I HEART YOU!

This year for V-day Jesse and I both decided to stay home. We weren't feeling in the mood to fight the crowds to spend a ton a money on a not-so-great dinner. So... I made dinner at home instead. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but it was BOMB!

Whole Wheat Heart-Shaped Rolls...

Maple Soy Salmon, Steamed Carrots, Steamed Asparagus and Quinoa with black beans, diced tomatoes, onions, garlic and broccoli. YUM!!! (Take note of the arrangement of the food... Can you tell it's a heart?)

 Dessert: Oreo Brownies with Vanilla Ice Cream.

 A little lovin'...

 This year I made this...

 ... and gave it to Jesse. Totally found this idea on Pinterest (I love that website).

 And Jesse gave me this...

Yay for future date nights!

It was very enjoyable to spend our night as a family. Happy Valentine's Day!

What the FOUR?

February 8, 2008 Ryker William Smith came to our family at 11:55am. Weighing in at 8 lbs 11oz and measuring 22 1/2 inches long. Now FOUR years later he weighs 40 lbs 8oz (83%) and measuring 41 1/2 inches tall (77%).

On the day of his birthday I made Ryker French Toast upon his request. He was totally thrilled that I put candles on them to blow out.

 I took a half day off of work so that Ryker would have something to do on his actual birthday. But while I was working my mom and dad took Ryker to the Planetarium. And of course he LOVED it. He kept telling them how he had been there before and running around showing his grandparents all the cool stuff.

Then that night I took him on a date to see the movie Big Miracle. It was so fun to have that time with him alone. And the movie was pretty good. Look at Ryker's grin... he was chowing down the popcorn as soon as we sat down.

Friday night we had the opportunity to go sledding up at Soldiers Hollow with Jesse's parents and Andrew and Emily. The small tubes were for the little kids, but you had to be 4 to ride. So lucky for Ryker he had just turned 4 two days before that.

Here we are waiting in line to be pulled up the hill. I'm all for exercise, but if you have to carry Ryker up the hill it makes for a long night and not having the desire to go down the hill too often... So with the "lift" we were able to go down several times without breaking a sweat. haha

Just waiting in between runs. We traded off on who watched the babes.

Look how happy he is. He was having the time of his life.

We all had a great time sledding. Thanks to Mike and Heidi for taking all of us.

On Sunday we invited our families over for dinner followed by Ryker opening presents and devouring the cake and ice cream. Check out the Fish Cake I put together. I am pretty excited about it, but probably not as much as Ryker was. When everyone came over he instantly would shout "Look at my Fishy Cake!!!" It made me super happy that he was so thrilled over his cake.

I love this Birthday Boy!!!

Ryker showing off his money that great grandma and grandpa gave to him.

This Hot Wheels track sticks on the wall. Seriously SO COOL! I tried back in December to get this for Christmas, but everywhere I called or looked online was SOLD OUT! One Hot item. So thankfully they got more in stock.

He blew out his candles all in one big blow.

Honestly I know everyone says it... so here I go... I CAN"T BELIEVE IT'S BEEN FOUR YEARS!!! There, I said it. But it's true. It's unbelievable. I'm amazed how kids grow up so quickly. I remember when I was in high school and I had the hardest time imagining what being a wife and mother would be like. Well I am 6 1/2 years into being a wife and 4 years into being a mom. And let me tell you... It's pretty dang awesome.

Happy Birthday Ryker Buddy! You don't know how much we ALL love you!