Catching Up

This week has been great. We have been trying to visit with our family and friends. Ally is in heaven playing with all of her cousins and old pals, her grandma and poppy too. We are going to have two spoiled little girls when we get home. Grandma spent all of her birthday money on toys. She bought a pool, a sandbox, shovels, buckets and bubbles and her and the girls spent all afternoon on Sunday playing in the yard. I don't know who had more fun, the kids or grandma!! It is so great to be home. It has been great getting back to Piedmont too!! I have missed my coworkers terribly. I work with some awesome people. It makes going to work a whole lot easier. Tomorrow we are leaving for the beach. We are hoping for a fun filled week. We are meeting Teresa, Alan and Ethan and Brad and Kendall and their girls and Grandpa and Poppy are coming too. Lookout Mexico Beach, here we come!!

The Ballon Incident

So today we went to see some of Jerry's family in Jefferson. On the way we stopped at our old grocery store. Ally of course knew exactly where we were. "Mommy it's our old store!!" We went in and she immediately went to the deli counter to see her friends and get her treat, as she always did. The great thing about living in a small town is that you know everyone and they are always happy to see you. After picking up a few things we went to the checkout. Immediately Ally spotted her friend Jim who always had a balloon for her. He too remembered her and gave her two balloons, one yellow and one blue and told her to give one to her sister. Ally kept the blue and gave Ansley the yellow. Everything in the world was right. We loaded the car and headed to Granny's and this was where the trouble began. Upon further inspection, Ally realizes that the yellow balloon is bigger than the blue balloon and tries to initiate a swap. Ansley will hear nothing of it so Ally attempts to take the balloon. Ansley starts screaming, "Mine!! Mine!!" at which point I have to intervene. I tell her that she had both balloons and she chose the blue. The tears immediately start flowing. "It's not fair, I want the yellow one, it's bigger!" It is at this point that Ansley looks at her and goes, "Na na na na!!" This makes Ally cry louder. "She's so mean!!" I know it's wrong but Jerry and I just died laughing. Two kids make life so much more interesting!!

A new addition!!

After totaling my Nissan Altima almost 1 year ago Jerry and I have been sharing his Honda. It was great financially but an extremely humbling experience in every other way. Thank God for good friends who made the experience much easier to manage but we just couldn't make it work any longer. So after looking at cars, cars and more cars, we are finally a 2 car family again!! Jerry is the proud owner of a 2007 KIA spectra 5. It was a dealer car so it had less than 10,000 miles on it. It is a hatchback so it has tons of room, something the Honda civic hybrid lacks and the kids love it. Jerry calls it his new red station wagon. He wants to have after market wood grain paneling installed but I said NO!! It has a manual transmission, which is exactly what he wanted and has every upgrade a KIA could have. No leather but it does have a sun roof. Much fancier than we had been looking for but the deal was GREAT!! It was like it was just sitting there waiting for us. We were headed home after haggling with other dealers all day when we decided to stop last minute and look. It wasn't even the class of car we were looking for but it ended up being cheaper because it was used. It was a huge blessing to find it. It was a great deal and had everything Jerry wanted and more and the warranty is a plus too!!

Home Sweet Home!!

Well we made it. It was a long 17 hour trek but we are finally home. With five stops, two of them being an hour long, it was our best time yet. Ally was upset when she realized we would be leaving some of our belongings in Connecticut. She thought we were moving back home. It was really kind of sad. The kids did pretty good with the trip. We left at 9 pm hoping they would sleep. No such luck though. With the exception of a couple of small naps they were up for the entire trip. Somehow I made it with only a few short naps too. I worked the night before we left and as anyone can imagine got little sleep after my shift because I had to pack. Jerry was GREAT!! He cleaned the house while I slept some because he knows I hate to leave my house dirty, especially when people will be coming by to check on things. As great as it is to be home it was kind of hard to leave Connecticut too!! We have some great family and friends there and will miss them for the summer. So if you are in CT, we miss you and if you are in GA, we can't wait to see you!!

Opening Prayer

This morning in Primary Ally was asked to participate in opening exercises by giving the opening prayer. She has never done anything in Primary before so she was a little nervous but she got right up there all by herself and gave a great opening prayer. I think the fact that she has been dying to speak into the microphone helped a lot. Great job Ally! You are getting so big!

The Rice's

Well after much peer pressure we have finally created a blog. I am not very computer savvy so it has taken some time but I think it will be a great way to keep in touch with friends and family and to also journal some of life's great events. Jerry and I just celebrated five years married yesterday. We have two beautiful children, Allyson is four and Ansley is about to turn two. We currently live in Vernon, Connecticut. I am working as a Registered Nurse for a national agency and Jerry is a graduate student at the University of Connecticut. He is working on a PhD in Political Science and hopes to one day become a professor. We are members of the greatest church in the world, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, due to some very special missionaries. The journey has truly changed our lives in every way. We are so grateful for the gospel and the priesthood and all it has done for us. I absolutely love seeing my Ally grow in the church. She loves the gospel already. She looks forward to Primary and family home evening. She prays any chance she gets. She isn't afraid to tell people what she knows about Jesus. She is a shining example of a Christian and I pray everyday that it never changes. She has the sweetest spirit and wants to make her mom and dad proud. After church one Sunday Jerry had to talk to her about listening while her teachers were talking in Primary. She is very social and loves to talk to her friends. Her eyes immediately swelled up with tears and she said, "I talked and now mommy will be disappointed in me!" She was crushed at the thought that she had misbehaved and I might not be proud of her behavior. I have to say I was mildly disappointed but extremely proud. Don't get me wrong she can be naughty. She and her sister fight like wild beasts but she really does want to do what is right and I hope that never changes. Ansley is trying to be just like her big sister. She tries to do everything Ally does which drives Ally crazy. She is talking more at two than Ally talked at three. She repeats everything. She is definitely the rebel of the group and loves to instigate her sister. Her new favorite phrase is "na na na na!!" Two kids has made life so much more interesting.

Being a wife and a mother is awesome. I absolutely love it!! Even though I would occasionally like to hurt the children. I think this is normal. Well at least I hope it is. Being the primary bread winner on top of it has been a little stressful but it is only temporary. We have been very blessed since moving and I know without a doubt that even though it is difficult we are exactly where Heavenly Father wants us to be. He knows each of us so well, which is amazing, given all of the people who have lived or are living on the earth. But I know he does. I have a very strong testimony of this fact. He knows us very personally and loves each of us more than we can even imagine. Moving from our home and friends and family in Georgia was extremely difficult. Selling our first house was much more difficult than I could have imagined but the Gospel has gotten us through it. Life is hard at times but I think if we keep it focused on the Eternal Perspective instead of the mortal perspective we live better, more fulfilling lives. The trials of our mortal existence are so short in the realm of eternity. We are so truly blessed!! I hope this blog finds all of our friends and family well. We love you guys and hope you are enjoying every minute of this awesome journey called life because it goes by way faster than we realize.