Merry Christmas!

The Reynold's Family hopes everyone had a great Christmas, and we wish you a happy New Year!

When Ryan first woke up on Christmas Morning he skipped right past his pile of presents from Santa because he was more excited to move the poinsettia to the Christmas Day stocking.

Brianna was much more fun than I had anticipated her being for her first Christmas. She absolutely loved our Christmas Eve dinner and was all smiles with every present she opened.

Your Friendly Neighorhood...

...SPIDERMAN

I had some halloween make-up crayons that I bought to put whiskers on Brianna for a Halloween costume. Well they didn't get used but they did get opened so I went to throw them away and thought why does it have to be Halloween to have some make-believe fun. So Ryan was a very willing participant and let me go through two different spider-man faces. The second time he wasn't as still and neither was the camera taker (sorry for the blurry picture.) Daddy sure was surprised to come home and find his wife saved by the friendly neighborhood spider-man.

A very Late Halloween Post

So I never EVER take pictures. I just prod my camera happy mother to take all the pictures I want with the intention of having her send them to me on disc or something. Unfortunately my laziness for picture taking translates into laziness for getting copies of the pictures my mom takes. So these are some of the pictures she posted to her blog of my family on Halloween. I know they are late so enjoy, or don't either way I completely understand.

Ryan went as a motorcross guy. I bought him some riding gear a year ago for 80% off and he has yet to grow into it so it made a great costume, very thrifty and he loved it. He was most excited about putting mom's eyeshadow on his face to look like dirt.


For Brianna's costume I had a jersey that Ryan used to wear when he was two and it ended up fitting her very well. I just added a pair of Ryan's old red nikes, some jeans, and one of the world's largest hair bows, cause you know without it I would have had a lot of what a cute boy comments.


Here we are as a family. Marshall hates this picture, I think we are going to buy a treadmill because of it. But it was a fun halloween with Julie's in-laws and I didn't have to spend hardly a dime, and I have already bought the kid's costumes for next year from gymboree for 70% off. We'll see if they wear them, or if my grand plan for my family themed mario party comes to fruition (me-mario, marshall-liugi, Ryan-bowser, brianna-mushroom)

Sweetheart Tag

Each person answers questions about their sweethearts.

At the end of the post, the person then tags 6 people and posts their names; then goes to their blog and leaves them a comment, letting them know they have been tagged.

What is your husbands name? Marshall Steven Reynolds

How long have you guys been married? 5 years 3 months

How long did you date? We dated for about a year before we were engaged and then married 3-4 months later.

How old is he? 34 a whopping 8 years older than me. When we lived in our last house the young boys in our neighborhood thought I was his daughter. That is a card I play rather often.

Who is taller? He is but only by about A WHOLE FOOT. I never notice this until I see us walking together in a mirror, we are definately an odd couple.

Who can sing best? Maybe it should be asked who sings worse. And that is my asnwer

Who is smarter? I have a better memory, but Marshall is very good an analysis, and that is why he is an engineer.

Who does laundry? I do always, but Marshall bought me a smokin' red hot washer and dryer set so I don't complain.

Who pays the bills? I do

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I do,and always have.

Who mows the lawn? In our entire married life we have lived in eight different places and only once had a yard to mow and I did the mowing, but now that we have an acre and a half Marshall wants to do the mowing but only if he can get a mini-tractor to do it.

Who cooks dinner? I do, but Marshall does have a few dishes that he will whip up if he needs to.

Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? When we argue he always tells me "You can never admit you're wrong". To which I reply DITTO. We're working on it.

Who kissed who first? Marshall kissed me first, he even asked my permission.

Who wears the pants? He wears the pants, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Thanks Koreen for the Tag

I tag Julie, Cindy, Monica, Nanette, Amanda, and Katherine

Putting our HEADS together

Ryan and I put our Heads together and made some "Hair Raising" cupcakes. I played the role of cake decorator and camera woman, while Ryan played the role of brain Surgeon/ Mad Scientist/ Cupcake eater. They were really easy just a cake mix, can of frosting, red + yellow + green food coloring, plastic bag, and mad scientist and you too can make brain cupcakes.

