It's the Most Wonderful Time of the year...

Let the fun begin....

Festival of the Trees!!

Blown Glass tree...Wow!!

Gotta love good ol BYU!!!

Jane and I have already had a chance to do alot of fun stuff this holiday season!! We went to the Festival of the trees not too long ago with a group of fun moms from our ward!! It was so much fun and Jane really had a blast...

She helped mama make some festive reindeer horns to wear. She wore them for exactly 10 seconds, in which time I managed to get a pretty decent picture of her before she ripped them off...a Christmas miracle.

She also got her face painted. She picked out a cute snow flake. Who knew the Festival of the trees was so much fun?!!

However, the best part of this holiday season...so far, is that Jane got to meet the big guy himself...yes, Jane met Santa Clause and loved it!!


She was pretty enamored with his jingle bells...
We also got to ride on a real train around Santa!! It was so much fun. I know you can't tell by her face...but Jane loved it!!So far, this Christmas season is panning out to be a good one!! Merry Christmas everyone!!

3 years already?!!

On November 23rd, 2008, Ryan and I had our third anniversary!! However, we weren't actually able to celebrate until a week later!! We both desperately needed a break so we had an over night stay at the Alaskan Inn in Ogden, went to a movie and ate a VERY nice dinner at the Timbermine Restaraunt. Leaving Jane overnight for the first time was very weird but we managed to get away and Jane had alot of fun with Christina and Terry!! Here are a few fun pics of our get-away!Alaskan Inn up Ogden Canyon

Timbermine Restaraunt

I threw in a picture of Jane playing- just because she is so cute!!

Also, at the Alaskan Inn!!

Tagged...

I was tagged by my friend Melissa!! So here goes:

8 shows I watch:
1. John and Kate plus 8
2. Little People Big World
3. The Hills (I'm a nerd)
4. Law and Order
5. Home Improvement (I'm a really big nerd)
6. Everybody loves Raymond
7. Anything on the Food Network
8. Friends
*OK, so I watch too much tv...

8 Restaraunts I go to:
1. Cafe Rio
2. La Dulce Vida
3. Tarahumara
4. Sensuous Sandwich
5. Red Robin
6. Osaka
7. The Training Table
8. Yoasis (I love them..yummy!!)
*This was way too easy, I eat WAY too much...

8 Thing I did today:
1. Worked in the office and tried to keep Jane away from the computer and phone
2. Played with Jane
3. Picked up after Jane
4. Fed Jane
5. Cleaned up after Jane
6. Wrote more of my book- while Jane napped
7. Changed Jane's poopy diapers
8. I am going to a movie- once Jane is asleep
*Basically I have no life other than Jane...

8 Things I look forward to:
1. Not having to manage Crestline Estates anymore (Don't get me wrong, I am so grateful for our job- but it can be super stressful sometimes :)
2. Ryan to be done with school
3. Buying our first home
4. a white Christmas- Jane will actually sort-of care about it this year!!
5. Thanksgiving break for Ryan- we can actually hang out together!!!
6. Finishing my book!!
7. Jane's bed time- I love her to death but that's my chance to relax!!!
8. Jane waking up in the morning- I am rested and ready to play with my adorable baby!!

8 Things on my wish list:
1. I wish and hope Ryan will get one of the scholarships he is applying for.
2. A comfortable and beautiful home of our own some day
3. Happiness to my family and friends (good one Meliss)
4. I wish I could learn not to stress out so much all the time.
5. My children to grow up to be strong, righteous, successful adults
6. To see my family more, all together(my brothers and sisters I mean)!!
7. More dates and time with Ryan!!!
8. More adventure!!!

People I tag:
1. Jillyn
2. Erica
3. Christina
4. Heather
5.Eve

Do it if you can- if you can't I won't hate you!!! But, I really learned alot about myself from doing this. I discovered that I am a huge nerd, with no life, who eats too much!! So, think hard about doing this- you may learn something awesome about yourself that you didn't know before!! :)

Curse oranges...curse ALL the oranges...

