Football as a way of life :)

So I've dropped the ball lately on posting new Ryanna stuff but if you saw the last couple posts you could see that our lives have mostly been about football lately. We weren't sure what all coaching would entail but I can honestly say it has been really fun for our family. Brian is of course super busy with not just coaching but his full time job and his radio show but it was only natural that he would be passionate about football and coaching. He's just one of those people who was meant to do it because while some of it is more work than play I think most of the time he is having a blast! We go to the games every week and Ryanna loves running around, watching the players, and clapping and saying "yaaaaa!" when she hears the crowd cheering. It's fun for me too. Most surprising to me is that I like watching the games and watching Brian on the sidelines. I really do! I'm like a mom at a teeball game, "See him in the red hat and khaki shorts? The coach there? That's my husband!" I can't help but be proud of him for all that he does. I picked a good one. :)





We always bring the etch a sketch to the football games for when she needs a break from running around. Here she was writing her name - can't you tell?!?!?
The hill she loves to climb and roll/fall down at the games.
Crazy morning hair. One of the holders broke and I thought it was cute of course.
Last weekend we were invited to a murder mystery dinner party. This is a group of our friends that were in our last ward. Basically all us girls are good friends and our husbands get thrown together for these kind of things but they all get along too. It was hilarious. The couple in the middle were the maid and butler(hosts of the party). The rest of us were potential heirs to a family fortune getting together to discuss who the rightful heir was. We were also all suspect in the murder of the previous heir. The other couples were all supposed to be British royalty of some sort I think while Brian and I were the imposters. Brian was a hunter/geneology enthusiast who fabricated a line of heritage or something. I was his trampy French wife who married him for the money and was trying to poisen anyone who would get in the way of the money. I honestly thought I had killed the guy but it turned out the ex-wife was to blaim. Go figure. Anyway it was a blast and I recommend it to anyone who needs a date night idea.


I love dressing Ryanna up in her Sunday best. She loves nursery and for the first time since she was born I've enjoyed many lessons with my hubby. We are so grateful she loves nursery and we always feel bad for the parents who are coaxing their kids into the room while they scream and cling to their leg. Ryanna on the other hand runs into the room and doesn't look back.

Building block towers takes up about a 1/4 of our day.

Bruises and kitties...life with Ryanna

Playing in the ghetto playground is fun!
For now she would rather push her bike than ride it but she loves to steal other kid's bikes and ride them.
Push me Mommy!!!
My creation is nearly complete!!! MWA HAHAHHAHA Guck Soup!
Look Mommy! Pretty hat!
Yo, you talking to me?

Ryanna is changing daily and I need to write down a few of the funny things she is into right now. First we are in the phase of daily bruises. Most of the bruises result from tripping over a rock, toy, book, or her own feet. The really big ones result from unsuccessful climbing attempts - poor little girl. In the event of a tripping the first thing she does is turn to the ground or floor where she fell and shakes her finger at it and tells it, "NO NO NO!!!!!!!!!" I think one time she fell on a toy and I picked the toy up and said, "no no toy. Please don't hurt my Ryanna." Well she has taken that wildly out of context and is now merciless to anything that "hurts" her. That is her coping mecanism for now.......

When Ryanna was about 7 or 8 months old I remember being at church in the lobby and a mother was explaining how her 3 year old believed she was a puppy and acted like one about 98% of the time. During the conversation the little girl was on all fours sniffing the floor, chewing on her shoe, and licking her mom's leg. I put on a good face but was thinking how wildly bizarre this child was and that her mom had really screwed her up. Well, Ryanna's favorite game to play with us is that she is a kitty and she loves when we play like we are kitties with her. This has mostly consisted of meowing and nuzzling the neck and gets old after a few minutes. Today, however, we were reading a book and it had a picture of a cat sleeping. Well her other favorite thing to pretend is that she is "sleeping" - she closes her eyes, lays down her head, and does the classic disney snore(you know what I mean right?). Well as soon as she saw the kitty asleep she put 2 and 2 together and laid down as a kitty and pretended to sleep: making the snoring sound with the occasional MEOW! I wonder if she'll continue to integrate behaviors that cat's can do to the point where she thinks she is a cat.......I hope not!! But for now it is a really cute thing she likes to do.

There are a few phrases or words used in our household that might be unique. These are usually words Ryanna has come up with. Water boats (noun): any plastic container, bottle, or toy that can hold water and is played with in the bathtub. Never make the mistake of asking Ryanna where her boats or bath toys are. She will look at you like you're an idiot and say, "Water boats, water boats" in a very firm voice.

Guck Soup (noun or verb): one plastic bowl, one rubber ducky, random household items, one mixing spoon. Use said items to make Duck soup...of course! As in "let's make some duck soup Ryanna." Or "whatcha doing Ryanna?" and she responds "Guck soupy."

SET GOOOHHHHHH (phrase): Ready...Set...GOOOOOO!!!! This phrase will preface any moment: before running around a corner, putting on shoes, eating a snack, going outside, etc. The go part can go on for at least 20 seconds if she's feeling ambitious.

A few more common ones are cycle(short for bicycle, tricycle, motorcycle, etc), Cheese Peas(aka cheese please, but not really as a request so much as a phrase lovingly uttered while Ryanna is just playing by herself....), prinees(princess, any pretty girl in her books, on a movie cover, or poster at walmart), etc. Her vocab is growing everyday. I really love this part of having a toddler.