everyone have their own opinions!

Dad has gone back to work. He is training one, maybe two new agents. The house is back together and we are very lonesome. Even the Thompsons have been absent. Oliver comes over once in awhile to play video in the placement, but that is it!!!!

I just want to tell all of you, children and their mates, (we really don't think of the mates any differently, to us you are all our children) how much we love and admire you. In your own spheres you are all so successful and such good influences on the people you associate with. Believe me, not all parents can say that!!!!

We are so fortunate to have a family that all love each other, and want to be together.

Thank you for the good times we had. We are already lonesome for the noise and confusion!!

Back to life....back to reality

I hope every one is recovering from the Ray invasion. We are having a hard time making our way back to reality. Graham has been a little feverish and Lucy still says at least once a day, "I would happy if we could just go back to Grandma and Grandpa's house!" Or at least something very similar. We had such a great time with everybody. Thanks to Mom and Dad for making our Christmas so great and helping out with our little ones so much. We love you! Only 3 more shopping days until someone special's birthday!!

Happy holidays from snowy Rexburg

We definitely had a white Christmas here in Rexburg. Between the night of December 23 (when we arrived) and yesterday morning, it snowed over 7 inches. We used a very scientific method to calculate that figure -- we measured how deep the snow was on the rail of our deck (below).


We had a really nice time, and we're looking forward to seeing you all in Utah tomorrow to finish out our holiday celebration.

Looking back . . .

I can't believe it is almost Christmas! What's even weirder, is that George was only 3 months old last Christmas, and now he is so grown up. I can't wait to have all of the grand kids together! George and Graham will be soon partners in crime! We are so excited to have the whole family together!

Thank you one and all!!

Just wanted to comment to each of you on how much I appreciate your posts! I really enjoy reading them and going to each of your blogs and seeing what is going on with you. I hope we can keep this going.