Ryan and Tracie's Blog

Ryan and Tracie's Blog

Halloween 2007

Here are the pictures of Halloween! O.K. I'm a little behind, with Christmas coming up, I thought I better update. This picture is of Sydney and her neighborhood friends. Ian was scared of spider man, who is his friend, Jase, so he is not in this picture. He was "shaking" on the couch. We had a hard time getting Ian into his cute lion costume that day, but once he saw his sister getting her costume on and we wiggled him into his costume and Lynn took him to a few doors to get candy, he didn't care so much. He loved trick or treat'n! All of the pumkins on the porch, we grew in our garden this summer! We grew a great big one, and lots of little ones. It was fun, but they took up the whole garden. The cornstalks also came from our garden. We didn't get as much corn as we did last year, but we were a little late in planting it.

Lynn's Deer Hunt

Lynn's deer hunt was a success! On the last day and almost on the last possible moment he shot his big buck! On the second day of his hunt, he shot a big buck, the first shot knocked him down, but then the buck got up and ran over the hill. Lynn thought he would just wait 20 minutes or so and then go look for him. Well, 20 minutes later, Lynn walked over the hill and no deer. He looked a long time and then he went and got his dogs and looked some more. But they couldn't find him. So three days later, Lynn was still looking and hunting for his deer. Here are his proud pictures! He is having him mounted on a pedestal, I guess so he can move him around from room to room, (or from Larry's office's room to room).

We are all doing well, and keeping busy. Ian had a fever last week for a couple of days, but he is doing fine now. Here are the pictures of Lynn's deer. Enjoy! Love Ya ALL! Millie

Walk For The Cure!

Well, here we are at the Walk! We arrived around 9 a.m. and Sydney and Taylor, (our neighbor) promptly got their hair colored! The morning was brilliant. They had fun games and blow-up toys for the kids and were serving breakfast. After some warm-ups, of head, shoulders, knees and toes and the chicken dance, we were ready to go. What I thought would be a 5 or 10 mile walk, ended up only being about 1 mile and a fun little jaunt around the neighborhood. (I spied with my little eyes some For Sale By Owners). When we returned to the park they had drinks, hot dogs and chips ready for us. It was only 10 a.m???. Oh well, after playing some more games the kids were hungry Ian especially loved the Doritos. He loves licking all the cheese and salt off! MMMMMmmm. The walk was a success, and Utah County alone raised $230,000!!! Thanks you all soooo much! If all your love and support could cure diabetes, it would have been cured a long, long time ago!!! Next year, we are planning a team of our own, so be thinking of a good team name, and we would love for you all to come and walk for us. It's usually the third Saturday in September, so mark your calendars now.

Now it is raining. Lynn and Cody took the trailer to somewhere up by Vernon so he can be ready to hunt on Wednesday. The kids are running around crazy, playing with their sticky hands and getting sticky all over the wall. (What was I thinking when I painted the walls with flat paint??)

Thanks again for all your donations. Love ya all!!!! Millie

Homesick

I can't express enough gratitude and surprise in which you have all supported our goal of raising money for Walk for the Cure. When Sydney was diagnosed four years ago, naturally we were all heartbroken and devastated. I knew Sydney was sad, when we brought her home from the hospital, but I never really realized the extend of her grief until today. Sydney would say, "I want to go home," several times everyday. I would say, "You are home, silly." Home was no longer a place of comfort, she still had to get pricked by needles, and endure several blood checks everyday. I knew somehow that she wanted things to go back the way they were before the hospital, but I never really made the connection.
When Wesley died, I remember Virginia telling me that Greg and Darrin had feelings of homesickness. A huge hole was left in their souls. A hole that couldn't be repaired. Grief.
This morning, as I was getting ready for the day, Ian said, "I want to go home." I made the connection. His world had changed thanks to me. Since I have gone back to work, he has spent time at the babysitters. No more long days hanging with Mom and watching T.V., or playing, or reading. He is mourning the loss of that time. The way things used to be. Homesick.
Unfortunately, things change. Our comfort zones are challenged, or lost, or we find new comfort in other things. But we never really forget, what we yearn for the most, what we found comfort in, Home. And all things associated with home. Which is why I believe when we are homesick, we can still connect to our "Home in Heaven." Our souls are linked directly, and if we are quiet, we can hear our souls whispering, yearning for our Father, who will comfort us in our grief, help us overcome our challenges and disappointments and move forward.
May you all be blessed! I love you all! Millie

Donate To A GREAT Cause!

