I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas

Natalie learned this song to sing for our family Christmas talent show.

Untitled from Matt Riley on Vimeo.

Merry Christmas 2009

Ready for Church

Jingle Bells Hip Hop

Natalie performed with her dance class the other night. She is the second one in from the left. They didn't get much practice but they were cute anyways.




Jingle Bells Hip Hop from Matt Riley on Vimeo.

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend

Top memories from this weekend:

Eating hot chocolate and cinnamon rolls while it rained outside at Grandma Rhonda's house.

Using Julie and Craig's fast track to get out to Murrietta and saving ourselves an hour's worth of traffic.

Natalie being deathly afraid of my brothers cocker spaniel for over 8 hours!!!

Having a cookie decorating contest with Lara which I totally lost.

Talking about the Twilight movie as much as possible.

Matt going to play basketball and soccer with my brothers in his designer jeans and blue vans.

Eating way too much pie.

Not going to bed until 3 am thanks to my mom's late night cleaning.

Hanging out with the Helmer's Friday morning and eating leftovers and more pie...yeah!!!

Making gingerbread cookies with Stephanie and then finally sneaking off to see the new James Bond movie.

Yearbook 1966

This is what I would have looked like in 1966. Go to yearbookyourself.com and see what you would like.

Warning: Mega Twilight Post

My friends and I went to the premiere of Twilight on Monday to see all the stars walk the red carpet. We don't get to see the movie till Saturday but it was awesome to see all the stars. We tried to sneak into the press booth and onto the red carpet but I guess you had to get there 2 days early for a special wrist band. What??? I'm not that hard core. The faves of the night were EDWARD, Jenny Garth and her hubby who plays Carlisle and my favorite part was when Jeffery Dean Morgan from Grey's Anatomy was there. I don't even know if he's in the movie. We were gone for about 6 hours but it was worth it!!! Yeah for crazy Twilight Mom fans!!!!

Last year

These pictures are from last November. I can't believe how much they've grown.

Natalie swinging

Disneyland Fun

Since we apparently didn't wear our Halloween costumes enough last week the girls begged to wear them to Disneyland yesterday. Natalie was a big hit as Alice and Sabrina was the cutest Tinkerbell ever. We actually ran into the real Alice at Disneyland and she was walking with a little girl dressed as Tinkerbell. She saw Natalie and Sabrina and stopped and said (in a very bad Brittish accent) "Hey, it's like looking in a mirror. Let's take a picture!" The rest of the day people kept yelling at Natalie, "Where's the white rabbit?" So we went and knocked on his door by the teacup ride but no one answered. Maybe next time.

More Halloween Fun

I feel like I celebrated Halloween about 6 times this year. When I got Natalie dressed for trick or treating on the actual day of Halloween she said, "I'm going to be Alice AGAIN?" Seriously...I know. First we went around Westfall with cousin Halley and Grandma Rushton. We saw lots of friends and got lots of candy. Then we drove to Grandma Snow White's cottage and ate dinner and then went trick or treating AGAIN with more cousins.

The best part was when towards the end of trick or treating Margaux who is 4 looked up and said, "why are we getting candy from strangers?" She was over it pretty quick. We tell our kids not to talk to strangers and then we send them to their houses to get free candy. Weird for sure. Later that night I told Natalie she could eat some of her candy but she heard somewhere that sugar makes you "stay awake" and so she refused to eat any and still hasn't. Yeah...my daughter is afraid of candy and there is more for me!!!

Halloween Fun

Friday night was our ward trunk or treat. The girls were so excited to finally get to wear their costumes. Saturday night Matt and I went to a Halloween party and we dressed up as rich people on a cruise. We had a fun weekend.