Today, disaster struck. I was putting groceries away. I was of coarse flustered and in a hurry, as usual. It was almost Jane's nap time and I had to feed her a snack; but first I had to get at least the perishable items put away. As I was in a rush to get the milk put away, I accidentally pushed over a very full pitcher of orange juice that was in the back of the fridge. I watched in horror, helplessly, as the the pitcher tumbled over, spewing pulpy orange juice into every lower crevice of the fridge. The drawers of meat and cheese, fruit, and vegetables and all of its contents were completely covered in orange juice. As if this wasn't bad enough, as fate would have it, Jane happened to be standing in front of the open fridge as the waterfall of orange juice came tumbling out of the fridge and all over poor Jane and the kitchen floor.

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I have a pesky tendancy to...well...freak out in situations like this. Holding back the urge to use a curse word, I took off Jane's completely drenched clothes, and spunged her down as much as I could. Jane roamed the house half-naked for a while as I cleaned up the ginormous mess. This was no small feat, as I had to wipe down every apple, every bag of cheese and every corner and nook of the fridge. Then I had to mop the floor and of coarse wipe down and dress Jane. Somehow, I managed to clean up the mess, get Jane re-dressed and fed and put down for a nap in a resonable amount of time. However, if you come to our house any time soon and eat something that tastes orangey...you'll understand why!!!

Fall- favorite time of the year!!

Fall is so beautiful!! Since last fall I was secluded indoors with a brand new baby- I missed all of it!! So this year it has been a blast to get out and enjoy the beautiful fall weather. I took some adorable pictures of Jane playing in some leaves- on the tip of a good friend from my ward- Thanks Eve!! And thanks to Christina who made Jane smile and laugh so great!!

More Halloween fun!!

Jane and Grandma Dick!!

Jane playing with Captain- The Dicks wonderful old dog!!

Jane was a dalmation for Halloween this year!!! she was the most adorable puppy in the world. Initially, we had a whole family theme going. All I could get Ryan to agree to dress up as was a pharmacist. All he had to do was put on his pharmacist jacket...he's not a fan of halloween and is needless to say...BORING. So, I tried to spruce it up by being a bottle of Tylenol and Jane was a baby tylenol tablet. It was sooo cute and funny- but it was just too uncomfortable. So, we broke down and let her wear her dalmation outfit- which turned out pretty cute!!

Christina's back and Halloween fun!!

Chrsitina and Terry moved back to Provo from Texas recently!!! Hooray- I missed her so much and could not be happier that she is home!! We have been catching up on our much neglected hang out time. This past weekend Christina and I went to a Halloween party to see some of our childhood friends!! We were required to dress up so Christina and I dressed up as an angel and a devil! Now, this party was a party for couples. However, Terry (Christina's husband) was out of town on business and Ryan was busy busy studying and neither of them could come. So, we were eachother's dates at the party- hahaha!!! We make a cute couple huh?!

Here are a few pictures from our annual Metten family reunion in Logon called "Oktoberfest." It is always sooo much fun and this year was especially exciting because it was Jane's first time there!! I think she had a blast!!

Hooray for Jane!!!

JANE IS WALKING EVERYWHERE! SHE IS SO GOOD. WE ARE SO PROUD OF HER!
Video of Jane walking is soon to come- so stay tuned!!

7 years bad luck!!

So, Ryan broke a mirror today...quite ungracefully I might add. We had a good laugh about it. Great...I guess that means we are going to have seven years bad luck. I mean we already live in a mobile home park...in a a double wide...how much worse could it get. Well, I guess we could always be downgraded to a singlewide...(I am just kidding, we are very lucky to have this job).

This incident reminded me of another hilarious accident Ryan had. A year or so ago, Ryan, my sister and I were helping my mother pack up her house to move. Ryan was on lamp duty. He had to wrap up my moms excessive abundance of lamps and carry them downstairs. While Ryan was doing this Christina and I were busy trying to convince my mom to get rid of some the extra lamps she had and wasn't using. While talking, my mom caught a glimpse of the lamp Ryan was busy carrying down the stairs.

