Family Saturday [2/27/16]

I decided at the beginning of the year that I would take off 1 Saturday a month and dedicate it to my family. No work. Just play. It was a little prick in my heart that t made me realize that my boys are growing up too fast and that I needed to MAKE time to make memories with them. I'm looking forward to these Saturdays.

 

This month I decided it would be fun to try out ice skating. It had been years for both Jesse and I. And the boys had never tried it. They were excited nervous about it. I think just because they didn't really know what to expect. I was really curious to see how it was going to play out.

 

After getting our skates. The boys walked out onto the ice and BAM fell within seconds. Cy was so funny because he stepped foot on the ice thinking it wasn't going to be any different. He fell. Got back up and fell again. I'm not sure how many times he fell but it was several. He laughed about it at first but then was realizing that he didn't like it so much.

 So thankfully they have these little walkers for the small kids. He was a champ with that thing.

 Ryker tried out the walker thing for a little bit too, but he picked it up really quick. He got better and better the longer we were there.

Jesse and I took turns holding the boys hands while we helped them along. At one point we all held hands and went around several times.

 Taking a break in the penalty box.

 Which is where Fynn was sleepin away. Gosh he's such an easy baby. I love that I never have a worry about him and how things are going to work out. Because he always is patient and goes with the flow.

 

We skated from 12:30-2:30 at which point it was closing. We handed our skates back in and we headed home for a minute.

We ran out to Alexa's apartment to give her Ryker's baptism invitation then headed to the grocery store.

After that we met our friend's Brent and Candice at Costa Vida for dinner. Then we went bowling.

 It was quite an epic bowling night. 8 people trying to bowl one game took 2 hours. Plus the lane we had was so glitchy. It made for quite the comical night.

 It's so great to have good friends that are in the same boat as you in life. So much to relate to and so much laughs.

By the time we got home the boys crashed in their beds before we even had time to say prayers with them. They were so worn out. You know you succeeded when that happens.

 

I love this family of mine SO SO SO much. They are what keep me going in life. Everything I do I do it because of them. God has blessed me so greatly with such a perfect family for me. I thank Him everyday for them and hope I can do Him proud with my responsibility at raising them in the gospel and to become good people.

Friend Birthday Bash {02/15/16}

I had a genius idea this year for Ryker's birthday party with his friends. Sledding! It's been a great year for that with all the snow we've had. I did start to get worried because the week leading up to the party it started to warm up and was raining. I wanted there to be enough snow that we could still go sledding. I wasn't sure what I would do instead with 13 kids coming over. But luckily it still worked out to go.

 

Here is our group of kiddos before we started the sledding shin-an-a-gins. Left to Right:(back) Hailee, Sterling, Ever, Maya, Molly, Max, Sunny, Jocie and Jace. (front) Ryker, Cyrus, Emily, Westbrook and Rafe.

 

What a great turnout! Some of the kids are siblings of Ryker's friends that I just thought they would have so much fun so I invited them to come along as well. 

 Now I couldn't have pulled this off without the help of these 4 peeps. Emily (SIL), Jesse, Timalee (Cousin) and Tyler (friend). They were my drivers to get this whole gang of kids to and from sledding.

 That one moment Jesse pulled several of the sleds (and 2 girls) up the hill. It was quite impressive!

 These kiddos had such a blast! I love self entertained activities.

 This boy was on cloud 9.

 After sledding we all headed back home. While we waited for pizza to arrive we had a dance party. I was getting a kick out of these kids moves. I totally had to join in on the fun. I was the only crazy childish adult to join in on the dance craze.

 Ryker was the center of it all. He was pulling out some robot moves. I was loving watching him. I got some awesome recordings of him and the rest of the kiddos.

 Once the pizza came it was FEAST time. These kiddos were SOOOOO hungry from playing so hard. I would be that each kid ate about 3 slices. Haha.

Oh we had so much fun. It was a HUGE SUCCESS! That was the most fun and least stressful birthday party I've put together yet. I didn't bother with gifts. Everybody came and we just celebrated Ryker!!!!!

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!