Happy New Year!

I always look forward to a New Year. I love the fresh start it gives us and the chance we have to make a change to improve our lives. I usually make a few resolutions each year because I believe in becoming the best that I can. In fact, I usually read more self-help-type books than any others.

So, I've decided to set a few more goals this year; and here they are.

1. Read the Book of Mormon each day
2. Bring my A1c down to 6.0 or lower
3. Find a half-time teaching job
4. Read to Ryan each day
5. Go to the gym more
6. Attend the temple more often

So, I guess these sound a little lame, but anyway, here they are.

new bedding

I received this quilt (made by my wonderful mother and fabulous sister) on Christmas day! I also got the navy blue sheets to put underneath it. Isn't this a beautiful bed? Almost pretty enough to put into a magazine don't you think!

Christmas with the McNew's

More of Christmas

Santa

Christmas Day

Making Candies

Every year we make Christmas candies and goodies to give to our home teaching families. Here we are of course Ryan had to help us out this year a well!

Sledding

So I got this wonderful idea to take Ryan sledding. We couldn't decide where would be the best place to go. Everyone suggested Riverbend golf course, so that is where we ended up. Colin had to work late, of course so we didn't get there until 6:30 and by then it was pitch black. We went for it anyway, and we weren't the only ones out there that night. The first time down the hill we put Ryan in front then me, and Colin in the back. Ryan and I got a bunch of snow in the face and we pretty much flew down the hill. The hike up was tough so we decided to try the smaller hill at the top. Colin went in front and put on the breaks so that we didn't fly all the way down the big hill catching air in between. We took another turn down the big hill and Colin got so much snow to the face that we called it a night. I had snow all the way up my pants and Ryan was crying. Ryan didn't really have fun at all. Maybe we'll take him some time during the day to a smaller hill. I think he'd like it if there weren't snow flying in his face and he could see where he is going. I had fun, but I think I'm the only one. It was nice to get out of the house and do something fun outdoors this winter.

Like I said, it was pitch black, so be impressed at my photo taking!

Ryan in the toboggan.

another professional job on the self timer! and not a bad family picture either. almost better than what we sent out for Christmas cards.

Getting Bundled up!

New Callings

Colin and I went to tithing settlement tonight and received new callings. We were therefore released from our previous ones. Being the primary chorister has been one of the most difficult callings of my life. I really did not want to accept the calling when I first was asked, but did what I had to do. I pretty much hated the calling for the first little while. The primary president made my job very difficult. We basically butted heads on a lot of things. As we got closer to the program, our big hoorah for the year, we were extremely stressed out. Words were exchanged and in the end, we appologized to each other and things were much better after that. I learned a lot through this calling, I grew because I was outside of my comfort zone. I loved the children and will miss working with them. I think that the kids will most likely be in much better hands so I won't worry about them much.



Our new calling is a team thing and that's really exciting. We've never done that before so I think it will be really interesting. We are going to teach the new course on the Preach the Gospel manual to the entire ward. Each member has to go through the course, and this is a new thing, so I think it will be really fun. We only teach for 6 weeks, then we get a new group of people and teach the curriculum again. I am really excited and hope that it works out well!

Ryan's Latest

Ryan has sure been into EVERYTHING lately! He spends most of the day running around the house seeing what he can get himself into.

He loves to cook and when he says the word (cook) it sounds more like “gook”, but he’s getting really good at talking lately too. He knows that cooking is “hot” but he still likes to help anyway. He loves to get out all of my pots and pans and use a wooden spoon to stir things around. He also likes to sit up on the counter and play with a toy while I prepare dinner or other meals.

He also likes to pull things out. He’ll pull all of the books off of the shelves, the trash out of the trash can, the toys out of the toy bin, and the pans out of the cupboard.

I think he is going through a clingy stage right now because he really likes to be held a lot, most of the time he prefers to be carried around and just held. My back is really starting to hurt too. I think he weighs between 25 and 30 pounds so it’s a lot of weight to be carrying around. But, I do love his little cuddles and hugs. He’s also learning to give kisses and that is really cute. When he gets tired he gives kisses and says “bye, bye’. He also knows to give kisses when he is leaving grandma and grandpa’s house.

I’ve been trying to teach Ryan to sign a little bit. He knows two signs very well, they are milk and eat. He’s so cute that he knows the words that go with them too, so he’ll sign and speak at the same time. Can’t resist giving him a cookie or cracker when he walks around saying “eat, eat”.

So, these are the words he knows as of today, some are better than others, but here’s the list.

Ba Ba – bottle

Bye Bye

Book

Bird

Ball

Duck

Bath

Eat

Milk

Ma Ma- this one means Momma and it also means, “I want that”

Mom

DaDa- and you’d just have to hear how cute it is when he says this!

Hot

No

Don’t

Cook

Cookie

Hi

Hello

Grandma

Grandpa

Bath

Diaper

Shoes

Uh-oh- two meanings: oops something fell, and I just did something I wasn’t supposed to do

That’s all I can think of right now but I know there are some more.

Ryan has also really been into shoes lately. He’ll go into our closet and pull out all of the shoes. He also tries to put them on and walk around. He gets really frustrated when he realizes that they don’t stay on like he wants them to. He’s been successful with some of my dress shoes though because he’ll put most of his foot in the front half of the shoe and then scoot around with them on. Too cute!

Goldman Sachs Christmas Party

Colin and I attended his work Christmas party this weekend. It was at the University Park Marriott in SLC. We had a really great time there hanging out, eating, and dancing the night away. Here are a few pictures from that night.

Chistmas Card Rejects

We took this pictures intending to use them on our Christmas card this year... but we went with something else. Anyway, I still think these are kinda cute (even though Colin didn't). But, they all look very similar don't you think? Which one do you like best? Oh, and by the way, self timer with a 1 year old isn't an easy feat.


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