WOW! WOW! and WOW!!!

I love how things work out in our lives, a few weeks ago I was working late every single day and was just not happy with the way things were going.  I decided that starting October 22nd I would no longer work past my set hours.   Which were that I would get off at 7pm every day, and have Wednesdays off and not work them no matter what.  It was really hard to do at first but now I think that I need to be home to have quality time with my family and put my sweet boy to bed.  A week before I started implimenting this new schedule I got word that I needed to meet with a member of the bishopric, we all know what that means.....a new calling.  I thought to myself, Im ready for this and I have been wanting something to do in the ward to be able to serve.  Just like I thought it was a new calling but a bit more of a bigger calling than I  had thought I would EVER be called to.  A member of the Bishopric tells me how a lot of prayer and thought has gone into this calling and I am thinking to myself the whole time it is going to be primary or nursery or something along those lines.  But when he said a lot of prayer and thought had gone into it I started to get nervous.  He said ''we woulld like to call you to be the new YOUNG WOMEN'S PRESIDENT!!!!! I just started bawling and could not believe it.  I told him I would be more than honored to and could not believe that Heavenly Father would trust in me so much to run the Young Women Program in our ward.  I was then told that I needed to pray and go to the temple to pick my Presidency....WHAT??? oh my gosh this is way more than I can handle!!! I did just that and went to the Temple 4 times over this whole thing.  It took me 3 weeks to choose people, I wanted to choose women in the ward that I knew I could work with well and have the right spirit about them.  I feel like picking the right women can either make or break a Presidency.  I love the women I have chosen and I cannot wait to get things up and running.  As of right now there aren't any Young Women in the ward but there will be one coming in December and one in June.  I am so excited to work with these Young Women, they are so impressionable at this age and I just pray that Heavenly Father will help me every step of the way so I can do and be the things that he needs me to be.  I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve in my ward and to be an instrument in the Lords work.  I know that my Heavenly Father loves me and he will guide me.  I got set apart yesterday as well as the rest of the Presidency and we have our fist leadership training this Saturday!!!!

Happy Halloween

We had such a good time with family this year, we did our traditional chili party but this year we spiced it up with homemade root beer and a witches hat made out of rice krispie treats! Who doesn't love to get together with food? We had fun dressing up, I dressed up for work so I chose to be a ladybug for that and just carried the costume through to our party that night and Branden wore a football jersey and Ryler was his skeleton. We did dry ice in our root beer and that was so much fun to see, it was kind of scary I was afraid Branden was going to burn himself because I have never ever used dry ice and it was really cool.  Everyone stayed for a little while and then left to go pass out candy to the trick or treaters by their house and we put on a fun movie and waited for trick or treaters too. I had to put the pic of Ryler waiting at my neighbors door because that was the only house that he went trick or treating to and we thought he was home but he left just before we went over, I gave him crap the next day at church that he ruined Rylers Halloween because he didn't answer.  It was kind of funny though while Ryler was waiting for him to answer he was being so cute he kept saying "whats that" it was so funny.  We ended the night eating once again some pizza and cuddling up with Beetlejuice!

Ward Halloween Party

Our ward did a Halloween party this year and it was so much fun, we had tons of fun food and hung out with friends, learned the Thriller dance and got to see everyones cool costumes! We went as the skeleton family and that was fun and way easy.  I bought Ryler's outfit a while ago at Kohls and thought he needed Halloween pair of pajamas and as it came closer to Halloween and this was the only party we were going to we decided to just have him wear his pajamas and it worked out perfect because my parents let us borrow their skeleton jackets and it was so much fun.  It was so fun to see some people doing the dance, most men are pretty uncordinated and that was fun to watch.  We saw a cute girl in our ward named Emilee who will soon be in Young Women's and she just loves Ryler.  She thinks he is the greatest thing since sliced bread and they had so much fun together.  She just carries him around and plays with him.  We had a ton of fun!!

