Getting Ready for Christmas

So it has been a crazy couple of weeks here at the Beardall's! Between Ryan's school duties, right now grading and end of semester projects and making and grading finals, we haven't hardly seen him this week! Heather is busy getting Primary all ready for the new year. It has been a challenge because we have some teachers leaving and my 1st counselor has been having some health problems. It's been very last minute and chaotic in that sense. We're getting ready to head up to the mountains for the annual Beardall party. Santa is busy wrapping presents and getting stockings ready for the kiddos. Our tree this year is very pretty, very tall, and very wide! We always go to the moutains and cut down our own with Ryan's brother and his family. It's a great tree this year but it is drying up fast! I was really hoping to get the outdoor decorations up this year, but it's looking as though we may have to pass again this year. At least the tree is up and I do have a few window ornament lights! The weather has just been so cold even if I wanted to get the lights up, I haven't been able to in -12 degree air! We may get there yet. We're also trying to finalize plans to make the annual trek to Idaho. I'm gonna try really hard to get a family picture and newsletter out. It may be pushing it to get it out by Christmas, so it may just be a end of year letter! Oh well. Ryan just bought a trailer for his 4 wheeler. It's kind of funky, but we got a good deal on it and hope it will do the job we need it to. He also got a new phone that he's been playing around with all week long. We upgraded to the smart phone and got him a new blackberry. Way too much fun, and Heather is jealous that she can't upgrade hers 'til August! We're also looking at upgrading our truck. Our current truck has been a real lemon for us. We bought it straight out about 2 years ago, and we have done nothing but pour money into it and not been able to fix it to be dependable. And that's saying something considering Ry and his family are mechanics! It has been a great source of frustration for us. We're test driving an 07 Dodge Mega Cab 2500 Ram right now. We're running financing through (at least we're getting a good trade in!) and I'm pretty sure we'll have a new truck the end of this week. That will be both a relief (a reliable vehicle! YAY!) and a compromise (not looking forward to having to make a car payment again!). 'Tis life, I suppose! Well, I can't think of much else post, so I will end. To Christmas 2008!

Disney World!

We're back from out big trip! Yay and boo... Yay because it was a long plane ride, boo because we're not in disney world! Our trip was definitely INTERESTING! It was so much fun though! Quite a challenge to take 3 little kids to the world by yourself! Thank goodness for my sit and stand stroller and my native carrier! Ryan was with us quite a bit whenever he wasn't at his conference, but I did spend many hours with the kiddos in the parks with just me. But they were amazingly good! We of course had a few fits and tired grumpy kids at a few points, but they had a blast! We got to go on several rides and attractions and meet a ton of disney characters! They kids thought it was way fun to get their "autographs". We met Mickey and Minnie, Donald and Goofy and Pluto, a green man from toy story, Jo-Jo and Goliath, Mary Poppins, Pinnochio, and Princess Aurora and Phillip (Sleeping Beauty) and Cinderella and Prince Charming! It was also a great time of year for decorations, getting all ready for Christmas. It was a lot colder than we thought it would be though! I think one of the days it was warmer in Wyoming than it was there! good thing we brought jackets! Blake's favorite rides were the star wars one and the "Jedi Training" and the Test Track ride. Emmalee says her favorite was Tower of Terror. Yup, you heard that right. She was terrified, but loved it. And of course I think our favorite show was Fantasmic! We had great seats. Jarom was a trooper. He took naps in the stroller and got to go on plenty of the rides with us. Too bad he won't remember it all being so small. But we will! And we have plenty of pics to prove it! I think Emmalee's highlight of the trip was getting her "princess makeover" at the bibbidi bobbidi boutique in the castle! She got her hair, nails, and makeup all done up and then we went over and got some pics all dressed up. Princess for a day! Blake wasn't left out! He got a "Cool Dude" style complete with pixie dust and a painted mickey in the back that we're STILL trying to wash out! We got to go on Safari and ride a train at Animal Kingdom, see a great fireworks show at the castle, and ride a ride through the big ball at Epcot! Such a fun trip, but oh so expensive. We'll have to wait a few years before we try that one again! But I think they had a "magical" time!

Halloween '08

Halloween was so long this year! I think it got dragged out an entire week this time! The kids got to wear their costumes like 4 times at the rec center carnival, downtown trick or treating, their cousin's birthday party, and an "after" Halloween party too. Not to mention Blake's preschool dress up party too. But they had FUN! Emmalee was of course Sleeping Beauty once again (2nd year), Blake was a Jedi (big star wars fan), and Jarom was Mickey Mouse and for fun we put him in Blake's old Roo costume for one of the parties. We actually got our pumpkins and carved them BEFORE halloween this year! Yay for Heather! (Always seems that we don't get around to that until like thanksgiving!)Their cousin Ellie's birthday is on Halloween, so we all got to go to her birthday party on Halloween. All in all, I think the kids (and the grownups!) got way too much candy and wore themselves out! 'Tis the time of year I suppose! We're looking forward to the next two major holidays, and have practically every weekend booked with something now until Christmas! Two more weeks to vacation too! We're so excited.

We're going to DISNEY WORLD!

We're planning a big fun trip really soon! We're going to DISNEY WORLD baby! YAY! We're so excited. Ryan has a national conference for foreign language teachers in Orlando in November, so we're going to go with him! We can't wait! We are working on a "disney chart", a 6 week daily job list that the kids get to put stickers on. Even little Jarom has a few "jobs", like taking 2 naps a day and having storytime and brushing his teeth! Mommy (Heather) has been gearing up for the trip, researching and planning fun stuff for the plane trip and the actual trip itself. We're so excited. We think it will be a great experience for both the kids and us. We're looking forward to a fun family trip.

Emmalee

Emmalee is our oldest child. She's 6 and a half years old. She's in first grade this year! She's a smart little girl, full of energy and loves to talk, talk, talk! She loves to play dress up and princess and is into all things girly! She LOVES the color pink and she's my total drama queen. Yup. They've all got blonde hair blue eyes just like their daddy.

Jarom

Our youngest boy, Jarom, is 16 months old. He's a little sweetie. Such a cutie, and a lovey boy! He's currently getting into everything, climbs everything and wants to be a big kid just like his sibs! He loves to dance, smile, laugh, and run. He's just a ball of energy and we love him to death! He loves to be outside, play with his brother and sister and cousins, and hug complete strangers! he's a total people person and you can't help but just love him.

Soccer Blake!

We put our middle son Blake in soccer this year. He is 4 years old and plays for the Red Dragons! He's a talented little athlete. It's taken a while for him to get the hang of what a real game entails, and all the rules and stuff, but he's doing good! His first game of the year he scored 4 goals! Although 2 were for the wrong team... Oh well! He was "in the zone". He's 4, what can I say!??! He's doing a lot better at that now. We're working hard on getting him to kick the ball hard in front of him. He has a lot of ball control, but not a lot of long range power. He tries real hard though and he loves it! We're proud of him.

About us

Hello Everyone! I just barely figured out how to get into this whole "blogging" business, so here goes! We're the Beardall's- Ryan and Heather and kiddos Emmalee, Blake, and Jarom! We live in Cody Wyoming. Ryan teaches Spanish at the high school here and I stay at home with my kiddos! We met in Idaho at ISU and got married July of 2001. Our kids followed with Emmalee in May of 2002, Blake in August of 2004, and Jarom August of 2007.