Mom: "Now some of these lamps I really could get rid of, but that lamp (She pointed at the one Ryan was carrying down the stairs) is a family heirloom. It has been in the family for generations."
Christina: "Ya, that lamp really is beautiful."
Mary: "Oh, of coarse you should keep that lamp."
Mom: " Yes, I really love that lamp. It was my Gramdma Horrigan's."

Just as we were all gloating over the heirloom lamp, Ryan came rushing past us, lamp in hands, displaying his manly strength when suddenly the glass lamp shade came tumbling off the lamp. It seemed as if time was moving on slow motion as the beautiful lamp shade crashed on the floor, shattering into hundreds of pieces.

After, several desperate grasps from Christina and I, silence ensued for several minutes. My mom stared at her precious family heirloom broken on the floor, Christina and I stared at my moms stunned face meanwhile, Ryan stood there frozen, still holding what was left of the precious lamp.
Mom: "Well, I really didn't like it that much." Was my mom's pathetic attempt a breaking the silence.

I will never forget that moment- we all laughed for nearly twenty minutes after. It was hilarious!!

The Big #1!!!

Jane had her first birthday this past Saturday!!! We had a two parties for her with both Ryan's and my families. She got all sorts of fun new toys!!! Here are some pictures of the party we had on Friday night with my family!! B-day princess!!!

One happy family!!!

Of coarse we let her eat cake and she (unfortunately inheriting my addiction to sweets) dug right in to her cake. Here is a pictoral depiction of Jane eating her cake...(Pictures don't do it justice- it was hilarious... Jane's Caterpillar cake!! So, your telling me I can eat this whole thing?

That's right...I will eat what I want to eat, when I want to eat it... I feel sick...

Jane had a great first birthday- I can't believe how grown up she is!! We love our little doodle bug!!

Nearly killed by road rage....

Ryan and I had the most crazy experience the other night while driving home from a work dinner up in Salt Lake. Ryan has become a very cautious driver (a far cray from his High school days...YIKES) and expects other drivers to be equally as careful and cautious. So, when someone is driving crazily and being inconsiderate Ryan likes to kindly help them become aware of their fault... I knew this would backfire one day!!!

We were driving home, it was about 9pm. A guy in a red car cut in front of our car going way too fast. He squeezed in front of us and behind a car in the lane next to us- barely missing both of us. Of course, Ryan was appalled and gave him a quick flash of his brights to let the guy know that he nearly hit us and needed to be more careful. This must have majorly pissed the guy off because he slammed on his breaks in the middle of the freeway causing Ryan and I (With Jane in the back seat mind you...) to have to slam on our breaks and nearly run into the back of him. He slowed to about 30 miles an hour on a freeway!!

As if that weren't enough, when he got back up to speed he got into the lane next to us and slowed way down, because Ryan and I were going to normal freeway speeds we were about to pass him. Once we got to the side of him, he started to pull over into our lane! Ryan and I had to swerve out of his way and slam on our breaks. He nearly ran us off the road!! At first I thought this must have been accidental. However, He pulled over into the lane next to us again and slowed way down. I told Ryan that we needed to pull up next to him so he could see that we had a baby in the back seat so he would be more careful. But when we tried to pull up next to him, he swerved into our lane again!! Nearly driving us off the road!!

At this point I just wanted to pass the guy and get away from him- I could tell he was seriously angry with us (for nothing...I might add!). But he tried to run us off the road a third time when we tried to pass him. Ryan got his phone out to call the police! The guy must have seen him do that cause he sped away so quick we didn't even get his lisence plat number. This guy could have killed us, just because we flashed him for cutting us off...YIKES!!

Moral of the story: Be careful who you comfront and piss off. You never know when you will
meet a derranged psycho with a major case of road rage!!!

Poop Evolution...

