Family-Family-Family

Happy Valentines Day! And Happy Birthday Ryker! Haha. The Sunday when both mine and Jesse's family could come over to celebrate happened to land on Valentines Day.

 

Everyone showed up for dinner (per Ryker's request). Then we all hung out and watching Ryker open gifts. Oh and eat cake. For weeks Ryker gave me his requests for the cake he wanted. In years past it's been a shape of something. But this year it started out as Peach Pie. Then it turned into Peach Pie with Strawberries on top.???? Then it turned into Strawberry Pie. I can't say I've even heard or tried Strawberry pie, let alone bake one on my own.

 

So my suggested to him was to have Strawberry Shortcake. Ding-ding-ding! He LOVED that idea!



 I just realized as I was going through all the pictures I had of everyone there, Heidi isn't in any of them and I can't figure out why. I think she was helping me out in the kitchen and I just missed getting her, but she was there.

 That is one pile of LOVE right there for ya. He's so spoiled. But that's ok. He's 8 and he deserves it.

 About to blow out his candles on his Shortcake. Haha. It isn't very pretty, but it certainly tastes delicious.

 While we say Happy Birthday, Jesse got out his saxophone to play Happy Birthday! It's been years. But he still rocked a few squeaks. It was a cool moment though to have him playing and everyone singing along. Ryker got a kick out of seeing his dad playing the Sax.

 There we go, that's a much prettier dessert once it's all served up. And how an you not just smile at this handsome face of hi? Oh he's just so grown up and so handsome. Watch out! He's going to be a lady killer.

 He's my little bud. I love him SO much.

Birthday Boy {02/08/16}

Unbelievable. My oldest son is now 8 years old and getting baptized in a few weeks. I just can't believe it. It feel like yesterday that he was Fynn's age. But yet it feels like forever when he was that little. What a joy Ryker is and has been in our lives. He made Jesse and I think that we were the best parents because of how awesome he is. There are so many wonderful characteristics and attributes about him that are all so great. Heavenly Father was smart to send him to me first. Ryker is the most helpful, loving, friendly and kind kid I know. Everyone wants to be with Ryker or be his friend. And he instantly is their friend and genuinely has a love for them. That's a Christ-like attribute I can only pray can stay with him his entire life. Many adults have a hard time with this very thing and it comes to Ryker so naturally.

 

At the beginning of the month I met our photographer downtown to take some baptism pictures of Ryker by the Salt Lake Temple. It was a cold afternoon but we made it work. This picture is one of my favorite from the bunch. I'll post more when his baptism comes. 

 

We couldn't celebrate with Ryker's friends and our families until a week after his birthday. So the actually night of his birthday, Jesse and I took him out to his restaurant of choice. Mikado. The two younger boys were left home with Chantel. It was going to be some one-on-one time with our little man. 

 It was really quite pleasant only having one child at dinner. Especially the most behaved child (haha sorry Cy).

Jesse and I gave Ryker his first set of scriptures. And he was SO excited. I was quite touched by his gratitude for them. And for the many hugs he gave us.

 Ryker doesn't like sushi so it seems odd that he would pick such a place. But he loves the Bento Boxes that they serve there. Which works out great for us since we like it there so much anyway.

 Because it was his birthday he got to pick any dessert off of the menu. He picked Mochi Balls. They are ice cream balls covered in a gummy layer. Not my thing really, but Ryker thought it was the coolest thing. Matter of fact he really wanted to take one home to Cy to share. But since they were melting so fast it wasn't going to work very easily. He made me take a picture so we could show Cy how cool the dessert was. (I love so much that he was being thoughtful towards his younger brother. Such a tender hearted kid.)

We loved spending a little bit of time with Ryker. We are blessed to have him in our family. How did I ever get so Blessed with such a great kid?

5 months old

By the time I get around to posting about Fynn turning 5 months old, he's almost 6 months old. Man its tough to keep up with how quick he is growing up. I can't decide if I like it or not.

 

Fynn still is the happiest baby. I am constantly asked "Is he always this happy?" Yup. He really is.

 

He's been eating like crazy. He loves the baby food that he's been getting. And he's so much better at eating it now.

 I am in love with this photo because he finally started grabbing his feet. I've been waiting for this. I don't know what I love it so much, but I just do. He'll grab his socks and try to pull them off and eat his toes. Oh I think it's so cute.

 This was a tender moment that happened a few weeks ago. Jesse needed a nap after working a fought shift and it happened to be at the same time that Fynn needed one. They both fell asleep together and I thought it was so sweet.

 I mean look at this smile. How can you not just want to munch on him? Oh I get that urge to bite/squeeze him quite often. I have to catch myself and just clench my teeth so I don't actually do it. He's just the cutest.

