Juli + Ammon = Juliammon

Winter Hiking

2012-01-16T19:53:00.000-08:00

We've had surprisingly warm weather this winter, so we found some fun trails to explore on the weekends. Ammon and I have discovered trail running. It's so much more fun than neighborhood running. This kids enjoy getting out too, even though they complain about going every time when we're trying to get out the door. Then they whine when it's time to leave!

We did have one close call the other weekend when Jensen got a little too close to the freezing-cold river and fell in. I ended up slipping in up to my chest trying to get him out and affirmed the freezing -cold temperature. It was a frigid walk back to the car. We're just counting our blessings that Jensen learned how to swim well enough to keep his head above water this past summer.

Goofy backwards kids.

Christmas

2012-01-16T19:04:00.001-08:00

Our reenactment of the Christmas story. Evelyn is a lamb, if you can't tell. Ryley is Mary, Ammon is Joseph and Jensen refused to participate. I played the part of the angel. It was a spectacular performance.

Christmas morning!

A new baby doll for Evy! She loves babies.

A new scooter for Jensen!

And a mermaid tail for Ryley!

Holy candy cane Evelyn!

Edible architecture.

Decorations made of Garbage.
Toilet paper roll stars

Packing peanut snoflakes.

Plastic bag snowballs.

Washington D.C. Temple with beautiful Christmas lights! We also got to see Jenny Oaks Baker play the violin. She was amazing.

A quick visit from Grandma and Grandpa Paul.

We went for a visit over to WV to see Grandma and Grandpa Jensen for New Years.

It looks like Jensen is floating away and is going to pull Grandpa up in the sky with him.

Jake's Wedding in Vegas

2012-01-10T19:23:00.001-08:00

Jake and Jenny got married!

It was quite the family reunion!

It was so fun to see my cousins and remember all of the fun we had as girls!

Oh my how things have changed! We're Moms now!

Ryley and Olivia are busy making their girlhood cousin memories.

They look like mini brides.

Little Benji and Jess! That little boy was busy the whole reception, exploring the whole room!

But Evelyn and Jensen, still on Baltimore time, fell fast asleep half-way through dinner.

We also got to see some of the sights around Vegas.
The beautiful Vegas temple.

The strip! Bright Lights!
Yummy Buffets!

The broadway Lion King was Amazing! Thanks Mom and Dad!

And Finally, we had some Dam good fun at the Hoover Dam!

We even took a Dam tour.

Evelyn and Benji, sharing goldfish. So cute.

Ryley's First Violin Recital

2011-12-15T19:39:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving

2011-12-15T19:29:00.001-08:00

Since my mom and dad were out of town visiting Jake for his graduation from pilot training, we had to cook our own turkey. Luckily our ward is full of fun people so we had a group of friends come over for a great day.

I love Family Fun Magazine! There's lots of fun, crafty ideas for me and Ryley to do.

We had a fun football game first to work up an appetite.

Here's our fun friends.

Not a bad spread of a bunch of graduate students.

Evelyn reading scriptures.avi

2011-11-11T12:12:00.000-08:00

Halloween

2011-11-10T12:08:00.000-08:00

Picking Pumpkins at the farm

\

Trick-or-Treating!! The best part!

Jensen's Preschool Party

Ryley's 1st grade class party

Disney on Ice

2011-11-10T12:02:00.000-08:00

We went on a Mommy-Daughter date with some other girls from our ward to Disney on Ice! So Fun! What cute little princesses! My favorite part was Rapunzel swinging from her hair.

Fall Time!

2011-11-03T11:57:00.000-07:00

Lots of leaves around here! Unfortunately there's also a lot of dog-owners who don't pick up their dogs' business around here too. Ryley came home with nice smear on her leg. Lame.

Annapolis Boat Show

2011-11-03T11:51:00.000-07:00

It was our first time to our state capitol, Annapolis. The town is really quaint, but the boats we toured were quite extravagant. My mom and dad are in the market... but sadly we're far from it. We're still in the dreaming phase.

Marathon Relay

2011-11-03T11:46:00.000-07:00

No, I'm not quite ready for a real marathon, but a relay was just right for me. It was a fun day! Lots of people cheering us on as we ran along the harbor and through the streets of Baltimore. Everyone in our group ran faster than we expected and we barely made it to our checkpoints in time for the hand offs.

Ryley #7

2011-11-03T11:40:00.000-07:00

Ryley Turns 7 years old!!
I think it's about time she started brushing her teeth.

Goofy girl.

Jared's Homecoming

2011-10-19T13:26:00.001-07:00

Waiting in the airport for Jared to come home from Chile!!

Yeah!! He's HOME!!

Jared, meeting Evelyn for the first time.

Having lots of fun with Jared. Boating, Rope Swinging...

Kayaking...

Hiking, Swimming...etc.

Welcome home Jared! We missed you!

One last beach trip!

2011-09-21T11:15:00.000-07:00

We went camping at the beach this past weekend to celebrate Ryley's 7th birthday. The Atlantic Ocean was still nice and warm... but the weather was not so warm unfortunately. We still had fun, of course, and we were lucky to have some friends and my mom and dad there to join us. The waves were HUGE and perfect for boogie boarding! I just wish I had a surf board.

Summertime 2011

2011-08-28T09:19:00.000-07:00

These pictures aren't in order. We had a fun-filled summer and we're sad to see it coming to a close. Ryley starts 1st grade tomorrow morning! We met her teacher and think she's pretty nice.

Here's a picture of Ryley in her beautiful Ballet outfit before her ballet performance in the spring.

We made some fun crafts this summer. One of our favorite was the flying tissue-paper fish.

I had a birthday and now I'm older, Yeah!! I got to pick my own bouquet of flowers at a pick-your-own farm. We found some pretty exotic looking ones. Ammon made me my brownie birthday cake.

The slip-n-slide at Grandma and Grandpa Jensen's house in WV!

