One-year photos

Hey guys! Here are some photos of Riley we had made at the mall. Just so you know, I was too cheap to buy any to send to friends and relatives, so don't be surprised when you don't get any. We had a coupon for one free 8 by 10 photo, and we picked the one of Riley standing against the ladder. Of course, they probably expected us to buy at least one lousy picture, but they didn't count on the power of an empty wallet to resist even the pushiest of salesmen.
Never fear though. We're going to have Amanda Dyer (Sam's cousin) take some more pictures of Riley. She's a great photographer! We'll send out copies of those pictures once they are made.
I will try to post some photos of Riley's birthday and video of him walking within the next couple of days.

Worst Music Video Ever!

A friend showed me this music video and I thought it was absolutely hilarous. Some Sweedish band made it in the '70s. What's really funny to me is that these people were absolutely serious. This wasn't a spoof--it actually played on MTV!



And here's a version that some BYU students made. You can tell it's a group of BYU students because there's a hymn book on the piano in the background.

Joke's on you, Chuckee

A few weeks ago, me and my friend Marie took our kids to Chuckee Cheese's. They have free rides every weekday for a few hours. Technically, you're probably supposed to buy their overpriced pizza while you're taking advantage of their free rides, but who cares about technicalities. Take that, Chuckee! That'll teach you to be generous and let kids use your toys for free.
Riley loved it! He absolutely loves anything with wheels, so a bunch of toy cars with at least one wheel apiece was his idea of heaven. He was a little scared of the electronic puppets that dance around stiffly and sing outdated songs, but who can blame him there?
On a side note, I'm glad my friend Marie and her little boy Hayden moved to Provo. The only kids Riley has to play with from our church are all girls. And he's a little...umm....rough with them. More like heathenistic. I was at a baby shower a while back, and there was a little girl a couple of months younger than him sitting on the floor. I sat him down and he crawled right over to the little girl I thought maybe they would play together quietly for awhile. But instead, he pushed her over.
>

Hooray for teething!

Yep, I'm serious. I'm greatful for teething. You want to know why? Because without it, i'd just have to admit that I have a fussy baby who still sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night and likes to throw major tantrums.
As it is, at least I have a scapegoat to blame everything on. What's that? Riley took one bite of his food and then spit it out all over the place? He must be teething. Riley woke up two times last night? Surely he's teething. Riley is rolling around on the floor, screaming at the top of his lungs because I got tired of carrying him around and put him down. Teething, teething, teething.
Seriously though...Riley has been sooooo soooo fussy these last couple of weeks. He was sick for a few days and had a high fever of 103 off and on. The doctor said it was just a virus. It was weird though, because he didn't have any other symptoms other than being really hot.
And I think teething is at least a small part of the problem. He has three teeth completely in now, and two more trying to pop their way through. I feel bad for the little guy. It must hurt. I'll be honest though---I mostly feel bad for myself! No one warned me that tantrums started at age 1. I thought that didn't happen until the terrible twos.
Good thing Riley is so cute. It makes it all worth it.

guys + hair fixin' = trouble

So awhile ago, Riley's uncle Dustin decided to fix his hair for him.
   After about a pound of hair gell, this lovely mohawk was the end result. Of course, this was done on purpose. But I still can't help but conclude that men don't usually have what it takes in the fixing-other-people's-hair department.
Which leads me to some painful memories from my childhood. My mom taught early morning seminary for years and years, so my dad had to get us ready for school. My sister and I would roll out of bed with unruly hair and dad would just stick a bow in it somewhere and send us off to the bus. We were so ashamed that we always wore a hood on the bus, even if it was burning hot outside.
As you might guess, this didn't do much for our reputation as one of only a few Latter-day Saint families in town. Everyone else on the bus thought we were in some weird kind of cult or something.
Luckily, my mom would always meet us in the school bathroom to fix our hair before sending us off to class. That helped kids like us even more--we not only wore hoods all the time, but we must have had some sort of weird disease because we spent half an hour in the bathroom every morning.

Kissin' Cousins

Last week, Riley's newest cousin was born. Her name is Graycie Lynne Leasy, and she sure is a cutie! It will be fun to have a new little baby around.
The new mom
She's a grandma...again.
"Hooray for babies!"