Christmas Pics

Here are a few pics of the morning. A heartfelt THANK YOU to all who contributed to make this a wonderful Christmas. We love the John Bytheway Collection. The CD from Aunt Tee were a hit as well as the sweat shirt & especially the Wii games. (Thank you Aunt Cindy!) When Ryan saw the OU sheets from Grandpa & Grandma Mills he said, "I am using these until I get married!"

The best part- Ryan said, "Mom, I think that I have been saving all of my smiles lately for today." It was so wonderful to see a real smile and twinkling eyes again. Thank you all.

Arizona Thanksgiving

I had a ton of fun Thanksgiving weekend with Grandma & Grandpa Mills. I especially loved their hot tub!

Dad, Me & Nancy

4 months in one post!

Much has happened in the last four months and we know you are all dying to have an update so here goes. School started in Aug. and Ry spent a month or two getting to know his new school. It has been an adjustment, but a good one. We also spent the fall at the baseball park playing fall ball.

Oct. 17 Ry turned 11 yrs. old. Can you believe it??!! We had his party at a local park with some friends. Here are a couple of pics from that day.

In school, Ryan joined the 5th grade Honors Chorus & the Orchestra. He has had two orchestra concerts - here is a pic. from the one a week or two ago. He is the second from the left.

After they played a couple of songs, the director took the mic and explained that they best way to learn to play an instrument was to teach someone else, so that was what they were going to do. Ryan had a huge grin as he bee-lined to me and walked me up to the stage. We parents had a few mins. of excellent kid instruction and then we got to play a song in the concert. Tons of fun, lots of laughs and a great memory.

It has taken us awhile to learn the new homework curve. His last school didn't "believe" in homework. We spent a few late, late nights learning how to get it all done, but now it doesn't take long. We have spent our "extra" time on some school projects. Here is a picture of his Colonial poster that he turned in last week and made a 100%.


He colored a picture of the Mayflower and the hull opened up so you could see an example of the lower decks. Another hull page opened and he wrote about life on the ship. He added four basket (one for each season) and cut out pictures of typical colonial food for that time of year. He had a map of the colonies and then paper dolls of a colonial man & woman with examples of their clothes. The report talked about colonial life. He did a great job.

Ryan started basketball a few weeks ago and we spend most Saturdays at games. Here are a few pictures from the game last Sat. (Ry is #55)



Tonight we went to his Christmas concert. They sang 3 songs as the intro. for the 3rd grade program. It was a ton of fun and they did a great job. Ryan is the one on the far left with his arms folded. He looks mad or too cool for choir, but he really did have a great time. Maybe it is just his age, but it is much harder to get a picture with a smile on his face lately! I have some pictures of his trip to Arizona to visit Grandparents, but I can't get them to upload right now. I will try to post them in the next day or two.

Merry Christmas!

Skater Dude

I took Ry & his friend Taylor to the local skate park the other day. They had a great time even though it was frying hot. After skating for an hour or so, we went to the spray park across the street & they got wet.

First Day of School

Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Ry's first day of school! Ever. After homeschooling for 4 1/2 years, Wednesday was his first experience with public school on the first day of classes. It was definitely a bittersweet day. Each day has been better than the last and I feel peaceful that it will end up being a great year for him.

NFL Visit-

I came in the room the other day to see this:
Football helmet, otter-pop, computer game, what more could a kid ask for?

Flight Camp

This past week Ry attended Flight Camp for the third year. This year he was an Aviator I and had a great time. He build rockets, kites and a model hover craft. As part of a crew he build a model space station in a semi weightless environment (a swimming pool). They flew over Norman and learned more about planes. It was a great week. This camp has become an annual tradition - a gift from Grandpa & Grandma Mills and a highlight of the year. Friday was graduation and Tim was able to drive in much to Ry's delight.

This picture was taken at the Flight Museum a couple of weeks ago in Washington. Maybe it is a peek at the future?

