Hypocrite

So I know that I haven't posted in an extremely long time and as I look back over the last several posts, there have been no pictures of the girls in months and you all are very deserving of the opportunity to see my beautiful children. However, I've been in a blogging funk if you will and have lacked the motivation to write a post that has some cute story, attach cute pictures, etc etc. Yet, I read other people's blogs still and get annoyed when they go a couple days without posting something. I know, I know. I identified myself in the title.

But here's the thing, Ryan has my camera at Camp Geronimo this week. And if I'm going to blog a worthwhile post, then it would require updated pictures of the girls- henceforth, I'm off the hook until this weekend. But it's going to be a really busy week- celebrating Ryan's 31st birthday (tomorrow), Super Saturday which I am teaching a craft at and still have to prepare everything for, potentially a trip to Phoenix to see My Fair Lady at Gammage (if I feel like it by the time Saturday night rolls around), etc etc. So we'll see. No promises.

In the meantime, know that we are all alive and well and we haven't dropped off the face of the earth. Thanks for still dropping by and checking in on us and we'll update soon. Maybe.

My Other Soul Mate

I think this is great news! We'd get along just fine...


Take the Quiz

Tag!

So here's another tag where I get to try to come up with things that you'll find interesting about me, and then hope that at the end you don't think...wow, thats the best she could come up with? So, I'm just going to write random thought. Here goes...

This tag is just 8 random things about myself. First the rules,

The Rules: 1. Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves. 2. People that are tagged write a blog post about their own 8 random things and post these rules. 3. At the end of your post tag 8 people and include their names. Don't forget to leave them a comment on their blog to tell them they've been tagged, and to comment back and read your blog for the whole story.

1. I got a new EnV cell phone, kind of for mother's day, last Thursday. I really like it, but can't figure out how to make it compatible with Rhapsody (where I download my music from) and it's making me very frustrated and I feel very technology illiterate!

2. Our family recently decided to remove our entertainment unit/TV out of the family room (and into our really small office)and cancel cable. We only have one main family area and the TV was just controlling too much of our family's time and there was always NOISE! We also thought that if we can keep it from being a major part of our kids's lives now it won't be a problem when they're older. Instead of all of the electronic media, we really want to focus on the extra curricular activities, playing outdoors, and family time, etc etc. We already feel a better spirit in our home!

2. I have a very passionate dislike of doing dishes in a soapy sink. I will load and unload the dishwasher a billion times if I can avoid doing dishes in the sink. I've always had dry hands, and washing dishes makes them so much worse that I avoid it at all costs :-) Unfortunately, I just did a big sinkful of dishes...

3. I shave my arms and legs every single day. I started shaving my arms in High School because I get cold easily and I had A LOT of long (for arm hair) blonde hair that would stand straight up everytime I was cold and I was always really embarassed. As much as it's a pain to maintain, I don't regret it in the least. But I can not stand to not shave every day and start getting prickly....yuck!

4. Ryan and I have moved 9 times in the past 7 years (including moving into our first apartment together). I pretty much consider myself a pro at it at this point. However, I do NOT want to do it again soon unless I am able to upgrade into a significantly bigger house- in which case I would move in a heartbeat!

5. Taking my kids to childcare and having to find good childcare on what feels like a very regular basis is a massive stressor for me. And just to set the record straight for the fairly frequent misjudgements that seem to occur...if I could be at home with my kids and not working 40 hours a week, I would be all over it. At this point, it's not an option so I make the best of working and have been decently successful in my career with my employer.

6. I'm totally ok about going to the one grocery store in my little town even when I'm looking pretty tired/lazy/homely. Anywhere else, I like to be wearing something somewhat cute, my hair and makeup would need to be looking alright, etc. But here...eh...it's just such a different laid back environment and I just allowed myself to conform right to it! If I drive into Prescott though, that's a whole other story...

7. I just finished The Host by Stephenie Meyer today. If you're at all curious, it started out really weird and was hard for me to get my brain around and get into (but I kind of expected that when I initally heard what it was about). But I got pretty into it and it was an ok book. She's just a good author so it doesn't really matter what she writes about (vampires, aliens, etc.) her stories suck you in and despite my ridiculously busy schedule the last two weeks, I finished the 600+ page book in 11 days. It was a lot longer of a read than the Twilight series books, and I was really wanting to get it finished so I could get my life back. But now that it's over, I'm kind of sad and want more.

