Babe Update

...well on one of them anyway ;)

• Ryder is turning 8 months very soon and although we're not sure of his exact weight, we know he is tall. Every time I think I start to see him get a little plump around the edges, a little elf comes and stretches him out in the middle of the night and the next day I swear he is an inch taller. (Just kidding, there is no elf. After I read that, the idea scared me a little).
  
• Ryder got his first haircut the other day. His hair keeps getting lighter and lighter. He has gone from chocolate brown to a light golden brown. We find great joy in giving him mohawks and fohawks.
• As you can see from the pictures, Ryder is well into eating solids and has already formed a strong dislike for veggies (nuts). Thank goodness for sweet potatoes. And yes, dad, he still thoroughly enjoys spitting his food at us. Thanks again for teaching him how to do that. We finally bought him a high chair today. It's one of those that attaches to one of your kitchen chairs...a little less intrusive and utilizes space. We all think it's pretty rad.
• Ryder isn't quite crawling yet (he never liked being on his tummy much) but he still manages to get around by A) Bouncing/scooting his bum. We'll sit him down somewhere within a couple minutes he'll miraculously be two feet closer. B) Rolling. This one gets us into trouble. C) You know the army crawl? Well Ryder does it REALLY good backwards. He reversed right underneath his crib today. It gave me the giggles.
• He also loves to talk...and yell. Lately, when Phil gets home from work, they both engage in an excited yelling match until we're all laughing. I really should get this on camera before the phase passes.
• Ryder is still a great sleeper. Whenever I put him down (unless he is super tired) he will always wake up a little to pull the blankets up over his head before falling asleep, because he finds this and any other type of cloth on his head, to be one of things he just can't seem to get enough of.
• He is also currently at a stage where if he is tired enough, he'll snuggle with me. I encourage this.
• As you can tell, we're crazy about our little guy and feel so blessed to be his parents. I spring cleaned his room today and went through all his clothes trying to get a stash to give away. I got all nostalgic looking at his little newborn stuff that I barely came up with anything to get rid of (which is very unlike me). To say Ryder brings us joy is a gross understatement. There are not words to describe the happiness and completeness he brings into our lives. He is our best little friend.

Now That's a Cupcake

So my friends Elizabeth, Jeanelle and I took a mini field trip to nationally renowned Trophy Cupcakes recently featured on the Martha Stewart show, this last weekend. It was super fun and we got to meet the owner who actually was on the show. She humored us with a photo and pretty much gave us the skinny on Martha and here experience with getting on the show. Anyhow, Jeanelle wrote a much more well-written and interesting post about our adventure. You can read it here. If your curious, my favorite was the triple-chocolate cupcake. However, I'm still daydreaming of the lemon cupcake I decided not to buy. If your in the area, you should totally go. If you're not, come visit me and then we'll totally go. And I'll get the lemon one...

(Click on photos to make bigger)

Late Evening Thoughts

• Do any of you feel like the files on your computer are an unorganized mess? I do. In the process of organizing those.
• Speaking of files, I'm trying to figure out the best way to organize, save and back up digital photos. It's a new age folks. No more boxes and boxes of random photos that need to be organized or put into albums, just files and files of them. I'm working on this as well. I obviously want to back up our photo files every so often. I also want to assign a drive per child to put photos and digital scrapbook pages of them on for them to keep. (ya know as opposed to an actual personal scrapbook or baby book)..to much work? Perhaps. If any of you have thought the whole digital photo storage thing out long-term and have a good system going, please share.
• Speaking of organization, a definite spring cleaning session is needed at my house. It is time for a purge of our clutter to make more necessary storage room in our small area and ever increasing assets (mostly baby assets).
• Speaking of babies, you parents of babies and young children, living in Utah, if you haven't discovered Magical Moon Toys in Logan, you should. It is pretty awesome. My mom showed it to me while I was in there and I couldn't help buy Ryder some stuff. It has EVERYTHING plus these cool wood toys made by a company called Melissa and Doug (wood toys are very durable and last a long time).
• Speaking of all things fun, have any of you noticed the commercials and teasers for So You Think You Can Dance on FOX? I have and that's exactly what they did... teased me. I am so excited for that show. Coming in May, people... in May.
• Speaking of TV, every time I listen to conference, I feel the prompting/motivation/guilt, whatever you want to call it, to watch less TV, and use less Internet. I think one of Phil's BYU professors once coined it as "Screen Time". Yeah, I need less "Screen Time". I keep hearing our leaders telling us make to make our homes a place where the Spirit can dwell and to avoid at all costs letting evil things in. Automatically, I ask myself, how am I letting in the evil things of the world in my home? And almost just as automatically, I think of the TV being a small window where little bits of evil creep in through forms of crude language, liberal attitudes toward morality and well, you know what I'm talking about. It's funny because I will never read books that have such filth in them, but for some reason I have a much higher tolerance when it comes to watching it.*
• Speaking of bad things, why am I still up? Good night.