Fall Pics!

We took these pics a few weeks ago and I have just forgotten to post them.  We took Ryler to Hee Haw farms while they were closed during the day and snapped some cute pics! It was naptime so he was actually a huge pill but we were able to get some cute pictures in between the crying and with us acting like total dorks!

Hee Haw!!

Ryler was so excited! daddy wasn't ready for the picture

We went on a hayride through the corn field and there were characters dressed up throwing candy at everyone. It was a lot of fun.

Those threatening clouds are what made us leave 30 min after we got there!:(

This was a huge slide you could go on put had to put this little sack under you to be able to slide down, Madi and Ryler loved it.

We had so much fun at Hee Haw farms, as we were walking in I said to Branden "it looks like its going to rain" he checked the forcast and said "its only got a 10% chance of rain" well we played for about 30 min and then left running to the car in the mud with the stroller because a downpour came! I told him it was a big 10% chance! We got in and played and did as much as we could.  I think my favorite part was watching madi and ryler go on the little ride that they did.  It was really bumpy and it was funny to watch them bounce all around while madi was trying to hold ryler! We did the animal petting, saw the largest pig I have ever seen, bounced on the bounce, the slide, and the hayride! Halloween is here!!!

Sweets....mmmm

We had so much fun while Madison was here just before Halloween.  We made tons of treats and played a lot.  The first day she was here and we had her we made a gingerbread haunted house and boy Branden and madi went crazy decorating.  A few days later she had a day with Grandma Jolene and they made sugar cookies....let me add that they were the softest most delicious things I've ever eaten.  They went crazy putting sprinkles all over them and they had about an inch of frosting. The next day we dipped carameled apples and boy the caramel sets up faster than I remember.  we had to literally push the candies onto the apples, it didn't alter the taste though;) We had a camp out in the living room.  Branden set up the tent and we had  a scary movie night in the living room inside of the tent. 

Punkins!

I know a 7 year old has a knife, but I personally watched her very very close! I actually ended up doing most of it for her! she did a pretty good job though!

Cute Ryler eats anything than he can get a hold of!

Branden's is on the left, Ry's(aka mindy's) in the center and Madi's on the right! we had tons of fun! We pretty much laughed our guts out! Such a fun fun night!

Gardner's Village-My Favorite Witch

We had such a good time at Gardner's Village this year. Branden and I have been for the past 3 years and this year has been by far the best.  We got to take both kids as you can see and my parents met us there.  We walked around and took lots of pictures even when we weren't supposed to ;) Madi's costume is by far the greatest thing I have ever seen come to the halloween market.  It would light up in the dark, it had little fiber optic lights.  She looked absolutely gorgeous and it was so fun she wanted to wear makeup and everthing.  She wanted her hair done a certain way and we got her all dressed up and you could tell she was having such a good time. It was a lot colder than I expected, I didn't wear a coat just a vest and I was freein. We stopped in at the neighborhood market(i think that is what its called) and had some yummy soup, that warmed us up to go back out and take some more pictures.  My parents were so fun, its like they came out of their shell a little, they were running around with the kids and putting on goofy hats and acting like such dorks! (sorry mom and dad) We had SUCH a good time with them. My mom was all decked out in her halloween get-up she had on her skeleton jacket, spider ring, spider bracelet, and skeleton head necklace. Ryler was loving it.  He had a lot of fun for the most part, It was kind of cold and he couldn't run as much as he would have liked but he just runs off!!!! scary. Thanks everyone for a fun halloween night!!