 So crazy story. The day of my Surprise Party Cyrus was playing with Fynn in the toy room. Heidi heard Fynn scream bloody murder. She ran in there to see what had happened and she couldn't figure it out. All she got from Cy was that he pulled him across the carpet really fast. So it wasn't until later that she discovered that the reason Fynn screamed was because he got rug burn on the back of his head. A few days later it was all stabbed over so when he woke up from his nap it was bleeding. At that point I needed to cover it with a Bandai to protect it,

I know Cy wasn't trying to hurt Fynn. Cy truly was just thinking that if Fynn got a really fast ride Fynn would think it's so great. Haha. I know he felt bad about it.

I'm sure this is just the first of many battle wounds. Haha.

 Bath time. Such a cutie.

 I love coming home from work and just getting my Fynn fix.

What a Surprise!!!

I've been meaning to blog about  my Surprise Party that Jesse had put together last weekend. I just have to say up front that I have the most amazing man any woman could ever dream of. He's beyond words.

 

Where to begin? Hmm. Well lets start with Wed Jan 6th. I had been working all day. Jesse was home with the boys. He was actually on his 6 day break. So he was being Mr. Mom while I was working. I get home and he's cooking dinner (Another thing that makes him so great). While we are talking he says to me.

 

"Remember how we are getting a new Battalion Chief?"

"Yes"

"Well some of the firemen want to go to dinner with the old Battalion Chief."

"Ok. that sounds fun. When are they going?"

"This Saturday."

"Ok.... Oh wait, we are suppose to talk in Sacrament meeting this Sunday. That's kinda rough going out the night before."

"I know. But it'll be ok. We'll get our talks done before. I'll help you."

 

Still I was feeling worried about getting it done. I was working late every night that week. Plus we had Cy's preschool program on Friday. And then Saturday was the "dinner" with the Firemen. 

 

Anyway, later that night Jesse was sitting on the couch with his laptop. I had grabbed something that was by him and caught glance of his screen. Chik-fil-a Catering was up.

"Why are you looking at Chik-fil-a catering?"

Jesse replied "Oh I was on fb and a link popped up."

 

At first I didn't think anything of it, but then I started to wonder if we were really going to dinner on Saturday with the fireman. Hmmm.

 

A little while later I had to grab something out of the truck and I saw there was a black poster in the back seat. Wondering what that was for I asked Jesse about it. He told me had spent the day with his mom helping her with a Stake YW project.

 

Oh ok.

 

Thursday night came and I was upstairs feeding Fynn before putting him in bed. Because the way our house is set up you can hear everything downstairs almost perfectly. So I hear Ryker say something to Jesse about Chik-fil-a..... then I hear "OWWWW" from Ryker.

 

Haha, ok that confirmed my suspicions. Jesse was up to something. But I wasn't sure what.

 

Friday we went to Cy's program.

 

Then Saturday came. Jesse told me he would be picking me up at 5:00 when I was done with my last client. Late that morning I got a text from my last client, Wendy telling me she wasn't able to make it. So now I was going to be done at 4:30. I figured I would just freshen up at the salon while I waited for Jesse to pick me up.

 

My last client was actually Emily, Sterling and Evie. While she was there I had mentioned to Emily that I thought Jesse had something planned for me that night (not knowing that she's in on the whole thing as well). She played along great. But when I mentioned she was my last client, I guess she panicked. She took Sterling to the bathroom and while she was back there she called Heidi and Jesse to tell them I was suspicious and that I was getting done before planned.

 

I guess they tried to come up with a plan to get me to stay longer. Emily wanted to have me cut Andrew's hair because he got done with work early. Feeling guilty that I couldn't, I told her I was having Bria style my hair for me and I didn't want to make Brian stay later than she already was.

 

I guess Jesse tried calling Wendy to get her to tell me she was coming but then change her mind again. She didn't answer but he left her a voicemail. They were all sooooo worried I would come home early. But I was just planning on staying at the salon until Jesse came to get me.

 

When he finally arrived I asked him where we were going to dinner. He told me we were going down town.

 

????? I was so confused. This whole time I thought we were going to Ogden.

 

He was acting super strange and secretive. Maybe that was the whole point? He took me to Blue Lemon in City Creek and told me we were getting an appetizer there.

 

??????Hmmm ok. I asked him if we were doing a dine around kind of thing? Going from restaurant to restaurant getting each course. He said yes.

 

Ok, this sounds like fun.

 

After we eat our $3 appetizer we walked back to the truck. As we were pulling out of the parking garage Jesse starts to look through his wallet. Then he's frantically looking through his coat pocket trying to find something. I asked him if he lost something. He said Maybe.

