Checklist for Christmas

1. Breakfast with Santa. CHECK. This was Pepsi's work party this year. Taten had a lot of fun playing arcade games and running around. He told Santa that he wanted a truck for Christmas. Shhh but Taten is not getting a truck for Christmas. Thanks to the Internet and UPS he is making a haul though. I hope he is not disappointed about the truck.

2. Shopping at the mall. CHECK Where else in the world can you pull up to the mall on a Saturday afternoon two weeks before Christmas and pull right into a parking space? Plus not have to wait in line to ride Santa's train.

3. Put up the Christmas Tree, CHECK. with Taten's help we only had one broken ornament. The tree is the only decoration this year. I feel kind of bad about not even pulling out the manger scene. But Jesus is in our hearts.

4. Write letters to friends and family. CHECK. The letter is written and stuffed. We are just waiting a week for Wal Mart to print and send them.

5. Do a Christmas craft: CHECK. JOY. Our friend Ken cut these letters out. See his website http://www.cutitoutalready.com/ I made these while I was in Salt Lake.

6. See the Christmas Lights. CHECK. There were no Phoenix Zoo lights to go to this year. But we made the hour drive to see the lights at Lake Park (though I saw no lake) It was $8 to drive through the park. The lights were amazing as were the billboard like signs that lined the street advertising for the businesses that had sponsored each attraction. We listened to Christmas music on 88.5 on the dial to complete the fun.

7. Make Candy. CHECK We made our traditional fudge for Dave to take to work and Chex-crunch and Carmel dipped pretzels for the neighbors. Can I just say our neighbors here are so nice. So far each one has invited us in for a nice long chat. In AZ we tried to take treats to our neighbors each year. We had a few strange looks, some grateful hearts and one neighbor who refused to open her door, though we tried each year to share goodies with her. (Mark and Susanne we love and miss you)

The Weather

One of the harder things to get use to here is the cold weather and snow. I know we are from Salt Lake and we are not strangers to the cold but we have lots of hills here and I am really not looking forward to driving. Here are a few pictures of the blizzard that came through on Saturday. Church was cancelled for the second week in a row. After the first snow storm Dave went out and bought a snow blower which was a very good investment. Plus it allows him an opportunity to do service for our sweet neighbor Betty, who lives across the street. Taten loves the snow blower. You can't see him but he is in front of Dave pushing the snow blower. They went out 3 times on Saturday to clear the snow. It did not stop snowing all day.
A picture of our back yard.

Our House-Welcome home.

I am sure that all of you are dying to see pictures of our house. Which I will post since it is unlikely that you will all come to our house warming party which I of course am not having. I was really nervous about this house and since I had only seen it once for about 5 minutes on our house hunting trip...I painted a very different picture of it in my head. But I really love this little old house, which is considerably bigger than our home in AZ. Although there is no master suite and the kitchen is tiny and we only have a tiny closet in our room. But we have new windows and a beautiful wood floor.The entry way with two coat closets.

The front room, with beautiful stone fireplace and mantel. The kitchen, there are not many cupboards and only 3 drawers. I like to cook so i have a lot of things with no where to put them .The breezeway. Which was built onto the house between our 2 car garage that our neighbors are envious of. Do you love the blue church carpet? And our Better Homes and Gardens table that we purchased at Wal Mart for $257 which I thought was cheap until they lowered the price to 199$ one week later. I had thrown out the receipt so I couldn't be credited for the difference, which sucked because i usually don't throw away receipts forever. The hallway leading from the kitchen/dinning area to the den and a bedroom.

Finally the boys huge bedroom, with plenty of room for toys and to play. Do you love the 9X12 wool rug we purchased at TJMax for only $140. Taten loves his room, he asked to play ball every day.

Day of Travel

This was a day I was both looking forward to and dreading at the same time. I was anxious to be back home with Dave and was unsure how we were going to get all of my "crap" back to Pennsylvania.

After 6 months and 3 seasons (summer, fall and some winter) a growing 2 year old, a growing belly and a new baby...I admit I had accumulated way to much stuff. After sending 8 boxes FedEx I still had 5 bags and 2 car seats to get home. I never want to do that again. Imagine that many bags and two children trying to get through the airport. It was not fun. But our kids were so good and the flights were on time. The layover in Chicago was just long enough to get to the next gate and we arrived in PA in enough time to stop at Texas Road House our favorite restaurant for dinner. This was of course on the 2 hour drive home from the airport. We arrived home to the stack of Fedex boxes on our doorstep and the house in the same kind of order that Dave left it in. I had a lot of work to do, lots of cleaning and organizing...but after two weeks we are finally feeling at home. No the house is not completely clean, decorated and organized but we are no longer surrounded by boxes and suitcases.