Kayaking in WV

Jensen turned 4 years old! He wanted a Chick Hicks birthday cake. I don't know why he likes the bad guy in the Cars movie? We had a fun pool party with some of his little buddies.

This is at the Inner Harbor area in downtown Baltimore. The fountains are so much fun!

We took a day trip to Ocean City. We love the beach!

Jensen's favorite thing these days is swinging on a rope swing! We seem to keep finding them on our adventures too! How convenient. This one is on a little sandy beach on Cheat Lake. My mom and dad took us out on their boat to waterski and then we had a little cookout on the shore.

Goofy Grandparents!

We did a lot of fruit picking again this year. Yummy peaches! We also got cherries, blueberries, raspberries, plums and we can't wait until the apples are ready.

We did a lot of hiking and fishing. We decided to invest in some trail maps and we've found lots of new places to explore.

We even caught a couple of fish worth keeping and eating! Yummy.

Some of our fishing places we rode our bikes to.

We even found a little waterfall.

We caught lots of other wildlife too, including frogs and crawfish.

Of course Ryley had to check and make sure it wasn't a prince.

Ryley wanted Evelyn to kiss it too. Evelyn willingly complied.

This little girl loves to get dirty.

The only downside to all the hiking has been the bee stings. The bees seem to be attracted to Jensen and he's gotten 5 so far this summer. I don't know why they like him. No one else has gotten stung. Luckily he's not allergic!

Evelyn meets a crawfish. So excited!

The pool has been the main attraction since it's been a hot summer. Ryley and Jensen can swim like little fishies and even Evelyn loves to kick her legs like crazy.

We still haven't ventured to try catching our own crabs yet, but we found some at a roadside stand. They were tasty!

We also had an earthquake this past week that was pretty exciting. We're on the second floor of our building so we were swaying a little bit when it happened. The kids were kind of scared, but thankfully everything was ok.

Easter

2011-04-24T18:50:00.000-07:00

Thank you Grandma Jensen for the beautiful dresses!

Jensen caught the "singing pox" in primary today because he was singing so good.

This year, we did all of our Easter Bunny stuff on Saturday so that we could separate it from celebrating the Savior's resurrection. Wow, what a difference it made. We're definitely going to do that every year now.

Slow down Jensen. Eat one at a time!

Nice blue lips Evelyn.

Spring

2011-04-24T18:33:00.000-07:00

The entire state of Maryland is literally in bloom.
The white tree below looks exactly the same as when it was covered in snow.
The tree above, as you can see, is making pink snow.

Tree climbing is the kids favorite activity these days. They're little monkeys. Can you see Ryley way up in that tree?

Here's a couple of projects that we've been working on that are finally complete. The towel rack/shelf my dad made. I got the idea from someone else's blog. Love it.

Ammon's been fixing up an old road bike for me! We painted it bright yellow. My favorite. It works great- very smooth. But, it's a "single speed," so I'm going to have to get used to that. Now, if it would just stop raining out here maybe I'd get a chance to ride it.

We went to a little fair at Ammon's school. Evelyn surprisingly sat pretty still for the face painting and Jensen got a COOKIE MONSTER hat!!

Our Daffodils and Tulips came up beautifully!! Very Nice.

Evelyn's kissy face.

She just learned how to fold her arms for prayers. Very reverent.

Ryley, getting creative, as usual. She's a turtle.

Miscellaneous

2011-04-08T17:30:00.000-07:00

Pile on Daddy!

Jensen really does like to help me clean.

We had one really nice day a couple of weeks ago that made us think that spring was really here. But alas, it's been cold and rainy ever since.

Evelyn is really good at peek-a-boo!

She has this thing about needing one for each hand... ALWAYS.

Jensen, picking Evelyn's belly button for her. He still has a habit of picking at his belly button, especially when he's tired. Better than sucking his thumb I guess.

Ryley lost one of her front teeth awhile ago. She's still hoping to lose her other front tooth.

We never had time to make a gingerbread house during Christmas, so we decided to make one just for the fun of it.

Ryley is an expert hot-pad maker now.

And Jensen can practically make bread all by himself too. What talented children we have.

Jensen and his buddy Carson. They like to play "bad guys" and they wear swim suits and goggles. I'm not sure why? But they have a lot of fun.

Utah Ski Trip

2011-04-08T17:14:00.000-07:00

Ammon and I took a getaway trip to Utah to get our skiing fix. The snow was phenomenal. We ate a lot of powder!

Evelyn came with us and got some Posey cousin time!

My mom and dad took care of Ryley and Jensen while we were gone. They went to the zoo, the aquarium, the train museum and the bouncy gym! Why would they want boring mom and dad to come home?

Winter Summary

2011-04-08T16:53:00.000-07:00

Cutie Evelyn

We got one big stow storm this winter. It was a really heavy snow and broke a lot of trees again, just like last year.

We built a twin pair of igloos. The kids wanted to sleep in them, so I obliged. We got the tarp, sleeping bags, pillows, said goodnight and I went inside to watch them from my bedroom window. They came in ten minutes later.

Ryley got to miss a lot of school because of the snow storm.

We put a window between the two igloos. Hello Jensen!

Ice fishing on the pond by mom and dad's place in W.V.

Lots of fun sledding!

Evelyn's First Birthday

2011-02-10T18:19:00.000-08:00

Happy First Birthday Evelyn!! We made an "Eva" cake (from Wall-e, one of our favorite movies). That's what I wanted to nick-name Evelyn before she was born, but the name hasn't really stuck (yet). Every time I try to call her that Jensen corrects me and reminds me that her name is Evelyn! I've noticed him calling her Ev sometimes though. Usually when he's mad at her.

MMMM, yummy!!

We had a double celebration with my Dad since his birthday is just before Evelyn's birthday. It's still so great having them close by to do all these fun celebrations together!

Skiing

2011-02-10T18:03:00.001-08:00

We took a long weekend over in West Virginia and went skiing again at Wisp because it was so much fun at Christmas. It was a cold day, but at least it was sunny this time.