8. I wanted Amanda, not Parvarti, to win Survivor! And I'm totally rooting for Amanda and Ozzie! I was kind of hoping for a Rob and Amber type proposal at the finale episode! I'm just a hopeless romantic I guess....

Now I tag Dawn, Shiela & Mindy.

Called to Serve Him

I am beaming with pride as a big sister! My little brother (who is actually much bigger than me) received his mission call last night!

New York, New York South Mission- Spanish Speaking !

For anyone who knows my little bro, you know that when he was younger he was a royal pain in the rear- even moreso than other little boys are to their 2 older sisters! But I've been so impressed with him as he's grown up into a man...which is really weird for me to say!

He has really made the decision to serve a mission all on his own and not been pushed into it or "expected" to go. When I think about the other youth from my home ward, even over the years since I was still at home, very few have served missions and a lot are inactive. But David and his friends all decided a couple years ago about the path they wanted to take and they're all going to be leaving on missions around the same time. In fact his best friend got his mission call yesterday too (to Eugene, OR) and reports to the MTC a week after David! It hasn't been the easist road for him to take and he's had challenges to overcome and the criticism of those who don't understand why he would PAY money to go give up two years of his life, but he's held his head high and worked through those things and stuck to his commitment to himself.

I remember a day when I stopped by my parents house on a weekday around 4:00 in the afternoon after school got out and no one else was home except my brother and one of his friends who were sitting in the living room reading the Book of Mormon together until they had to leave to go to work. I was quite taken back and really impressed to see two teenage boys spending the afternoon studying the gospel.

David has worked hard the last few years at QT (the convenience store) and has saved enough to pay for his whole mission on his own and even some extra to buy some of the things he'll need to go out. No offense to my little bro, but 5 years ago I would have bet you money that he would never hold a job- let alone be Employee of the Month and get recognized for going above and beyond on a regular basis.

I know he's going to be an awesome missionary because he has a strong testimony that the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is true and wants to share that knowledge with others so that it can bless them in their lives.

I know that you don't hear me say it enough, but I really do love you Dave!

Twilight

For those of you who don't already know this about me (in case there are any of you out there...), I am a very big fan of the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. Now I'm not a hardcore Twilight fan, but a fan nonetheless. At least fan enough to be reading the books for a second time in anticipation of book four- Breaking Dawn, which comes out in August (and, yes, mine has been pre-ordered). And at least a big enough fan to have checked www.stepheniemeyer.com on a very regular basis to watch for updates. And at least a big enough fan to have seen all of the mtv.com videos about the movie Twilight coming out in December.

But in my Twilight wonderings online, I have run into some Twilight fans that are FAR beyond the norm. I recently saw an "official" Bella braclet that had a crystal heart and a wolf head that cost $90. Really? Are you kidding? And would anyone really wear that? The T-shirts and baby bibs and all that are one thing...but $90 for a bracelt with a wolf head? Anyone who hadn't read the books would think you were insane- although even if you had read the books and wore that I would think that you were insane. Maybe it's just because I'm not a Jacob fan...

Anywho, for the benefit of anyone who hasn't already seen these videos, or at least for my mom's sake (I finally got her to read the books!), here is a video from the MTV.com Twilight video site. This isn't my favorite of the videos, but it's the only one that would load directly to this post. Go to http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?id=1585900&vid=226476 (sorry it wouldn't create the hyperlink for me) to see all of the videos. The first one "we killin some people today" is the best and my most recommended if you're only going to watch one.

• MTV
• Music Videos
• MTV Shows
• Entertainment News

I will admit that because I am such a fan of these books, I'm really concerned that the movie will suck, that's what everyone who hasn't read the books will see and the whole series will be put to shame by this one movie. So I really hope that instead, this movie is really well made and creates quite the buzz and they continue to make movies for each book. Although I hate that I would have to wait that long

Thank you AGAIN Uncle Sam!!

So I'm super duper stoked to wake up this morning, check my online banking and BAM! a triple payday plus! I got paid, Ryan got paid and we got our economic stimulous check- or whatever it's called! Too bad this doesn't happen every week! :-)

Tomorrow we're going to go order our block to make a retaining wall across our backyard, which will take up pretty much all of our IRS check ::sigh:: but then we can have our back yard leveled out, then Ryan can do our sprinklers, then within a month or so I should have GRASS!!! Wahoo!!

