Thanksgiving Shenannigins

well here we are again. 

I never remember where I leave off so sorry if i repeat myself. but i just spent the last month at home in colorado. it was super fun! i loved it. loved spending time with the family and having everyone dote all over my little boy. it was great. He got used to having lots of people around and loved all the attention. i got some great naps in and got to make lots of yummy desserts that i could never make at home because my dear husband doesnt like nuts or coconut. this does however mean i need to reaffirm my diet and workout plan. maybe after the new year. lets be real. im gonna eat a lot of sweets between now and christmas. im thinking of making a batch of devil food cake mix cookies. its probable going to happen. i am not ashamed!

justin is doing great at work and school. its always a rude awakening to come back to the real world from vacation. but this week and next for school and then finals! so the end is coming. we still have another semester but he is doing great! I appreciate all he does. 

also we figured out that justin doesnt have to take another religion class thank goodness. thats good news. the end is in sight! we are still job hunting. but looking forward to the holidays! 

side note, Ryker cut his first tooth! yay!!! this explains why his afternoons have been so cranky. its a sharp little tooth. i hope we get a little relief before the next one comes. i would post a picture but im having trouble figuring out how to load it from my ipad. im still learning!

grandma hanging with ryker

playing with uncle ethan!

awesome new walker. Thanks grandma reed!

yummy squash!

michillen baby. seriously. look at those rolls!

i love his tigger outfit. it makes me so happy!

this face is perfect. i laugh so hard everytime

6 months and counting

its official! we have made it 6 months and baby Ryker still survives. I think that is cause for celebration dont you? i mean im pretty proud of myself. good thing he is so darn cute.

really, he is such a good baby. he is a great sleeper and only gets up once or twice a night. he eats great. we have started feeding him squash and pears and peas. he might be the only one in the family who likes squash right now... but thats besides the point. he is doing great and loving eating when we are. he doesnt feel quite so left out.

Justin is doing good. still busy with work and school. you know the same old same old... but that will change soon! well by soon i mean a few months from now. he is on the second half of this semester and then only one more to go before he graduates!!! so exciting. we are both excited to be done with idaho, but im sure he is even more thrilled to be done with school. we are still in search of a job to go to after graduation, but that will come as well. all we can do is keep applying places and pray for answers.

On my end things have been  a little more exciting. I decided it would be fun to go home for a little while and surprise my mom. Ryker and I drove home with my sister and waited for my mom to get home. when she saw us she screamed my name! and promptly picked up Ryker. i see where the love goes  ;)  i know she loves me too and i did get a side hug. that counts. i know im wanted for my baby now. but im okay with that. i dont like being the center of attention anyways.

so we got here last wed. and will be here in Btown till thanksgiving. Justin will come down once he is done with classes and he will be our ride back to idaho. It is going to be super fun spending this much time with family. but i do admit i miss my husband. both at church and here at home i see my parents and other couples cuddling in the evening. relaxing after a long day. darn i miss doing that. i want to cuddle. at 6 months ryker is more squirmy than cuddly. i love him for that. but i need a man right now. i need my man right now. i get a little sad sometimes, but we were able to skype with Justin yesterday and that helped a lot. im grateful for technologies that help me keep in contact so it doesnt feel like i am so far away.

Ryker has bee doing okay with the change. its a new place and a lot of new people so he is taking a while to get used to that. sometimes gets overstimulated. he isnt sleeping as well as normal. he now gets up 3 times a night ish and will be up for the day at like 6:30 7 am. im not as much of a fan of that... i wish he would sleep more. im tired. maybe today i will enlist grandmas help so i can get a nap. i have tried to keep him to his schedule and that has helped a lot. he is still doing great and having lots of fun. thats the important part right?

Grandma got him a little walker off of craigslist. its super cute. has a steering wheel and a car and other fun things to keep him busy. its new but he does like to play in it for a little while. it will help strengthen his legs! i love the chub on those legs... i dont want to see it go.

at his 6 month appointment he is doing great! it was hard to get a weight because he kept kicking the scale and turning it off. but he is about 18 lbs. 26 and 3/4 inches long. in the 66% for weight and 63% in heighth? i think... if i can remember right. overall doing great! he is a healthy healthy boy. just the way we like it. im glad he is so solid. he is so much fun to play with. grandma is just on cloud 9 while he is here.

sorry no pics this time. i need to figure out how to get them on here while in a different state. haha.

