My first Dr. appointment

Went to the doc today. She was awesome. I wish she was going to continue to be my doc. Turns out if I want to deliver at Banner Gateway (which I do - I can walk there!) then I have to go to a different office since none of the docs in that office deliver at Gateway. ANYWAYS...I've gained 4 lbs and I got to hear the heartbeat!! It was nice and strong and the baby was moving a lot but I still haven't felt it. We find out January 11 (only 3 weeks) if we are having a boy or girl. YAY! For fun I added a poll to my blog so go ahead and guess what you think we are having!!!!

Oh Christmas Tree

Jon's mom found a spare Christmas tree hanging around in storage so she let us take it home and decorate it. I was SOO excited to have it!! It was missing branches and kind of old but I didn't care. I LOVE Christmas trees. I made Jon take me immediately to Hobby Lobby to pick out decorations for it. Well...their stuff was very picked over and kind of pricey but I just managed to find what I could. I picked out red, black, and silver decor. It was cute! But then I went to Wal-Mart a few hours later only to find better, cheaper ornaments in colors that I loved! Who knew? Gotta love Wal-Mart! Therefore I returned EVERYTHING to Hobby Lobby and bought all new decor from Wally world. Here is how it turned out.
The colors are brown, copper, and gold just like my mom's tree. I love her tree. But of course her decorations are way better. This is just a starter tree. There are only 3 different kinds of ornaments.
I'm hoping next year to add a little bit more, but I still LOVE IT! So worth the work. I'm just glad I was able to find a spot in our tiny place for the tree. I had to rearrange a bit but it worked.
I'm totally into Christmas this year and also decided to make stockings for our little family. Starting from the left is Jon's, then mine, then Ryder's. They are just made of flannel so they are flimsy but I still think they are cute and love that they are homemade. Can't wait for Christmas!

Holiday Craft Party

Yesterday, Ryder and I went out to the Arnett's house to attend Aiden's craft party. It was so fun and we made some cool things. All of the kids got a reindeer hat when they walked in. Ryder refused to wear his most of the time, but when we got home he wore it to the park. Go figure! We made really cute Christmas picture frames that I was a nazi about. They were so cool I wanted it to be perfect so I didn't really let Ryder help me with it. I suck, I know. then we made Christmas wreaths and I let Ryder glue buttons on it. That was the first time he's ever used glue and I think he liked it. Then we made jingle bell necklaces and he got to string the beads and bells. Then I let go of one end of the string and the whole necklace came undone. HA! After that we got to decorate Christmas cupcakes with chocolate, peppermint, and sprinkles. As usual I walked out and forgot ALL of cool stuff we made. Bummer!!! But we didn't forget the cute little reindeer goody buckets. They were full of candy and crayons and other fun things. Sara put SOOO much work into it I was amazed. I don't think I could ever pull off something so cool. Good job Sara!

Thanksgiving '09

We were at my parents' cabin for Thanksgiving and I had no internet access so here is my Thanksgiving post. Better late than never, right? Here are the things I am thankful for.

- My husband, Jon. He works SO dang hard to support us and he is the reason I get to stay home with our son. He is so helpful with Ryder and I appreciate that more than he'll ever know because I have seen a LOT of men that don't do a whole lot to help their wives.

- My healthy, happy little boy...Ryder. He makes life so much fun. He is our little entertainer and he brings amazing amounts of joy and happiness into our home. I'm thankful that he is good-natured, outgoing, and loving.

- The new baby in my belly :) I'm so thankful that I can conceive children so easily when there are SO many women out there that have difficulty. I'm thankful that I have easy pregnancies and that I haven't had to experience miscarriage when...again...SO many women out there are having one or more miscarriages.I swear there's something in our food and water.

- Family. Jon and I are lucky to have parents that live so close to us who are willing to help us out whenever we need it. Between the two sets of grandparents we almost ALWAYS have a free babysitter and that is a huge blessing. They also feed us and take us on vacations and provide us with things we need when we are running short on cash.

- A roof over my head. I complain a lot about having to live in a townhome in an apartment complex and having to climb so many stairs. But I am so thankful for our home and the nice things in it that we get to enjoy.

- Food on the table. Thanks again, Jon!

- Jon's job. What would we do without it? We have lots of nice perks with him working for his dad and Jon enjoys going to work.

- Transportation. I love my truck. It's been through a lot but I love it and I'm thankful that Jon drives an old beater so that I can drive something nice.

- Internet. 'Nuff said.

- Being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Jon and I have been members our whole lives but I don't think I ever really understood the blessings it brings until I got married and began to have a family. We absolutely love our ward right now and the friends we have made and we will be so sad when that day comes that we will have to move.