We have a 10x10 dog run that the puppies live in for the most part, but the rest of our backyard is just dirt, dusty dry dirt. And between the dogs coming inside the house and us going in and out of the backyard taking care of the dogs, my house is now dry dusty dirt and I'm pretty over it! I want my grass! :-)

I would post pictures of the mess our backyard is currently, but it's pretty ghetto- so I'll wait until we have "after" pictures too! We had to rip apart the siding on our hot tub to fix a leak and put new siding on that we still haven't painted, We have piles of landscape materials all over, we have many many of those blue water storage containers in our side yard, our flagstone patio to the hot tub is only 1/3 of the way done. The list goes on and on!

I feel blessed on a regular basis to have a husband who is so amazingly handy at so many different things. In this case his landscaping skills are going to pay off for us HUGE! He's done our front yard landscaping (including the drip/water systems) and his parent's front yard in Surprise- and now he gets to do our backyard! The money that we're saving on having the know how and ability to do it ourselves is awesome! I guess the year and a half of landscaping for a living has paid off (even though it didn't really at the time)!!

Speaking of, Ryan is really wanting to get a side business of landscaping going to bring in some extra dough. If anyone in the Prescott Tri-Cities needs ANY kind of work done...give us a buzz! Or please if you hear of anyone needing work done- give them our info! I promise that he knows his stuff!

Meet Lexi and Beamer

More pics to come...they're a little hard to get to sit still at this point. Hopefully the excitement of being at our house will wear off and then I can get more shots! :-)

They're both awesome, but Beamer is beautiful! He's going to be a BIG dog!

Personality Test Results

My Personality

Neuroticism	39
Extraversion	36
Openness to Experience	1
Agreeableness	63
Conscientiousness	73

You do not experience strong, irresistible cravings and consequently do not find yourself tempted to overindulge, however you are sensitive about what others think of you. Your concern about rejection and ridicule cause you to feel shy and uncomfortable around others. You are easily embarrassed and often feel ashamed. Your fears that others will criticize or make fun of you are exaggerated and unrealistic, but your awkwardness and discomfort may make these fears a self-fulfilling prophecy. You are not prone to spells of energetic high spirits. You prefer facts over fantasy and are more interested in what is happening in the real word. You dislike confrontations and are perfectly willing to compromise or to deny your own needs in order to get along with others, however you are willing to take credit for good things that you do but you don't often talk yourself up much. You take your time when making decisions and will deliberate on all the possible consequences and alternatives.

Personality Test now or view the full Personality Report. The best Buying Pet Gifts.

SSSHHHH!!! It's a Secret!!

So tomorrow evening I'll have the happiest 3 year old in the whole wide world!! We're finally getting the puppies that we've been wanting for the past 6 months (actually since we had to give away our dog Charlie 3 years ago). Hailey has known that we've been on the prowl for puppies for quite some time and is VERY eager to have her very own dog. She'll carry around a little pillow she has and pretend that it's a puppy because she wants one SO bad...it's really sad!

But tomorrow that will all change! We will be getting not one, but TWO lab puppies! (Yes, I do know that we're insane having an 8 mo old that's just learning to crawl and just started sleeping through the night, and now we're getting 2- 10 week old puppies!) We have a white male and a chocolate female on their way from breeders in Missouri. My grandpa in Missouri transports puppies from breeders to pet stores across the country. So he's hooking us up with two papered labs from different breeders that we can breed...eventually. And I won't mention the cost, but it is a truly amazing deal!

Ryan also has plans for these to be the best trained bird/hunting dogs ever. Ryan LOVED training Charlie who was also a chocolate lab and was super smart and learned so easily. Ryan took him to the lake near our house on a nearly daily basis and reminded me of a little boy with his dog. They had so much fun together. We've missed him sooo much- but last I heard he was living with a good family on several acres and runs around with a race horse...so I'm sure that he's happy!

We've joked (or half-joked) that we would name our next chocolate male Charlie as well...just because it's so natural for us to want to call a dog Charlie. However, we're now getting a white male and a chocolate female....so it's just not the same. So we're trying to come up with names now. I've got a couple of names floating around in my head (such as Lexi and Dax)...but nothing decided.