Greetings!
This year our family has decided to join with another family in a very special cause on September 22nd. I'm posting this on my blog to ask everyone for support in helping us reach our personal goal of raising $300 for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Walk to Cure Diabetes.
Along with a half-million other walkers across the country, Our goal: To raise $90 million to help fund research for a cure for type 1 diabetes and its complications.
Type 1, or juvenile, diabetes, is a devastating, often deadly disease that affects millions of people--a large and growing percentage of them children.
Many people think type 1 diabetes can be controlled by insulin. While insulin does keep people with type 1 diabetes alive, it is NOT a cure. Aside from the daily challenges of living with type 1 diabetes, there are many severe, often fatal, complications caused by the disease.
That's the bad news... and yes, it's pretty bad.
The good news, though, is that a cure for type 1 diabetes is within reach. In fact, JDRF funding and leadership is associated with most major scientific breakthroughs in type 1 diabetes research to date. And JDRF funds a major portion of all type 1 diabetes research worldwide, more than any other charity.
I'm writing to ask for your support because now more than ever, EACH of us can be a part of bringing about a cure. Each of us can make a real difference
Won't you please give to JDRF as generously as you're able?
Together, we can make the cure a reality.
Thank you,
Millie Abplanalp
P.S. Anyone can join us on Sept. 22nd for the Walk!
Please visit my Walk Web page if you would like to donate online or see how close I am to reaching my personal goal:
http://walk.jdrf.org/walker.cfm?id=86765918

Camping

Hi ALL!

Finally after two years, we decided to brave camping again. Lynn wanted to go down by Vernon to scout out deer for his deer hunt at the end of the month. So he loaded up the 4-wheeler and trailer Friday night, after he had already made a trip down to take the camping trailer, stopped at Walmart for food and etc. . . and arrived at our destination at 11 p.m. The next morning, Ian woke up and looked around at the sage brush covered mountains and said, "Where did our house go?" He had fallen asleep on the way down, and he was very confused when he woke up in the trailer, but it was in a different place. It was a relaxing weekend, and Lynn saw some big deer, (but on private land). I finally got Eclipse read, a little disappointed, now I will have to wait almost a whole year for the next book to come out! Ughhhh. We went fishing at the Vernon reservoir, where Sydney caught the most fish, and everything else that was in the lake, (crawdads) and Ian screamed like a girl when the fish touch him. The band aid on his eye is a result of a run in with the babysitters couch. He won't take it off. Sydney also saved his life, after he fell in the mud and they both came back to the trailer bawling their eyes out and covered head to toe with mud. Then Ian started throwing up because he had mud in his mouth and I couldn't get it out fast enough. It was a great weekend!

Lynn is heading down to Miami this week for business, so look out Greg and Darrin. We wish we could all fit in his suitcase. I almost have all my training classes done in SLC and now I am spending more time running my business out of my home, I have some real live clients! I will be showing them some condos this weekend. Whoo hooo!! That will be fun. Real Estate is more difficult than I thought. My perspective of it keeps changing daily. I hate prospecting, but I try to see it as a game: how many people can I get to know and help. It is totally out of my comfort zone to be outgoing and putting my self out there. But I realized this weekend, that I really do like people, (It was a very quiet weekend) weird I know, but I've always considered myself a loner of sorts. So a new perspective has formed and I am going to be more relaxed and open when I am faced with new people and new situations.