 

I asked him (still wondering what's going on) where the next stop was for dinner. All he told me was dinner was "up North." Alrighty then.

 

He then makes a phone call to his mom who was at our house babysitting the boys for us.

"Hey Mom, is there a gift certificate paper printed out on the desk?....... Oh good, I was started to worry that I lost it." He gets off the phone and tells me we need to stop by at home to pick it up. Sounds good,

 

As we are pulling up our street he asks me if I wanted to come inside to say goodnight to Fynn. I like to put him in bed at night so I can see why he would ask me this, But I was feeling hungry and didn't want to get stuck at home. I expressed my feelings about that and he just told me we had a minute before we needed to be to the next place. So I told him I'd go in.

 

He opens the door... pushes me inside..... aaaaand......... SURPRISE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Our living room was filled with tons of people. He TRULY surprised me. Even though I was expecting something to happen, the way he went about it totally caught me off guard and I wasn't expecting there to be tons of people in my house.

I got so many hugs and loves from everyone and several of the people couldn't stay very long. Matter of fact they said hello and then left. So I regret not being able to get pictures of the whole group of people that were there. Oh well. It'll be in my thoughts and memories.

This is my dear friend Hillary whom I went to Beauty School with. We don't see each other very often due to our busy lives. But she is one of those friends when we do see each other it's like we didn't miss a beat.

Steph and Angie Mayo. Well Step Conover and Angie Ratliff. But they will forever me known as the Mayo twins to me. I went to high school with these 2 cuties.

This was one surprise that shocked me, I was impressed Jesse remembered Amber Prince from beauty school. I have only seen her 2 times in the past 10 years, so it was really great seeing her.

Jesse had help from his mom decorating. They went to the effort to get pictures of me throughout my life and hung them from the balloons.

The table of sweets was so pretty decorated with things of gold and white. The table adjacent to it had Chik-fil-a catering all set up on it. Haha. The pieces had come together.

I loved this part. Pictures of me on a letter A. Heidi told me that when she was making this she was tending Sterling. He told her that she forgot to put Cyrus on there. Haha. He thought the baby pictures were Ryker and Fynnick. Proves those 2 really look alike and that they look like me,

My brother Tyson made the banner.

My good friend Candice was there as well. Again I'm super bummed I didn't think to get more pictures of everyone who was there.

And of course the man who pulled it all off. He had thought of everything. There were 2 babysitters there for those who brought their kids. In the basement he had set up a TV for them to watch movies, a room with toys and a coloring station. He had prizes for the games that we played. Honestly, I was just blown away by all the effort that he went to just for me. He truly made me feel loved. SOOOO Loved.

Another thing that I learned was that he went to the effort to make a digital invitation and sent it out. I couldn't believe he thought of that as well. I was blown away by everything that he did. He had taken weeks to prepare all this. He told me that night that he was so excited about it. And if anyone were to ruin it he would have killed them.

I will forever remember what an awesome party he put together for me. I have been blessed with the best husband. Thank you Jesse for loving me and being so good to me. I love you!

Preschool Program

Usually the Preschool Program is in the month of December. But this year "Sister" (as Cyrus calls Mrs. Eggett) had to cancel it because her Son in Law was having eye surgery the same day the program was scheduled.

 

So instead she decided to have a New Year's Program. Which was really fun to hear all the songs they have learned besides just Christmas songs.

 Last year Cyrus was not really into the program and he just stood there. But this year he was all sorts of animated. It was such a hoot watching him. He was such a character up there. I just loved it.

Jeri is hands down the BEST teacher. She has helped Cyrus so much learn to be a good student. It's really strange to think that Cy is nearing the end of his preschool years. I'm sure he'll miss his "Sister". Thankfully we'll get to see her during swimming lessons.

Jeri has mentioned to me before that the other kids ask her "Why does Cyrus call you sister?" She just tells them "We' re just really good friends." And that is very true. Cyrus just loves her.



4 Months Old

Fynn has turned 4 months old. What? I hate how fast he is growing up. But I love it at the same time. It's so great to watch him develop.  His smiles are to die for. They just make me so happy every time those eyes light up and that big smile spreads across his face.

 

He's such a big dude. Not only is he in size 3 diapers already, but he's wearing 6 month clothes. Some of them are 6-9 month. The striped onsie he's wearing in this picture is a 6-9 month size. I bought it for him for Christmas thinking that size would give him time to grow into it. Um nope. Thankfully I had tried it on him to see how it fit and he already fills it out. 

 This little blanket we call his "softy" and he just LOVES it. When he is ready for nap/bed time he likes to bury his nose in it and he falls asleep. This picture of him I thought was so cute. I was getting ready for work and had him lying on the ground by the bathroom under this canopy toy my mom gave him. He was acting fussy so I gave him his binky and the softie and he was so content. Especially since he was holding onto a toy in one hand and the softy in the other. So cute.