Here is the Specimen

Here is the Mad Scientist ready for experimentation.

MWAA HA HA HA!


Happy Halloween from the Reynolds!

Families Can be Together

Marshall and I had a very excellent weekend. We spent most of it doing church related activities. For starters we hadn't been to the temple for very long time (blush) so we decided to go Friday at 10:00 in the morning. We thought it would be slow at that time so we could breeze through. Well just like everytime a temple trip gets planned there were a hundred things that happened that made us question whether we should stay home and handle the problems that arose or forget them and go. We made the right choice and went to the temple and had the best experience ever so we decided to stay and do some sealings afterwards. Marshall's parents had graciously accepted the task of babysitting so we knew the kids were in good hands to leave that long. Then when we returned home they helped us work on the deck that we are building. We really appreciated the help and the yummy dinner Jan made for us that evening. After they left Marshall and I cuddled up to watch the movie "Cinderella Man." This was a great movie and very appropriate for the current economic climate (eek). The next day we were priveledged to attend the baptism and blessing of my cousins children. And if RaeLynn reads this tell Scott we really enjoyed his talk, he even had Ryan listening very intently. Afterward we went to a get together at Todd and Wendy's new and very beautiful home. It was so nice to visit with relatives. It reminded me of the old days when grandma was still here and we would get together. The Briscoes are some of the funnest people out there. So thanks to Jana and Wendy for getting it all together. And to top it off we had a very good Sunday. So even in a time when the economy looks bleak we will always have our family there to fall back on.

I found this quote online and thought it said a great deal in a few words.

"A truly rich man is one whose children run into his arms when his hands are empty."

Coming Clean

Ok, so I feel kinda bad for making fun of a little girl just cause' she is wearing a ridiculously huge turkey head band. I guess the reason I feel so bad is cause' I too have my own Thanksgiving skeletons in the closet. Just a warning to Julie before she looks at this picture- put your depends undergarments on now.

This is me on thanksgiving, way back when, when I decided to make my own turkey costume out of construction paper complete with turkey tail and turkey lips. I love my awesome mullet/helmet hair, even my dog looks embarrassed to be with me.

Weird

I was surfing the net and happened to go to pottery barn kids cause' there stuff is so cute (but I never buy anything cause' I am too cheap), anyway I came across this picture. Reason number one why it is weird is cause' who on earth wears a turkey headband this big!!! It is cute but come on. Reason nuber two why it is weird is cause it looks just like my niece Maren (becky's daughter. I knew Becky was into felting but I didn't think she had taken it this far J/K. Anywho this post is mainly written just to make Julie fall off her chair laughing cause we've talked about the hilarity of ridiculously large thanksgiving headbands before.

Tu-Tu much Fun

Marshall had the day off and went up to St. Anthony to help on the farm so the kids and I headed to Grandma Katherine's house to make frilly things. Ryan and Timmy (Julie's son) were great they played outside the whole time so we could get our craft on. It was fun to visit with my mom and sister and at the same time make my little girl uber girly things. We made Brianna and Natalie (Julie's baby girl, 10 days older than Brianna) matching tutus and hair bows, and I was this close to making them matching bracelets but I left the beads at home (sorry Nat). I thought the two girls would hate wearing such big itchy tutus but they actually loved it. Probabaly because Brianna had her's in her mouth most of the time.

Natalie was cuter in most of the pictures but come on Brianna's my princess, I gotta cater to her (sorry again Nat, but heck you're still stinkin' cute in this one too). Brianna kinda looks like Marshall in a tutu (I oughta see if Marshall looks this good with one on).

