Anyone need a haircut?

Ryann has turned in to a master of the scissors.

Saturday night I fell asleep around 9:00 pm. Christopher had everything under control with the girls. He had set them up with a DVD in the front room. When he returned to our bedroom to watch the news, Ryann was with her sisters watching "Soccer Mom" on the couch.

Sometime later Ryann had crawled in to bed with me and fallen asleep. Christopher tucked the other girls in to bed, noticing a mess of hair covering Dylann's freshly washed duvet cover.

He comes in to our room, over to turn off my lamp, and laughingly says, "Shelly! Look at Ryann!" I try to pry my eyes open as I see him pulling a chunk of Ryann's hair off of her sleeping head. He is just laughing and laughing.

I wake up enough to see the horror that is now my baby's hair. As if it has not been crazy enough to have a daughter with crazy chick fuzz for hair - I now have this:

"MOOOOMMMM - Look What Ryann is doing!"

This is a phrase I hear about every 5 minutes at my house. By bedtime, I am so happy Ryann is ready to sleep. Even then she is still on one. There are times I fall asleep and hope she is still next to me as I scope out dreamland.

Last night was especially fun. From the moment I got home from work, Ryan was switched ON! She followed me everywhere. Was right there as I did the dishes, fixed dinner and went to the bathroom. She trailed behind me chatting away, telling me about the dog licking her fingers or that she is tired of wearing pants.

When I show frustration after tripping over her for the millionth time, she hugs my neck and says, "I love you so much mommy!" That is her new trick. If I start to get frustrated with her, she tells me how much she loves me.

So back to last night. Christopher and I were sitting in our room after the dinner clean up watching a bit of news. Then the yell from the front room. "MOOOOOOMMM - Ryann is peeing in the bucket on the couch!" I told Christopher I just could not deal with her. He laughed and told me to just look at it as fun.

I walked into the room hoping it all made it in to the bucket - Yea! Not a drop on the couch. And there sits Ryann so proud of her potty job!

She really is fun. I always thought Rylie was full of it. Dylann was a little more. Kendall - a whole lot. Ryan tops them all. So for those of you who have well mannered 3 year old, who obey and sit still in Church. Good for you! I'll take Ryann and her fuzzy hair any day! (Remind me I said that after the next round of craziness!)

In The News!

Randolph made the news again. It seems that we are a fascinating breed up here and the world cannot get enough.

The only time we make the Utah news, or any US news, is when we have a cold winter. But every year at election time we get visitors from far away countries. The latest was a group from the UK. They interviewed the local coffee drinkers at the "Station" about the Presidential race this year. You can read the article here - and see some of our town folk.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/uselection2008/johnmccain/3362430/Election-dismay-strikes-most-Republican-corner-of-US.html

Randolph does take some getting use to when you move here from the city. Honestly I was not a fan at first. It was very hard to get out there and to get to know people. Most everyone is related either by blood or by marriage. There are only a few different last names, unless you are a move in. And there are only about 500 people living here.

Now there is really no place I would rather live. Everyone looks out for one another. You never have to worry about the education your kids are getting. Kids are taught the value of hard work at a very young age. Everyone says hello. When there is a crisis, everyone is there to help out. Not to say that there are not problems here. Kids do cause trouble. There are even drugs and underage drinking - OOHHHH MY! But not like you see in large communities.

And we are not all backwoods crazy like some of the reporters make us seem. Well, some of us are! (:

It's Fall Ya'll!

It seems that fall does not last long here in the North. People think that because we do not have snow on the ground, we can't claim it winter. Let me tell you - it is winter. Randolph is where I have learned that it can be too cold to snow. We love it when it does snow, because it means it has warmed up outside.

Now that we are into November over a week, I thought I should post Halloween pics and whatever else I can download off the camera. Which wont be much! I am a terrible picture taker. Poor Kendall as a baby barely exists in photos because my camera was broken. Now that I have a fancy camera - which I have no clue how to operate Ryann has more baby pics than K-Dogg! And Ryann loves the camera! And red lipstick!

For Halloween we had Dorothy, Vampire Bat Girl, Pirate with a beat up face, and two little mermaids. I made Dorothy's dress and the mermaid costumes. Ryann did not understand that people are suppose to see the seashells, she wanted to wear them under her shirt. Once she was out with the other kids, she gave in and put them on the outside. The bat costume was mine when I was in middle school. Dylann found it at my parent's. And Kendall is always a pirate. Every year the same thing, different costume. She loves Captain Jack!

We did the 'Trunk-or-Treat' at the church parking lot. Then on to the standard houses. Judge McKinnon's for full size candy bars, the Telford's for marshmallow suckers, and up and down our street. We don't get very many Trick-or-Treater's at our house because our dog is gigantic. Kids are scared to steal our pumpkins too. Sometimes it is nice to have a horse for a dog. Christopher bought good candy this year and had a lot left over for him!

Kendall had a program at school for Halloween. It was so cute. She sang Halloween songs for the entire month. She is still singing them.

Last night the High School kids put on a after Halloween Spook House. They used the Elementary building for it. I had to stay in the car with Ryann and Payton, so the three older girls went in with a friend of mine. Halfway through my kids chickened out and came running to the car screaming their lungs out. The High School Principle came over to see if they were OK and told me I could walk them through and he would sit with my babies. My kids yelled "NOOOOOOOOO!" and begged me to just drive away. They slept on the front room couch last night due to the trauma they suffered.

And now for the monster in my house:

She loves her red lipstick. We have finally thrown it away because she colors her entire face with it. And her hands. And her neck. And her feet.

Today we had Stake Conference. Why I took Ryann and Payton I will never know. I took the two of them out for a potty break. Ryann was running down the hall and I told her to STOP! She turned to tell me "My legs just have to run!" Then I told her to follow me back down the hall. She was not obeying, so I told her that a monster was coming. She yelled at me, "No monsters live in this church!" I guess she would know, from one monster to another!

And yes, her hair always looks like that. We brush it and two seconds later - POOF!