That still small voice

So yesterday I had to be to work at 7 am and I had started doing my nails on thursday and really wanted to finish them so I decided to be crazy and go in at 6 am to get my nails finished. Great idea right??? NO! On my way up the point of the mountain I thought I saw some deers eye reflection and it really scared me. It ended up being a reflection from someone else's headlights on my windshield. I decided if I can just drive faster through this section of the freeway I will be clear of deers. So on I went speeding through draper and I see a set of headlights turn on by the side of the freeway. Well instantly I knew I was going to be pulled over, even before he turned on his headlights I was already slowing down and preparing to pull over. On his lights went and I got my license and registration out. He asked "do you know how fast you were going " I tried to sweetly say no and give him an innocent look. He said well ma'am you were going 83. WOW he took my license and came back with my ticket. He only wrote my ticket for 9 over though, thank heavens. I didn't realize that I was going that fast. I drove off to work and had a great day. All day I kept telling B how afraid I am of hitting a deer. That really was the whole problem yesterday morning. I thought about it a lot all day. The day went on and last night just before midnight I decided to run and grab a few groceries for sunday dinner. Obeying EVERY traffic law just so I don't get pulled over again I was driving really slow. Well guess what ran right in front of me??? A DEER!! Had I not been pulled over yesterday I probably wouldn't have been driving so cautiously. I was driving slow enough that I didn't really have to brake, it just stood there and I slowly came to a stop and watched it cross the road. I drove home and told branden how I was grateful that I was open to that still small voice that whispers little twinklings of insights to me. Had I not had that experience yesterday I might have ended up in a real bad accident last night. I learned a lot by being open to the spirit.
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Conference Weekend-Saturday

Ryler fake getting in trouble for touching the blinds too much!

Sparkle in my eye

Wow what a weekend! I took Saturday off of work and listened to conference, during the first session I listened to it while making potato soup for our picnic.  We drove up to Bridal Veil Falls which has become a new favorite of ours.  It is so beautiful and we love taking pictures of the mountains, today was especially gorgeous because all the leaves were changing! It was pretty cold, I love fall time. I love the jacket weather! We had a fun picnic and took some cute pictures, Ryler was being especially cute that day, we drove back home and made it just in time for the next session, and got ready for the fun filled night ahead of us! I have noticed the last two years how much different conference is with a child in the house, you dont get as much out of it as we used to! Branden went with his dad to get his new suit fitted and went to preisthood and went out for BBQ with all the brothers and his dad. They had a lot of fun and said preisthood was really good. The girls met at Lindsays and Jolene brought us our crafts and dinner from Zupa's it was so so yummy. I will definately go there again. We played with the kids and poor little turin had an ear infection and wanted some extra lovin and he was so cute, all he wanted was linds to hold him. Poor little guy. We made our craft and they all turned out so good. I love my kitty and the Witches hat! We had tons of fun and cant wait for april to do it again! Thanks for such a fun night everyone!!

So cute

Ha ha we saw this hat and had to put it on ryler! It is adorable. We were at Downtown Disney having fun shopping after a full day at Disneyland!!!
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San Diego-Friday-Disney, Calif Adventure

Day #2 we went to Disneyland and California Adventure park and walked Downtown Disney.  We got to Disney and went straight to Pirates of the Carribbean, Ryler's very first ride and I think he really liked it. After a while of walking around we finally and Branden's hard work got him to sleep but it only lasted for about thirty minutes:( This poor little guy was so tired, we took some breaks to get some food and we went all day and only spent $6 in the park, we bought two waters, we were so prepared that we didn't have to buy any meals. Our hotel offered a continental breakfast and we took food for lunch so all we really needed was dinner and we went to the Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney.  It was so yummy and the resturant was such a fun environment.  The kids loved it.  We went on a ton of rides, the fun part for Madi was that she got to go on all the big rides twice, She went once with me and once with daddy. Madi went on space mountain with me and it was so much fun. We loved soaking in the Disney experience because we wont be abto to do this every year, its just far too expensive.   I absolutely love the family pictures we got behind the pumpkin and the candy corn, I love our little family! It was so nice to be right across the street from our hotel so after a long day of walking at Disney we got to walk back to the hotel.

San Diego here we come!!