I'd love to hear your suggestions!! I was thinking it would be cute to have them named after a famous couple or something to do with the white and brown, etc etc. (Just for the record Twilight fans, Ryan has nixed Edward and Bella :-) I was thinking Jasper might work though....)

Let me know your ideas and if I choose names you suggest, there may be prizes involved!!

I l-o-v-e IKEA!

So I'm in Phoenix this weekend and today took a little trip to IKEA- one of my very favorite places. I got to go roam around for a couple of hours with actual money to spend! (Thank you Uncle Sam for giving me my $$ back and making this trip possible!)

My goal over the next month is to get my bedroom decorated into the romantic get-a-way I've been wanting since we bought the house 2 years ago! I've run into several road blocks on getting this done sooner: lack of funds, spending $$ in the more visible rooms of the house, TIME, and then just not knowing exactlly what I've wanted to do (Ryan doesn't really care what I do. He trusts me with whatever I do, isn't that great?!)

I'm now at a place where I've worked many of these things out...I've got a little bit of cash (although I'm still super budget conscience), I've made my room my biggest decorating priority, I've got my friend Hilary on the project of helping me plan things out (she's even going to bed at night thinking about ideas- she's so committed!) and I'm just going to make the time- no matter what!!

So getting back to today, I bought a really cool canvas photograph from IKEA that perfectly matches my bedding. It's 3ft x 4ft and will look great over my bed. I also got a nice mirror and floating shelves that I can now buy accessories for. And Hilary is on the hunt to help me find the curtains I want. Once we find the right color of curtains- I can get the right paint colors and get some color on the wall! My room is seriously a big ugly white blank canvas with zero decor- so I'm really excited about this- if you can't tell!

(It's more blue than grey in real life.)

I'll post pictures of our projects and progress as we go!

Our Weekend Accomplishment

The following post is really for the benefit of those who have seen the state of chaos that our garage has been in since we moved into our house two years ago. Even when we had moved to Surprise we had left the garage here in Chino as is. We've been frustrated with it for a very long time, but this weekend we had had enough. We spent at least 8hours (well Ryan spent 8 hours, I probablly spent 2) cleaning up and organizing and throwing out junk, etc etc. We also bought more shelving which really helped!

Look mom and dad- both cars are in our garage!!

It's kind of fitting for a Easter weekend project- we gave our garage new life!

MUST See Movie: August Rush

If you haven't heard of it. watch the trailor here:

http://www.imdb.com/rg/VIDEO_PLAY/LINK//video/trailer/me60688448/

Pictures That Make Me Happy

Since I haven't posted much (or at all) over the last few months, there are too many things that have taken place for me to go back and tell of the stories. So instead, as I was looking through my pictures trying to decide what I really wanted to share- I decided just to post all of the pictures that show you what makes me happy to be a mom and a wife and a daughter...

This is my mom & my mom's mom with Katelyn.

This picture of the girls makes me smile because it's such an everyday thing for Hailey to be laying on the floor with Katelyn.

Hailey LOVES to help me cook. Here we are making chocolate chip cookies- a favorite weekend thing for us.

The picture with Hailey in front of the pink quilt is special because my mom made this quilt for Hailey and gave it to her for her third birthday. She spent SOOO much time on this quilt! I wish you could see the star quilting on each of the squares and in the borders.


Even though it was obviously a cold wet gray day, I love this picture because of what it represents to me. This is the spot in front of the Salt Lake Temple where Ryan proprosed to me! At the time I couldn't have pictured where we would be in our lives together 6 years and two kids later! Unfortunately there was no one around to take the picture so that I could be in it as well.

I also like this one from our visit to Temple Square. I'm holding my little girl and it looks like Christ is ready to pull us into an embrace as well.

The is the girls with my grandpa- their great grandpa in Salt Lake.

And finally, here's my beautiful happy baby!

New Addition to Our Family

So a week ago today we bought a piano. No one in our family currently plays the piano, but Hailey is learning and because Ryan gets to take her to her lessons, he is learning in the process. I'm totally jealous! I can't say that I've always wanted to learn, but now that I have a piano I REALLY want to learn! Ryan wants real lessons as well, but unfortunately we can't afford for all of us to be taking lessons at the same time. So we bought a teach yourself book and we'll see how that goes.