*From my previous comment, it sounds like I'm a stay-at-home mom who watches soap-operas all day. No silly, I don't do that. Come to think of it, because of my blog, I think all of you are well aware of what I watch :)

Heaven

So I just wanted to write a brief post about Conference. I love General Conference* weekend. Saturday we had recorded the first session while we went about some morning to do's. I had purposely made a batch of potato soup and bread sticks Friday night so we could enjoy the leftovers throughout the weekend. Anyhow, as we sat there for the first session, Ryder had gone down for a nap, and I had just heated myself up a hot, yummy bowl of soup as we started watching it. Sitting there all relaxed with my food watching great things, I told Phil, "I am in heaven right now."


We then watched as Pres. Uchtdorf proceeded with the solemn assembly, which was quite profound and brought tears in my eyes when without question Phil stood, even in our living room, to sustain our newly called Prophet. And then, I of course put down my soup to stand as well :) Besides historical, this was a very sweet and memorable moment for me.

As usual we continued to enjoy the rest of the talks, which always make me excited for the May Ensign. I just want to mention the most prominent thing that stood out to me this conference was President Monson. We all loved President Hinckley so much so I don't think I'm alone in being slightly nervous/ protective/whatever about that sacred position being filled by someone new, even if it was our beloved Pres. Monson. However, if I know anything, I know now that Pres. Monson is exactly where he should be and he is a true Prophet of God. My love for him multiplied as I watched him perfectly fit into his new calling. It was a very peaceful thing for me to watch and made feel that everything was right in the world.


*A weekend where leaders, apostles, and prophet from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gather for a world-wide broadcast, to give uplifting and guiding talks.

There is a First for Everything

After being a dedicated fan for some years now, it should go down in history that tonight was the first time I actually voted for someone on American Idol. And probably the last.

Who I'm pulling for (in no particular order):

Brooke White: I love her mellow style, wholesomeness and how she is slightly nerdy. Plus, gotta support our fellow Latter-day Saints :)
Carly Smithson: I love her because I think she is just plain talented. And I think she has a way cute personality.

David Archuleta: I think he is adorable, incredibly talented and I LOVE how he has this innate humility about him. And it doesn't hurt he's from Utah.

Jason Castro: He makes me smile and I think he is hilarious. I totally think he'll fit the next Jack Johnson/Ben Harper bill.

So! Who did I vote for? I know you're dying to know. Drum roll please...

Carly Smithson

Why you ask? My answer is four-fold. (Yes, mom, here it comes*):
A. I really think she has one of those crazy amazing voices that can hit notes that leave you in awe.
B. She was in the bottom three last week. That worried me and I'm doing what I can.
C. She sang and aced, in my opinion, one of my favorite songs, "A Total Eclipse of the Heart" last week. I almost voted for her then, but didn't.
D. Already thinking I needed to right my last week's wrong I almost ran toward my phone when I saw her face drop when Simon insulted her style. She was so happy up until then and if you have been paying attention wasn't feeling so great last week because there had been news reports of her being pregnant. Just what every girl loves to hear. And then, I love how she handled it with grace by making a funny comment about her spanks, but the very next week to be told she needed to pay attention to her wardrobe??? It was very low, very low indeed.