At the airport waiting for our flight!
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San Diego-Thursday-Moonlight Beach

Wow this was one tiring day, our flight left at 10:30 and that was perfect it wasn't until we got to the airport and realized that Ryler would be a nightmare that we started dreading things.  We gave him some Benadryl hoping he would sleep on the plane but we had no such luck, it definitely made him tired but he fought it the whole time. I felt bad for the people around us and on the way up his binkie came out and he was screaming, it think the pressure hurt his ears.  We made it and survived, then we got to the car rental place and the car we reserved would no way have fit all of our stuff, we wanted a full size car. They told us they didn't have any(even though I could see about 30 in their lot) we ended up with an SUV yeah we got go pay $75 extra! okay enough complaining......we picked Madi up after school, grabbed a slurpee and headed to Moonlight Beach. Its always our favorite to go to and it is really clean and they have a fun park for the kids. Ryler was tired for one and not really sure about the sand, after a while of me playing with him and acting like a total weirdo he started enjoying it.  I would run toward the incoming waves and laugh and scream and he thought that was great! He eventually started running toward them, running and screaming himself.  We played in the water for a while and headed over to the park and let the kids run out some more energy and they were so fun. It's interesting because sometimes Madi and Ryler won't see each other for months but when they do again its like they were never separated.  They had so much fun.  We headed to Leucadia Pizza and had the yummiest pizza I have ever had. They serve amazing garlic bread before the pizza comes out and we had a blast. Now that we have played and been fed we headed off to Anaheim for some Disneyland, California Adventure Park and Universal Studios.  We were staying 2 nights in Anaheim and 2 nights in Encinitas.  It was about an hour and a half drive, we arrived to our hotel which was amazing! We were right across from Disneyland and got the best deal on our hotel!!!

My first big fall!

okay i'm sorry if this is a weird post but Ryler had his first big fall and bled from it so I had to post it.  I know so many more accidents are to come:( He was running and somehow fell on his face and he had his binkie in his mouth and it jammed in between his lip and his gums and tore the skin that is connecting the two. I picked him up to comfort him and something dripped on my arm and I just thought it was saliva but I looked a few seconds later and it was blood. I was hysterical!!!! I could not stop crying! I could only think that he knocked his teeth out or that his teeth went through his lip. oh poor guy, it wasn't til after this happened and we were taking pictures that we noticed that he had a shiner on his forehead. He cried for quite a while and we had Branden's whole family over for dinner so it was quite the ordeal. I felt like I completely overreacted by crying like I did but he is my baby and he has never got hurt! He is okay now and has healed!

My Little Ute

Because of the weather today I wanted to put ryler in long pants. I have a lot of clothes that are 24 months and I saw this outfit in his closet and he just had to wear it..aunt sheri gave it to him for his first birthday. It fits perfectly. He is so super adorable!

Happy Grandparent's Day

A lot of people don't know about this special day but it has been around since 1978. President Jimmy Carter announced that Grandparent's Day would be held on the first Sunday after Labor Day. A woman by the name of Marian McQuade was a housewife and a mother of 15 children, she tried to initiate a day devoted to Grandparent's. It took her 5 years to get all of the states onboard and it was made a U.S. holiday, they chose September to be the month of the holiday to celebrate the "Autumn years" of life.

We are so thankful for the Grandparents that Ryler has in his life. Both sides of our families are absolutely amazing with him! They are both so generous with their love, and there is never a day that I am not grateful for them. Ryler feels so comfortable with them and gets so excited to see them. He will see one of them and scream in excitement! He tries to wiggle himself out of your arms to theirs! The way the grandparents faces light up when they see him is absolutely priceless! Both sides of the family helped out tremendously when Ryler was just a newborn, starting at just 4 weeks old Ryler has seen them on a weekly basis for 13 months now! Their relationship is so strong and they have such an amazing bond that I never had with either of my Grandparents.  As much as I would love to be a stay at home mom right now, I can't be but am really grateful that he gets to spend so much time with them. Ryler gets so excited to go to the Grandparent's houses because there is something different to get into at their house! They have both fully equipped their houses to have Ryler there and that has worked out wonderfully. Thank you so much for doing all that you have. This post on my blog is not enough to thank you for all that you do! You are amazing Grandparent's and thank you for being such a support for us and such a big part of Rylers life!