I'm a visual learner and do so much better with someone showing me how to do it. Example: I have had a sewing machine for 2 years that has only been used once- when Ryan's mom borrowed it. I have no idea how to use a sewing machine. I would love to use it, but I absolutely hate the idea of having to get the book out and teach myself. I want someone to show me how to do it and then I know that I'll do great with it.

So if someone is looking for a service project- teach me how to use my sewing machine! And if someone wants a really big service project- teach me how to play the piano!! :-)

Isn't she cute?

Long Awaited Updates

Hailey is a very busy girl lately. Ryan has Thursday and Friday off every week, so Hailey is now taking piano lessons and gymnastics once a week and in April she'll be taking swim lessons as well. She loves having so many fun things to do! Her favorite thing to do right now though is to make her Grandma Barbara play puppets for hours on end!

Katelyn is such a happy baby! She is 7 1/2 months on now and weighs 17 1/2 lbs and is 27" tall. She drools like you've never seen, but there's still no sign of teeth yet! She is rolling all over the place and has just started scooting herself forward in the last couple of days, I'm still working on getting good video of it!

Ryan just got called as our ward's Scout Master and he's excited but overwhelmed by the challenge. He has big shoes to fill of our previous scout master who was in that position for about 5 years. Luckily scouting runs in the Lowry blood and he'll have lots of help from his dad!

I have to run, but will try to post more soon- thanks for everyone who keeps coming back waiting for more!

A little about me...

1. What is your occupation? mom, wife, Staffing Consultant/Recruiter for a bank

2. What color are your socks right now? no socks- just painted my toe nails

3. What are you listening to right now? I'm watching Divine Design

4. What was the last thing you ate? a Milky Way

5. Can you drive a stick shift? No. In theory I know how to, but I doubt I could do it very well.

6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Macaroni and Cheese

7. Last person you spoke to on the phone? A piano tuning guy

8. Do you like the person who sent this to you? yeah- I wish we had become better friends while we lived near each other though!

9. How old are you today? 25

10. Favorite drink? Tropical Punch Koolaid

11. What is your favorite sport to watch? I don't really watch any- but I enjoy going to baseball games

12. Have you ever dyed your hair? numerous times

13. Pets? we're working on getting puppies

14. Soap or shower gel? neither, creamy body wash

15. What was the last movie you watched? I went to Horton Hears A Who on Saturday (loved it!) but I also watched Oceans Thirteen for the first time last night

16. What was the last book you read? Dan Brown's Deception Point

17. What do you do to vent anger? clean my house

18. What was your favorite toy as a child? I don't remember a particular favorite, but I liked Rainbow Bright

19. What is your favorite season? Spring

20. Hugs or kisses? hugs

21. Cherries, Blueberries or Strawberries? Strawberries

22. Do you want your friends to play along? I don't really understand this and the next 2 questions- play what?

23. Who is most likely to play?

24. Who is least likely to play?

25. Living arrangements? 3 bed house, Hailey and Katelyn have their own rooms- but Katelyn has to share her space with our computer and office stuff

26. When was the last time you cried? I don't remember crying since the week after I had Katelyn and my hormones were a mess! I'm sure that I've cried watching a movie though since then

27. What is on the floor of your closet? shoes that overflow from my shoe shelves and boxes of clothes

28.Who is the friend you have known the longest? Renae- since 1st grade in Mrs. Grant's class

29. What did you do last night? As previously mentioned, I watched Ocean's Thirteen with Ryan- I had both girls asleep by 7:45- yay!

30. What is your favorite number? 21

31. What or who inspires you? A lot of different people inspire me in a lot of different ways- too many to mention here

32. What are you afraid of? Driving in snowy/ice conditions! Also, having a tire blow out when I'm traveling (which I do a lot of for work)

33. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? cheese

34. Favorite dog breed? Chocolate labs

35. What is on your key ring? too many keys and a Shea Homes key chain

36. Favorite day of the week? I guess Saturday and Sunday because I don't work, but Ryan does- so they're not as great as they used to be.

37. How many states have you lived in? 3- born in UT, moved to CA, but I've been in AZ since I was 6.

39. Favorite holiday(s)? Christmas

40. Ever driven a Motorcycle or heavy machinery? Nope- no desire to either


Now a little about Ryan....


What’s His Name? Gabriel Ryan

How Long have you been together? Our total time together is 7 years- married 6 1/2

How long did you date? From the time we initially met til the time we were engaged was about 5 months

How old is he? 30

Who eats more? For the most part he does- but I can put away twice as much french toast as he can!