Having my first child, Jane, has left me baffled by the way her poops have grown and evolved right along with her. I'm left asking myself, when did Jane go from poops so liquid-esk that she had nearly daily blowouts in every possible, desperately inconvenient place to poops so log-esk that she has to quite literally stop what she is doing, and with as much concentration and effort as she can muster, push with all her little might just to get them out. Well, I have learned something from observing my adorable little, Jane...poop is never convenient, no matter how small you are. She went from having so much poop she was practically swimming in it, to having so little poop that she has to exert actual effort to produce some. And I have gone from cursing every poopy diaper I would change every several hours to actually praising Jane when she produces one. Well, I never cease to be amazed at how quickly things change in motherhood and believe me I never thought I would find a poopy diaper something to get excited about...

Tagged...

So, I've been tagged by my adorable sister in law, Heather!!! I think I am just supposed to write six crazy random things about me. Well here goes, I hope I still have friends after this...

1. I am an AVID volleyball player. I love it. In fact, I pretty much have withdrawls when I am unable to play for a while. Being pregnant just about killed me- just for the fact that I couldn't play volleyball for so long. After the doctors appointment where my doctor told me that playing volleyball was doable but it would be uncomfortable and possibly painful, I decided to show Ryan how I could still jump (to hit the ball) with as much agility as ever. So, I tried it. I jumped as high as I could and basically made a fool out of myself. I barely got off the ground and fell down after my attemp in pain. Oh well, I'm back in action now!!

2. I love popping bodily extremities of any kind- fingers, toes, backs, knees, basically whatever I can. I pop my joints all the time, over and over again. Oh, and I will settle for popping other people's joints as well, if they will allow me to. I am beginning to think that I should have become a chiropractor...

3. I graduated from BYU with a degree in English education...and I really can't spell worth crap! I know...I am a disgrace to the English education profession but it's a curse, I swear.

4. I love writing. In fact, I am in the middle of writing a young adult novel. I think it will definately be a story worth reading. I have wanted to get this story down on paper for quite some time now and am finally making some progress. If you would like to help me out by reading my finished chapters and giving me your input please let me know- I would appreciate it!!

5. I am absolutely obsessed with "The Hills" on MTV!! I never miss an episode. I know- am I in highschool? Oh well, I am tellin' ya it is the epitome of entertainment.

6. I have scrapbooked my whole life...I currently have three complete scrapbooks of my married life with Ryan and my sweet baby Jane and I am working on the fourth. I pretty much have every trip, every monumental occasion, every special event etc. etc. scrapbooked and documented in detail. I plan on keeping it up, too. By the time Ryan and I are retired, we are going to have quite a ginormous library of scrapbooks! I love my life and my family so I'm pretty sure that I'll love having them later on in life.

Sorry, Heather, I couldn't find a picture of me pregnant- but I kinda look pregnant in this one :)

Summer's officially over...

Well, Ryan has been in school for about a week and a half now and the memories of our glorious summer are already floating away with the wind. I am left home every day all by myself. (with Jane of course)..oh well, I will always have the memories. Here are some pictures of our last few days of summer. We went up to the Kennecott Copper Mines and had a picnic up the canyon. I also threw in just a cute picture of Jane. I love my little family!!

Congrats Ryan!!!!!

I am so proud of my wonderful husband for working so diligently to get into the Pharmacy, Doctorate program at USN. Last Thursday, Ryan had his white coat ceremony, where he was honored and welcomed into the Doctor of Pharmacy field and given his white coat. It was truly an amazing experience. We are sooo proud of you Ry, thanks for all you do!!!

Volleyball blunders...

I had a seven hour, outdoor volleyball tournament this past Saturday. It was alot of fun and went pretty well...however, one cannot escape who they really, truly are! Therefore, of coarse I had several very typical volleyball blunders...

1. I have always lived by the phrase..."Sacrifice your body for the ball." So, naturally when a ball was falling dangerously close to the grass, I plunged forward, diving to get the ball up. Well, come to find out, you don't slide on grass as well as on the court...so I fell...hard...my face, unfortunately taking the brunt of the fall. Yes, I face planted and that really hurts when you are wearing sunglasses. Needless to say, I now have beautiful bruises all over my face...lovely.