I had an opportunity to practice my new perspective when we got home from our camping trip. I was cleaning out the trailer when a car pulled up next to the gargoyle house with two couples. They got out and started looking through the windows. Lynn said, "You should go show them the house, but you are all sweaty and gross." I quickly related a story to him I had heard in training. A real estate agent was in the grocery store, she didn't have any make up on and was totally in her grubbys, when she was on her way out she saw some people standing next to the stand with the real estate books and she heard them say, We need to buy a house today. Well, the agent just walked on by, after all, she wasn't working and she looked horrible. I guess after she had told this story to someone, she was "helped out of real estate." So, with this story in the back of my mind, I went over and introduced myself and asked them if they wanted to see the house. They did, and I apologized that I hadn't showered for 4 days! Ha ha. Anyway, it was good realtor practice. I think I was too embarrassed to ask for another appointment. But I did give them my card.

The kids are back in school and life is returning to some sort of schedule, thank goodness. Sydney loves school, and Karlie loves the social aspect of it. It's more of a fashion show for her. Ian cried this morning when we dropped the kids off at school, he wanted to go too. I can't believe it will only be a few more years and I will be driving him to school. So I am hanging on to every moment I have with him. Not that I don't value the time I have with my girls, Ian is just the last one. I feel very blessed for the beautiful family that I have and try every day to count my blessings, which include all of you! Love ya!! Millie

Real World!

Hi Everyone,

This week I have been extremely busy. On Monday I started the Fast Start program with Coldwell Banker. This is one week of intensive real estate training. Talk about out of my comfort zone! On the first day I was 20 minutes late because of traffic in Provo being reduced down to one lane, so when I walked into class the instructor said nothing to me, or even acknowledged I was late, but one person leaned over and whispered, "Turn off your cell phone or it's 5$ if it rings." Good to know. Anyway the class was in the middle of playing Jeopardy, with the class divided up into tables for groups. In the classroom, I am the type of person who sits in the back, and never raises my hand, I don't like to answer questions or blurt out answers, so I was a little uncomfortable when it was my turn to go against two other players. But it was O.K. I soon began to relax and began to really enjoy the instructor, Jim Curtis, who apparently spent some time in Roosevelt as a Realtor and knew the three people who passed away in the Neola fire.

I should tell you about the people in my class. On the second day we all got to talk with another person in the class and have them introduce us. We learned we are quite the group. There is a limo driver from Las Vegas, (Joe) who moved to Tooele, (Ya, I know) an ex pro-golfer, A pastor, a life coach, Coni, whom told me never to be down on myself, when I made a joke about being the best realtor EVER! (Oh ya, I said, your the life coach) a third year law student, (who thinks he knows everything!) two Spanish-Americans, who are both really outstanding and high class men, and a man who looks just like my Dad. The resemblance is uncanny! Dan has the same bushy salt and pepper eyebrows with the right one curving up in the middle. The same lips, same tan, same smile, same balding hair, the way he holds his glasses to his mouth when he is in thought, the way he holds his index finger on his cheek with the rest of his fingers resting on his upper lip when he's thinking or perplexed about something, it's amazing! He sat at my table today and I often wondered how I could sneak a picture of him with my camera phone with out him noticing. I haven't gotten up enough nerve to say hey, you know what? You look just like my Dad, I don't think he would take that as a compliment, unless I explained that my Dad is a handsome man, (you are dad!) and then he might think I'm flirting or something, so I just sit there and stare. I even wondered to myself if I could find out if we were related. His last name is Taylor, so how about it Mom and Dad, are we related to Taylor's? So Dad, I have really thought a lot about you this last week. I love you!

Anyway, the rest of the class is made up of women who are either young or old, starting a second career or just getting started like me. We have to do a lot of role playing and scripting so I've gotten to know everyone very well. Which is way out of my comfort zone, but it's becoming O.K. not really comfortable, because I still break out in a cold sweat when I'm faced with presenting, but I'm becoming more bold and assertive because of it. Tomorrow is the last day, and I am glad. I don't think I could work a 8 to 5 job and then come home and try to get everything done! So Kudos to you, my family and friends, who ARE doing it! You are awesome.