Who said I love you first? This is really bad of me, but I don't really remember this moment- I'm sure it was him though. I was waiting on him for everything- saying I love you, kissing me, etc. He had fun torturing me because he already knew how I felt!

Who is taller? He's 5'11, I'm only 5'2

Who can sing better? Yikes, let's just say neither of us would ever dare auditioning for American Idol for fear that our auditions would be the one laughed at for the next year.

Who is Smarter? We're both smart in different ways, but he's the one with the college degree (In Aeronautical Science with a minor in Meteorology)

Who does the laundry? I do.

Who pays the bills? I do. When we got married Ryan was definitely the more financial savvy one and paid all of the bills, but for the past 6 years that I've worked at a bank he's let me handle it all.

Who mows the lawn? We don't have a lawn but we're working on getting one in the backyard right now.

Who makes dinner? I used to do almost all of the cooking, but he's off work earlier than me now and really does quite a bit of the cooking.

Who sleeps on the right side? Facing, the bed, I’m on the right side.

Who is more stubborn? Definitely me.

Who asked who out first? We hung at at Singles Ward activities (and after the activities talking in the parking lot) A LOT after we met- I think the "first date" just kind of happened naturally.

Who proposed? Ryan did- I was on vacation in UT with my family and he missed me. So in a matter of 24 hours he bought a ring and a plane ticket and flew up there to surprise me and took me to temple square to proprose! It was awesome! Then he had to fly home to be back at work the next day. I found a wedding dress the very next day!

Who has more friends? Me. But Ryan always gets a long great with all of my friends and their husbands.

Who has more siblings? He does, I have 2 and he has 4- kind of (I think of you as family Jon!)

Who is more sensitive? He would probablly argue this- but Ryan!

Who wears the pants? We've very good about making decisions together.

TAGS: Dawn & Shiela

All Aboard the Polar Express!

In addition to having Hailey's birthday party on the 21st, we also took a trip to Williams, AZ to board the Polar Express, where we continued on to the North Pole to visit Santa Clause!
When I say "we" I mean: Me, Ryan, Hailey, Katelyn, Tony, Barbara, Eric, Cynthia, Tyler, Danielle, Sara, Brent, Toni, Karli, Nathan, Noah (all Ryan's family), Kevin & Hilary (my friends here in Prescott), Dave, Heather, Jacob, Rachel, Rebecca, Leah & Lizzie (friend's from our ward in Surprise). So many people! But so much fun to get to enjoy the train ride with all of them!

The night wasn't without a few glitches (not enough seats, there was a problem with the train that caused delays, cold "hot" chocolate, Ryan nearly being thrown up on (it would have made a better story if he had actually been thrown up on!), etc), but all and all it was great- and Hailey had a blast again this year which always makes anything worthwhile!


I'll post more pictures when I get more from the other people that were with us.

Happy 3rd Birthday Hailey!

On Friday the 21st, Hailey turned 3! We had a pink princess birthday- of course! These are just a few of my favorite shots. Check out my photo album for more pics.

I had to throw this picture in from her 2nd birthday just because she has grown up SO much over the last year! I hardly feel like she's my little girl anymore!

Our November

I've come to the realization that I just can't manage to keep this thing updated as events happen in our lives, so instead I'll have to just write REALLY LONG posts with all of our updates.

So here was our November...

The Mangum Family says "Goodbye" to the Pulsar- FINALLY!

Nov 2nd

November 3rd my brother David got in a three car pile-up in front of Glendale Community College and totalled the car that my parents bought when I was only three years old. I just happened to be in town and was able to get there shortly after it happened to experience it first hand! My brother is fine- there was a minor scratch on his thumb at the time, and a little whiplash following, but no one involved suffered any major injuries. A word of advice though- don't get into an accident in Glendale- it took SOOO long for the police to get there and file their reports, etc etc. It was quite ridiculous! He actually ended up getting a decent amount of money from the other guys insurance and got a better car, so sometimes blessings come in odd ways!

Good Bye Jeep Grand Cherokee- Hello Honda Pilot!

Yes, another posting about vehicles!
November 10th

After spending thousands over the years on fixing one thing or another on our '98 Jeep Grand Cherokee, we have been less than impressed with that vehicle. So this time when it started spewing oil out the back, we said- that's it, we're through with this thing!