October is a great time of year

Hello hello again jiggity jig. 

so this whole once a month thing is becoming a pattern. i think i will stick with it. not a lot has changed since last time. i still am home with ryker. he still isnt crawling yet, but he is playing and giggling and rolling over a lot. he really does love to watch me make dinner. thats kind of fun. 

Justin is still doing great at work and in school. he did have the opportunity to have a phone interview with Polaris. it is exactly what he was looking for and something we would stay with for a long time. even though it is in MN and we would be far from family it was still a great experience. Unfortunately we did not get an onsite interview.  that was depressing. we really were excited. But that means we are meant to be somewhere else! We dont know where yet, but it was good to learn from and we will continue to look. 

for conference we went to Utah. it was so nice to see family. we stayed with Tricia Justins sister. we spent saturday with my side. got to see carlee, clay, taryn, my aunt heidi and uncle carl, we also went to provo and were able to see my cousin Nick and his wife rachelle. They got married at the end of april so i was very pregnant and not able to make it to their wedding. it was great to see them. we also saw my cousins josh and mckay. we spent the night playing games at aunt heidis before heading back to tricias and then spent sunday with tricia. 

I am still learning how to be a mom. you would think that i would be protective of my baby. and i am. but when around family i feel bad because they hardly get to see ryker that i want to let them play with him even though i know better and he really needs to be sleeping. i didnt stand up for him enough saturday. he didnt take a nap all day and so by the evening he was so cranky that he wouldnt fall asleep. it was bad. i felt really bad. and definitely felt like a terrible mother... but i will learn! so come next family gathering sont hate me! but i will take him away from family so he can get a good nap and be happy for the whole day. its more important and my family will forgive me later. thats my story and im sticking to it. justin will help me be strong and do what i need to. 

really that is all i have to report. Ryker is loving his oatmeal in the morning and at night. he gets super messy and hates it when i have to wipe his face, but will open wide and gobble it up. most nights... 

working on the truck with dad!

messy at oatmeal time. 

the rockin cake i made for jaxsons birthday. 

i wake up to this smiling face everyday. i love it!

mohawk at bath time! i think i have more fun than he does. 

Thanks Grandma Reed for the sleeper! 

Happy School Year!

so i think that everyone will just have to get used to me only posting once every few months. haha. in my defense, not much goes on in our lives yet.

so Justin started school this week! its going to be a great semester. it started out a little worrisome because he was going to take 2 hard classes and an elective that was 3 credits even though he only needed 1. yuck. i know its only 3 classes, but when they are all upper level and you have supersenioritis its still no fun. but! all that has been fixed. he was able to switch one class for another that he is definitely more exciting and not nearly as hard. the class he was supposed to take is only offered fall semester which is his off track. rude. why does school only offer classes one semester, but then insist on the track system. not much sense in that. and then we found a way to only take a 1 credit elective helping friends with a different class project that goes on past last semester. anyways. long story longer, justin is taking the classes that he will enjoy and will be able to focus and do great. im happy, he is happy. everyone is great.

my days tend to blurr together. its pretty much the same. i get up with Ryker around when Justin is getting ready to leave for work or school. then Ryker is up for an hour or 2 before he takes a morning nap. and the day goes as such. up for 2 or 3 or sometimes 4 hours then takes a nap. We have started feeding him oatmeal. we spent 3 weeks feeding him rice cereal and he really hated it. i mean he didnt throw it up and he was never constipated, but he really hated the taste. but he sleeps so much better! like 6-8 hours straight. it makes me super happy. so we help him eat and he fights it every night. but then i tried to feed him oatmeal. so much better! he will actually eat it and not fight me so much. so far he doesnt sleep nearly as well but at least he is eating better. some improvement and some backstepping.

