Ryann Eliza-One Year Later

My precious 1 year old


Our New Baby-1 year ago

Today is your birthday. I'm not quite sure how I really feel about that. This last year went by way too fast. I know that everyone told me it would, but I guess I never really wanted to believe that would be true.

You have learned so much this past year:
1. How to roll, crawl, pull yourself up on furniture, and walk holding on to things.
2. How to stick up for yourself when Reiny wants what you have.
3. How to say "Yes, No-no, Uh-Oh, Wow, Kitty, Mom, Dad-dad, E-I-E-I-O, tickle" and a few others that sometimes sound right...
4. What a cow says "Mmmmoo"

You started off such a difficult little girl. You had your days and nights mixed up for about 6-8 weeks, which made for a very tired mommy. You never liked to nurse very much, always distracted by the cool things around you, and were grateful to give it up at 6 months when Mommy got sick and had to go on antibiotics. Mommy was the one that struggled with quiting far more than you did! She still has a twinge of guilt...not gonna lie! But, despite this difficult start to our relationship, you have become the reason I get up in the morning (mostly cus you get REALLY mad when I don't!).

You snuggle with me (as long as we have your blanky), give the best open-mouth kisses, and have the cutest laugh I've ever heard! You love to be naked (just like your Daddy:) ), and will crawl as fast as you can to escape my grasp after bathtime.

Your sister is your best friend, and your daddy is your hero. You light up everytime one of them enters the room.

You never fussed when you cut your 6 teeth this year, which makes me love you even more! You prefer to feed yourself, but humor mommy when she doesn't want to make a mess (which is most of the time).

You're delightfully unpredictable, and go with the flow in this crazy, hectic life we have together. There's a million other things you are, but most of all YOU ARE MY BABY, and always will be. I love you, Ryann Eliza.

Baptism Year

This has really been the year for baptisms! In June, my nephew in Utah was baptised; then in the beginning of October, Jordan's nephew was baptised, and then just last week, our niece was baptised. Also, next Spring, my niece in Utah will take the plunge. Wow! What a year for it!

I really love baptisms, but this last one was really special. G-bomb asked me to give the baptismal talk at her baptism, which totally blew me away! I got searching through my own memorabilia from my baptism and then realized that G was getting baptised the exact same day as me, 20 years apart (now you all know how old I am!). It was a wonderful surprise, and something the two of us can always share.

I wanted to get a picture of all the cousins from the Whittaker side of the family, but getting all those little ones together is slightly more difficult than herding cats! Oh, well! Maybe next time!

Halloween 2011

The Carving of the Pumpkins:









The Outfits:





Enough Said...

Modern Family: Family Portrait

First of all, Jordan and I love the show Modern Family. I swear that he is Phil and I'm Claire. After yesterday, I'm more convinced than ever that this is true!

I've been wanting to get a family portrait for a long time now...seeing as our last one was taken when Reiny was 19 mths old. I have given this a lot of thought and knew that I wanted an Autumn portrait with the yellow and orange leaves from the quaking aspens in the background. I picked the location and have been waiting patiently for the last few weeks for the leaves to change, the rain to stop, and basically for all the stars to aline for this one, fabulous family portrait.

Yesterday was that day. The rain had stopped and I could see in the distance that the aspen trees at my location had turned the perfect shade of yellow. I dressed the girls in their outfits that I scoured store after store looking for, and just before sundown we headed out to the spot. Surprise!!! The location was flooded!!! Apparently, someone has neglected to change the water along the Barrows house all summer! (and no...this time it was not Jordan's fault). Determined to make it work, I had Jordan arrange some logs to stand on and set up my tripod amidst the flooded foxtails. After lots of reminders to smile ("no, not like that! a pretty smile, please!), a baby that thought this was all too exciting and refused to hold still, and Jordan constantly telling me how hot I looked crouching down behind the tripod, I managed to snap a few descent photos.

I think next time I'll just have us all roll around in the muck and mud and really have a good time with it all!!!

Eastern Idaho State Fair 2011

We LOVE the fair!!!

The rides...


The animals...


The laughter...


The face painting (combined with animals)...



And the concert! I didn't get any pictures of the concert because I had at least one or two sleeping children in my lap the whole time, but nevertheless, it was awesome! We went and saw Ronnie Dunn, and although it started at like 9:30pm, we took the kiddos along anyway. Reiny was asleep before he even came on stage and then woke up the next morning saying "oh no! we forgot to go to the concert!!" Ryann bopped along for a while then promptly fell asleep on Jordan's shoulder, who shortly thereafter began to fall asleep himself. We did leave early, but it was still a wonderful adventure and family tradition we look forward to every year!

September 7, 2011: The Day of Dread...

Reiny's 1st official day of Preschool.

Deep down I knew this day would come...to be quite honest, deep down I know the day will soon come that I'll be taking her picture at graduation or her wedding...but we'll continue living in denial about that for a bit longer. In any case, Reiny has started school this year, and she LOVES it! Ultimately, I should be grateful she loves school and isn't afraid to enter the door. However, a piece of me dies a little everytime I drop her off and she just doesn't have the time to hug or kiss me "bye-bye" because her "friends are waiting."

Her teacher this year is her Aunt Jilli, which is really nice for her. Jill has lots of fun activities for them. Reiny is always excited to tell me about all the fun things they did at school, which is a lot better than the generic answer to the question "what did you do at school today."

I feel lost at home without her. She goes to school from 8:15am to 12pm and Ryann naps from 9am-11:30am, so I don't even have her to help snuggle my cares away.

I don't want to boo-hoo about this other than to say, I miss my little girl, and it seems like now that school has started my days with her are numbered...

Reiny and her friend, Katie.


My 1st day of school!!!

The Picture-taking is Coming Along

Jordan's cousin, Lacey, got married last weekend at a beautiful home not far from here. The grounds were absolutely lovely, so I thought it would make a nice opportunity to take some pictures of my two little ones before the summer's over and the ground is once again covered in a thick blanket of snow.

My mother always sends my girls the most adorable dresses for Easter, but seeing as I was as sick as I've ever been over Easter weekend, I never took any pictures of my girls in their dresses. Therefore, the Easter Dresses became the Wedding Outfits and also the wardrobe for our summer pictures.




The Bride


As a side note, I've just finished reading a book on photography that my sister-in-law, Shauna-the photographer, recommended. I'm really facsinated with photography and have been working hard to improve my techniques and "creative-eye." I need a tutoring session from Shauna, but otherwise, I think I'm making progress...now if I could just get the new lense I want...

Also, if you've never seen Shauna's work, you should visit her site at www.photographydujour.com She's amazing!

This one's for you, Mom!

My mother has been asking me to update my blog so she can see how big my kiddos are getting...so, this one's for you, Mommy!

Love the matchy-matchy for church.

Our 4th of July outfits!

Running through the sprinkler.

Can she get more adorable?

She did this to herself!

...and then Ryann wanted a turn!

Horses and Cousins

My brother, Dave, came for the 4th of July and of course, the kids were all excited to go for a little ride on the horses right outside my house...Beverly and "Cheesy-Bread" (lovingly named by Reiny!).

I love when my brother comes to visit. I wish they lived closer. . .mostly cus my niece, Anna, is great help with Ryann!







We also got to see April and her family this holiday, which is always nice. They are such a breath of fresh air on this ranch!

Here's to the cutest cowboy, Cowboy Cash!

I Don't Know...Just Family Fun

My Family


Cousins


Ryann at 6 months


Reiny and her Worm!


My Little Porkchop