No School Like the Pre-School

Well I did it! I always said three was too young for preschool and guess who is the Mom one of the handsomest preschoolers this side of the mississipi? That's right Ryan started preschool on September 3rd. He was pretty sketchy about it at first, but now he looks forward to seeing Miss Brenda and Crispy (really it is Crystal but he accidently called her crispy and I laughed, so now he thinks he is hilarious). Last week when I picked him up I found out he already has a best friend named Jackson and I've been told that they already can't sit by each other because they are a little disrupting (that brings back all those memories of getting my report card back with comments all over it saying TALKS TOO MUCH IN CLASS). Marshall and I had a discussion about this cause' I am of the mind frame that as long as the talking is somewhat contributing to the class and kinda funny it's okay, he didn't much agree with me. Somehow I don't think a three year old's outburst has much to contribute to the class. Here is a sample conversation of what I think it may go like:

Teacher: Does anyone know what sound the letter A makes?
Kid 1: Hey Teacher I have a Dog
Kid 2: I have a Dog too!
Kid 3: My Pants are wet!
Ryan: The letter A make a Fart Sound! HaHaHa (that is him laughing at himself)
Kid 3 again: I think I pottied.

Thank Goodness for pre-school teachers! Well Here's to hoping Ryan can make it the entire year without me getting a call that i need to bring an extra pair of pants.

Lose a Bet?

I was looking through some old pictures of us and I came across this one. I laughed until I had a gut ache at marshall's awesome "stache". I don't remember what the bet was about all I remember was that Marshall lost and the consequence included a fu manchu, unfortunately this facial hair goodness only lasted one day before the cold steel hit the face. Good Times!

My Favorite "Office" quotes

Michael: I'm not superstitious, but I'm a little stitious.

Michael: What happens to a company if somebody takes a boss away? I will answer your question with a question. It's like, what happens to a chicken when you take its head away? It dies. Unless you find a new head. I need to see which one of these people have the skills to be a chicken head.

Michael: Wikipedia is the best thing ever. Anyone in the world can write anything they want about any subject, so you know you are getting the best possible information.

Dwight: No, don't call me a hero. Do you know who the real heroes are? The guys who wake up every morning and go into their normal jobs, and get a distress call from the commissioner, and take off their glasses and change into capes, and fly around fighting crime. Those are the real heroes.

Dwight: I saw “Wedding Crashers” accidentally. I bought a ticket for “Grizzly Man” and went into the wrong theater. After an hour, I figured I was in the wrong theater, but I kept waiting. Cause that’s the thing about bear attacks…they come when you least expect it.

Jim: After you, sirDwight: No thank you, I never let anyone walk behind me. 7 out of 10 attacks are from the rear.Jim: Okay, that still leaves a 30% chance that I'll attack you from the front.Dwight: Uh, yeah, but it'll be easier to stop. I can always block the blow and counter it - (Jim slaps him and walks away smiling)

Dwight: What is Michael Scott's greatest fear?Ryan: Loneliness... maybe women.Dwight: Wrong. Michael Scott isn't afraid of anything. [pause] Also, I would have accepted 'snakes.'

Memory Lane

Ryan has been going through a crazy stage lately and I have been having a rough go at it. So I thought I would take a trip down memory lane to remeber how sweet and innocent Ryan used to be. Ok so he was never really that sweet or innocent but it was fun to remember all the craziness.

This was Ryan helping us put the trim up on the first house we built in chubbuck. What kind of parents give a two year old a nail gun?

I don't remember the occasion but this was at Julie's house and we thought the bandage on his head went well with the motocross jammies.

Marshall had some training for his work so Ryan and I went with him to Seattle. This was taken at Cindy's house on Ryan's 1st birthday.

This was when Ryan was 22 months old and insisted on wearing his mommy's shoes. He was mad because I told him they looked funny.

OH, THE MEMORIES!!!