Pizza Boy.

Ryley and Grandma riding the "swing."

Jensen and Daddy on the "Big Boy" hill! After a couple of runs on the bunny slope that boy wanted to ride the "swing." So we went ahead and took him up the chair lift and he came all the way down, stopping and turning all by himself! And he did it twice! What a champ!

Ryley and Grandma ripping it up! Ryley's going pro next year!

Evelyn kept everyone in the lodge entertained
and kept my dad on his toes (bless his heart for volunteering to be the babysitter for the day!)

Christmas

2011-01-18T19:28:00.001-08:00

We spent Christmas in WV with lots of family! It was so fun to see my sister Jess and Adam with Olivia and their new baby Benjamin! My brother Jake came too with his fiance Jenny. We didn't get to come down until Christmas Eve and we made it just in time to talk to Jared on Skype since he's in Chile on a mission.

Lots of cute pajamas!

We love Grandma and Papa!

Best Buddies!! Evelyn and Benji, Ryley and Olivia,

and Jensen and uncle Adam.

Fun on the ice pond. We tried ice fishing but didn't have much luck. I had fun dragging the kids around the ice with the sled though.

We went skiing at Wisp. It was a really cold, windy day but the kids were champs and did really well. Me and Ammon even got to ski a little bit too by switching off with Grandma and Papa in the lodge.

Everyone got lots of fun presents. Even Papa, after a week of hard work got what he wanted.

Santa clause came to town!

Mega Bubble Bath!!

Rock Climbing

2011-01-18T19:19:00.000-08:00

We've discovered an amazing rock climbing spot just north of us in Pennsylvania called Chickies Rock. Some friends took us up there and taught us how to do some traditional climbing. The kids loved to run around and play at the base of the rocks. We had a blast and can't wait to go back. Too bad it had to get cold. We can't wait until spring.

Thanksgiving

2011-01-18T19:14:00.000-08:00

I didn't get many pictures at Thanksgiving. We went to my parent's house in West Virginia and had a great visit. The food was amazing. Evelyn loves turkey.

Fall Fun

2011-01-18T19:00:00.001-08:00

We love the east coast with all it's trees and lots of leaves! Playing in the leaves is one of the kids favorite activities. Ryley begged me every day after school to make a leaf pile. The school schedule has been tough on her because it cuts way down on her play time and she's still getting used to that. Not as much fun. When we finally had enough leaves on the ground the kids went all out jumping through them and rolling around. There's so many ticks around here that I always worry about getting them, but how do you stop a kid from playing. We have pulled our fair share of ticks off of each other in the last 4 years that we've been here. No sign of lymes disease yet, but we'll be lucky if we get out of here without it.

Yet another Halloween costume for Evelyn. It works well as a snuggy warm outfit.

Where is Ryley?

Halloween

2011-01-18T18:49:00.000-08:00

We need to do some major catch-up work on the blog. Here's our Halloween in October at the Pumpkin Poseys. Ryley was a black cat and Jensen was a tiger. Evelyn was a kitty cat and a pumpkin cause we had two cute hand-me-down costumes and of course we had to use them both.

Ryley's Ballet class. I thought the twister costume was cool.

He looks pretty scary huh.

Ryley's First Day of School!

2010-10-07T18:45:00.000-07:00

She absolutely loves her school. It's coming home that she doesn't like.... cause mom's so boring! Especially compared to her Awesome teacher!

Waiting for the Bus!! Ahhh, the suspense!

Looking a little nervous!

No hesitation to get on that bus though.

She looks so small on that bus. It's my baby... all grown up.
When she came home that day she told me that the bus driver drives really fast and really crazy. It made me a little nervous, but I'm sure she's exaggerating and she's just not used to riding without a seat belt. hopefully.

Ryley's 6th Birthday

2010-10-07T18:41:00.001-07:00

Things were so hectic this year with Ryley starting school that we had a relatively quiet party with just a couple of friends and Grandma and Grandpa. We cooked some live crabs for the first time for a special dinner too!

Utah Trip 2010

2010-10-07T18:20:00.000-07:00

We had another great trip to Utah to visit the Posey clan! It was fun to see all of our cousins and meet all the new baby cousins. They sure showed us a good time too. We got to go boating, hiking and fishing!

Jensen's 3rd Birthday

2010-10-07T18:11:00.000-07:00

This boy thinks, eats and dreams cars!

We made a "bike wash" out of PVC pipe and let the kids ride through it on their bikes! So fun!

Even the pinata had to be lightening McQueen.

Summer Continued

2010-09-05T18:02:00.000-07:00

At Rocks State Park. The cliff edge was a little nerve racking with the kids, but the view was fantastic.

Evelyn's a good hiker... as long as mommy carries her.

Mommy daughter date with some friends. We had some great seats at the Orioles game.

Playing in the river!

We found a butterfly with a hurt wing, so we played with it for a little while.

Juliana's birthday. I'm wearing all of my great gifts! A "hug-a-monkey" to help me hold Evelyn, a new shirt and a new purse!

Our garden in front of our apartment! We have cucumbers and mint coming out of our ears, but we can't get the chard to get more than 2 inches high. We're finally getting a crop of tomatoes too!

We Love Summertime!

2010-07-21T18:18:00.000-07:00

2010-05-28T19:41:00.000-07:00

Having an excellent photographer in our ward has turned out to be really nice! She took some great updated family photos for us. Don't you love the spring flowers! These were taken over a month ago and it's really getting hot out here in Baltimore now. Our pool opens tomorrow! That's what we've been waiting for! This whole month we've been driving our neighbors crazy, filling up the baby pool out in front of our apartment building.

Girls win the tie breaker!

Evelyn Baby Photos

2010-04-10T08:12:00.000-07:00

My friend Katie took some amazing baby pictures for us when Evelyn was 2 weeks old. She's so cute.

