Family Photos

Every year, usually around our anniversary, we have our family photos taken. I was way too sick in July to even think about having my picture taken, so we postponed it to fall this year. Our friend Amanda Penton took our pictures this year, and we are so grateful to her for doing such an amazing job. She got some great shots of squirrely Sammy, and really captured the fall colors and the mood we were going for.
We now have four sets of "family photos", and I thought I'd post a little nostalgia on here as well as our new pictures.
Me and Ryan:

2008

2009

2010

2011

And our growing family!

2008

2009

2010

2011

And here are the rest of my favorites from this year's photo shoot:

Kiss attack!

NaNoWriMo Begins!

Just wanted to let you all know that even though I'm sick, I have made my word count for today. Woohoo! Keep up with my progress on my writer's page by clicking here.

Ketchup

It's been a while...
Too long, in fact. You all probably heard from me/Facebook/Radio Grandma (you know who you are) that I'm pregnant again, which means I spent the past several months wishing that everyone would just go away and let me stay in bed. Which of course did not happen. I have pretty amazing friends at church, who brought dinner to us and took Sam to the park, and thanks to their help I am back on my feet. And still pregnant at 21 weeks, a real triumph for me after last time. We found out we are having a boy- and all my dreams of little girl dresses and hairbows were summarily crushed, while Ryan's vision of two rough-and-tumble mud balls to play with came to fruition. We're working on a name. I'll keep you posted.
Lots of other good things happened to us while I was sick. The biggest and best is that all of Ryan's hard work of the past year has paid off- the Church decided at the end of September to bring him on as their newest full-time Seminary teacher. We are still a little dumbfounded, a month later. We have a pension plan, and great health benefits, and a REAL JOB. I'm so proud of Ryan for sticking with it- it finally paid off.
I also passed the genetic counseling board examination. I don't have a job, but at least I can say I'm certifiably competent on paper. Yippee... I will be signing my name Kara Reynolds, MS CGC for a week just to make myself feel good.
Sammy is becoming quite the little talker. He is starting to use sentences, which is cool even though for the most part I'm the only person who can understand him.
That's all for now. I will hopefully put up some Halloween pictures next week. I made Sam's Halloween costume for the third year running, and Ryan and I will be dressing up, too. I will also be starting NaNoWriMo again on November 1st- with a totally different flavor of novel this year.
Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Sam-to-English Dictionary & Phrasebook

Bippas- Scriptures
Bups- Chips
Chockit- Chocolate
Moooooooooore- More
JooooOOOOooose- Juice
Jeld- Gerald (from Mo Willems' Elephant and Piggie books)
Mommy joooose- Soda
Bankie- Blanket
Pano- Piano
Teestry- Toy Story
Nuk- Snuggle
Nuggie- Snuggie (his stuffed elephant)
Memo- Elmo
Geh- Again
Buhdeh- Peanut butter
Fush- Flush
Wahdoh- Water
Daddy- Daddy
Daddy- Jelly
PEESE PEESE PEESE!- I would really like to have that.
Hot!- I don't want that/It scares me.

Wizard Rock! (or, Sammy's First Concert)

Being from Alaska, I haven't really gone to a lot of concerts (especially not outdoors). Somehow this fact has always made me feel... well, lame, for lack of a better word.
So when I heard that wizard rock pioneers Harry and the Potters would be playing at the library (!) in the outdoor amphitheater (!!) for free (!!!), I knew I had to get on the band wagon. (zing!)
Harry and the Potters is made up of two brothers (Harry Potter and Harry Potter) and whoever else they can get to play a variety of other instruments. Harry Potter 1 played keyboard and saxophone, Harry Potter 2 played guitar, and Sirius Black played the drums. The group sings about a wide variety of things from the Harry Potter books, like saving Ginny from the basilisk, and how Voldemort just doesn't understand love. Hilarious, right?
The boys put on an amazing show. They invited everyone to come down to the bottom level of the amphitheater to form a semi-mosh pit.