Ryker for the most part is doing great! he has learned to roll onto his tummy from his back. he is really good at it. now we can hardley keep him on his back.he wants to move so bad! he gets a little upset when he is on his tummy he tries so hard to go places. the most he can do is spin himself in circles. he now rolls over and sleeps on his tummy. everything is on his tummy. haha. but we do have to be careful .if we put him down right after he eats and he rolls over he tends to throw up a lot. so we are still fine tuning it.

he is still adorable and as chunky as ever! he is now 26 inches long and 16.3 lbs. so big! but i love him to death and i dont want it any other way. :)

so my life revolves around keeping my little man happy. we go on many trips to the library to rent books and movies. we have watched all 4 seasons of lois and clark the new adventures of superman. we read books together. we work out together. he makes for a great weight lift. ;) and then of course we both try to make Justin happy when he is home. he gets some play time with Ryker, I get a break haha quick before bed time. We still love having him and he makes life so much more fun.

and now for the best part of every post. pictures!

i know its blurry, but comparing rykers hands to dads. 

sometimes when he rolls over he grabs the blanket to take with him. rolls himself into a burrito

my little chipotle!

naked at the dr!

funny faces with dad

we found our toes!

Summer Full of Family

hello again,

so its going to be a while between posts. just get used to it. I have been reading friends of mine who update theirs much more than me. and it reminds me that i need to post more, but then i never do. in my defense, having a little baby to take care of that demands a lot of attention makes it difficult.

speaking of the little one, he is so darn cute! growing so much. he is so smiley now, and loved to talk to people. especially in the morning. that is ehen he is the most happy. good night sleep, full tummy, clean diaper. everything is right for a few hours. we were on a really awesome schedule for a while. we would put him down between 9 and 10 at night. he would wake up at 2 and then again at 5. i can handle that. i have come to expect it at those times. but then we went on vacation and everything went wonky! i'll explain more later. but he is doing good! he has recently learned to roll from him tummy to his back. but only on his right side. baby steps... but at 3 months old? i think thats pretty good. while in Canada we got him to scoot quite a bit, but only if dad had his hand there as something to push against. i guess we are not quite there yet. but soon! Ryker is holding his head up really well. only when he is tired he looks like a loose bobble head. still not perfect, but he is doing so good. we weighed him here at home a few weeks ago. 13.6 lbs! chunky monkey! but in the best way possible. i can only imagine he has gotten even more so. with all the sweets i have been eating the last 2 weeks, he is a lost cause haha. but i love it! and everyone loves him.

2 weeks ago we had Justins family come into town for our neice Kimber's babtism. it was so great. she looked beautiful and it was a great experience for all. so glad she made that choice. made me tear up a little too. man im such a mom now! we had a little Deitrick motel in our apartment for a night or 2. Justins parents stayed and then the next night so did his sister Tricia and her husband Brandon. 6 people plus baby in a 2 bedroom apartment. it was a little tight. but still fun. we spent friday and saturday with the family and then sunday morning bright and early we caravanned with Justins parents to Canada! Ryker did great. up until the last 2 hours. those were a little rough. but otherwise traveled well.

so! family reunion number 1, we went to Canada for the Broadhead reunion. it was so fun. crossing the border always scares me. im afraid they will say that my passport is not valid and i cant go and they will leave me at there and go one without me. Ryker was crying half hour to the border, then once we got there he was quiet. with a little help from mom as i leaned back to give him his pacifier that he kept spitting out. then screamed all the way till we got to Aunt Nardines house. that was rough. but we all survived. we had a relaxed few days, monday we went to waterton. so pretty! spent some time walking through the village and got some super yummy ice cream and fudge. loved it. we saw some pretty sights and walked a little in red rock canyon. it was so fun. ryker spent most of the time sleeping in the sling i had. but he was happy and warm so thats all that mattered.

