Mikayla Broke Her Arm

It's true. Mikayla is not as resilient as Victoria. A few weeks ago we went to California to welcome home John's younger brother from his mission. We flew in Friday evening and they took us all out to Round Table Pizza. Mikayla was cranky because it was actually an hour past her bedtime so when she walked off the bench and started crying I assumed that was why. After all, Victoria falls ALL the time and she's always been fine. Plus, she's a stick. If she falls you would think she would break. So naturally, Mikayla is fine. We all went back to the house and Mikayla went to bed...still crying, but like I said she was tired.
The next morning we all get up and as I'm changing Mikayla for the day I notice that she's not using her left arm. Then it dawns on me...she WAS crying more than the usual cranky cry, everytime we touch her arm she starts crying, and she wouldn't even hold a toy in it. So I took Mikayla to the ER and sure enough the X-rays reveal two fractures in her left arm. Some vacation huh? However, she's adjusting quite well and is recovering in her lovely green cast.One thing that I've noticed about the ER's that I like is that both times I've had to bring in Mikayla to the ER (the first being when I found out she was allergic to penicillin) they have seen her immediately. So if you ever have to go to the ER just hope that you're a baby. As well it should be that babies go first, it was just a broken arm...we could have waited. And in fact I was expecting to, but I guess nobody can deny helping a cutie like her.

Christmas 2009...I know I'm late

This year we were graced by my family who drove all the way to Utah from NC to visit us for Christmas! It was great to see them especially since it's been a few years. We got to play games together, catch up on life, and just generally have a good time...after all, that is what the holidays are about eh? From left to right: my dad, my mom, and my sister Marisa.
My (little, or maybe just younger) brother Michael and I.We received lots of great fun stuff this year as usual. The tangible gifts were great, but the memories were better. For example, my older brother Daniel and my sister-in-law Kristen gifted us all a trip to Brighton Ski Resort to go snowboarding. This was my second time going snowboarding and it was way more fun than my first because I fell less. And it was nice to have that memory to share with my family.
Mikayla didn't get much this year because she's only one, but we don't think she minded. Victoria is really good at sharing things with her also and so she assumes that whatever Victoria gets is hers as well...which is kind of true.
For Victoria this year, we got her one of those motorized cars that cost like $300 in the store. But, of course, if you know anything about us Rileys you know that of course we did not pay that ridiculous price! John used his good bargain hunting skills and found one at DI for $25. It needed a new battery which costs us around $50. We then cleaned it up and made it look new. It used to have these stickers that I called "moo stickers" because it looked like cow print, but now the car is totally cool. Victoria's reaction? Just what we had hoped for (see video)...

Victoria's Birthday

Victoria's 3! Time's flying by with this crazy one. We held a small celebration for her at our place with friends and family. She loved all her presents and exclaimed "Cool!" every time she opened one of her gifts.
The next day we took her to "Jump On It," which turns out it all the way in Lindon (I didn't realize it was so far away from us). It is basically a place with a bunch of trampolines right next to each other and a few blow-up slides. Victoria had a lot of fun there and I'm glad we were able to take her.

A Random Mixture of Updates...

John is still busy.

Katrina is still busy.

Victoria will be turning 3 tomorrow! We'll be taking her to "Jump On It" this Saturday.

Mikayla can officially walk, although she mostly chooses to crawl because that mode of transportation is still faster for her.

We're still trying to sell our Provo Duplex. No luck. We fear this means we'll be landlords forever.

And, we're still blessed and have much to be thankful for...including all those that read our blog! So thanks to all our friends!

Just in case you were wondering...

Mikayla says "Mama, Dada, Hey, and Uh-oh!" She also says, "Ah!" Which usually means she's screaming at us to look at her. She can now stand on her own (without holding onto furniture or people). We are waiting for her to take her first step. Should be any day now. So there's Mikayla's update.
Victoria will be 3 December 4. I've been wanting to take her to this place called "Jump on it" because she LOVES to jump and climb everything so we'll probably take her there as the day gets closer. She doesn't do much new, except learn new words and she's getting really funny. The other day we were "knocking on her head" and she looked at us and said "Come on in!" For more of Victoria's funny jokes check out our quote board to the left. We try to keep it updated.

Mikayla's First Birfday

This past Friday, Nov. 6th Mikayla turned the ripe old age of one. Yay! We made it a year with our little bear! And to celebrate we held a small party with the great grandparents, unlce, aunt, cousins, and a few friends. As per tradition, Mikayla had her own cake...and dove in delicately. Mikayla would like to thank all those that provided gifts, those that came to her party, and anyone that's brought her a smile. We can't wait for another year with our precious bear (and Mommy hopes she never stops snuggling...at least until she's 10).

Victoria gave her the gift of throwing an old tape around her. She liked it.

Mikayla eating the present wrappings.
Yay!And of course, the cake!

Halloween Party!

This year we decided to throw a Halloween party. Why? Halloween has become pretty boring. Since when do people stop giving out candy and why do people not trick or treat anymore? In all the years I've been in Utah only a few groups of kids have come to my door each year. Not to mention, there is nothing for us to do. Why not celebrate a holiday that gives out free candy and let's you dress like a complete idiot? It's a great holiday!So anywho, we through a party. We started with Fear Factor. Challenge #1: Dig around blindfolded in our mixture of who knows what in search for a spider ring. We only had one quitter during this one. Challenge #2: Eating Challenge. Challengers ate their slice of mystery meat (SPAM, which I've actually never had myself but have heard that it's not so good) and piece of this fruit called tamarind (which tastes good, but looks like poop). Once again, one quitter during this one. Challenge #3: We were down to 5 people. Challengers started by gulping down their "Jello drink", racing with their cup to fill it up in the well and bring it back to fill a bowl with water above the blue line, and then racing to the finish line where people pelted them with silly string. This was a timed challenge so that their would only be one winner. The winner won a shirt that said "I'm sorry I can't hear you over the sound of how awesome I am" and two king size candy bars. The winner was...Emily Nelson (whom actually dressed the same as me...we didn't plan it!"
During Fear Factor, while we transitioned between challenges, we held a costume contest. People voted for who they thought had the best kid costume (Thing One and Thing Two won),













scariest (Tie between the Pirate and the Construction Killer), and most creative (Shrek and Fiona).
Lastly, we held a haunted house. It was low budget and not really scary except for a few kids were scared. When you first came in spiders fell from the ceiling. I came out of a coffin to scream at people and John chased them out with a chainsaw. Overall, I think it was pretty fun. I hope everyone had an enjoyable time!