Category: Uncategorized (Page 63 of 118)

Hi, Ryan here.

With John’s 4th Birthday celebration, a pre-Labor Day BBQ, and a BYU Home game on TV, it’s been a busy day today.

Since Paige is the poet, I’ll just let you see what we did:

http://www.ericksonfamily.com/gallery/01-Sep-2007/

Here’s a preview:

My office smells so yummy.  And kind of sexy.

You see, I have a little sample card of “David Beckham–Instinct” cologne.  Since Ryan isn’t big into fragrances and smelly things (he about has a fit if I burn a nice smelling candle or plug in an air freshener, and if I have just put on smelly lotion he won’t touch me.  He’s kind of silly that way), I just opened up this little smell sample and am keeping it right here on my printer.  So I can sniff and go “ummmmmm” anytime I want to.  Maybe someday I’ll get Ryan to try it.

Dear Kids;

Please do not stand on the large bucket of laundry detergent.  I know it’s really cool to look in on the magic swishy thing that cleans the clothes, but next time, use a stool.  Maybe you didn’t realize that the laundry detergent bucket is one of the world’s modern miracles.  Once it’s sealed back up again, it is nearly impossible to open.  And your poor mom doesn’t have the strongest fingernails to start with.

So, if you ever want clean clothes again, please avoid standing on that bucket.

Love always,

Mom

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to see if I can find a crowbar.  Or maybe if I yell out ‘help’ those cute little fuzzy wonderpets will come and help me.   I can just see it now…’Wook!  That mommy needs owr help!  She can’t do her waundry because that bucket is stuck shut!  What’s gonna work?  TEAM work…”  and then the guinea pig, the fuzzy duck and the turtle will help me get my laundry done.

* Paige is Creative
She teaches the Relief Society lesson about once a month, and always has creative, fun ideas to keep the lessons interesting. She also makes balloon animals!

* Paige is Lucky
She works hard for it, but she does win a lot of radio contests. She’s our entertainment budget. We’ve been on trips to St. George, Disneyland, San Francisco, and most recently, Cancun, and we’ve gone to many other fun activities due to her ‘luck’.

* Paige has Friends
She makes friends easily, and seems to have friends wherever she goes. She also keeps in touch with her friends from Elementary school through college, and they’re all great people.

* Paige Supports me
She doesn’t complain when I have to work late or when I am off to work on someone’s basement, etc. She didn’t even raise her eyebrows when I told her I was going to rip out all of our light switches and replace them with new ones! She may roll her eyes at some of my ideas, but I can count on her backing me up.

* Paige is Musical
Paige has a great talent for music. She loves to sing and play bells, and she plays the piano as well.

* Paige is a Geek Girl
Although she probably wouldn’t admit it, Paige likes her gadgets. She likes the automation system in the house, and she loves the roomba.

* Paige has a great family
Paige’s parents, Pat and Eugene are pretty much the ideal in-laws. They aren’t critical or condescending, they invite us to events and activities and for sunday dinners, and are good company.

* Paige is Adventurous
She has always had a sense of adventure, and is willing to try pretty much anything at least once. When we were first married, we used to do spontaneous trips and getaways (one time, we decided to go to the grand canyon one afternoon, and left that night!), and although it’s harder with the kids, she’s still up for a good adventure.

* Paige Loves our kids
5 kids is no easy feat to pull off, but even though they try her patience (and mine!), Paige loves the kids, and would do anything to help them grow up into responsible, nice people.

* Paige is Beautiful
She is the most gorgeous thing I’ve ever seen or expect to see.

* Paige is Smart
‘Dumb Blonde’ definitely doesn’t apply here. Paige is a smart one.

* Paige is Clean but not a neat freak
Although Paige works hard to keep the house clean and tidy (and tries to get the kids to help), sometimes you have to give a little.

* Paige is Patient
I give her plenty of opportunities to test her patience, too. 🙂

* Paige Likes Parties
Ever since I met her, Paige has hosted parties. Whether a Sunday cake get-together in her apartment at BYU, planning a fun birthday party for one of the kids, or having neighbors or friends over for a BBQ in the back yard, Paige likes to host parties.

* Paige is Kind
She is always thinking of others, and when she hears that someone is having problems, she helps out.

In honor of our 15th anniversary tomorrow (yea, us!), I’ve decided to share 15 things I love about Ryan. I’ve also invited him to do the same. Kind of a guest post from the administrator, if you will.

1-Ryan loved me first. And he brings up this fact often. You see, Ryan and I met at BYU. We both lived at Campus Plaza. I wasn’t really interested in him, but would go over to flirt with his cute roommate. The roommate didn’t notice, but Ryan (smart guy that he is), did.

2-Our first date was to a hockey game and to pizza at Litza’s Pizza.

3-Ryan wrote me throughout my entire 18 month mission to Germany. He got bored in classes a lot, so he would doodle and draw all over the envelopes or the letter. I couldn’t tell you how many letters he sent me, but it was more than I got from my parents or anyone else. Once when I was transferred and there was no mail coming, I sent myself the same postcard from Ryan over and over again. They don’t cancel the postage, so I could just drop it into any mailbox, and then, lo and behold, the next day I would get a postcard from Ryan in the mail. He sent me packages with silly things in them, and once I think I asked for some far side or Calvin and Hobbes cartoons, and he went to the Daily Universe office (the BYU newspaper) and got back issues and cut out tons of old comics for me. Now that’s love.