tuesday we relaxed around the house. Justin and I took a quad and rode around the fields behind his grandparents house. it reminded me so much of my own grandparents. i loved it. only a few times i was nervous that he was getting too comfortable with those steep hills. But Canada is so pretty and I loved waking up to the lush rolling green hills. a nice cooling rain shower in the afternoon. i could retire there. i would be okay with that. haha. later that day we went quading with Aunt Gloria and Uncle Bart. that was much more intense with mud puddles and barreling through the water. justin kept telling me i was a crazy driver! not as much as his aunt Gloria though! it was fun. i dont have any pictures of that. we were a little busy and definitely a lot wet haha.

wed and thurs were the reunion festivities. we had a relative do a magic show. then we did kind of a carnival type games around the place we were staying. it was so loud, but ryker slept right through most of it. i was really surprised haha. but we all had fun playing games eating great food. ryker and i were introduced to so much family. i am getting better at remembering my mother in-law's immediate family. but i couldnt tell you much past that. but its a start! Thursday was more relaxed. lots of family time and a genealogy presentation.

come friday we just wanted a day to relax. i dont actually remember all we did. sorry. Saturday was the big trip home. we mad eit through the border. and again ryker did great! up until the last 2 hours. it was rough, but it would only get worse if we stopped to take him out. but once we got home he was much better.

 but it doesnt end there! Sunday we left for bear lake to attend my reunion. my family had rented this huge lodge for all of us to stay in. it was huge! and so fun to have everyone so close. everyone loved ryker and wanted to meet and hold him. i knew i wasnt going to see him much until he was hungry haha. for some reason people didnt want to watch him all night either. ;) darn it.  well sunday was everyone settling in. Mon we went to the minnetonka caves and toured that. it was pretty cool. ryker was in the sling again. he slept through the whole thing. hiking up and down the wet stairs was both tiring and hard with a baby strapped to my chest. it was like i was pregnant all over again. haha. we got home and went swimming in the pool that was with the lodge. ryker didnt like it very much. granted he was a little upset before anyway. but he did love the hot tub! no worries. it wasnt too hot, and he only went in up to his diaper.

tuesday was Justin and mines 2 year anniversary! yay! it has been a great 2 years. i wouldnt trade them for anything. the family had rented a boat and we went and played on the beach of the lake for the day. we took a seadoo out and had a blast! it was a fun day. later that night the 2 of us went out for shakes. so delicious. I can see why they say they are famous for them.

wed the family didnt have anything planned so justin and i went on our anniversary date. we went to and ice cave near by. it was fun. not as big as the ones in rexburg, but it was still enjoyable. then went out for pizza. short and sweet but so great. later that night most of the extended family went to the play 7 brides for 7 brothers. i love the movie, and the play was so great. funny and they did very well. makes me miss my theater days.

thursday morning we packed up and headed out! it was sucha great trip and i loved spending time with family. Justin was going to work half a day. neither of us wanted to get back to real life yet.

but it ryker and i are definitely ready to get back to a schedule. once things settle down we are going to try and put him in his own room in the crib! i hope it goes well. i will keep you updated! the so many... or so few that read this blog. haha.

and now for the best part. pictures! they are in no particular order. sorry. 


Ryker Rolling over! i dont know why its so fast...

Playing with Uncle Jared

Getting some fresh air at the park

Can almost reach the handle bars!

so happy first thing in the morning

All the Deitrick cousins!

So sleepy after a long day in waterton

representing heritage. Canada Eh? 

I promise he could breath and it was only for maybe 5 seconds. 

Queen and Prince of the Castle

King/Builder of awesome sand castle

Another beautiful smile

Partying in our jammies!

glowing red in the ice caves

loving laying out on a lunch break on our canada drive

i found a hat to match! touring the village in Waterton

trying to be like dad

falls in waterton

ice caves

first cave we went to

grandpa quadding. we didnt get any pics of us. 

loving the carseat

grandma and grandpa Deitrick at the falls

Cousin Walter lookin fine

Red Rock canyon in waterton

lunch break on the trip to canada

maple leaf face paint!

delicious chicken and potato dutch oven dinner

we made it to the ice cave!

great grandma and grandpa broadhead

glowing without the flash

prince of wales hotel

\ice caves for our anniversary. its dark. you can only expect a bad picture...