Matt's 5

ten years ago I was.......
1. On a mission in Siberia, living in Krasnoyarsk
2. very cold
3. ten years younger, but still sweet
4. sleeping on a hardwood floor
5. buying groceries from the street market

5 things on my "to do" list.....
1. call my trainer
2. invent a financial derivative instrument to hedge against all potential losses while simultaneously guaranteeing double-digit returns regardless of global market conditions
3. Buy a house
4. return B. Bernanke's phone calls
5. replace the ink in the printer

5 snacks I enjoy.........
1. fruit by the foot
2. gushers
3. fruit rolls
4. Poppycock
5. licorice

5 places i have lived
1. Provo, UT
2. Raleigh, NC
3. Mountain View, CA
4. Redondo Beach, CA
5. Siberia, Russia

5 jobs I have had........
1. document scanner at SRS
2. Math Tutor
3. Accounting Clerk at KBYU
4. Advertising Sales at Informera
5. Account Manager at Cisco Systems

5 things I would do if I was a multi-millionaire........
1. Build a gigantic electric guitar made of either solid gold or solid cheese or both
2. Buy a huge guitar pick to help me play the aforementioned guitar
3. two words: Rocket Car
4. buy a huge swath of the ocean off the Atlantic, then build a submersible rocket machine to shoot a missile into the ocean floor & create a volcanic eruption, resulting in fresh untouched islands perfectly within the boundaries of my ocean. Then on my new island host the world's largest ping pong tournament.
5. Either buy a sandwich or GM and Ford.

Bubbles

Sabrina

Thanks Shannon for this cute picture of Sabrina chillin in the new pool!

Disneyland Trip

It was a night to remember...Natalie's first time on Space Mountain!!! I think I was 7 or 8 the first time I went. I couldn't believe she was tall enough. Crazy. She loved it sooooo much.

Before the ride


During the ride


After the ride

Beach Day

We went to the beach...in October. This is not right. The water was sooooooo cold but it felt so nice at the beach. Natalie has a HUGE bandaid on her head because on Sunday night she was running through our house and hit her head on the corner of the wall. It was bleeding like crazy everywhere. She looked in the mirror and yelled, "my hair is red!" Luckily our home teacher who is also a doctor was able to come and patch her up.

Dress Up

Ella and Natalie


a little excited

Fall is here and so is being busy ALL the time! We have been a little sluggish getting back into our routine. We have music class and dance class on Mondays (with the same teacher...that's talent). Tuesdays is preschool and running as many errands as humanly possible while I only have one child.

Wednesdays...my favorite day of the week...we do nothing! Which usually means we go to Disneyland. It's my favorite time of year to go because there is nobody there!!! Thursdays we have preschool again and I finish up more errands. Friday is also a good day because there isn't too much going on. We usually head down to Grandma's house for swimming or to see Aunt Jackie.

Today Natalie's friend Ella came over and we played dress up and then watched "Barbie and the Diamond Castle" while eating buttery popcorn. It was a fabulous afternoon.

Les Deux

I finally had a Hollywood moment! I went to an art show at a club in LA called Les Deux. Matt's friend at work put together an art show for his Dad who is an artist. It took us 2 hours to get there from Redondo. We were on Santa Monica blvd FOREVER!!!! We finally made it though. I'm sad to report we didn't meet any celebrities. But we did meet the owner of the Pantages Theater (where Wicked is playing) and the Greek Theater. We also met a guy who use to manage the band Black Eyed Peas. Matt's mom came with us since she is also an aritst and because we LOVE her!

Mac n' Cheese in my nose!

I stayed home from church on Sunday with Sabrina so we could both take a much needed nap. I fed her some lunch and laid her down. Then I went to go lay down. Just as I was starting to doze off I heard Sabrina crying. I went in her room to investigate and she said she needed to blow her nose. I got some Kleenex and she tried to blow her nose but she was still crying. I asked her what was wrong and she said, "There's cheese in my nose." I assured her there was no cheese in her nose and she said, "no mama...I put mac n' cheese in my nose!" I looked at her in disbelief and then I went in search of a flash light. I found one and my fears were confirmed. I could see the end of a macaroni noodle up her left nostril. I immediately called my mom and she suggested I use a bulb syringe.

