It's a Love Story--Baby, just say YES!!!

I'M ENGAGED!! First things first:




Ryan asked me to marry him on my birthday! It actually turned out to be a funny story because the entire time, I thought he was breaking up with me...

Ryan and I met my first year teaching in Nephi. He coaches football there, and saw my picture in the paper. He started bugging his coach buddies, who knew me, to hook us up. We dated off and on for the last couple of years, and I would always just tell people that he was my best friend, and that "I didn't like him like that..." (Even though those entire 2 years, my mom and Whitney always told me there was a total spark between me and him, and they accused us of flirting like crazy?)

Although we always stayed in touch, we had only dated here and there. But in November, I confessed to one of my best friends, Jalena, that Ryan was CONSTANTLY on my mind lately. She is also good friends with him, and told me to just go out with him again to see how I felt, and I seriously thank her for listening to me and telling me I wasn't completely crazy! Anyway, since in my eyes all that time, we would never be anything more than best friends, we didn't move past that until about November, when I just could NOT stop thinking about him. I can't explain what had happened, but all I can say is that we went out once, and EVERYTHING was suddenly different between us... I knew I wanted to marry him after that one date!


Since then, I had been growing VERY impatient with him, I had finally told him that our relationship needed to go one way or the other. So he totally played off of that when he proposed to me.

Rio and I had just taken off for 2 days to Zion National Park (post to come), and when I got back on Tuesday, the night of my birthday, he came over to see me. He acted really preoccupied--like something was weighing on his mind. I had done a lot of thinking while I was gone, too. So he just asked if I wanted to go for a ride for a minute. He kept rubbing his forehead like he does when he's mad or frustrated, so I totally thought he was going to break up with me. He drove up to the mouth of the canyon, not knowing where he was even going, and I was like, "Are you going to like murder me, and dump my body in the river?" When he stopped the car, I was just like, "Alright, so what's going on? Just say it, Ryan."

(Ryan, playing up the frustration): "Well, Carli, I've done a lot of thinking over the past 2 days while you and Rio were gone, and I just don't think I can keep going on like this with you."

(Me, with a lot of sass, thinking he was saying he wanted to end it): "Yeah, well I did a lot of thinking while I was gone, too, and I can't do this anymore either."

(Ryan): "This just isn't fair to you or to Rio, or to me."

(Me): "Yeah, I know. That's what I've been telling you all along."

(Ryan, looking out his window, and rubbing his head): "And I really didn't want to do this to you on your birthday, but..."

(Me, in a very bratty tone): "Oh, don't worry about my birthday--It's FINE."

At this point, he opened his door and started getting out, and I snapped at him a couple of times to "Just get back in the car and take me home." He walked around to my side and opened the door and was like, "Carli, I'm sorry I've been so stupid and have put you through all this by dragging my feet for so long--"

To which I hastily retorted, "Oh, it's FINE. Don't be sorry. I"M sorry. It's half my fault for hanging on so long, when this obviously wasn't what you really wanted anyway."

THEN......

He got down on his knee and pulled out the ring and finished "--and I'm not dragging my feet anymore. I've known what I wanted for a really long time, and I've just been too stupid to do this. I want to be with you forever. And I want to be Rio's dad. Will you marry me?"

(Crickets chirping. My jaw coming unhinged.)

YEP. I was pretty much SHOCKED!!! I thought he was at one extreme, breaking up with me, and he totally played it up and then proposed to me! It was quite the unexpected twist! But needless to say, I said YES!! (There is also a possibility that I could have said something about throwing the damn ring into the river next to the car because I couldn't believe he had just done that to me...?)

When we got back home, and I showed Rio (he had no clue what Ryan giving me a ring meant), Ryan picked him up and took him upstairs and asked him, "Rio, do you and your mommy want to come and live with me?" Rio instantly said "Yeah!" It was exactly what I've been waiting for for almost 3 years.



So we don't have details nailed down quite yet, but we're thinking the first of June, when I'm out of school? I'll keep everyone posted! YAY!!!!!!!!!

Rio-isms

Rio says the funniest things every single day. I love it. He is crazy-intelligent-with-a-freaky-memory, and people are always shocked when I tell them he is only 2 because of his vocabulary, his diction & articulation, and just the whole way he talks and acts. It's obvious he's around adults most of the time...

Anyway, I want to share the joy in some of the things he says and does that crack me up daily:

*We had some fake teeth still out from Halloween--you know, the crooked, yellow, redneck bucky-beaver teeth. I put them in one day and started talking to Rio to see what he would do. He just backed away from me, clearly disgusted, and was like, "Eeww! See, Mommy! Your teeth are rotten cuz you didn't brush 'em!" Hey, maybe it was a good object lesson for him?

*He picked up saying, "I'm good" to mean "No, thanks" (i.e. Do you want a drink? - No, I'm good...). Well, then he started adding "too" in there for some reason, so it became "I'm too good." A friend babysitting him was feeding all the kids hotdogs for lunch, and asked Rio if he wanted one. He's usually simply too busy to want to stop and eat, so of course his reply was, "Umm... I'm too good." Needless to say, she thought he was just a 2-year-old hotdog snob. Could I interest you in some escargot or caviar instead, sir?