Evelyn Viola Posey

2010-02-10T17:28:00.000-08:00

Our third child has finally arrived! And what a story we have to tell! As some of you may have seen on the news, "Snowmageddon" hit the east coast this past weekend. Me and Ammon thought it was pretty funny how they were hyping up this storm on the news the few days before it hit. They had been saying there would be "blizzard-like" conditions and tons of snow etc, etc. And we thought- oh, these east coasters always over exagerate. So we went for a little walk Friday night in the snow storm and thought it was fun to shake the tree bows that were hanging down from the wet, heavy snow. And then, while we were walking home we saw two huge tree branches break off the trees from the weight of the snow. And then we thought, oh wow, I hope a tree doesn't fall on us, maybe we should stop shaking the tree branches. But still we mocked- "I've been through a real blizzard of North Dakota and This is no blizzard." So we went to bed that night thinking nothing of this supposed "Storm of the Century."

Well, I woke up the next morning about 4:30 AM with contractions every 5 minutes that were hard enough to make me think something might be happening. We took our time getting ready to go. Why should we be worried? We have my parents 4WD Suburban! The first thing that got me a little nervous was when I couldn't find the phone number to notify my doctor and I needed to look up the phone number online, but the power kept flickering and turning the computer off. I tried 3 times and finally gave up and started searching through some paperwork to find the number. When we finally stepped out the door, what a sight met our eyes. Sure we'd looked out the window, but until we stepped into the knee-deep snow and saw the collapsed trees it didn't seem that bad. So we trudged, with difficulty to the car. It was completely buried. The kids obviously couldn't walk there. We tried to pull them on the sled, but that didn't work very well.

There are 3 of our neighbors cars under that tree. It's still on there today actually.

Our friends who live close by and were planning on watching the kids for us came over to help us dig... but after trying for an hour and a half to dig the car out without success, (and even after putting the chains on) we decided to just walk over to their house a couple of blocks away. The snow was up to the top of the tires and it was thick and heavy... so there was no way we were going anywhere. Walking was hard enough. Luckily, my contractions had slowed down to about every 10-15 minutes by then and I wasn't quite as concerned. However, when they came, they were hard sometimes.

We hung around our friends house for a little while, but decided we'd still better figure out how to get to the hospital eventually, even if my labor wasn't progressing as fast as I thought. (my last delivery with Jensen came fast- only 3 hours from start of contractions to delivery) I crossed our minds that maybe we could just walk to the hospital. It wasn't too far away, and after all, maybe that would make the contractions start up good again and by the time we got there I'd be ready. The walk over to their house wasn't so bad... maybe that would work. We just didn't think Anyone would be able to drive over to get us. I was under the impression that an ambulance ride would cost a ton of money too, so why add an extra expense? I called 911 just to ask how much an ambulance ride cost and when they said it was free we took that option. Aparently the ambulances were all busy though and a fire truck came instead. Since I wasn't in active labor they went ahead and took me over to the closest hospital, Sinai. It's a jewish institution. very nice place.

The fire truck ride was pretty exciting! Jensen loves firetrucks, so he got a kick out of it! Here's our firemen friend. They actually had to leave one of their guys at the house so that me and Ammon could both come along.

I wasn't dilated when I got to the hospital, so we walked around the hospital for 4 hours trying to start the labor back up. I knew we should have just walked to the hospital. My contractions were still only every 10-15 minutes apart, so this was a much slower process than with Jensen. But I had dilated a little by the time we went back to get checked again. What a miserable place the hospital is.

It was all worth it in the end though. At about 11pm that night the contrations all of a sudden picked up full force. I got my epidural by 1AM and at 2:32AM (Feb. 7) we finally found out that we had a GIRL! We had decided not to find out the gender by ultrasound, so that we'd have a surprise and what a surprise it was! Everyone I'd talked to swore that I was having a boy (because me belly stuck out so far... why that would indicate I'm having a boy I'm not sure?). So we proved them all wrong. She weighed 8lbs 2oz, which was much smaller that Jensen's 9lbs 1oz, thankfully. Recovery will be much nicer from the smaller baby.

She is so beautiful! We were surprised to see how much thick, black hair she had. Ryley had black hair too, but not quite so much. Her facial features look a lot like Ryley too.

It will be interesting to see if all of her black hair falls out and turns white like Ryley's too. We called the kids the next morning and I think Ryley was so excited that it was a girl! That's what she wanted. Someone to play dress-up with! They came to see me in the hospital once the roads got a little more cleared off. She loves to hold her and she takes very good care of her already.

Jensen likes to give her kisses and hugs and he always tells us when she's crying.

My dad drove over from West Virginia that evening once they dug themselves out of their driveway. My dad also thought it was important to note that she was born on superbowl sunday.

We decided to name her Evelyn Viola Posey. My sister thought we should have used "Storm" for a middle name, given the circumstances of her birth. But the middle name we picked is Ammon's grandma Posey's name. She's a woman we love and admire.

We came home on Tuesday morning just before the next big snowstorm hit. We're both healthy and So incredibly happy. We feel so blessed. Things really could have gone bad, but it all worked out very nicely in the end.

My mom and grandma Davis even made it down to see us just as the storm was getting wicked outside. They were even having some major car trouble, but they made it alright.

The kids promptly took possession of the balloons and intoduced Evely to real noise.

The girls win the tie-breaker!

Overdue

2010-02-03T13:12:00.001-08:00

OK, I am officially overdue now. We're all just waiting for this mystery baby to arrive. I don't know if I can be excited much longer... the suspense is killing me. I'm getting a little afraid that this baby is getting too big as well. Hopefully he/she will come soon!

Ammon's Handiwork

2010-01-30T13:54:00.000-08:00

Ammon has really become quite the carpenter. Here's some pictures of things he's built around the house. The only problem is the mess he makes... we don't exactly have a garage... just a porch. This one is the "all-in-one bed/fort/playhouse." The rock wall is actually still incomplete, but the kids love it!

This is a coffee table made better. Now we can put junk underneath! and I can sew... standing up.