Well these are just a few of my favorite things. The list could go on and on. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

Uh-Oh!

This story is so funny and even though it happened weeks ago I HAD to post it. I was upstairs getting ready for the day with Ryder and he decided to go downstairs. I figured he would just watch T.V. or play with toys and be fine. WRONG! I heard some loud scraping noises that didn't sound so good. I called his name and he didn't answer. I could hear him saying "Uh-Oh!" So I rushed downstairs to find him doing THIS!

Then I looked over by the fridge and saw THIS!!

He had pulled a bag of flour out of the fridge and dumped the entire thing on the floor and himself. Then he proceeded to pull out my swiffer wet jet and try to clean it up quick. The look on his face when I came downstairs was priceless. You could tell he just KNEW I was going to be mad at him, but all I could do was bust up laughing and take pictures. I think he was trying to clean it up quick before I saw. How funny that he knew to clean it up and what to use!!!

There's a first time for everything!

I love this picture. I think it is my new favorite. Ryder NEVER does this. Fall asleep randomly on the couch, that is. The only way I've been able to put him down to sleep is in his crib or pack n' play where he's contained and has no choice but to just sleep. Well okay he has also fallen asleep in his high chair but that's pretty rare. Ryder and I had a play date with my sister Sonia and her little boy Peyton and afterwards we went back to my place to chill for a while. Ryder and Peyton have become oil and water. They do NOT get along because they are both at an age where sharing is very hard. We got so sick of them fighting constantly that we decided to part ways. Well...THAT and Sonia had to pick up her kids from school. Anyways, when they left Ryder was being SUPER annoying and would not stop whining at me so I told him he needed to go lay on Daddy's blanket on the couch and just relax. Not even 5 minutes later I look over and he is passed out. It was so cute I had to take a picture and the flash didn't even affect him.

In other news, we officially moved Ryder from his crib to a "big boy" bed, which is just a twin mattress on the floor for now. I wanted to keep putting this off but Jon was really into moving him to a bed. So I gave in. He was pretty excited about the fact that it was big and he could jump around on it, but when it came time to turn off the light and close the door he kinda freaked out. We have vents in our doors (weird I know) and he just stood there yelling, "MAMA!!!" and banging on the door. I tried to lay him down again and walk out and it just wasn't happening. I ended up just sitting on the floor next to his bed until he fell asleep, which only took 10 minutes thank goodness. Anyways, I think we'll leave the mattress on the floor until he's used to it and then Jon's parents have offered us their old bunk beds. YAY! I'm super excited about it. I did get a sudden sad feeling though when I realized how old Ryder is getting.

Happy 25th B-day Jon!

This is the most recent picture I have of Jon. It's from our Vegas trip last month. Sorry for the repeat pic. Anyways, Jon is 25 today! Seems old since I met him when he was 21. Only 4 years but hey...seems like forever. Jon and I were just saying the other night that it feels like we've been married so long it's hard to remember life before marriage. I don't know if that's a bad thing or not but I just remember being single sucked so I'm glad that Jon chose me so I didn't have to be an old spinster for the rest of my life. I had myself convinced I might never get married and then Jon showed up :) I told him to think about how it's gonna feel when we have our 10 year anniversary. HA! It's gonna feel like we've been married as long as we've been alive! Anyways, we are going to Serrano's to celebrate Jon's birthday. He wants riding boots but we have to wait for him to get paid so in the mean time I got him a movie and Ryder got him a game. Hope he likes them! We love Jon so much. Thanks for being born dude!!! :)

Halloween 2009

We went to our ward Halloween party this year and it was a BLAST! Ryder wore his cousin Peyton's Pirate costume from last year and he looked SO cute. I'm so lucky to have an older sister who has costumes galore and a little boy that is only 2 years older than Ryder.
Jon gets SO into his costumes every year. He was the grim reaper this year. I did his make-up...yes...he was wearing more than ME!! Such a poser, right?? I don't know why he chose the "hanging on a cross" pose. Weird.
I was a witch. My sister showed me how to make a cute skirt out of tule (spelling??) and it was a lot of work but cute and fun. I guess I was more of a "tu-tu" witch.
Here's our little family. Please ignore the blankets strewn all over the place. Ryder has become obsessed with blankets and has to have at least 3 around him all the time at home. Sorry the pictures are so dark too. Kind of disappointing. Oh well. This whole Halloween was disappointing. We didn't even take Ryder trick-or-treating because he was too sick. I felt kind of bad but kind of not since he doesn't even get it yet. At least I won't have to deal with him eating tons of candy, right??? I hope he's into it and feeling great next year because Jon and I love Halloween.