Then there was the internal struggle of whether we wanted the burden of a car payment (both of our vehicles have been paid off for almost a year now and it's been so nice!). Ultimately though, we bit the bullet and started the search for another vehicle.

After looking at many different small and mid-sized SUVs, we discovered the Pilot (I think Ryan just wanted it for the name), but we love it! It is everything that I wanted: foreign built, gets decent gas mileage, has a third row, I don't feel like I'm driving a tank, leather seats, a DVD player- which is so nice for Hailey! We've used a portable DVD in the past, but having a built-in with the loader and all the controls in the dash and no cords to deal with is SO much better!

Hailey's favorite part of the car buying experience was the bounce house they had set up (it was a big tent event sale). There were no other kids around (smart parents!) so she got to bounce her little heart out. Seriously though, if you're ever buying a car, no matter what- FIND A BABYSITTER!

Ryan and I still fight over who gets to drive it primarily. Because we equally drop off and pick up the kids from the babysitter- neither one of us has a better business case. One of his arguements is that the Accord still has my personlized plate- so that's "my car". Everyone (but Ryan) knows eventually I'll win though :-)


Ryan Graduates from Training at Lockheed Martin

November 14th

Doesn't he look excited about this? I asked him if he wanted me to take pictures and he said, "Not really." But I said- "How about just one for the blog?"

Actually he is really excited to have made it throguh the 10 week training. It was really just like being in college all over again. There were difficult exams and everything. He quickly discovered that trying to study for a test with two young children is A LOT more difficult then when he was in college and it was just the two of us.

He still has several more months of training time where he will be working with a trainer before he will be out on his own, but the hardest part has passed, and for that we are very glad! He has had an awesome schedule during training- 7am-3:30pm M-F, but this coming week we will get his schedule for the next few months. We're praying that it's a decent schedule. Because Lockheed Martin is the Flight Service Center for all private pilots, it's a 24/7 facility. He could end up with anything, including Sundays :( I'll keep you posted once we find out what he gets....

Lowry Family Thanksgiving

Nov 17th

It has become tradition to have Thanksgiving dinner with Ryan's family the weekend before Thanksgiving so that everyone can get together, and then be able to see their in-laws on Thanksgiving Day. We had everyone there (which means 13 grandkids!) and it was a lot of fun!

This is Ryan and his brother Daniel- can you see the family resemblence?

Thanksgiving Day

Nov 22

We spent Thanksgiving Day with my family in Phoenix. I was actually going to be brave and make dinner for everyone myself, but schedules changed and we went down there instead and I got to spend at least one more year of just kicking back and enjoying my mom's cooking expertise.

Hailey's favorite part of the day was getting to play with Tatum for about a couple of hours.

Our Halloween

I can't believe that it has been 2 weeks since Halloween and I am just now finding a moment to get our pictures posted!

Halloween night Hailey, Katelyn, Hilary, Barbara and I went to a tri-ward YM/YW Halloween carnival for all of the kids (while Ryan studied for a test). My Young Women did a cupcake walk that was a huge hit with the little ones, especially with Hailey. How easily entertained young children are with walking in circles to music and then stopping really fast when the music stops :-) Maybe I should try it at home....

Then we all went back to my house to have the chili and cornbread that I had prepared earlier and a few friends stopped by to trick-or-treat and visit. Hailey loved handing out candy as much as she liked asking for it! It was too cute how excited she got when the doorbell rang. Then we were all out to the door to trick-or-treat with Ryan and Hailey leading the way and the rest of us following behind.


While we were out trick-or-treating, I felt very grateful for the neighborhood we live in. There were so many kids and families out having fun. Because Ryan had worked in our neighborhood when he was with Shea homes, I felt like I was married to a celebrity! Everyone knew him and was excited to see us back in the neighborhood and loved meeting the new addition to the family. Once again, I was really overcome with the feeling that we're where we are supposed to be. It's a good feeling.

However, one thing that I do miss about living in Phoenix are the fairly warm Halloween nights. It was COLD here in Chino and that really affects the kind of costumes that you can choose for your kids. I got both of the girls' costumes at Old Navy 50% off, so I can't complain, but I'd really love to let Hailey be a princess or fairy without having to find a way to make it really warm at the same time. Oh well, the ladybug and pumpkin worked for this year...