So even though I don't have a real favorite amongst my top 4, I just really felt like Carly needed me tonight. And that is what I think about that.


*So you know how some people have a bad habit of saying "like" a lot? Well, while I was in Utah I picked up this awesome habit of constantly making lists bulleted by the alphabet. My mom and I talk a lot and so she just thought this was the funniest thing...especially because I rarely had a 'B.' or a 'C.'

Have You Seen This?

I could possibly be the last person on this band wagon, but have you guys seen this? While I was in Utah I saw their infomercial and haven't been able to get it out of my brain. Not really paying attention and following into the potholes of common advertising schemes I thought that it originally cost $50. Nope. Five payments of $50. Nuts. And it looks like if you buy it online, it costs a whopping $300. However, this small roadblock does not take away from the fact that I think it's the coolest thing since sliced bread. I'm not a big scrapbooker, in fact, I'm not a scrapbooker at all. But I do like making cards and it totally got me with the whole "And look what else you can use it for" gimmick. I am now utterly convinced my creative self will not be content until I have one. Apparently, they are currently sold out. Good to know I'm not the only person who feels this way. Do any of you have one?

Oh and if you don't know what it is, it is an automatic decal cutter. That sounds lame. Just go to the website. They will tell you all that it can do.

Oh goodie, with some more research, they sell them at JoAnn's for $219! Add a little coupon...much more reasonable.

Home Sweet Home

So the last two weeks I've been in Utah visiting family and friends. It was so much fun. It was so great to see everyone, especially my parents after this whole cancer business (my mom is doing great, bytheway. Thanks for asking.) and my sister's brand-new baby boy. Besides having so much fun there was a specific reason why I was not really enthused about coming back yet. However, I have to say after getting back to my little home, it felt sooo good. I wasn't anticipating that. But it was a pleasant surprise, indeed. Needless to say, I completely enjoyed myself as I put Ryder to bed in his crib, drove my car, took a hot bath in my tiny, but very loved, bathtub and then sat on my couch with my cozy throw, some popcorn and dark chocolate m&m's to catch up on some missed shows.

With that said, I'm back to blogging. I don't blog much or at all while I'm visiting family because that time is very precious to me. But here are some highlights of our trip: (I foolishly forgot my camera, so until those photos from the "will you email me one of those" cameras come in, you'll have to settle for the two photos of the Ryder-man we took while messing with my dad's new i-phone.)

Phil had to leave for a training on Sunday the 16th so Ryder and I took off ourselves to Utah on St. Patty's day. Terrified he was going to get pinched on his first St. Patrick's day, Ryder strongly requested I put him in his most green outfit. We arrived in Utah late that evening.

A little nervous about that whole pinching business:

(we love doing Ryder's do in a mohawk, but as you can see it has taken its toll after a long day)

During our first few days, my sister came down with Gracie and Jared and let me tell you, we played like crazy! There was sidewalk chalk writing with a picnic, multiple games or horsey, cook, camp and car. Whew, if you feel a little envious of our fun...it's probably with good reason. I have to hand it to my mom. Even while in the recovery stages of cancer, she has got to be one of the most fun Nanas I have ever seen. She put both Autumn and I to shame in the creative department. But lets give credit where credit is due. I did come up with 'camp'...well, actually, I guess Gracie gave me the idea when we were walking up the stairs to change Ryder's diaper and she informed me we were 'hiking a mountain'.

On Saturday, Phil flew in from Utah from his trainings and joined us just in time for some Easter festivities. These included a delicious dinner, an Easter egg hunt all topped off with some strawberry shortcake. Phil, Ryder and I just chilled with my parents the rest of the week while visiting, eating delicious food and at one point introducing my parents to our Wii that Phil brought along where I do recall my mom beating me in tennis. I think both my parents did, actually. Hmm. One day my mom and I got to have, what I think is becoming our annual date, where Phil watched Ryder and my mom and I went to Logan for some lunch and browsing shops. My mom showed me the coolest toy store ever. (More on this informative tidbit for parents everywhere, later.)