Catchin' Up with Ryder

My lil' man is becoming more independent. He loves to feed himself with a fork and is getting good at it.
I've always just given him finger food type meals because it's easy so he's probably been capable of eating with a fork for a while and I just didn't know it because I didn't give him the chance.
He also loves to paint with watercolors. He usually ends up painting himself and his high chair...
but he just loves it. I have his first painting hanging on our fridge :)
Ryder always wants to be just like Daddy. He wants to wear his hats, shoes, ties, etc.
He STILL loves to pull all our DVD's out, which can be annoying but it keeps him happy.
OCD much? He has them lined up on the same edge almost perfectly. HAHA!

Mother of the Year Over Here!!

My poor Ry. Sick as a dog. I have to document this ridiculous day so that I can read it later on and laugh. So my poor Ryder Bug has had a cold/cough for 3 weeks and I've been putting off taking him to the Dr. because I know its a huge NO NO to give cold medicine to kids under 4-6 or something so what the heck are they gonna do for him? Jon and I both figured nothing, and that Ryder will just have to let it run it's course. WELL...I finally started running the humidifier this week (I know, I know I should've done it sooner) and last night it got SO cold (and wet) in his room that he woke me up at 5am hysterically crying and just could not stop. So I took him downstairs, turned on the tube, gave him a drink, and he laid on the couch for a while. I was seriously lacking sleep since I have insomnia with pregnancy so I laid on the couch trying to catch some z's here and there. Well he was just miserable. His cough had become worse and more frequent and he seemed to have a LOT more drainage in his throat. I tried putting him down for a nap later on and he laid in bed for an hour and a half coughing and coughing AND COUGHING until I decided enough was enough. I put in a call to his Dr. for medical advice and they called me back saying that I should have brought him in after only one week of coughing and that I had to bring him in within the hour to be treated. That made me feel like CRAP! So I've been letting this go on 2 weeks too long?? He's had a cough before that lasted 2 weeks then magically disappeared so I figured he'd just get over it again. WRONG! He has a sinus infection. We saw the NP who pointed out the dark circles under his eyes that I didn't even NOTICE! I felt terrible. So he was prescribed an antibiotic and cough suppressant/antihistamine and we were on our way. I felt things were looking up and that he was finally going to start getting better. WRONG AGAIN! I went to Wal-Mart to fill the script only to be told that I couldn't pick it up for 3-4 hours. What? I said, "No thanks, I'll go somewhere else." So I drove to Walgreens and pull up to the drive-thru pharmacy. I go to grab my wallet out of my purse and it's not there, or in the diaper bag, or anywhere in the truck. UGH! I left it at Wal-Mart! So I drive back there to get it and they tell me the pharmacy is closed for lunch (stupid) but the pharmacist should still be around eating his lunch. They page him and he doesn't respond. I decide to walk over there myself and see if it's still sitting on the counter and of course...there it is!! He had closed the window and just left my wallet there to get stolen! Has he not heard of lost and found? I was grateful to have it back but still peeved. So I go BACK to Walgreens and they tell me they need 20 minutes. Perfect. I hang out at my parents' while I wait, Jon gets off work and comes over to help with Ryder, then I go back to pick up the meds. I get to the window and they tell me the cough syrup is out of stock. CRAP! So they call another location that has it and send me there. I GO there and they tell me they don't have it either. WHAT?? I said, "Are you sure? Can you please check again? I was JUST at another location and they said they called you and that you had it." Of course, 5 long minutes later they come back and say, "Oops! Someone already pulled it and set it on the counter." I couldn't believe this was happening. It was getting ridiculous. They give me the med directions and when I ask a question about the antibiotic they say, "Um...I'm not sure you'll need to call his Dr." Are you kidding me? Isn't that what they get paid the big bucks for? They're supposed to know this crap! Anyways, to try and make this long story short...it just felt like the forces of nature were working against me today. Thank goodness Ryder was such a good boy while I drove around town like a mad woman. He was running on very little sleep and feeling like crap but he's so easy going. The cough medicine has not done a darn thing yet, but I'm hoping tomorrow will be a better day. I can't wait for him to be over this. 3 weeks of coughing is just...SAD! You live, you learn.

Yep...that's right!!