Today I had to go to lunch with the Axiom financial guy from the Provo/Orem office. Axiom is a partner with Coldwell Banker to help provide a sort of one stop shopping for our clients. Everyone in class had to go with their own Axiom person and we all went to Mama Mias' or something like that. I was so nervous, I was breaking out in a cold sweat. What was I going to say to this guy for an hour? Lynn reminded me the night before that he goes to lunch all the time with people he doesn't know and sometimes they don't even speak English! O.K. but I've been hiding away at home and have conversations with two-year-olds all day. So we were walking to the restaurant and my feet are all sweaty because I'm so nervous, they are slipping all around in my shoes, you know Tracie, those cute black ones with the bows that you bought me :)? And I almost fall on my butt! I am such a looser! The lunch went O.K. I know some people in his office, I actually talked to him last September when we were going to take out a line of credit, which I realized over lunch when I was thinking about his name, Garrett, which is not a very common name. O.K. Now I am rambling.

Well, my house looks like hurricane Katrina, I have mountains of laundry to catch up on, and my kids are ready to poke each others eyes out, but we are all well, (no pink eye lately) so I considered myself very blessed. Love you all. Millie

Double Bubble

I am addicted to Double Bubble bubble gum! It all started with girls camp. It's tradition to have a Double Bubble bubble gum contest, to see how many pieces of gum one girl can fit in her mouth. Last year I fit 34 in my mouth. This year it was only 20, but we had extra big pieces this year and when I got home and weighed them they were twice the size, so I really don't know how many. The winner last year had 71 pieces!! I am not trying to be the winner, just striving for a personal best. Now I can't get enough chewing Double Bubble. Karlie and I snuck off to the grocery store the other night and I sent in her in for more gum. I thought she understood my addiction, but she came out with 5$ worth of Orbit gum. NOooooo! I went back in to the store and bought 5$ worth of Double Bubble.

Baseball is over for us for the year! Yeaa! Sydney had her last game on Thursday. She made some really good plays over the season, and I know she could be a awesome player if she was motivated enough. She is a fast runner. She takes after her Mom. He he.

Last night we took her on a date with me and Lynn. We had to go to a neighbors wedding reception and then we went to Panda Express, one of her favorite places to eat, and then we went ice skating at Seven Peaks Ice Arena. It was fun and Sydney really got the hang of it after a while. I decided I needed to practice going backwards and ended up on my butt and crashing into Sydney. Not as young as I used to be. Then Lynn decided we needed ice cream, because we weren't cold enough and we went to the BYU Creamery. We noticed a big display of Apple Beer in the store. (Isn't this suggesting?) Oh well.

Today, Lynn got up at 5:30 to go play golf, yes that is a.m. Crazy. So, Ian, Sydney and I are just hanging out this morning. Karlie had a sleep over last night with a friend and she had Young Womens this morning, they helping on an Eagle project. Lynn is still not back yet. I guess he decided to play 18. He and Karlie are playing in the couples league on Thursday nights where they are the youngest couple. One lady asked him if he knew Larry Abplanalp. She went to school with him and asked if he was still alive? That's how old they are. Just kidding, but ya, funny. (Sorry Larry)

Just keep'n ya updated! Love ya! Millie

First Blog!

Hi Everyone,

June 26, 2007

Well, since everyone is creating their own blog, I thought why not? Since I can't find time to journal or scrapbook, maybe this could serve as both and I can share it with family and friends and they will know what we are up too! Ha ha. Anyway, thanks Darrin and Greg for your inspiration in this and thanks for sharing your life with us on your blog. I love being kept "in the know."

This is what's new at our house. I just passed my realtor's exam last Thursday, and now I am officially on my way! I will be working for Coldwell Banker here in Spanish Fork. They just opened a new office by Wingers and it is very nice. I share an office with another person, but I have my own desk! And they gave me a KEY to the office. A shiny silver key. O.K. I haven't been out in the real world in a very long time and I am excited about this. Karlie made me a cake to celebrate passing my test. She got fondant, (icing for cakes) for her birthday and has been experimenting with it. She is very creative. Here are some pictures of her cakes.

O.K. this is a work in progress. It just took me two hours to figure out how to download pictures. Stupid computer. Anyway, Happy Anniversary to my Mom and Dad! I can't ever remember what day in June it is, by I know it's around the end! I love you both!