Ryder Ridin'

Phil and I spent our last couple of days with his grandparents in Ogden where we continued to have more great visiting, chilling, eating and Wii playing. I must give a special thanks to my college roommates and bestest friends for going out of their way to visit me while we were there. You three are some of my most favorite people and only wish we could have hung out a little longer.

Thanks again for everyone who was a part of making this trip so wonderful. We love you and can't wait to see you again!

Notes

So I've been out for awhile, as you can see and although I am still currently detained, I just have to write a quicky because I miss blogging so much. Plus, while I've been away, I've had so many post ideas, but know the second I get back into the routine of things, will forget every idea I had, so for more personal knowledge than anything, here is a list of things I hope to be blogging about in the near future. 1. Flying (on an airplane)...my mind is a whirling dervish every time I go to the airport in wonderment at our worlds' flight system. Perhaps boring to you, rather interesting to me. 2. Date with mom and coolest toy store ever 3. Brief roomate reunion 4. BB&B 5. Blogging, in itself 6. I'm already forgetting my ideas...ahh! 7. Weird dream 8. General Conference 9. nuts, I'm done...my brain is empty, empty as can be W/B/S ("Will blog soon". Not to be confused with the common elementry acronym of "Write Back Soon". No you do not need to write me back soon.)

Phone Home!

I'm a worry wart. It's true. I learned a long time ago to keep this problemo in check with help from my Heavenly Father and Savior and my faith in them. However, I know myself well enough to know the strength I've worked hard to gain to fight this weakness would be tried when I had children. I was right. It makes sense, really. I've worked it out with just myself, but some definite re-grouping is required when you introduce someone into your care whom you love way more than yourself. I look at parents with all their children happy, healthy, fully grown and starting families of their own and the only word I can think of to describe it is 'miraculous'. When I'm foolish enough to begin dwelling on the innumerable possible tragedies that could befall my sweet boy or future children, I begin pulling out the methods that work (for me) to combat these negative, depressing and completely unproductive thoughts. Well, last night I had some unwelcome thoughts going on (which is when I thought of this post) and before drawing on my usual tactics, it was easier to steer my thoughts toward a different route: problem solving mode...prevention. It's silly, I know but I was surprised by the amount of comfort it gave me when I thought of this and after doing a little research, found exactly what I was looking for. Ryder will have one the second he knows how to use it :)

The Verizon Migo! Basically it's a cell phone for kids. There only allotted 4 numbers to call (mom's cell phone, home, dad's cell phone, etc.) plus an emergency button. This is my favorite part. It has a tracking device, so you always know where you child is! And if you pay a little extra, the parent can set boundaries and any time your child leaves the designated boundaries, it sends you a text message! All it needs is a little carabeener clip with a string to hook onto his jeans and put into his pocket so he doesn't lose it and an abductor wouldn't notice he had it.



With that said, I know phone won't solve my problems. And I also know my little family has a variety of trials waiting for us and I know through our Savior, Jesus Christ we'll be fine...better than fine. We'll be molded into what He wants us to be. But I do still have this little thing I always need to stay on top of and hey, if a cell phone helps me sleep better at night, then this cell phone they shall have :)

A Little Selfish Perhaps...

So I go out to run errands for about an hour. As I pull into our parking lot I notice a rather large and red fire truck sitting in front of my building accompanied with a police car. A sight NO one likes to come home to. Panic strikes. I immediately began thinking of a flat iron I possibly could have left on or a candle I forgot to blow out. I couldn't seem to park my car for the life of me and consequently almost hit the fire truck. I get out, grab Ryder, leaving my groceries in the car and quickly walk over to one of the firemen:

Me: May I ask what's wrong?
Fireman: Oh, someone's not feeling well over in that building (not my building)
Me: Oh good, so nothing is wrong with that building (my building)?
Fireman: Nope [smile]
Me: Thanks, this isn't really the type of thing one likes to come home to. [I walk away]

It's about when I get to my front door that I realize what I complete jerk I was. Well, good, as long as nothing was wrong with me. If I were that fireman, I'd have a really low opinion of me. This goes to show that I have absolutely NO relationship with my neighbors. I need to work on that and well, a charitable attitude in general.