For FHE last night we played a cute game that Marshall brought home and then made Eagles using our hand prints as wings. It would have been funner if Ryan wouldn't have insisted on not sharing the only pair of scissors we had (and learning to share was part of the game we had just played). Oh how fun kids can be. I think they turned out pretty cute, except Brianna's looks more like a turkey. I did this because I remembered how excited I would be as a kid when my mom would decorate the house and put out the homeade decorations that I had done. I also wanted Ryan and Brianna to see how little their hands used to be. The big one is Marshall's hands with my hands on top, and i think I like that layered look a little better.

Fishing

We went fishing on Saturday. Ryan absolutely loves fishing. We have been 3 or 4 times this year and never got so much as a bite but he still loves it and has gotten pretty good at casting. Marshall is a great fishing dad, he spends more time putting another worm on ryans hook and getting his line unstuck than he does with his own pole in the water. And Brianna and I just hang out and watch the circus that plays out before us. It actually turns out to be pretty relaxing and we'll probably go again sometime this week now that we live on the river and fishing spots are so close.

Brianna- just relaxin' in my lap

Ryan- reeling in his little fishy lure. He would get excited everytime he reeled it in and say "yeah I caught a little fishy"

Yeah!

WooHoo!!! I'm finally done with my masters presentation. Now I can start blogging again. I had to write a paper which ended up being 21 pages and then give an hour long presentation followed by an hour long session of questions. And now it is all over thank goodness. As you can see in the picture Brianna is pretty excited that I'm done too. Unfortunately she had her 2 month appointment today and had to get three shots, so she doesn't feel too well right now. She is now 22 and 3/4 inches and 11 lbs 4 oz. Ryan had his 3 year check-up today too. He weighs 34 lbs. and measures 38 1/2 inches. The clinic realized they had forgot to give him his 18 month immunizations so he got surprised with two shots today and he was soooo tough. You could see he wanted to cry after the shots but he just bit his lip and stayed tough. I was so proud of him, and ten seconds after the shots were over he jumped off the table beaming with a huge smile on his face, he even thanked the nurses for giving him shots.

Our New House

Today Marshall had a great idea of taking a family picture of us in front of our house using the tripod and the camera's self-timer, so we set out side while we still had light. When we set the camera up our neighbors were walking by so we started talking to them and as you can see in the picture there wasn't any light left when we were through visiting. Our family moved into this house on April 30 and we haved loved everything about it especially our neighbors. They have all been super great and have been a lot of help to us, especially after we had Brianna.

Splish Splash...

Last night Ryan and his sister got ready for bed together by sharing a bath. Ryan decided he needed a lot of bubbles so he dumped whatever he could get his hands on into the tub (including my conditioner). Bathtime is Brianna's favorite activity- she absolutely loves it, she could stay in there all day- but I get too nervous to let her go without a diaper for too long.
Ryan thought it was neat to have a friend in the tub. They both had bubble-do's
Just Relaxin'.
Brianna was content as could be after her relaxing bubble-bath, I feel like bathing her everynight if she gets this content.

Dad - a sons first hero, a daughters first love

To one of the Greatest Dads there ever was Happy Father's Day from Ryan and Brianna

My finger maybe small, but I can still wrap my daddy around it!

By the time a man realizes that maybe his father was right - he usually has a son who thinks he's wrong!

Boys will be Boys

Boys will be boy and therefore girls will be put into dumptrucks. Believe it or not this was his father's idea (and if you know Marshall you will believe it.) But she actually seemed to enjoy it so no harm done.

What a Babe! (I mean baby)

One more addition to the Marshall Reynolds family. Brianna was born on 5-5-08 at 0845, she weighed in at 7lbs. 1 oz. She has already proven to be a healthy eater like her dad, at her two week appointment she weighed in at a whopping 8 lbs. 10 oz. She has been so easy for us and her brother Ryan loves her to death. He loves to hold her and especially loves to carry her (to our dismay). We let him carry her once and he went running around the house with her head flopping up and down. His mantra is hold her neck and hold her butt and then off he goes with her like a rag doll, but she hasn't broken yet.We think she looks like her mom, but we will let you guys be the judges so let us know.