This was mostly high school kids... Ryan, Sam, and I elected to stay in our seats with Tara, Andrew, and Tara's sister Becky.

(By the way, check out Andrew's account of the evening!) Our friend Sarah, however, chose to join the crowd. She is a for-real HatP fan- she actually owns their CDs and knows all the lyrics!

Harry and Harry were non-stop balls of energy. While none of the songs were particularly amazing musical accomplishments, the lyrics were fresh and clever. Really, their take on things like Cho Chang talking about Roger Davies on her first date with Harry... pure comic genius. They got the crowd involved in chanting, making hand signs, and singing along. Even Sammy got into it!

Ryan liked it so much that at the end of the show, he told me to go buy a t-shirt. Andrew and Tara got in on the fun too:

From left to right: Hogwarts Tonsil Hockey Team, Voldemort Can't Stop the ROCK!, and Save Ginny!

Harry and the Potters have more stops to make on their tour before the last Harry Potter movie comes out. Don't miss them if they come to your town!

Elder Holland thinks I'm cute

As most of you know, Ryan has been working hard this past year in the hopes of being hired by the Church as a Seminary teacher. He has made it through every evaluation so far- passed the 2-week "trial teaching", successfully completed his first semester of student teaching- and today was his next step. Today we were interviewed by a General Authority.
Time out for those who aren't familiar with the structure of our church. Local congregations (wards) are led by bishops. About 6-10 wards are led by stake presidents. Bishops and stake presidents are really only responsible for the specific people over whom they preside. General authorities, however, are responsible for the entire world. The men called to be general authorities are amazing, humble servants of the Lord, and have a whole host of duties, one of which is interviewing potential employees of the Church Educational System. To learn more about the structure of leadership in our church, visit the official page: How the Church is Organized.
We arrived at the Church Administration Building about 20 minutes early for our appointment with Elder Zwick, and had the opportunity to wait and watch as other general authorities of the Church passed in and out of the building. Elder Cook walked in front of us. Elder Ballard stopped to talk to us and commended Ryan on trying to become a Seminary teacher. Elder Holland said "Hi kids!" and said to Ryan, "I just have to come shake the hands of this cute couple. Well, she's cute- you're okay." He talked to us for a few minutes. And then, out of the window of the waiting room, we saw President Monson's car pull up next to the entrance (yes, he has a primo parking spot). Through the window he saluted us both and smiled.
Another time out- Elder Cook, Elder Ballard, and Elder Holland hold the priesthood office of Apostle. There are 12 apostles on the earth today, as there were when Christ organized his followers during His mortal life. Peter, James, and John- that is to whom you can liken Elder Cook and company. President Monson is God's prophet on earth today. He is the leader of the entire Church.
Our interview with Elder Zwick was unbelievable. Elder Zwick is a Seventy, which is the priesthood office under Apostle. He is a very kind and gentle man. He asked us a lot of questions about how we joined the Church, and asked Ryan a lot of questions about his personal conduct and worthiness. He asked me how I support Ryan as he works towards his career goals. Both Ryan and I shed a few tears as we talked about our experiences and expressed our love for each other and for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Elder Zwick told us that many people cry- you can't help but feel overwhelmed by the spirit in that building, with so many servants of the Lord present. I asked him how he doesn't cry all the time- yep, I got a joke in there.
We feel so humbled by our experience. What a blessing in our lives this time in Utah has been. We are excited that Ryan is getting closer and closer to becoming a Seminary teacher!

Annie Get Your Gun

You might have heard that I am appearing in a community theater production of Annie Get Your Gun.
You might have heard that this is the show that brought you the famous tunes "There's No Business Like Show Business" and "Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better".
You might have heard that tickets are only $8.

Well folks, the rumors are all true. So get your butt out to West Jordan for a night of musical theater magic!

Doors open at 7:00pm, showtime 7:30pm at Copper Hills High School. Closing night is this Saturday.