Grandpa & Grandma-
Thank you for paying for me to go to pilot camp I had a great time and I'll send you the movie. My favorite part was hover crafts . Thank you so much! Love you. Ryan

Working 5 to 9

Ry & I are working at a Okie Sno shack for the summer to help out a sister at our ward and to off-set summer gas prices. It is Ry's first job and he is ecstatic! We generally work 5-9p.m. and he takes all the window orders, fills cups with ice and delivers the orders. He also handles all the money and it has been a wonderful life lesson in adding up orders and counting back change. In exchange, he gets all the tip money and one free sno-cone each shift. One night he made $6.00 in tips! It has been so fun getting to work with him at his first job - I wouldn't trade it for the world. He has been talking to the boss about working for her next year and eventually buying the shack from her. I think the fun will wear off before then, but it has been very fun this summer.

Vacation Pics - part 1

The cousin water fight at Grandpa's BBQ. L to R- Lexi, Caleb, Ainslee and Ryan.
Aunt Tracy with the nieces & nephews in front of Ft. Clatsop. L to R- Ella, Tracy, Lexi, Caleb, Ryan, Blanca, Zac, and Emily.
Ry swimming in the Pacific Ocean at Cape Disappointment.
Ryan on the canoe trail at Ft. Clatsop.
Ryan & Mom at Grandma Judy's grave.

The new tricks are killing me!

They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks. While I don't consider myself old I am very old in computer terminology years. And trying to learn the tricks of posting pictures is killing me! Granted, my computer went down shortly after my last post and only came back online two weeks ago, but I have posts to share and I can not figure out picture posting. I am sure that it is remarkably easy- most new tricks are. This actually only adds to my frustrations.

So here is what I would like to post pictures about but can't (yet - I shall conquer this! I shall! - what movie is that line from?)

- The last post was supposed to be "The Lawn Boy" with great pictures of Ry mowing by himself. I have been so proud of him. He has really stepped up to help with stuff around the house. He has even been offered a lawn mowing job for the summer but we need to get a weed eater before he can accept.

- We have spent the last month moving and painting. We spent one day cleaning out the garage. It was a ton of fun and looks so much better. When I tucked Ryan in bed, I asked him what was the best part of his day and he said, "cleaning out the garage!" It really was fun finding all sorts of "treasures".

- I unearthed the lost flower bed on one side of my house. Practicality took control and I have planted 2 pepper plants, 3 tomato plants, 1 rosemary, 1 basil, 1 chives, 1 cilantro and 1 parsley. The money for the plants came from my step-mom who said in her note that I was to buy "something to make me smile" so with that excuse, I did add one plant of Purple Heart which I love. I now need to tackle to flower bed on the other side of the house.

- Since my "Honey-Do" list is now a "Do-It-Yourself" list here is a list of our accomplishments over the last month.
*Installed the clotheslines in the back yard.
*Installed a new shower head. (So glad that my dad made us help/watch when he fixed things)
*Hooked up the dryer vent
*Installed a new shower guard
*Fixed the washer when it flooded the kitchen.
*Hooked up the computer and other electronics around the house.
Not a bad list for only 1 month.

-Lastly, we have spent the summer so far adjusting to life, playing baseball and working on some summer school. This week Ryan has had baseball camp in the mornings and this afternoon we went to a neighbor's pool for 3 hours. I had Ryan put sunscreen on my back for me. You can imagine his surprise when we got home and you can see exactly where the sunscreen was applied. I now have a white back edged with bright red sunburn!

Next week we are off to Cub Scout camp, I take my last teaching exam on Sat. Jun. 21 (my review before the State Board Panel is on Thurs. the 19) and then Sat. night we fly out to Washington for two wonderful weeks with my family. I am so looking forward to hugs from family, green in Washington and a quiet sunset over the ocean. I will take lots of pictures and get a Posting Pictures for Dummies tutorial in the next couple of weeks.

Thank you all for your love & support. Your calls, emails, and prayers have been very much appreciated. We love you all!

Love,
Julie & Ryan

The Lawn oy

Sunday, April 13

Look at this cute kid! This was taken about a week ago. We had two games yesterday, won the first and lost the second. Ry pitched the 3rd inning - not his best performance but he knows what he needs to do to improve. His team is a great blessing in our lives and we love baseball. We started the season on Jan. 28 and will pretty much live at the baseball field until the middle of July. Goooo Broncs!!!!!