Things I love about the Grandparents-

1. The names they have come up with for Ryler to call them

The Bingham's, Jolene at one point wanted Ryler to call her "Grandma Darling" LOVE IT!!

Doug...he has been known as "Grandpoo"!!

The Castillo's, my parents like to be called "Gandma" and "Gandpa"

2. I love that I don't usually feel like I need to call and check on him, I know he is safe

3. The Love that  they show to Ryler on a regular basis

4. The cute things they buy for him

5. They are always willing to take him if we need a night out or have an obligation to be to something

6. They always want to hold him

7. The silly games they play

8. When playing the silly games how it is funnier to watch the Grandparents than Ryler

9. How they helped us out with being 'first time parents', B was already a dad but I was new at it

10. How spoiled he was on his birthday by both of them

11. No matter where you go in there houses there are pictures of him

 I could think of a million other things I love about you guys, thank you for being so amazing all the time! We love you so much! We will never be able to repay you for all that you've done for us!

Bridal Veil Falls

What a beautiful Sunday this was, Ryler was not so happy this day so we finally resorted to going on a drive in the car. We drove up the Provo Canyon and went to Bridal Veil Falls and it was absolutely gorgeous, we should have brought a light jacket but it was absolutely wonderful weather. Ryler had so much fun running around. We had to watch him so close because of all the fast running water! The mountains are so gorgeous, we need to take advantage of the beautiful scenery around us and take in the wonderful nature! We had a fun time as a family! Got to use the wonderful camera once again, it never ceases to amaze me!

Happy Birthday Justin

Ryler's new best friend, the whole time he was pulling on my dads shirt and talking to him. It was so cute! The Mexican Snoop Dog and his sidekick!

Favorite meal in the whole world!

and......the result of a really hungry mindy

Say cheese!!!

We had so much fun going out for my brothers birthday! We went to his favorite resturant La Luna, It is basically like La Puente or La Frontera....Yum. He turned 26 this year! Old man!!! ha ha We love going out to eat with everyone and Ryler is so cute with everyone! I hope justin enjoyed his birthday gift, we got him a Tai Pan gift card.....I know funny right? He is doing some redecorating and we thought that would be fun. I told him I would go with him to find some stuff that he wants!

A few things I love about my Brother...

1. He cares so much for the people that are close to him

2. He would do anything for anyone

3. How cute he is with Ryler

4. He, like my dad can fix anything and everything

5. He is very responsible

6. I love the relationship and friendship that we have

7. I love his and Branden's twisted relationship(another year together) ha ha

8. The love he has for his cute dog Sypher!

Happy Birthday Brother

BBQ with Uncle Justin

We got the chance to spend some time with my brother and have some steaks BBQ'd. They were so yummy, my brother had us over and we hung out, played with the dogs and ate some grub.  My cute brother bought bought some of that "darn fresh corn" and it was "darn good" let me tell you! He bought stuff to make a yummy pasta salad, how cute what guy thinks of that! We had tons of fun. After playing with dogs, eating some food we decided it was time for some dessert. We went to Dairy Queen and got treats. Branden got the  cookie dough Blizzard with extra cookie dough that he has been dying for, my brother got a strawberry chocolate sundae and I got a frozen hot chocolate=my new favorite treat! We had tons of fun and cant wait to do it again!

 It is so strange, Ryler looks so much like my brother!  It is so wierd, Ryler takes on a lot of my families side of looks. He has my dad's skin tone and he looks like he could be Justin's child!