Chris got a job!! He starts November 16, just in time to go on vacation on to Ohio 4 days later :)

Because Chris got a job... we are buying a house!! We decided to build a Meritage home in Peoria in an area called Cibola Vista. We are SOO excited! Last weekend we picked out our lot. This weekend we went to the pool place to design our pool. And on Thursday we go to the design center to pick out all of our options.

So here are some photos (of the model) of the house we're getting.

From Agave

Entry:

From Agave

Dining room:

From Agave

The Great Room:

From Agave

Kitchen and nook:

From Agave

From Agave

Nook - big enough for another full size table:

From Agave

Loft:

From Agave

From Agave

From Agave

The pool we designed today. We're going to tweek it a bit still. The guy sat down and did a free hand drawing for us. He is going to put it in their computer program early this week. And by mid week we should have a 3d image of the pool in our yard :)

From Agave

So much excitement in a week. We're looking forward to picking out all our options on Thursday.

Ryleigh's 2nd Birthday Party - lots of photos

Ryleigh's birthday isn't until Monday, but we figured we'd let her celebrate all weekend long.

Uncle Chris and Kristin came over along with Great Grandma to help us celebrate.

Here's the birthday girl waiting with Kristin, watching for Grampa to get home with Great Grandma. She's playing with her new Minnie Mouse cell phone.

From October photos

Once Grampa got home, we opened presents.
Ryleigh got Belle from Beauty and the Beast (she gets that movie for Christmas).

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She got a Mickey Mouse magic coloring book.

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And she sure became a pro at opening presents. Check out her tissue paper handling skills:

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She got Play-doh from Uncle Chris... leave it to the Uncle to get the stuff Mom and Dad tried to avoid :)

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And here's her newly acquired wrapping paper ripping skills (oh and her new baby):

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Look at that smile at her new baby!!

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"ANOTHER baby!!!"

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"LOOK!"

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It's a cute Cowboy Woody piggy bank!

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Posing with her new Disney Clubhouse figurines... she LOVES them.

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She asked Uncle Chris to help her open some of her presents.

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And got new PJs!

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Tinkerbell Movie!

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Legos!

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A bed for baby.

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And her big present from mom and dad - A TRICYCLE!! (Even though we figured out after we put it together, that it was the wrong one. We wanted the smaller one, but guess she'll grow into this one.)

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Can you tell she LOVES her bike?!!!
Uncle Chris took her outside to test it out.

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We had cupcakes instead of a cake. We found out Arrowhead mall has a cupcake shop called Sweet Daddy Cupcakes. They're REALLY good!

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Here's the birthday girl cupcake:

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"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR RYLEIGH. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!"

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Trying to blow out her candle.

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She started to dig into her cupcake really daintily.

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Then Daddy told her to take a bite:

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Messy cheese face.

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She liked her cupcake.

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"I got some up my nose!"

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I LOVE THIS PICTURE!! Giving messy kisses to Uncle Chris.

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Then we put in the Tinkerbell movie. Everyone was very into it. Think Ryleigh likes her Trike?

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It doubles as a platform for her Disney figurines!

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I think Ryleigh had a great birthday. We've saved a few small presents for her real birthday on Monday. But she loves all her presents. She wore her Tinkerbell PJs to bed and took one of her new babies with her, while her old baby (Baby Cinderella) went to bed in the new baby bed.

I cannot believe my baby is *almost* 2!! She's not a baby anymore, she's definitely a little girl now :D

Homecoming - 10 years later

We went to Mountain Ridge's homecoming game last night. It was weird to be back, but it's good to see the cheer's haven't changed, nor the fight song dance. They do have a true pom line now that does cheers with the cheerleaders, which was nice to see. The game was brutal, even though Ridge won thanks to some great runs by PJ Sparks (Jordan Spark's brother).

Ridge got this new tunnel for the football players to run though. Doesn't that lion look tough!

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They deflated it between start and the half. Ryleigh was really concerned about the lion, so I told her he had to take a nap :)
Ryleigh had a great time. She loved dancing to all the songs. She started watching the cheerleaders, and suddenly she started standing just like they were:

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Every time the cheerleaders started cheering, Ryleigh started trying to follow along pumping her hands in the air. She also clapped a lot, even when the other team was scoring... at least she has good sportsmanship already.

When we first moved to Arizona, I was 13 years old. My neighbors had 4 kids. Twin boys who were 4ish, a girl who was 2 and a newborn baby. The older girl was up for homecoming queen. She's a senior this year. Here's her and her parents in the center.

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And she won!! Congrats Sarah!!

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Dance Capades Video Medley

Here's all the videos that I tried to upload last weekend.

This one was from a few weeks ago. I came home and Ryleigh immediately asked me to go swimming. At the end of the video she's asking to see the video.

From Videos

Here she is dancing with her baby.

From Videos

Showing off her tricks. Lay down, roll over sand up, dance, lay down, repeat.

From Videos

And here's some floorwork.

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This one almost looks like D2 (mommy's friend Courtney) choreographed this for her.

From Videos

And FINALLY, here's her latest rendition of Single Ladies.

From Videos