Our Albuquerque Christmas

We spent December 20-27th in Albuquerque with my brother and his family and my parents. We had so much fun getting to see everyone, and I think it's safe to say that Santa was good to the kids this year! I'll let the pictures describe our trip.

This was the first time all 4 cousins have ever been together. From left to right: Madeline (9 months), Aleigha (7 yrs.), Rylan (20 months) and Parker (12 yrs.)

On the 23rd we spent most of the afternoon at the children's museum. Rylan had a great time playing at the water table as you can see.

Rylan love this little room filled with different colored Plexiglas squares.

Cody and I had our picture taken through the kaleidoscope.

Rylan spent a lot of time in the mirror room.

This was Cody riding the bike across the tight wire above the entire children's museum.

Parker encasing Rylan in a giant bubble...the bubble table was a huge hit with the kids!

Rylan and Aleigha (seriously) working at the bubble table.

After all that fun at the museum it was time for a nap...for both of us!! Rylan is at the age where he really doesn't fall asleep on us much anymore. Therefore, when I get these opportunities I take advantage of them and snuggle with my little boy as long as he'll let me.

The boys (Josh, Cody and Parker) went to the UNM men's basketball game on the evening of the 23rd so the rest of us had some fun baking and decorating sugar cookies to get ready for Santa.

Rylan helping RoRo cut out cookie shapes.

Cody taking part in folding bags for his first ever luminaria display...I think he was overwhelmed! We folded and made 100 luminarias in less than 1 hour!

Everyone working to arrange and light the luminarias for Christmas Eve night.

In our family one of our traditions is to eat Mexican food for Christmas Eve. So, we headed to Little Anita's in Old Town for a great dinner...green chili included!! I think Aleigha had a good time sitting next to Uncle Cody!

Our hard work paid off! When we came home from dinner this is what the house looked like with the luminarias all lit up.

All the kids (and my brother) sitting on the stairs for a Christmas morning picture.

Rylan immediately discovered his bat and tee and inchworm that Santa left for him.

Opening his soccer ball that Poppy (my dad) gave him.

Playing with his new cash register.

Rylan giving Maddie a "mooch"

The day after Christmas we headed up to the mountains for a fun day of sledding. It was so cold and so windy that we actually only got to stay for about 30 minutes, but it was worth it. This was Cody and Rylan's first time to sled.

Rylan and Mama

Our family snow picture...as you can see Rylan was ready to go!

His little cheeks were so red and wind burned, but the crackers made it all better once we got back to the car.

*I will try to post the pictures from our Abilene Christmas tomorrow.

I'm Dreaming Of A White Christmas...And I Might Get It This Year!

I am so excited for Christmas this year! We are going to Albuquerque to visit my brother and his family this year. My brother has 3 kids so add Rylan to the bunch and that will make 4 excited, anxious kids together on Christmas morning...how fun! As a bonus I might actually get to have a white Christmas after so many years away from New Mexico. Don't get my wrong, I love living here in Texas, but I dearly miss the years of living near the mountains and waking up to a white Christmas. We are planning on going sledding at least a day or two while we're there. Cody is 32 years old and he's never been sledding!! I'm sure him and Rylan will both have a blast! Plus, we are going to put out luminarias on Christmas Eve which has always been a big tradition in my family since we grew up in New Mexico. Luminarias are part of the New Mexican culture. They are put out on Christmas Eve as a symbol to light the way for Christ. Even though I was born and raised in Farmington, New Mexico and not Albuquerque, it still kinda feels like I get to go "home" for Christmas.

We will be in Albuquerque for a full week and then we'll come back to Abilene to have our Christmas with Cody's family. Basically, we leave this Saturday and we won't return until December 30th or 31st. So now I am needing to scramble to get laundry done, pack our clothes (and presents) and make sure we all have enough warm clothes to take. I don't know if I'll be posting again before we leave so here are a few random pictures of what we've been up to this week. We hope everyone has a great CHRISTmas! Most of all we hope you all take time to remember that our lives are forever changed because of the savior that was born on this day.

I could stand by Rylan's crib for hours and watch him sleep. I feel like I am witnessing pure innocence when I watch him sleep.

This was taken Monday night at our front office Christmas party (a.k.a. girl's night out). Every year our front office staff goes out for a Christmas dinner. This year we went to The Cheesecake Factory. Right side of the table starting with the closest: Christa (Assistant Principal), Barb (Principal), Betty (Registrar) and Stacey (Secretary). Left side starting with the closest: Beth (Instructional Specialist), Liz (Receptionist), Me and Ann Marie (Counselor). We all have so much fun together and I love my job because of these ladies!

This hat has become a big hit with Rylan. If he sees it sitting around he wants to put it on even when we aren't going anywhere. Apparently, this night he had to have it on to eat.