This is a Food-Storage bed. very ingenious. you have to jump to get into bed, but that's alright.

The spice rack has been really handy since the "spice cupboard" is a ridiculous idea and you can never find what you need way back in there!

Christmas

2010-01-08T11:47:00.000-08:00

We had a great Christmas at my parent's house in West Virginia! It's so nice to have them close by! Have I said that before? My brother Jake was there from Colorado too, so that was bonus! We also got to talk to my youngest brother Jared on the phone from Chile, where he's serving a mission. It was really nice to hear his voice again! They had plenty of snow for us to enjoy at their house, so we went sledding and cross-country skiing. However, on Christmas day we had some freezing rain that put little bit of a damper on our outdoor fun. It didn't stop Ryley from jumping on the trampoline though. She loves that trampoline. We also played a lot of fun games, but Ammon was on a role and swept the board each time (except for Galaxy Trucker- great game, by the way!).

Jensen, in his new football jacket!

Christmas morning, so exciting!

New Christmas Jammies!

They loved the monkey playdoh thing! Thanks Kinley!

T'was the night before Christmas...and all through the house...

We had a little cookout Christmas eve and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows! A new tradition I think!

The kids loved ice skating so much at Thanksgiving that we decided to do it again! They improved a lot since last time too!

Even Jensen was standing up on his own by the end of the time.

Snow!

2010-01-08T11:38:00.001-08:00

About a week before Christmas we had the biggest snowstorm they've had on the east coast in years! It was light, fluffy Utah-like snow too, instead of the wet stuff we normally get. We had the best weekend playing in it!

You can't even see our car!

We made a little snow cave out of the snow-plow piles.

The kids were in Heaven!!

Fall Leaves!

2009-11-14T07:15:00.000-08:00

The best part about fall is all the leaves. Jensen and Ryley love jumping in them. Our apartment complex has a big job every fall doing leaf cleanup, but it's always so sad when they take them away. We kind of have to compete with the leaf blowers for them to have some fun.

Action shot.

Now you see Ryley, now you don't.

Please don't lick the leaves Jensen.

This is Jensen's "stop" sign. It looks like a karate move.

Momma gets to do the hard part- raking the leaves.

Halloween

2009-11-09T18:52:00.000-08:00

Can anyone guess what our family theme is this year? probably not. we didn't put a whole lot of effort into our costumes. Captain Hook is the easiest to spot... if only he would have kept his hook on the whole time. Ryley is tinker bell, not just a princess. Ammon made his peter pan hat himself and I'm dressed as a pregnant Wendy. It was a fun night! It was super warm! But then we got rained out after about an hour. good timing i think.

Ryley was excited to wear makeup for the occasion. Don't get used to it yet girl!

Ryley designed her own pumpkin on the left.

He's making Papa Jensen's lump jaw face.

Ryley just looks possessed.

Fun Fall Fishing

2009-11-09T18:35:00.000-08:00

We've been granted some especially nice fall days the last few weeks and so we took advantage of the beautiful weather to have one last boating trip. We drove over to Grandma and Grandpa Jensen's house over in West Virginia, just a few hours away and spent some time on Cheat Lake. The fall colors were spectacular! And it was just fun to be able to see our family!

Ryley insisted on wearing her swimming suit the whole time even though it's not exactly summer anymore.

Jensen got skunked.

Ryley was so excited to catch her first fish! A little perch!

Mommy was REALLY excited to catch a fish too! Way too excited. It's been a long time since I've caught one. We took this one home and ate it for dinner. Ryley ate the eye ball of course. At least they were cooked this time.

Despite the cold water, Ryley wanted to go tubing and she somehow convinced my dad to go with her.

Jensen decided to stay within the comforts of grandma's arms.

Baby #3

2009-10-04T19:35:00.000-07:00

We had our ultrasound this past week and got to take a peak at our little baby. I'm 23 weeks along now- Due Feb. 2nd. We didn't find out what gender it is so that it can be a surprise. We thought that might be fun since we already have a boy and a girl. Ryley definitely is voting for a girl. So far, she's come up with Kissy or Missy as a girl name... and Boyly if it's a boy. Any other suggestions?

Ryley's Pony Party

2009-10-04T19:20:00.000-07:00

Ryley turned 5 years old and she wanted a My Little Pony birthday party. We went to our favorite park and had some pony games with Ryley's little friends. This is my attempt at a pony cake.

Ryley loved it so that's all that matters.

Jensen helped make the cake too.

We had planned on playing "pin the tail on the pony", but we forgot the pony picture at home... so we played pin the tail on the garbage instead.

She used to only have 3 ponies, but now we have a whole stable full of ponies. Ryley has been playing ponies non-stop since. Jensen likes to play too.

The Longest Vacation

2009-09-23T18:54:00.000-07:00

After our trip to Montana, Ammon left to go back to school in Baltimore and we stayed for the next 2 1/2 weeks with Ammon's parents in Utah. We wanted to see my brother before he went into the MTC for his mission to Chile at the end of August. AND we decided to hitch a ride with my parents all the way to the east coast, since they were driving all the way from California to their new home in West Virginia. A long drive. Especially with two kids.

They look so sweet and innocent don't they. Sit next to them in the car for a few hours and you'll change your mind.

While we were in Utah, we went swimming a few times at the Draper pool and Ryley went off the diving board 6 times all by herself. She's like a little fish and can swim all the way to the side without help. She loves goggles.

We must've nearly drove those Poseys mad with all our messes!

Hanging out with the cousins! It was nice to be around so much family for a change.

silly uncle Jon.

The Posey's home ward party (before ammon left). Jensen meets cotton candy. Happy Boy.

Ryley likes face paint.

Oquirrh Temple Open House

It was neat for Ryley to get to go inside the temple. She always wants to go when mommy and daddy go- and this time she could.

Splash park with cousin Kinley

$5 Tuesday at Thanksgiving Point. It was a little crowded and after a 2 hour wait, the kids got to ride a pony. Those smiles made it all worth it!