 I feel like Fynn has been sick so often since he has been born. It seems like he gets sick like once a month. What's the deal? 2 of them congestion, 1 was the flu and this past week he's congested and coughing. Makes me so sad for him. The other morning I had fed him and laid him in my bed and he totally just fell asleep like this. I thought it was so tender. Especially since he usually needs to be swaddled before he'll fall asleep. He must have been so tired. I couldn't stop staring at his sweet little sleepy face. Oh I just love him.

 He's developed the "put every thing in my mouth" stage. Especially his hands. He's always munching on his little hands.

 He really is the HAPPIEST baby. Not very often do I have to wonder what is wrong with him. He's just the greatest. So chill.

 Tummy Time doesn't happen as much as it should. We are just constantly busy. But when he does get it, he doesn't seem to mind. Most babies hate it. But he hasn't shown that he hates it. Unless it's been awhile and his head seems too heavy to hold up.

 Started solids the day after Christmas. He had been sleeping through the night just fine until the middle of December and it was killing me that I was having to feed him in the middle of the night again. So I started to feed him solids before I had seem the pediatrician. But I figured since he was my 3 child I knew what I was doing and he was showing the signs. He was ready. And I was ready.

The first time I just fed it to him before bedtime and he still woke up. Gaaaa. So then I read through my BabyWise Book in the Trouble Shooting Section and discovered he wasn't getting enough calories during the day.

So then I decided to feed it to him at every feeding. The next 2 nights he slept for almost 12 hours. Hooray!

But that's when he got sick, so the 12 hour night stretch was a tease.

Last night I fed him Oatmeal before bedtime and he slept 10 hours last night. I woke up feeling like a whole woman again. Why does motherhood have to come with sleep deprivation? I think that is one of the questions I might be asking the Lord when I see him in the next life.

Fynn has been such a blessing and great addition to our family. He is our little light. We all love him more than words can say.

His growth stats at 4 months are:

Weight: 15lbs 14oz - 70%
Length: 26.2in - 89%
Head Circ: 17.1in - 81%

He's a big boy. But I wouldn't expect anything less. None of my boys have ever really been "small". Which I think is great.

New Years Sledding

Sticking with our tradition, the Smith family went sledding this morning. T&T are in Paris, Andrew and Jesse both had to work. So the rest of us took the kiddos to go play in the snow. And what a great year to do that. With all the snow that we have so far it was the perfect day to go. The sun was out and it was blue skies.

 

Last night Sterling spent the night for New Years Eve. So everyone just met at our house at 10am. We went up to the Englewood Golf Course. I had been there when I was a lot younger, and thought it would be the perfect sledding place this year. And it was.

 

The second we stepped out onto the snow Cy was eating it non-stop. The whole time he just ate handful after handful. It was making me laugh. I even caught him and Ryker laying on their bellies licking the ground. Boys. Haha. 

 This kid is getting so big, We started this tradition when he was 11 months old. Now look at him.

 The babies were asleep in their car seats, so we just brought them along on the hill with us. Thanks for dad being there to carry the load.

 

 The boys were all arguing on who could go with Grandpa. So Grandpa just made it work.

 Next year we'll have to get Fynn out sledding. He just slept the entire time.

 Sterling looked so cute with his helmet and goggles. He looked so legit. (Notice the 2 car seats just chilling in the background? haha)

 These 3 boys had the time of their lives.

 This was probably my favorite moment when these two went down by themselves. In the beginning they were a bit nervous to go alone, but they got more comfortable with it and braved going with each other.

 Then I giggled watching them carry the sled back up the hill. So cute and so clever.

 Seriously couldn't believe what a beautiful day it was. The temperature was only 14 degrees, but with how sunny it was, we were quite warm playing in the snow.

 Evie woke up and wanted to join the party.

 Our whole gang. Do you spot Sterling hiding behind Cy?

After about 2 hours we called it good. We were all starving and the boys were tired. We went back to our house and we got the boys in  the shower while we prepped lunch. Mom brought Chili and we made some cornbread. It was too yummy. Totally hit the spot.

I will have to admit that this morning I wasn't feeling up to going today because we had had a rough night. But I'm glad I sucked it up and went because it was Fantastic! Truly it was. I usually don't care for winter or the snow, but this year has been really cool having all this snow. It actually feels like winter. It's ducky when the inversion sets in, but so far it hasn't been too bad.

Anyway, I really love we have been able to continue this tradition since 2009.

Happy New Year! I'm excited to see what 2016 has to bring for us because 2015 was pretty eventful.