Anyone Else Ever Have A "Help Me Jesus" Kind Of Day?

Today I stayed home with Rylan because he's still not quite well enough to go back to school. Well, I had high hopes that I could get a lot accomplished today by staying home. However, today has been one of those days where I have found myself saying "help me Jesus" several times. Let me just fill you in on a few of today's mishaps. First, Rylan is still a little fussy today and he's being very picky about what he eats. So after he woke up from his nap he wanted a peanut butter sandwich. I was thrilled that he wanted something so I gladly pulled out the stuff to make his sandwich. As I'm spreading the peanut butter on a slice of bread I lose my grip and drop the piece of bread. This wouldn't have been a big deal if the bread had just landed on the tile floor. Oh no, life couldn't be that simple for me today. The cat had strategically placed himself at my feet and he ended up with a piece of bread (peanut butter side down) stuck to his back. So, at this point I have a screaming baby because I'm not making his sandwich fast enough AND I have a cat who is running through the house with 1/2 a peanut butter sandwich stuck to him! That was my first "help me Jesus" moment today. After I cleaned up the cat and got Rylan fed I decided we needed to just get out of the house for a while. We loaded up in the car and headed for Walgreens to print off our family Christmas cards. While I was using their little machine to design our card, Rylan had emptied my purse in his lap in the cart. So now 3 tampons were on the floor at Walgreens and I had several onlookers watching the show. As I was designing the card I was thinking "oh crap" which wasn't the best thing to do. As the Walgreens worker came over to finish my order he noticed that I have written "Merry Crapmas from the Salyers" (not the holiday sentiment I was going for) on our cards. Thank goodness he found that before they were all printed. So that was my second "help me Jesus" moment of the day. My final (or so I hope) moment occurred when I got home and went to get Rylan out of the car seat. I freaked out when I saw his ENTIRE mouth was black...tongue, teeth and lips. Apparently, Rylan decided to hold onto one of the pens that was in my purse when he dumped it at the store and in my haste to gather tampons off the Walgreens floor I missed this small detail. I just got Rylan out of the tub and hopefully our evening will be a little more uneventful.

All We Want For Christmas Is A Healthy Little Boy

This past weekend Rylan started acting a little fussy and he got pretty congested. By the time I picked him up from school on Monday he was VERY fussy and VERY congested. We took him into his pediatrician Tuesday morning and he had a positive RSV test and an ear infection in his left ear. So for now he is on another round of Augmentin for the ear infection and we're just waiting out the RSV. The poor baby has had diarrhea like none I have ever seen before and his bottom can't take much more. For the most part he has been pretty happy today though. He stayed home with daddy and played with Ripken. I will be staying home with him tomorrow ad hopefully the congestion and diarrhea will start the clear up and we can all finally get a good nights sleep! Say a little prayer for Rylan!

Rylan trying to tackle Ripken...his 24 pound little body doesn't really do much to Ripken's 75 pound body.

Ripken looks mean, but he would never hurt his little buddy.

I think it's clear who wins this round.

Nothing Runs Like A Deere

This weekend Papa, Nonni & RoRo came into town. Cody needed Ronny's help to get some things done at his baseball field so while the boys went to work, the girls (and Rylan) shopped all day. We were out for over 5 hours and Rylan was so good the entire time. One of the shopping stops we made was to get Rylan's Christmas gift from Papa and Nonni...his very own John Deere tractor. Abilene didn't have them so Nonni got it for him while they were here. Papa and daddy put it together this afternoon and Rylan has already had a blast with it. The battery hasn't charged yet so Rylan has no idea it even moves. He's just happy sitting in the "yellyo" seat. He needed his very own tractor to take to daddy's baseball field. While daddy drags the field on his big tractor Rylan can "help" by driving his John Deere around the field too. I'm sure this will provide some great photo opportunities in the next few months as Cody gets ready to start his season.

"Thanks Papa & Nonni for my tractor! Now I can be just like my daddy at the baseball field and just like my Papa when he's getting hay for the cows!"

We Have A Lot To Be Thankful For!

We spent most of the Thanksgiving week in Abilene. Rylan had a blast with everyone and I got some great pictures. Most of all, this week was just another reminder of how much we have to be thankful for. Enjoy the pictures...there's a lot of them!!

Fun At RoRo's House

RoRo teaching him to go down the stairs on his bottom

Having fun in RoRo's backyard

Playing in the leaves is so much fun!

Helping Papa Feed The Cows

"I can feed the cows just like Papa!"

Rylan "driving" Papa's tractor

Helping Nonni Decorate The Tree...I'm A Big Helper!

Helping (or so he thinks) untangle the beads

Who says you can't hang 5 strands of beads on one limb?!

Concentrating very hard

Photo Shoot At ACU

Walking with daddy

Hope everyone had a great THANKSGIVING!!