*I have introduced him to the wonder of Oreos and milk. He loves it, but started getting impatient with me for his next cookie. (I do remember, as a little girl, thinking that it took FOREVER to get the cookie soggy. Now I realize it's only like a 5-second dunk. Hmmm.) Finally, he goes, "Ugh! That's e-NOUGH, Mommy!!" when he couldn't stand the wait any longer. I remember that anticipation, little buddy.

*Beware of a "rhinoctopus!" They are very dangerous and mysterious creatures. Have you ever seen a "rhinoctopus?" Rio has.

*Rio is my little streaker. As a pre-bath warm-up routine every night, he runs around the house with nothing on, and laughs hysterically when I act shocked and shriek, "AAAGGHH!! You're a NAKED BOY!" A few days ago, several of Reggie's friends were staying the night, and I was in the bathroom getting ready for bed. I stripped down to change into my PJ's, and Rio screams, "AAAGGHH!! You're a NAKED GIRL!" and busts up laughing. My mom comes over and knocks on the door, and is like, "Uhhh, WHAT was that?..." I was mortified.

*Ok, to any mothers of little boys out there: What do you teach your son to call his...you know...? Because some of the things Rio has come up with are pretty original. And also pretty embarrassing. (I'll spare you actual quotes on this one. HaHa!) Help? I actually think this just comes natural to a man. Women simply do not have this innate desire to name their body parts. I speak fluent Venusian, and I don't know that I'll ever learn Martian. Enough said.

Love, Us

Merry Christmas!



I know I haven't posted in a while, so here are just a few fun things that have gone on lately:

We went to the BYU bowl game in Vegas this weekend. Although BYU lost :( , Coleby (#41) played a great game and it was still a fantastic trip! My very best friend, Ryan Wright, came with us, and we really had so much fun together. Let's see, highlights of the trip: shopping, the BYU fireside, seeing a wack-a-doo trying to direct traffic on the strip in nothing but a black women's swimsuit with yellow fishnets on over his hairy legs and an earpiece taped to his ear (there you go, girlfriend!), Ry took me out for crab--my first time ever, Rio yammied all over himself and the back seat on the way home (with NO WARNING!). Oh, man. Ry and I have some great memories together. I can tell him anything, and he always makes me laugh so hard. We always have a blast no matter what we do. I LOVE being with him!



My sister-in-law, Bre, and I doin' a little Christmas shopping...



Whitney had her baby last month! She and Isi named him Malakai Isimeeli Filimoeatu. He was born on November 15th and weighed 7 lbs. Oh man, he is so dang cute... and makes me want another one! They'll just have to share him with me for a while... :)

El Dia de las Brujas

Halloween was delightful this year! Rio told me for a month that he wanted to be a skelton, so being the wonderful mother that I am, I got him a skeleton costume. However, when we got home and tried it on him, he FREAKED OUT. I think seeing the white bones all over his body was just too much for him to handle. I had told my mom and little brother how he had freaked out when I tried it on him, and that I was going to have to take it back.

So we went to Costume Choice B: Batman. I got him a Batman costume, and it was WAY too big, so I told him we were going to have to take it back. I asked if we could try the skeleton costume on one more time. When I got it on him, he was like, "Look, Mommy! I don't freak out! I got BONES, Mom!" I just busted up laughing. He had overheard me telling my mom and brother that, and was reassuring me that he had grown up in the week since we had tried it on the first time. It was hilarious.

So he looked so DANG cute as a little skeleton, no?

This was me:
"PUT A SMILE ON THAT FACE!!"

I dressed up for our Halloween costume day at the junior high, and all my students were SO scared of me! I kept saying things that Heath Ledger had said as the Joker in the new Batman, and licking my lips and smiling like he did in the movie. I almost had one kid crying. He was like, "Please, please stop, Miss Clawson! I can't even focus when you do that!" It was pretty entertaining. I love Halloween.

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Our Halloween festivities really started last weekend with our pumpkin carving. I let Rio choose his own pumpkin. I thought for sure he would want a giant pumpkin, but he chose the smallest one he could find. I think he just wanted to be able to carry it all by himself. He told me that he wanted to make a "MEAN ONE" and he wanted me to make a "happy one." So that's just what we did! And, of course, he loved the "Pumpkin Guts."


^Rio was quite entranced when we were all finished and lit the candles inside the pumpkins and turned off all the lights! :)

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Rio LOVED Trick-or-Treating:

"EVERYONE I KNOW IS JUST GIVING AWAY CANDY?!?!"

At one point, as he skipped from one house to the next, holding my hand, plastic candy-filled pumpkin in the other, he smiled up at me and goes, "MOMMY! This is FUN!!"

Seriously, people, you don't know REAL JOY until you see your own child that happy. I love being a mom. :)


^I had to post this picture: Rio stood waiting for someone to open this door forever, and then we realized that the people had just left a bowl of candy on the porch! Rio was so confused...

It really was a LOVELY weekend!

BTW: In case you missed it, I'm soon going private with my blog. Please comment on the previous post if you would like to be able to keep up on our crazy life. Rio and I love keeping in touch with everyone! :)

Private Property!

So, this has been on my mind a lot lately, and it kinda freaks me out to think that just ANYBODY can get on my blog and see pictures and personal information about me and my son and our life.

So....
We're going private. You know what to do.