Sabrina was so tired she didn't even mind what I was doing and pretty much thought me running around and freaking out was quite amusing. The bulb syringe didn't work. Neither did inducing a sneeze by sniffing pepper (thanks for that one mom). Yes...I even tried tweezers but it was a disaster. I finally got a hold of Matt and asked him to leave church so he could bring me a car seat so I could take Sabrina to urgent care. I rushed over to the urgent care and Sabrina actually fell asleep on the way there. I arrived and explained the problem and when they asked for my insurance card I realized I left my wallet at home. AHHHHHHH!

I called Matt AGAIN and he and Natalie left church to come save us. The poor doctor finally saw us and asked, "What ear was it again?" Off to a great start. I reminded him it was her nose and he pulled out some alligator tweezers. Basically the longest tweezers I've ever seen. Sabrina was not excited about any of this and let's just say it was not a pleasant experience and we will not be eating mac n' cheese again for a LONG time!!!

We made it back home about 2 hours later and I started making dinner. I heard Sabrina crying again and so I went into the other room and she had found the bowl of pepper that I had gotten out earlier to make her sneeze. It was mostly in her mouth and eyes. I couldn't believe it. I rinsed her eyes out with saline and she was soooo upset. As a peace offering I gave her as much rootbeer as she wanted and Popsicle too. She was finally happy.

When Natalie went to bed that night she look at me and said, "I don't think Sabrina had a very fun day."

Lesson learned: Don't stay home from church to sleep!

Dad's not going on a mission

I wanted to record some things about the girls before I forget them.

My nephew Ryan went to the MTC last week. We went to his farewell and then Matt was able to help set him apart. This took place after church at my sister's house. During the blessing Natalie ran up to the circle and started saying, "Daddy" and trying to pull him out. I was trapped in the back of the room holding Sabrina but luckily my mom saw what was going on and grabbed her. I took her back into the other room and she started sobbing. I asked her what was wrong and she said, "I don't want Daddy to leave on a mission...I want him to stay with us!"

I mopped the floor yesterday after a Popsicle melted and Sabrina walked across it and slipped a little and said, "Whoa...the floor is so slippely." At this moment she is currently serenading Daddy by singing "A Whole New World" from Aladdin and she knows every word. She's making Matt sing the Aladdin part and she is singing the Jasmine part. She's ready to audition for Disney!

Sabrina also loves to play with her little princesses figurines. She is always telling them how beautiful they are or she is bossing them around and telling them they're in time out. She is so good at playing make-believe. She would do it all day if I let her.

I also hurt my neck really bad this week and have been going to the chiropractor. I have had an ice pack on my shoulder for practically the whole week. Today Sabrina woke up and yelled, "my neck hurts...I need an ice pack!" She speaks so well it's hard to remember she's just barely 2.

I have a lot about Sabrina this time. She is soooo into doing things all by herself. Mainly getting dressed, putting on shoes, brushing teeth and hair and getting into and out of the car. Her new one is sunscreen but I put the lid on that one pretty quick. She can often be heard to say, "I can do it myself I SAID!!!" That's her warning to step off or a tantrum is coming your way. We are often late to well...everything because of this. We have to get ready to leave about 20 minutes earlier than usual just to be on time.

Natalie is great. Now that she is 4 her toddler years are truly behind her. It's pretty scary and exciting to see her turning into a real little girl. She won't even change her clothes in front of Matt. She is swimming so good. After she got pushed off the side of the pool in swim lessons I thought we were done for but she got a new teacher and it has made all the difference. It helps that teacher is one of my friends and Natalie knows her super well. There is more trust I think. She is swimming all over the place now. She still has a long way to go but she had made tons of progress this year. She hasn't even worn her arm floaties. Hopefully by next year she will be a pro.

If you actually read all this...whoa...you must really care a lot about my kids. Thanks!!!