In case you are wondering, I DID get the ball up, so it was all worth it. (Special thanks to Stacey Salmans for teaching me that a slight injury is worth saving the ball!!!)

2. I have stopped being surprised, when I get hit in the face, when a 6 foot 5 inch tall guy hits the ball on the 10 foot line...where I happen to be down and ready to dig...or take it square in the face. This happens to me more than you might think. (My typical luck, or lack of reflexes kicking in!!) And, YES, even though it was with my poor, already bruised face, the ball was up and we happened to get a point out of it.

3. Well, after six hours of straight volleyball in the middle of the day with the sun burning into me relentlessly, I came to realize that I may not be in the sort of shape I was in highschool, way before I had my baby. Needless to say, I was exhausted and apparently wasn't lifting my feet as high as I normally do when I walk. I was walking backwards towards the end of the court to prepare to serve the ball, when I found the back line...and tripped over it...falling rather ungracefully on my back. We all had a good laugh.

Despite the unfortunaltely expected blunders that are to come every time I play volleyball, I love playing the game and just can't get enough!! And there are more good moments than bad, so I can't complain!! PLAY ON...PLAY ON!!!

Is Delbert dead?!!! Another Crestline quicky!!

As you well know, Crestline Estates houses many unheard of adventures for Ryan and I. Here is yet, another first for us here in the good ol mobile home park...

Ryan and I were driving home and noticed a car stopped in the dead middle of the road just inside the park. It was a man named Delbert's car. He is one of the oldest men in the park! Bless his heart, he comes into the office every single month with a rent check- he HAS to be exactly two months ahead or he freaks out. Since I don't really know what a genuine freak out would do to a man so old, I try to comply with his wishes as best as possible. He generally has some pretty hilarious commentary on recent politics and the bible when he comes in for his monthly visits as well...

As we pulled up behind the car, Ryan jokingly said "Maybe Delbert finally hit the dust here in the middle of the road." We were enjoying a good laugh until we pulled up next to his car and found him sitting there, eyes closed, mouth open... and looking pretty dang near dead to me. Shocked, Ryan said "Oh my gosh he IS dead!" He quickly got out of the car and knocked on the window. Thankfully Delbert opened his eyes and in fact was not dead. He claimed to be cooling down...right, like sitting in your car with the widows rolled up in the middle of the day in July is the best way to cool down... Whether Delbert had fallen asleep at the wheel, or been actually attempting suicide when we pulled up we will never know. But for now, Delbert is still alive and kickin'- we really love that man!!

Our little Princess!!

On the 24th of July, there was a block party that my mom invited us to. The party was kicked off with a kid parade where the theme was super heros and princesses. We were so excited to dress Jane up as a princess so she could be in the parade. She was the youngest little princess there- but the most adorable ( in our opinion)!!

Our First Family Vacation!!

Ryan and I had the opportunity this summer to go to LA to watch my brother and sister in law's dogs!! It was a blast! We were able to go to Disneyland, Sea World, the Queen Mary etc. Overall, the trip went rather smoothly. However, knowing our luck (or rather...my luck. Ryan just got dragged into it by marrying me!!) of coarse, we ran into some crazy situations. For instance, two out of the three days we spent at Disneyland were student days. Jr. high and Highschool kids would go to Disneyland for their end of school year party. This means that we just happened to be there on two of the busiest days of the year for Disneyland...typical Harper luck. Or perhaps the day when we decided to go on a nice Sunday drive to a park. Unbenounced to us, out of a list of more than twenty parks we just happened to pick the one that had a a gay pride parade going on. Ryan was absolutely horrified and disgusted. Personally, I thought he overreacted just a bit. But who really knows how the inner workings of a guy's mind works?! Really though, we can't complain. It was an amazing trip.

We dream big!!