Catching up-Pictures

Blogging for me is kinda of like keeping a journal. I feel like I have to update what I have missed before I can start giving the current events. I have missed a lot, they say a picture is worth a thousand words so here are a few pictures to get us up to date. Ryker at two weeks he is already 7lbs 6 oz. He is growing so fast.

He loves his soothie, I think it is so cute how he holds it in his mouth. I am so glad we have a way to soothe this kid because he is high maintenance. I don't know if I have ever been so tired. For the first two weeks when I would lay Ryker down he would be crying again within 15 to 20 minutes. I thought I would go insane. Luckily I had my mom who gave up her sleep to help out. It took forever for Ryker's umbilical cord to fall off. The nurse said not to use alcohol and just let it go. The cord fell off in 3 different parts and kept seeping blood for about 3 weeks. So this is Ryker's first bath in the tub. Taten was so excited to be able to help wash. Ryker's blessing day. He is almost 5 weeks old and must weigh at least 9 lbs. Honestly he is growing so fast. I am so grateful we were able to be with family for his blessing. I admit I became a little emotional when I looked up on the stand and there were so many (13) worthy priesthood holders surrounding our little guy. I am so grateful for a husband who is able to bless our children. Taten is such a good big brother. He loves Ryker, he always wants to hold him and will kiss Ryker's forehead when he is crying. But also seems to need his mom the same time Ryker does.This next picture is of Caleb, Ryker and Amelia. Amelia and Caleb were born the end of July. My brother's son and my sister's daughter. It will be fun to have cousins so close in age. Pictures with Grandma and Grandpa. Dave's family are huge BYU fans. It was so cute to see all these little kids posing with their grandparents. Taten is holding a little BYU bear that represents McKenna. We just decorated McKenna's grave for Christmas. This is something that Grandma usually does each year and every holiday.

Bath time

Just a couple of Pictures of Ryker's bath today. We miss you Daddy! Taten woke up in the middle of the night asking "where's Daddy?"

1 Week Old

Happy Birthday Ryker! 1 Week old. Sadly Dave had to return home and babies just change so fast. Here is Ryker at 1 week.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! Dave took Taten trick or treating with his cousins. Taten really enjoys playing with his cousins so I am sure they had a really great time. Taten came home with loads of candy, the only thing he is interested in however are the suckers.

Welcome Ryker!

Ryker was born on Tuesday. I was scheduled to be induced. I know it seems a little strange that I had to be sewn closed to keep my baby inside and then when the stitch comes out my baby wants to stay inside. But we wanted to make sure Dave was here for Ryker's delivery so we scheduled his birth. I admit I was a bit nervous, was Ryker really ready to be born? The hospital called at 7:30 AM and said it was time. The nurse started my on Pitocin and said the Doctor would be there soon to break my water. Yikes is that going to hurt? The nurse thought it wise to just get me my epidural first. So with out the pain of a single contraction Ryker was born. He weighed 6 lbs 7 oz and was 20.5 inches long. We are so happy to have him here and healthy. Does anyone think he looks a little bit like Taten?

College Game Day-BYU vs TCU

In June I thought this week would never come... 5 months seemed like an eternity. My stitch came out on the 22nd and we wanted to make sure Dave would be here for Ryker's delivery. Which could come anytime after my stitch was removed. I think Dave was happy that Ryker didn't come until his scheduled date. Dave spent the entire day on Saturday in Provo for the BYU game. College Game Day-ESPN was in town for the Big Homecoming game. Dave and Taten left early to make it in time for Game Day and the Homecoming Parade. They were able to stay dry despite the rainy weather. Dave said they had a great time even though the game sucked. ** Dave's family has held season tickets to BYU football basically since the stadium was built. Dave loves BYU football, almost more than he loves me. I am glad that Ryker didn't come till his scheduled date too.

Bed Rest- Its official

I saw the Doctor on Friday. Actually I see the Doctor every week for a progesterone shot (the purpose of the shots is to prevent pre-term labor) and to have the condition of my cervix monitored. I was starting to feel a little concern because my Doctor had not looked at my cervix in over a month....I am glad he checked it out on Friday. My cervix is thin and open with a loose stitch. I told the doctor I was hoping for a Halloween baby and he said it was unlikely that I would make it that long. So the strict bed rest begins. It has only been 5 days and I wonder how in the world did I lay in bed for 6 months with Taten. I have been blessed this pregnancy to have had some freedom. I can lay here for 4 weeks.

Happy Fall!

