Thanksgiving 2009

I'm finally posting my Thanksgiving 2009 pictures . . .

I didn't take as many this year, but here's a few:

Les and Russell prepping one of the turkeys:


Les and Melanie getting the "trash can turkey" ready to go:



Les working on the "trash can turkey"


Matt deep frying the other turkey:


The deep fried turkey:


My nephew Christian and Jeffery hanging out in our trailer:


Ryan on his motorcyle:


Mom with her 66th birthday cake:


Ryan and his Granny. Ryan LOVES his Granny!!


A couple of shots of all of us at the table:

Karate Kid

We recently enrolled Ryan in Karate. Here are a couple of shots from the night he got his "uniform." The outfit has a name but I can't remember what it's called.




I still struggle with my indoor photography at night. My photos come out dark or blurry.

Little Teapot

I'm finally posting a picture from Ryan's singing program a couple of weeks ago. We got ONE halfway decent picture. The place was so crowded we had to sit OUTSIDE the multi-purpose room and look through the windows. I was not happy. Matt got in the doorway when Ryan was singing and got this shot.


They sang I'm a Little Teapot and a couple of other songs.

Ryan With Santa at Bass Pro Shop

Letter for Santa

Ryan wrote his letter to Santa last night. I know, already.

I wrote out what he wanted to say then he copied it. His writing is big so it took up two sheets of paper and he insisted that they had to be glued together.



It says, "Dear Santa, I want Hungry Hungry Hippos and Sorry Sliders for 'Chstmas.' Thank you very much. Love, Ryan Smith. (Those are board games in case you didn't know.)

He put a stamp on it and Matt took him out to the mailbox today. We wanted to save the letter, so Matt had him place it in our mailbox instead of putting it in the actual mail slot. He didn't know the difference.


Matt took him to Bass Pro Shop today. They have a kind of winter wonderland thing going on. Kids get to make a reindeer ornament. Santa is supposed to be there so hopefully I will have a Santa picture to post later today.

Ryan With His Granny

November 7, 2009

Remembering My Dad

My dad died 4 years ago today. November 1st, 2005. Here is a picture I took of him and Ryan in 2004. I think it is the last picture I took of him, which is a shame. I should have taken more.



Matt, Jeffery, and me at the spot where we spread dad's ashes:



Me spreading dad's ashes:



Dad wanted his ashes spread in a certain spot out in the desert where there is a water hole for wildlife. It is Southwest of Blythe. It is a place that is off limits to everyone except BLM, etc. A very quiet, pretty area of the desert.

Happy Halloween

Matt carved the pumpkin with some help from Ryan:




Ryan is enjoying being "G.I. Ryan." He got to wear his costume to preschool yesterday (he changed into his uniform for kindergarten). Matt took Ryan to his school's "Fall Fair" last night and had some fun. He is now patiently waiting for it to get dark enough to go out trick or treating.






Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Patch

If I'm being honest, I'm really not the "active" mom that is taking her kids places all the time. That is more Matt's department. But I got brave and took Ryan to the pumpkin patch yesterday! It is in Yucaipa, which is about a 45 minute drive from here. It was a little hot, but Ryan had a BLAST. They have so much stuff there for the kids to do. Rides, bouncers, slides, petting zoo, etc. And I must admit, photo opportunities are at every turn. Where else can you get a photo of your child sitting on a hay bale next to a corn field (unless you live in Kansas or something)? I got a couple of shots I just LOVE.

First, a couple of shots of Ryan enjoying the rides:




Lots of pumpkins to choose from! You could also go out into the pumpkin patch and literally pick your own pumpkin. We just chose one from the many tables they had set up:



They had a couple of people in costumes roaming around. I was quite surprised that Ryan wanted his picture taken with one of them!


He was too scared of the other one, who was dressed up like a grim reaper.


He fed some of the animals in the petting zoo, mostly goats:



Here is the picture of him on the hay bale next to the corn field. Love it.


They had a corn maze that we went into but couldn't find our way through. We had to come back out the way we went in because we couldn't find the exit!

And finally, my favorite shot of the day. Ryan wanted to go on the pony ride and I got this picture that captured his joy! This was the biggest smile of the day.

Licensed Driver!

Well, I have been neglecting this blog in a major way, but something MAJOR that happened since I last posted was:

Jeffery became a licensed driver!

I must admit that handing over the keys the first time was hard, only because of the WORRY involved, but it's getting easier every time and it sure is nice that he can get himself around and I'm not his taxi driver anymore. The hardest part is paying the insurance every month!! He is a good driver though and I'm proud of him. I actually kind of worry less when he is driving than when he goes with someone else driving, cause you never know what kind of driver that other kid is . . .

Jeffery's 16th

We celebrated Jeffery's birthday on Wednesday. Just us--Ryan, Matt, and me. He is currently celebrating by having two of his friends spend 4 days/3 nights here at our house with him, with random other friends stopping by throughout the visit. It has been fun for them--I woke up this morning at 5 AM and they were awake and in Jeffery's room laughing away. They hadn't gone to sleep yet! Those were the days. I remember going to slumber parties or staying the night with friends and trying to stay up all night.

Anyway, here are a couple of photos from Jeffery's actual birthday:





I want to tray and get of picture of Jeffery with his 2 friends but we'll see how that goes. He might be embarrassed for me to do it. ha ha

First Day of Kindergarten

Ryan's first day of kindergarten was last Wednesday, July 8. He was excited and ready to go. Matt and I took him. I think I embarrassed both of them with my picture taking!

This 1st picture is in our back yard before we left:

This is outside his classroom:

We had to wait a while and he got a little impatient:

He sat right down and said goodbye without a problem:

Overall, I was quite surprised how EASY it was. He didn't cry or anything when we left. He was ready to go!

Grad Night

Here are some pictures from Ryan's preschool promotion program.

Before the program:

Ryan and his friend Christian.

Waiting to go out for the promotion:




Receiving his "diploma":



Overall a good night but don't get me started on how rude people are. You should have seen they way some of the parents acted, standing on the chairs, etc., blocking everyone's view. Anyway, it was fun seeing Ryan perform his little song/dance (all those pictures came out blurry though).