We are so blessed!

We finally have some really good news to post on our blog. Ryan finally passed the California State Bar so he is now officially a lawyer. We were so relieved to find out that all of his hard work finally paid off. We are so grateful that the third time was the charm and that we won't have to go find a new career. And speaking of the third time is the charm, we are also happy to announce that our third wild child is on the way and will be wreaking havoc in our home sometime in May of 2009. The girls are really excited and they are hoping it is another girl. We feel so blessed to have a job and to have another baby on the way!

Fun with Grandma and Grandpa

My parents were able to come visit us over the weekend and we had such a fun time together. The girls spent lots of time at the park (most days they were able to go 2 times) with Grandma and Grandpa. They had fun chasing Grandma around and putting her into the dungeon.

Here Hailey is following Grandma up the climbing wall. Here they are after they all made it to the top of the climbing wall.

Grandma helped the girls play checkers.

Hailey got lots of rides on Grandpa's shoulders to and from the park. She loved taking his hat off and putting it on her head.

Peyton and Grandma also had fun writing poems together. They were really silly but Peyton loved making them up. Here are just a few they made up.

Pickles are sour

Candy is sweet

Hailey loves jumping

with her great big feet!

Hailey likes to act coo coo

Peyton likes to act crazy

When they get together

the whole world is lazy.

My Grandma is wonderful

She loves us a bunch

and when she comes to visit

she takes us out to lunch.

Thanks mom and dad for making this a fun weekend.

Trick or Treat

We had such a fun Halloween and the girls were able to participate in many fun activities.

Here is a picture of the girls before Peyton went to school in the morning. Peyton was dressed as a hula dancer and Hailey was Cinderella.

Here is a picture of Peyton with her best friend Brooke. When they got to school in the morning they were able to parade around the school in their costumes and then her class had a breakfast party. Hailey and I were able to stay and help out and Hailey really enjoyed that.
That night Hailey decided she wanted to be Snow White for trick or treating time so we dressed her up and got ready to go to Aunt Natalie's house. We ate dinner over there and then went trick or treating with a bunch of Aurora's neighbors. The girls had so much fun running from house to house getting candy. Hailey always had to stop and show us what she got after each house. They were definitely worn out by the end of the night and quickly fell asleep after we tucked them into bed.

Pumpkin carving time

We had a great time carving pumpkins with the girls today. The girls decided to create their own faces and Ryan had to show a little team spirit with his Y pumpkin (he really wanted to do a Notre Dame one but it was too hard).

Here is the finished product. We can't wait to put a candle in them and light them.

Protect Marriage

In a little over 2 weeks people in California will be voting on a proposition that is very important to me. It is known as Prop 8. I will give you a little background on the proposition and tell you why it is so important to me. In March 2000, California voters passed Proposition 22 to specify in state law that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California. In May 2008, the California Supreme Court wrongly overturned the people's vote and gave individuals of the same sex the right to marry. Proposition 8 states that "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California." I am voting YES on Prop 8 because I believe that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God. Our society can’t begin to fathom the lasting negative effects of legalizing same-sex marriage, and it’s up to the people of the United States to stand up and vote against same-sex marriage if we want to avoid the foreseeable and unforeseeable consequences of scrapping God’s model of marriage. Here are a few links that I recommend looking at.

www.preservingmarriage.org
YouTube links:Proposition 8 Question and Answers:
Will same sex marriages hurt others? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-jc4ujp9Ok
Sick and tired of intolerance? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4nqtDrJI7A
Are others supporting Prop 8? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIvS7redS8M
Will courts overturn it again? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4tTRvmgZKM
Didn’t we already vote on this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsHqrHoxTiM
Don’t others deserve the same happiness? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZP2ERL6Xykk
Will existing rights disappear? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IGPxqHScjk

www.catholicvote.com

We're Back

We have finally returned from our 2 1/2 week road trip and boy did we have fun. We started our trip off with a visit to our best friends from Tucson who recently move to Las Vegas. Peyton was so excited to be reunited with her friend Rachel and I was so excited to see Lena. We had so much fun talking, playing and celebrating Rachel's birthday.

Rachel and Peyton together again.

Thank you so much Lena for letting us stay at your house. We can't wait to visit you again.

Our next stop on the trip was Provo, Utah where we visited with Ryan's brother Tyler and his wife AnnaMarie. We took a trip up to Aspen Grove and the girls had a fun time posing on the bear statues.

Of course we had to go bowling at BYU.
Another must for the girls is a trip to the Cougar.
We were also able to spend a lot of time with my sister Christin and her family and also my brother Andrew and my sister Rachael.
We had a great time going to the park together.

The girls had fun playing at the Church History Museum in Salt Lake.

We visited the Tabernacle.

We also visited the Salt Lake Temple Visitor's Center.
I was able to go to the Women's Broadcast with my sisters and some of my cousins. We had dinner afterwards and Andrew decided to join us.
We went to the park and played a lot with my sisters. Rachael was pretty proud of herself for making it to the top.
Summer didn't want to be out done by her Aunt Rachael.
One final goodbye picture before we had to leave.

Our final stop on our trip was Arizona where we spent time with my family and some of Ryan's family. We were able to play with the girls cousins a lot and they loved it.

We all went to Organ Stop pizza and had a great time.

I took the girls to see a movie with their cousins and they had a lot of fun.
Hailey was able to meet her cousin Dean for the first time.
Peyton hung out with Noah and Dean also.


The girls were able to spend some time with their Great Grandpa Gaisford.
They enjoyed playing games with Grandma and Grandpa Cardon.
Hailey loved doing flips with Grandpa Cardon.
The girls loved hanging out with their Uncle Scottie.

We had such a great time visiting everyone and we were so glad that everyone took time to play with us. We can't wait to see all of you again.

The Luckiest Day of Peyton's Life

I promised Peyton that I would take her to Disneyland once during her 3 week break by herself without Hailey. So Ryan took work off today to take care of Hailey and Peyton and I headed off to Disneyland and California Adventure. We started out at California Adventure because Peyton really wanted to go on the big roller coaster. After an hour of being there we decided to take a break from the fast rides (there weren't any lines so I was getting a little motion sick) and go to the Brother Bear playground area. Peyton wanted to go down the slides so we climbed up the stairs and when we got up there we were greeted by a Disney Employee and were given a "Dream Fastpass" that gets you to the front of the line of any ride that has fastpass capabilities at Disneyland and California Adventure. We were so excited and thought that we were so lucky to be in the right place at the right time. A couple of hours later we were at Disneyland and had just exited "Big Thunder Mountain" when we were greeted by another Disney employee and given a "Special Park Dream Time Event" which allowed us to stay an hour and a half past closing and go on all the rides we wanted (along with about 2000 other people). Peyton was so excited because I had told her we needed to leave by 4:00 PM so I could get ready for our big trip we are leaving on tomorrow but I just couldn't pass up this once in a lifetime opportunity we were given. So we stayed at Disneyland until 9:30 PM (the park closed at 8:00 tonight) and were able to go on 7 extra rides in one hour. I am so tired and I have not packed anything for our 2 1/2 week trip we are going on tomorrow but at least Peyton said that she had one of the best days of her life. Here are a few pictures from our day.

By the way. Don't feel too sorry for Hailey. Ryan took her to Knott's Berry Farm for a few hours today and she got to play at McDonald's for dinner. Ryan said that she was able to dance on stage with Charlie Brown and Snoopy (Charlie Brown picked her out from the audience) and loved every minute of it. Too bad I had the camera so he couldn't take any pictures.