Bear Lake! Thanks Marde and Ross for letting us stay with you!

My grandma and grandpa Jensen came too! And even my cousin Nessy and John!

Ryley and Jensen really got attached to Corbin and Dexter, it was hard to say goodbye.

Saying a quick hello-goodbye to Jared! See you in 2 years!

Bean Museum in provo. One of Jared's friends hooked us up and we got to see and touch all kinds of creatures...

...even a taratula!

Hiking to Stuart Falls up provo canyon.

Ryley went swimming, of course.

Jensen's favorite part was the cookies.

The journey home took us into Colorado where we stopped to see my brother Jake at the Air Force Academy. We got a tour and even ate cadet food in the enormous mess hall.

Like father like son.

Jensen sure loved all the airplanes. I wouldn't be surprised if he follows in uncle Jake's footsteps. I always said he looked most like Jake.

Then we stopped in Nauvoo, Illinois to see the church history sites and attend the spectacular new temple there!

We took a horse-n-buggy ride around the town for a tour. Jensen was fascinated with the horses, and after studying them for awhile, he reported to me "no hands." Apparently he had just discovered that horses don't have hands. Very observant.

Then, after a quick dip in the Mississippi River, at Ryley's insistence, we went to Carthage.

This is the window where Joseph Smith was martyred. It was quite the somber experience.

It was a great vacation! We were sure happy to get out of the car by the time we got to Baltimore though, and glad to see Ammon again of course!

Montana 2009

2009-08-09T20:41:00.000-07:00

Ammon's family has a tradition of going up to Montana almost every summer, where his grandparents live. We've gone with them several years and it's always fun. We did lots of waterskiing and hiking. The lakes and mountains there are beautiful!!

Jensen, helping Daddy drive the boat.

Ryley ate some weird berry on the hike and grew an instant mustache.

Jensen got bit by a spider at night time and woke up looking like Quasimoto (however you spell that).

Ryley went wakeboarding with Daddy. I think by next year she'll probably be able to do it herself.

Ammon, putting up a wall of water.

Ammon's dad is in his fifties (correction... sixties) and can out-ski us all!

The beloved Nautique boat.

The kids loved the rocky beach- throwing rocks is the best fun! And look at that sea of glass... it's like skiing on butter. And yes, Juliana did some skiing herself, but no one got any pictures cause I'm the one with the camera, of course.

We celebrated Jensen's 2nd birthday in Montana. He's still figuring out how to make 2 fingers stick up.

He liked the horses. The first thing he pointed out was the horse's big buggars.

Ryley's little cousin Kinley came up for part of the time and they had so much fun playing together in the cold water.

Ryley stinker-face and Kinley.

The whole big happy family! That's Ammon's mom's parents there in the middle. And yes, I'm expecting, that's not just my big gut sticking out there... mostly my gut, but not all. I think we're due in Feburary, though I haven't had time to see a doctor yet.

Jess, Adam, and Olivia visit

2009-07-03T19:09:00.000-07:00

My sister Jessica, her husband Adam, and Olivia came all the way from California to visit us for a couple of weeks and we really packed in the fun! The pictures are in no particular order and are not all inclusive. We had some great game nights where we played Blokus and Settlers of Catan (Jessica's favorite) that I thought were some of the funnest times we had! It's just so lonely out here sometimes that it was nice to have someone to play games and go have fun with!

Of course we had to go to a Baltimore Orioles game! It was a fireworks night too! and we won!

Lots of swimming at the pool! Olivia taught Ryley how to swim and now she can go across and back without help!! Amazing what peer pressure can do.

This is an east-coast game called "Duckpin" bowling. It's almost the same, but you have a smaller ball and smaller pins. better for this kids i think. Olivia actually almost won, but Jess ended up pulling ahead in the end.

We met Grandpa Paul, Coleen, and Aly at the D.C. Zoo where they spoiled the kids with panda bears and cute T-shirts! Pandas really are as cute as a stuffed animal.

We saw the Joseph Smith movie at the D.C. Temple. I think it was my 6th time seeing it and I still cry every time. It's such a great reminder.

Our longest day was treking around downtown D.C. looking at the monuments and museums with 3 whiney kids. We did see the Whitehouse, the Washington monument and the museum of Natural History. That was enough for one day.

We love the farms around here. The countryside is so beautiful. Jessica spotted a half dozen houses that she wanted. Jensen's favorite part was the blueberries! Be glad you didn't see his diapers the next day.

I Looooove Blueberries! Even the green ones! We made blueberry pancakes, waffles, milkshakes, and even blueberry syrup...mmmm

We also got cherries at the same farm! What luck! Have you ever tried Cherry Jam? It's delicious, we made some. We also bottled 6 quarts because we had so many!

Olivia didn't bother putting them in the bucket, she just ate them.

We also took them to our favorite ice cream place called Tropicool! It has really good "gelati" and I found a new favorite flavor-- it's rootbeer flavored shaved ice with the vanilla soft-served. MMmmm.

We celebrated father's day,

and Olivia's birthday at the same time, with the same carrot-cake batter. We're so efficient.

At Ocean City we rode some of the carnival rides.

Even me and Jess got to ride the zipper! My childhood favorite! and the boardwalk fries were amazing.

Catching crabs at the beach! More like, torturing crabs at the beach.

Don't we all wish we could have bleach blonde hair and tan as easily as Ryley.

Little Mermaids

I like Camping!!

We camped at a place called Assateague Island right by Ocean city. We got rained out the first night so we had to eat our hotdogs in the tent.

There are wild horses on the island, and we found out that they're almost as bad as the bears at yosemite. This one pryed the lid off our food tupperwear somehow! They're kind of fun though. At least they don't eat people.