I need to go. My groceries are still in my car.

If Only I Weren't So Lame...

So I'm a little frustrated because even though, I'm mostly better, I still have a very annoying cough and a meager amount of energy. I wake up, play with Ryder and clean my house and it's about all I can do to get from Ryder's nap time to nap time. This makes me feel lamo. So if I weren't feeling so lame, this is what I would do: -Get back to running. I was doing so good (well, in my head, I was doing so good). -Blog more. -Care about plucking my eyebrows and other unsightly facial hairs. -Go to Costco and get Ryder 101 Dalmations while it's still out of "The Disney Vault" (or maybe more for me). I'm still very mad at myself for missing Cinderella. -Exchange a hat I bought at Target. I realized I got a color I can't wear with anything. -Take my 40% off coupon to JoAnn's to buy fabric for a new sewing project. -Stop eating this rather large bag of m&m's -Buy Ryder some sweet shoes for our trip to Utah. I feel he is old enough now that shoes should start becoming a necessity on longer outings. -Color my hair -Go on a thorough grocery run to Winco -Work harder on my callings -Write some long over due 'Thank You' cards. I know a lot of nice people. -Purchase some organization items for my bedroom. (I need to stop writing things that involve the words "buy" and "purchase") -Read more All right, so maybe some stuff like reading more and writing thank you cards I can do now. No excuses there. Oooo, this list has been fun to write and has made me excited to get back to normal. An optimistic attitude can't hurt anything. Well, I better go drink some fluids. Later Skaters.

Here's to Good Health

When I was 1 yr old I got ammonia, or that's what I told everyone until I was like ten and learned it was actually called pneumonia. Well, at 24 I got hit with that dang pneumonia bug again (I'm sure my parents would agree a little less traumatic this time around) and the reason I'm so very behind on my blogs. So for journal entries sake, here is a recap of the happenings of our lives from the last couple of weeks.

Phil's 27th Birthday!
Right before I got sick, I was able to pull of a rather cool shin-dig with just a few high-profile guests (Ryder & myself):


Ryder Started Solids!
...just kidding. We started him on rice cereal, not blatant apple slices. Sheesh. He was so excited to finally be entrusted with mommy and daddy food!

I DID get my hair cut!
You all are probably like, finally! Now she can quit talking about her stupid hair. Anyhow, here it is and I love it. It's very fun so far. I didn't include a profile photo because that would mean I would have to post a photo of the side of my face and I'm not willing to do that, but it actually goes pretty short in the back in an A-line.

A little bit of Ryder
Some more photos of the babe:

Congratulations!

Welcome to the world little boy! My sister, Autumn gave birth to a healthy, 8lb 6 oz baby yesterday. Here are some photos of our new little friend. I think mommy is looking exceptionally beautiful as well.

{he's a little blue because he came out so stinkin' fast! But Autumn will have to tell you all about that}


We love you, Jared!

Bag Tag!

I thought this tag was a rather brilliant idea because I love bags. Thanks Randi for tagging me! I actually have a serious bag fetish and usually can come up with a great rational if it means getting a new bag. Here is this one's story: After having Ryder, I thought I'll just put my wallet, keys and cell phone in the diaper bag and give up on a purse for awhile. Finally, my inner-yearnings for this accessory I value as much as my Internet surfaced (plus, carrying around the essentials got annoying when I went some where without a baby) and I ended up with this fine little (I'm usually a rather big bag gal) bag here. I figure it's small enough to carry around my necessities and I can carry it with my diaper bag and not feel like I have everything with me but the kitchen sink. I just got this baby and Target and have found I really like a good gray bag.