Happy fall everyone! Its Fall so that means I am closer to having my baby and joining my husband back east. I am not due till the first of November but my Doctor says we will shoot for the end of October-Maybe a Halloween baby. I still am praying that I will make it that long, My doctor has not put me on strict bed rest and has been telling me stories about women whose stitches have failed. I spent the weekend with my sister Margo and we made this fun craft. I have to admit we stole the idea from a craft at Roberts (craft store) but it was $50, who buys four little pieces of wood for $50. So we made it ourselves. I think ours turned out cuter than the one at the store too.

My sister Tiffany lives on a farm...

My sister Tiffany lives on a farm. Her husband is a dairy farmer and they have cows that are black with a fat white stripe down the middle. I always thought cows were spotted. I had no idea they came with stripes. ( I wish I had taken a picture) My sister's new baby (a baby she has been waiting 10 years for. She has a beautiful little girl who was adopted almost 5 years ago, and hoped that somehow they would have another child in their home..after having several foster kids come through their home, children with a number of problems, she decided that perhaps another child would not be in their future. But God had other plans and sent her a beautiful baby girl) who was blessed over the Labor Day weekend. The whole family decided to camp out at her house and enjoy the wilderness...Including watching a movie in the corn fields, horseback riding and four wheeling. I spent my time just relaxing and watching of course so I missed the walk down to the barn were the new baby calves had been born. I was told that Taten loved every second of it and even tried to pick up one of the baby cows. He spent the whole weekend outside playing, he was having way to much fun to stop and eat, in two days all he had was lemonade. This is the view from my sisters back yard. They live on a little hill that over looks the Valley.

Daddy comes for a visit-Lake Powell-August

We were so happy to have Dave finally come for a visit in August. We had been apart at the time for almost 2 months, and I must say we were missing daddy terribly. His family goes on an annual trip to Lake Powell so we planned his visit so he could take Taten. As the vacation approached I grew increasing uneasy with Dave taking my baby to Lake Powell. I would voice my worries regularly to Dave, but he would always reassure me that he would watch Taten every second. I finally decided to beg my Doctor to let me go on the family trip. He was very hesitant and warned me not to ride on the speed boat and to know where the nearest hospital was ect. I am so glad I went. Taten loved swimming, riding the wave runner and riding in the boat. I loved that I was there to see it and know that he was safe. Dave's work was also having an employee competition to get the best pictures of them drinking pepsi. I think we have Taten converted. Dave also submitted a picture of himself drinking Pepsi while scurfing (that is surfing behind the boat).

Grandma's Lipstick-who needs the lesson?

Taten's been in grandma's lipstick. Doesn't he look pretty? I found him one day hiding in a box "Taten what are you doing in there?" "ta da" Taten pops out of the box covered in Grandma's lipstick. I felt really bad that Taten had been in Grandma's lipstick and explained to him that he shouldn't get in to grandma's makeup. To be safe I also told my mom..."You will need to put your lipstick where Taten can't reach it". 8 tubes of lipstick later...and several attempts to sway Taten's interest, including spanking and time out. "Mom, I am not sure if its Taten I need to discipline or you. I can't watch Taten every second, please keep your makeup where he cant reach it." With the average cost of a tube of lipstick being $10 this has been a pretty pricey lesson to learn.

The dumping tank bka my dad's fish tank.

This is my dad's fish tank. Taten has been fascinated with it since our arrival. This fascination started with a few taps on the glass to see the fish move. Since that time he has learned to push a chair over to the fish tank so he could climb up and open the cover. We have found his Popsicle, a hair brush, and a ball all floating in the tank. Last night my dad said he had stopped Taten from putting his toothbrush into the tank. I apologized to my dad and took a closer look at the fish tank. I couldn't contain my laughter. If I had seen Taten do this he would have got a spanking and time out. Taten had dropped both my dad's tape dispenser and stapler into the fish tank.

Slip and Slide

It was hot outside and the kids needed a little time to cool off. Taten's cousins Savannah and Hailee were here watching him. We set up the slip and slide and the girls took the plunge but Taten had a harder time figuring out what to do. The running part was easy. . . He would run all the way the fence and come running back towards the plastic sheeting and his small pool, then jump into his pool, or just sit at the end of the plastic. He was laughing the whole time. The girls pored a bucket of water over his head and he still laughed, but he's a quick learner and he soon got even with them.

Taten's first swing at a Pinata

Taten's cousin Austin just celebrated his 2nd birthday. At his party they had a pinata. Taten could hardly wait for his turn and he knew just what to do, he picked up his bat and swung. When the pinata finally broke Taten hurried to pick up a piece of candy, a sucker. With a little help and a paper sack he joined the other kids gathering the scattered candy. The sucker was the only thing Taten was interested in eating.