I am pregnant. Again!! YAY! I've known for about 3 weeks but was trying to keep it a secret until Christmas like Jon and I agreed. Yeah...that didn't happen. So we changed our minds to Thanksgiving so we could spread the news sooner. Yeah...that didn't happen either. We were at Jon's parents' for family dinner and since we were all together I figured it was a good time since I was SO anxious to tell everyone. I'm only 6 weeks so it's definitely too soon to be telling people but I don't care. I feel so much better now that the secret is out. I am due June 14, 2010 which is cool because in my family there is a birthday every month except for June and December. So I filled one slot!! :)

Vegas 2009

Jon surprised me with a trip to Vegas for our 3 year anniversary. It was a long drive but it was SO nice to just be alone together and rekindle our love haha!!
There were SO many people touring the Hoover Dam it took us forever to get through so I snapped some pictures while we waited.
I thought these were some pretty cool statues.
We finally made it to Vegas and this is our hotel from a distance. We stayed at Circus Circus.
Here's the view from our hotel room. It looked so cool at night.
Our room had 2 beds. I was so happy to have my own bed all to myself. Jon knows I need lots of space to sleep.
We did a LOT of walking, walking , walking. Along our journey we saw a couple of these Mimes.
We could not figure out how to get my camera to take good pictures at night, so the next few are kind of crappy and blurry. Oh well.
Some random guy took this picture of us. It's like the worst one. HAHA!
The first night in Vegas we went to see Phantom of the Opera at The Venetian hotel. It was awesome. In the center of the picture is a giant chandelier. It lights up and swings over the audience during the show but we obviously can't take pics during the show. The set was AMAZING!!! Definitely a must see if you ever go to Vegas. The second night we saw Criss Angel Believe: Cirque du Soleil. Not our favorite show. He's definitely a freak and the Cirque du Soleil performance was NOT what I thought it was gonna be at all.
I fell in love with all the buildings and architecture there. Pretty much every hotel was incredible. Here is the Stratosphere. We wanted to go see the top of it but we never did. We definitely needed more time there's so much to see.
This is INSIDE The Venetian. It totally feels like you're outside when you're in there.
There is even water inside there. This was my favorite hotel so I had Jon take my pic.
Yes...there is even a gondola ride inside the hotel. AMAZING?? I think so.
And of course the outside of The Venetian
Here is the Bellagio - my second favorite. There is a huge water show that plays out front all throughout the day and night. It's the coolest thing.
Excalibur. Cool...but not THAT cool.
MGM Grand. Roar!
I LOVED New York New York from the outside. The statue of liberty was so pretty at night.
Last but not least...Paris hotel. Sorry the picture isn't rotated correctly. Isn't it so pretty though? We had THE BEST time of our lives. It felt like we were newlyweds again. We ate SO much good food and got to see so many awesome things and of course Jon gambled a little. I think he learned his lesson though. He won't be doing that again for a LOOOOONG time. We will definitely be going back to Vegas again in a few years...maybe with another couple or two. Thanks Sonia and Jenn for taking good care of Ryder for us. It was nice to not have to worry about him so much. Below is a video of the water show in front of the Bellagio. It's long, but awesome.

Ryder and McKenna

I'm not sure if anyone even remembers this besides Jessica. I posted it May 5, 2008. The post was titled "Coo Coo and Choo Choo - Ryder's first girlfriend."
Well here they are now...still together and going strong. HAHA! McKenna will be 2 in December and Ryder will be 2 in February. They are 2 peas in a pod. I love that they are holding hands.
Jessica and I met up at San Tan mall so we could grab some food and let the kids play. The last time we saw them was when that first picture was taken. It had been FOREVER! We had fun!

3 years!!!

Jon and I have been married for 3 years today. Woo hoo! I feel like I've known him my whole life. We've been through a lot with buying a house, having a baby, me going back to work and quitting again and working for my sister and quitting that to stay home, Jon losing his job, losing our house, moving to a townhome, Jon working/going to school 24/7, being poor...I'm glad that through it all we've stayed together. I love that I can 100% be myself around Jon and he truly is my best friend. He knows me better than I know myself!!! I look forward to many, many more years of marriage.

San Tan splash pad

I've been taking Ryder to the San Tan mall once a week to play at the splash pad. He LOVES it and it's usually not crowded at all, which I like. He is so funny to watch. He likes to stick his head in the water and try to drink it (gross). He also falls EVERY single time, but has never really gotten hurt until this week. He was running (which you're not supposed to do but I can't get him to stop) and slipped, falling straight on his back and smacking his head on the concrete. He was so upset he was kinda shaking. He's my tough lil' guy though. As soon as he heard some music come on he started dancing and forgot all about it. Even though I love the colder weather that's coming I'm kind of sad that our splash pad days are ending.