Phoenix Zoo

Ryder and I went to the zoo last Wednesday with my sisters and their kids. It was FREE if you showed them your Fry's card. Fun times. Ryder started out in his stroller with some chips.
Then he played in the little tree house with his cousins.
This was the biggest turtle I'd ever seen. I HAD to take a picture.
Then Ryder got tired and decided to park his buns on a rock.
Our last stop was the splash pad. Ryder is on the left with his back to me, then Sylvie, then Peyton. Poor Peyton collided with another kid right when we got there. It must've traumatized him because he did NOT want to go back out there. The weather was nice and we had a great time! Ryder loves animals! He definitely didn't get that from me.

Sunny's Sealing/Birthday

I totally stole these from Sara's blog. Only because I didn't bring my camera on this special day. Sunny was sealed to her husband Ryan yesterday, which also happened to be her birthday. Sara and I went together since our husbands had to work and it was soooo nice to get a chance to attend the temple again. It has been too long for us. The ceremony was awesome and made me cry of course. I am so happy for Sunny and Ryan. Congratulations guys!!!

Communication

Ahh communication...something our little family lacks sometimes :) But lately, Ryder is getting better and better at communicating his wants and needs to me and I LOVE IT! I was beginning to grow tired of the guessing game - even though eventually I always figured it out.

Side note: This is just some random picture I took a while back and yes, he has a black eye that he got at In N' Out.

Ryder can do sign language for "eat" and "more" which is all he really needs since all he does is EAT! He likes to go to the fridge, pull out his sippy cup, and grab the bottle of Hershey's chocolate syrup for chocolate milk and he brings it all to me. Sometimes I'll be upstairs and he'll make the trek up there to give me the bottle of Hershey's. It cracks me up. For the first time ever yesterday he pooped and then came over to me, got my attention, and grabbed his diaper to let me know he needed a change. I was so proud! Maybe potty training isn't so far off after all?! One of Ryder's first words was "mama" but then he stopped. For a LONG time. Then randomly a few weeks ago he started calling me "mom" and now all day long to get my attention it's, "MOM!! MOM!!" So funny. I'm just glad he's acknowledging me again. He has become such a copycat too. He'll copy anything you say if you tell him to. A new word he learned this past week is "juice" or "joo." I'm so thankful that he is learning to communicate and be polite (he'll say please and thank you) and tell me what he needs. I take for granted too often that I have a healthy, happy boy that is growing up perfectly!