Its contents:
- Some change
- My cell phone
- My keys
- A pen
- Some gum
- A baby blinky (of course)
- Debit card, gift cards, insurance cards and other various forms of ID (don't worry ladies, they weren't swimming around in there free style, they had a nice pocket they fit into)
- B&BW lipgloss, lancome lipgloss (my favorites), lipstick-mauvette, and cherry ice chapstick (my preferred choice of lip-wear so I can kiss Ryder whenever I wish)
- Color swatches, because you never know when you'll want to repaint your bedroom
-And of course, a little pile of random trash

Now I tag, Autumn!! (after you have your baby), Jeanelle & Bonnie

Movie Review

Since Ryder was born, Phil and I don't go see movies very much, so we usually catch them as rentals. Tonight we chose to watch The Nanny Diaries. I enjoyed it way more than I thought I was going to and that was going in with pretty good expectations. Besides being cleverly written, it has a lot of great truths about parenting. This is a great pick for those of you who haven't seen it yet. Apparently, it was a book first, I'll have to look into reading it.

Holy Smokes!

Its been awhile. Goodness, like a whole week since I've posted last. I don't know where the time went. I feel the only way to get back on track is to do another purge of thoughts. 1. I LOVE Skittles. Berry flavored Skittles especially. I just finished a pack of them. Mmm, mmm. 2. My take on the Grammy's: I like Alicia Keys. What is the big to-do with Amy Winehouse? I heard her music for the first time that night along with her reputation and I'm still trying to figure out how she walked away with three Grammy's. 3. I need to register to vote before November. I'm surprising myself because I think I'm going over to the D side and backing Obama. I'm not a fan of McCain and I really, really don't want Hillary to win. 4. So back to cutting my hair. I couldn't bring myself to writing an entire post about it because that would make me sound shallow, so I'm disguising it amongst these random thoughts. I was dead set on going short--like jaw line to mid neck short--but when I told someone I was thinking of doing this they gave me a look like I just told them I was going to shave my head. I don't know why its such a big deal. In fact, I think planning to do it is half of the excitement. Anyhow, see my anonymous poll. 5. Ryder starts solids soon. I'm pretty excited, but I think if he knew it was coming, he would be the very most excited. For a month now, he has been completely fascinated with anything Phil and I put in our mouths. 6. My mom gets radiation treatment on Friday and I just have to say I think she is amazing. For those of you who don't know, she got thyroid cancer and is now fighting off its remains through nasty radiation treatment. Besides the sheer exhaustion, quarantined period and long recovery, the prep for this event has been just as bad. However, here attitude through it all has been upbeat and inspiring and she is one of the strongest and bravest people I know. We estimate she'll be feeling more like herself in a couple of months, so here's to the best spring ever! 7. On the familial note, I have a really cool brother and sister. With my sister due with her second baby in less than two weeks and a brother who is currently juggling crazy, stressful events (graduation, the bar, job search to name a few), I hope you know how wonderful I think you both are. Compared to the rest of my family, I feel like Phil and I are on easy street. 8. Finally, I figured out my favorite oatmeal combo. 1/4 C Oatmeal, 1/2 C of Skim Milk 1 Dwallop of Peanut Butter, sprinkle sugar to taste. Not the most healthiest option, but we need protein too. I still want to try steel oats, because I hear they're rather good as well.

Blogging

I knew there was a possibility that I was addicted to blogging. Anyhow, I found this quiz and although I'm pretty bad, after reading some of the questions, I've realized there is a lot worse. Have you ever heard of "live blogging"? Go ahead and take it to see how addicted you are... 74%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

A Solution for Mom's Everywhere!

Forget the expensive Bumbo Chairs and Jumperoos! Just go to Home Depot and drop $2 for a Homer's All Purpose Bucket! (When they say "All Purpose" they weren't kidding)

{...or maybe not}

Not So Happy...

Cute, but not so happy.

{Phil taking a picture of a rather grumpy Ryder out in the foyer during church, with his cell phone}

I Think My Husband is Funny

So I was sitting here updating my "Connections" links and while I was thinking about the fun people I'm lucky to know and I told my husband, Phil, how I thought it was cool when married couples have names with the same first initial and I threw out an example, "Like Michelle and Mathew."

{a few seconds of silence}

Phil: "Well, you can always change your name to Phasmine, because I'm certainly not going to be Jill."