4-He thinks I look beautiful even with no make-up on and with my hair in a ponytail. I don’t see it, but it’s nice that he does.

5-He can fix just about any computer problem. And he does. For free. Sometimes, our friends and neighbors feel the need to pay him back for his help, and then I reap the benefit, too. Just this week a neighbor brought us a whole dinner (lasagna, bread, salad and fruit) to thank him for fixing her email.

6-He brings home the bacon so I don’t have to. And then if I feel like frying it up in a pan, he’s ok with that, too.

7-Ryan does not enjoy shopping. So I just pick up whatever clothes are on sale that I think he’ll like, and he wears them.

8-Although not always thrilled by my purchases, he doesn’t mind my garage sale habit, and occasionally he encourages me to go. We’ve set up a kind of ‘garage sale budget’ and he’ll say, “You haven’t gone for a few weeks, you probably have to spend more this time.”

9-He is older than me by two months and 20 days.

10-He cleans up throw up.

11-He’s been nothing but supportive of my time spent with the bell choir. Even when I’m gone every night in December (not really, but it seems like it), he does his best to be home to watch the kids. Ryan’s never complained about my weekly rehearsals, and he is one of our biggest fans. At our last concert in May, we walked out on the stage, and there he was on the FRONT row. My kids, my parents, my aunt and uncle, Ryan’s parents, and Ryan. All right there looking at me. I told them they are not allowed to sit in the front row anymore. I mean, that’s a little bit too supportive. And when I complain about mistakes made, he says “I didn’t hear any mistakes!” Maybe he’s just being nice, but it’s nice to have a supportive man.

12-Our honeymoon was up in Park City, but he was just getting a cold when we got married. By the end of the reception, he was in full-blown cold mode. Soon I was sick, too. So we spent our entire honeymoon being sick. We tried to go out and go see some sights in Park City, and I think we lasted about 1/2 an hour, then had to go back to the hotel and lie down. We drank Twisters juice and food from the local Albertsons. When he was feeling a bit better and I was really sick, he went and got me McDonald’s food. Needless to say, we’ve had much better vacations later.

13-When I was pregnant with Cole, I had a craving for a milkshake one night. Well, it wasn’t just any night, it was Christmas. I thought he could just go out and find some fast food place open, right? Wrong. Nothing was open, and he tried in vain to find me a milkshake. Worse yet, somehow he ran over the mud flaps on his truck and ended up with two flat tires. I felt so bad!

14-He has a great laugh.

15- He comes from a great family. When my friends complain about their in-laws not accepting them, or their parents and in-laws demanding equal time with them for holidays, I can’t really relate. Ryan’s mom claims that she liked me the best of my roommates when we came to their house for a dinner before Ryan and I were even dating. His parents have accepted me like a daughter, but not been demanding of our time in the least. His brother and sisters and their families all get along and are nice, and there’s no silly fighting between them. Of course, we don’t have that in my family, either, so we’re just lucky all around, I guess. And my parents loved Ryan WAY before we were engaged. In fact, I remember that they invited him over supposedly to watch a BYU game while I was away on my mission. I think they may even love him more than they love me, now. He’s more useful to them, that’s for sure.

So, as you can see, I have a wonderful husband, and I’m very happy that I married him 15 years ago!

Have you ever had one of those days when you just want to crawl back into bed and go to sleep for about a day and a half? And you would like everyone and everything to just leave you alone, and for the love of Pete, could they all just please stop fighting and ‘DO WHAT I ASKED YOU TO DO FOR ONCE!’ I guess I’ve reached the point where I’m anxiously awaiting the beginning of school. Even though I know that it will make us so darn busy I’ll want to pull my hair out, and we’ll have to deal with the homework and the practicing and the schedules, but right now, I say, ‘bring it on, baby.’

So, if you need me, I’ll be hiding in my bedroom. The room with a lock on the door. With some music on to drown out the sounds of the bickering, arguing children who are NOT doing the jobs around the house that I’ve asked them to do. I’ll be taking two tylenol and a diet coke over ice with me. And a book. And barring some blood curdling injury screams, I won’t be coming out until lunchtime. I’ll probably be doing something really useful and necessary like folding socks. By myself.

There’s a really foul smell coming from the laundry room.  You know that smell I’m talking about, don’t you?  Someone probably cleaned up some spilled milk, then dumped the towel into the laundry basket to fester and sit for a few days until it could stink up the rest of the pile of dirty clothes.  So I must get every last piece of laundry through the wash today.  Hooray.

It’s 3 in the morning and I can’t sleep.

It’s way too hot in my bedroom, I have a toenail that’s snagging and bothering me, my muscles ache, my husband is snoring, the streetlight outside my bedroom window is too bright, and I’m worried.

I’m worried because I found out tonight that Megan is the only one in her WHOLE group of friends who got put in the AM school track.  She got the teacher I requested, but for some reason they switched her from the PM track (9:15-3:30) to the AM track (8:00-2:15).  My other kids are on the PM track.  Why would they put her in AM?  I’m pretty sure I requested PM, even though on the form it says you can request a teacher OR a track.  How a I going to get them to change her to the PM track and still get her in the class with the teacher I requested?  To borrow a phrase from Megan…”ARRRG”.

So, here I sit; blogging at 3 in the morning because I can’t sleep.