I would say that our lives are currently quite humble. I mean, we live in a double wide for heaven sakes... So, you can imagine how excited we get when we think about our future, far far away from this mobile home park.
Ryan woke up a few days ago and said that he had the most vivid dream. As we were driving to a near by park to play frisbee golf (our new favorite pastime...very very humble lives...) he was anxious to delight me with the details, so I listened intently. His dreams are always rather entertaining.
He was a finalist in the "American Idol" singing competition. He was about to go on stage and perform for his life...one...last...time. Surrounded by busy make-up people, wardrobe people, singing coaches and bright lights, Ryan struggled to calm his nerves. He was feeling good in his shnazzy and very festive red, white and blue jumpsuit. The manly tassels on the arms of his jumpsuit swayed as he moved towards the stage with hundreds of screaming fans calling out his name. He pulled open the curtains and there he stood, bright and shiny as a penny in his jumpsuit for the whole world to see. The crowd went silent and the intro began...Ryan's voice rang clear-"Tainted love, you've got to... run away...you've got to...get away..."Ryan sang "Tainted Love" with all his might. The crowd went wild and joined in the 80's spledor. Once the song was complete, Ryan bowed triumphantly and ran off the stage to the sound of the voctorious cheers of his praise...
Now, Ryan didn't stay asleep long enough to see of he had won, but for a moment he was really something in the world... Oh how I love Ryan's dreams!!

A Crestline quicky- my musings of mobile home management!!

Here at the mobile home park, I run the office and the financial part of management while Ryan takes care of the maintenance around the park. Now, I feel continually relieved that my job doesn't require me to be out in the public eye of the park like Ryan does. What little time I have spent out and about the park, I always have an erie feeling of being watched from behind the many plastic covered windows of the various colored mobile homes as I pass them. And when people are outside of their homes they do either of two things, they either stare me down menacingly as I pass or they run up to me yelling "manayer, manayer I have a problen." (Most of residents here are Hispanic- and are working on their English :) )

Today, Ryan was out and around the park doing his reagular maintenance when a sweet little Hispanic woman came running up to him- much like the manner in which I just described. She had an odd request... she said, "I have a problen. Can I have a poopy? My childrens they crying and crying to have a fuzzy poopy. Can I have one of them?" After a moment of awe and confusion, Ryan finally understood that the lady was asking for a puppy. We had to tell her that "poopies" are not allowed in this park. Ahhh, crazy crazy tenants!!!!

Meet the Dicks!!!

We are a lovely bunch of mobile home dwellers. Yes, we currently live quite happily in our double wide. You may be wondering why one would decide to do such a thing...well, Ryan and I manage a mobile home park. Despite what you think, it is actually a pretty sweet deal...and not to mention the fact that we get to meet and interact with the coolest people ever... and the craziest. Kinda like the old man who wanders into the office every now and then, wheezing and wheezing like he might just bite the dust there in the office, to talk about the bible and politics. Or, maybe the couple who got evicted a few years ago- he looked like a giant gnome (he had the beard, the stature and everything. I'm tellin' ya, put a pointy hat on him and he's ready for your lawn) and his wife looked like the girl from the ring... she had the long black hair, the ghostly white face, the permenantly open mouth...yikes. Or, maybe the couple who came into the office and were self proclaimed "Chiboxer" breaders. They bred, or had attempted to breed, Chiwawa's with boxer's. That was their life and their living and they seemed awfully excited about it. It seemed pretty horrible to me since they said that most of the time the poor little chiwawa couldn't handle it and would die in the process. I have bad feelings towards them still...Yes, there is never a dull moment here at the mobile home park!!

Ryan is going to pharmacy school. He got into a doctorate program at USN and will start this fall!!! We are very excited. The sooner he graduates the sooner we can leave our quite lively job- though it has been a great blessing!!!

I graduated in English education a year ago and am currently a mommy number one and a park manager second- though they both require a great deal of time!!!

Jane is 7and a half months old and is pretty much the smartest baby I know- we are sooooo proud of her!!!