Grandma Jensen visit

2009-07-03T18:37:00.000-07:00

This is all still catch-up work. My mom came out to have a job interview in June and came to see us for a couple of days. She graduated from nursing school in December but no one is hiring new nurses in California, so she came over to the east coast (the better coast) looking for work. She landed her dream job in a level 3 NICU in West Virginia and so they're moving out here this fall! They'll still be 3 hours away, but that's a lot better than clear across the country! I'm incredibly excited. We had a great couple of days while she was out here. We went to "the bouncy gym" to jump around, swimming at our apartment pool (thank goodness for that pool during the hot summers out here!) and we went strawberry picking at our favorite farm. She's such a pretty grandma! Everyone in my ward thought she was my sister.

Family Fun 5K

2009-06-30T13:54:00.000-07:00

So, the reason I haven't posted anything on my blog since easter is because I've been trying to organize the fundraiser for girls camp and boyscout camp. We decided not to do the annual car wash because it never makes any money, and we thought it would be much more fun to organize a 5K run! Well, I worked my tail off getting this together and all I have to say is- those kids had better enjoy camp this summer! In the end it really was fun though! See, I'm smiling. I think gathering prizes for the run was the most work and took the most time. We went around to local buisnesses and got donations so that we could give them away as prizes for our winners and have some fun things to raffle off to the losers. (just kidding, everyone's a winner, right!) Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised at how generous everyone was. We got some great prizes to give away, like gift cards to P.F. Changs, Cheesecake factory, Uno's, Hard Rock Cafe, a pass to the local bouncy-gym place for kids, a free massage, paddle boat passes... etc. I think we had about 30 prizes to give out, plus the food was all from local grocery stores. We also had to do the t-shirt design (Ammon did a great job of course), get insurance so we wouldn't get sued, advertising, and get permission from the local park where we did the race. The location was actually a really beautiful trail and I liked it, even though we had to drive an hour to get there. We had about 70 runners sign up and we made almost 1000 bucks. It was such a success in fact, that me and Ammon thought maybe we could organize another one as a fundraiser for the Posey family vacation fund.

We used high-tech stop watches and megaphones.

The two track boys in the front ended up doing the 5K in 17 minutes! I thought that was pretty amazing.

Our YW and YM doing their part of the "work."

The finish line crew. Like our high-tech finish line too.

Ammon ended up taking 2nd in the stroller-pusher division and we got a $20 gift card to the Hard Rock Cafe and some coloring books for the kids.

Learning is fun!

2009-06-30T13:31:00.000-07:00

Here's a picture of Ryley's preschool class. Notice it's all boys except Ryley. She knows how to hold her own. We just finished up for the summer and Ryley really misses it. Last fall we got a group together and made a schedule and took turns teaching. It was great and I think it was the perfect size group! I'm surprised how much she learned too! They pick up things so fast at this age.

Jensen learned something too. He can brush his teeth and spit very good.

Ryley also learned how to do her own hair, but she only does one hair style so far. She says it's supposed to look like a unicorn.

She also does Jensen's hair for him.

and he seems to like it.

EASTER

2009-04-19T19:12:00.000-07:00

Ryley learned how to spell -and eat- "Easter."

Jensen insisted on wearing Daddy's shoes the entire day. He didn't seem to mind face-planting every five minutes.

We had an Easter egg hunt with some friends in the ward. Most of the candy got eaten before the eggs reached the baskets.

"Yay, my basket is full!!"

"Yay, my mouth is full!!"

"Can't smile... eating."

The Surprise Visit!!

2009-03-30T20:14:00.000-07:00

Last week we took a spring break trip to Rochester, Minnesota, of all places, and surprised our long-lost friends that used to live next door to us in Baltimore. They had no idea we were coming and it was hallarious to see their reactions when we showed up. Only the Cheneys would still be our friends after pulling a prank like that.

Ryley and Saffi, reunited again!!

They even had to sleep in the same bed they were so excited to be together.

Jensen and Schaffer got to be buddies too. Painting eachother's toe nails is a fun thing to do.

And we finally got to meet Violet, the recent addition to the Cheney family!

Trying out the Fly-Bar. It's a Mega pogo stick. Tons of fun.

We also got to go see how to tap maple syrup trees. It was really interesting! Did you know that it takes 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of maple syrup? We tasted the sap right out of the tree and it's not sweet at all. It's like water. Not what I was expecting.

We had promised the girls we were going to go swimming, but the pool wasn't open, so we let them wear their swimming suits to the bouncy gym.

It was a trip worthy of a "commemorative pose"

We love the Cheneys!! Yeah!!

Botanical Gardens

2009-03-01T13:49:00.000-08:00

In an effort to escape winter for a little while, we went to the botanical gardens here in Baltimore. There are 4 rooms- a desert, tropical, mediteranian, and an orchid room. Ryley said the cactuses were her favorite. I like the tropical part cause it was nice and warm. Jensen wanted to go swimming in the little pond, and nearly succeeded. It was fun, and best of all, it was free!

The Valentine's Day Gift

2009-02-15T11:47:00.000-08:00

Ammon got a new wife for Valentines Day.
Isn't she cute!

It was a suprise, I didn't tell Ammon I was getting it cut. He was definitely surprised! But I think he likes it. I have the hair in a bag here at home and I'll be sending all 16 inches to Pantene- they make cancer patient wigs, like Locks of Love.

Uncommon Home Repairs

2009-02-10T05:39:00.000-08:00

Juliana sat down a little too overzealously and broke the toilet seat.
I guess it's time to loose some weight. Who wants a wooden toilet seat anyway??

A few weeks ago we had gas leak in front of our apartment. Of course our heat and cooking is all gas and it was the coldest week of the winter.

John's Hopkins

2009-01-20T20:28:00.000-08:00

Even though Ammon is still at Hopkins doing his phD in Biophysics, he goes to a different campus than when he did his Masters in Biomedical Illustration. The other one was called the "Medical campus" and this is the "Homewood campus." Apparently this campus has all the money cause it's a LOT nicer than the other one. They have a gym with a pool, raquet ball courts, a rock wall. There's an art museum that's free right on campus (which we've been to 4 times already). And the buildings are just nicer.

visiting daddy at school!

Doesn't Ammon look happy to be at school.

Snow!!!

2009-01-20T20:17:00.001-08:00

Finally!! Some Snow!!

What is this stuff?!

OOoooo! I LIKE snow!!

ok, I don't like it anymore. I'm cold!

First tracks through the powder! Sweet!

Ryley's excited, but Jensen looks pretty terrified.

The snow was light, but still stuck together.

Perfect for making a snowman!

Christmas in California

2009-01-08T08:57:00.000-08:00

Christmas at the Jensen's house in San Francisco

Good eatin' at Grandma Jensen's house

Overlooking the bay at the ruins of Sutro Heights
Thanks for showing us a good time Grandma and Grandpa Jensen!

Fun with cousin Olivia!

Cute Cousins, hangin' out at the ranch in Susanville to visit Auntie Em and Bob (and family) and the Peters family who came all the way from Samoa! Yeeeeee Haw!

Horseback Riding on Greta's horse, named Gizmo

PaPa Jensen, king of the Umu

We made an Umu in honor of Uncle Albert, our favorite Samoan, who recently passed away.

The Turkey cooked in one hour! Amazing!

A great day on the beach! Good thing the Aquarium was too packed to visit.

We love uncle Jake and Jared!

Kelp Jump Rope on the beach

We read a Dutch story about wooden shoes, so we left them on the doorstep, and look what happened!

Barrel o' Monkeys for Jensen

Juliana at the helm, sailing in the backyard lagoon.

Jensen LOVES to sail!

Jake and Jared LOVE to fish! A nice size flounder! Yum-Yum!

We love to feed the ducks from the dock out back.

Finally, a family photo with everybody!! Even Jake's cute girlfriend, Jenny!

It was a great trip, and a wonderful Christmas! Many Thanks to Mom and Dad Jensen for flying us out!!

Halloween

2008-11-02T17:30:00.000-08:00

Pumpkin Picking, Pumpkin carving, yeah! We got some good pumpkin seeds out of these ones.

There was an old lady who swallowed two flies.
I don't know why she swallowed the flies, perhaps she'll die.
There was an old lady who swallowed a frog.
She swallowed the frog to catch the flies.
I don't know why she swallowed the flies, perhaps she'll die.

Our trick-or-treating buddies, the Grow family.

Jensen, helping himself.

Jensen ate 3 suckers that night...and this was the result:

Thanks for the Cookies, Mga Posey!

Nice Decorating Ryley... what is it?

Care Bear Birthday

2008-09-27T13:19:00.000-07:00

Ryley had a Birthday! She's 4 years old. We had a "care bear" birthday party at the park last Saturday and it's taken me all week to recover. We made a "cheer bear" cake, played pin-the-tail on the bear (we used tape, not pins), care bear tag, catch-the-water-balloon-in-a-towel game and a pull-string pinata (that I made out of a fed-ex box). It was a fun party!

Jensen had fun too, and started to REALLY walk that day. He's still kind of wobbly, but does pretty good. The tank still likes to be held, however. It's funny to watch him, so enjoy the video.

Ammon is totally immersed in school now. He picked the lab that he'll be doing his first rotation through and he'll start next week. A quote from an email Ammon's professor sent him: "[Ammon] will be learning about computational methods for the prediction of transmembrane helix:helix interactions and the effect of sequence changes on the dimerization relative free energy. Experimentally he will be analyzing computational predictions for sequence changes that have major effects on the association thermodynamics and/or on transmembrane orientation."

Juliana is keeping busy trying to be young women's president in our ward. It's fun, but it's definately a challenge.

Cute Kids

2008-09-14T20:00:00.000-07:00

Look at all these teeth Jensen has!! He can even eat corn. And he loves it! He also learned how to fold his arms for prayers, thanks to his big sister's good example. He's also started taking some steps! We'll see if we can get a video up on here soon. Ryley is a little crazy sometimes. Some of these pictures are from much earlier in the summer, but they were so cute and funny I had to include them. I'll start being more organized with this blog soon I'm sure. She just started preschool with some church friends and we'll be rotating whose house we go to. She loves to learn and she's very smart! Her 4th birthday is coming up this Friday. We're having a Care Bear party and we're so excited! Ryley has been pretending to be various care bears for the last month. It depends on what color she wears, and then she'll insist that everyone call her "Sunshine bear," or "Tenderheart" for the entire day. Anger occurs when someone calls her Ryley. In summary, we have cute kids. We also celebrated Ammon's birthday and he has reached the magical number of 29.

A Summer of Fun!

2008-09-02T06:45:00.000-07:00

Instead of sending an email, I decided to use that time and take the leap of faith and start a blog like everybody else. We'll see how it goes. I don't really know what I'm doing. Anyway, Our summer is coming to a close and Ammon is starting his phD this week at Johns Hopkins University, school of Biophysics. Our summer has been jam-packed with fun and it would take me all day to tell about it, so to make things simple for my first blog attempt, I'll be brief. July 1st we flew out to San Francisco to see the Jensens! We got to see Jake come home from his misison in Italy, go waterskiing and sailing in the lagoon, and backpacking into the Sierran mountains. The video that I hopefully will attach is of Ryley eating a raw fish eyeball from a freshly caught mountain lake trout. She doesn't have taste buds, and she's crazy. We had lots and lots of fun playing with little Olivia too! We spent 2 weeks there having lots of funness. Then, we flew to Utah to meet up with the Poseys! We took a trip in the car up to Montana for a family reunion and a week of waterskiing! Even Ryley got to feel the pull and went wakeboarding with Ammon. Jensen's favorite part was throwing rocks in the water. We also got to do a hike to a beautiful waterfall and mountain lake where we found a huge rope swing and made proper use of it. We also had lots and lots of fun with Kinley and Elle, our little cousins! Well, enjoy the pictures- they're the best part. I'm not much of a writer and it takes me too long to write much. Two kids keep us busy! I promise the next post will be more organized.