Christmas Break

okay, So the rest of our time in Colorado was spent prepping for christmas and doing lots of holiday things. It was so fun to have the kids around for it.

We went to the ward christmas party where the kids met santa. it went well as you will see. Ryker is very strong in his stranger danger and it was past bedtime for rylie. all in all not a good combination. we tried. but we might wait a year or 2 before we meet santa again.

my mom had a nativity event that she was kind of in charge of. it was so wonderful. basically a ton of people from the ward and friends and family and anyone who wanted to brought nativities from different cultures and countries and they were set up to look at. in another room there were ones that were child friendly and little kids could pick up and play with. ryker could care less about the child room. he never wanted to go in or stay there at all. then in the chapel there were a ton of pictures of christ. so many beautiful paintings. some are common pictures, some personal paintings, just a little bit of everything. it was very beautiful. it was actually quite touching that this was rykers favorite room. he was always pulling me back to it and wanted to stay there. warms my heart that he loves christ so much already. there were many people that performed songs as background music. my dad alicia and i sang 2 songs as well. family favorites. we didnt know what to do with ryker and rylie so they came up with us and wiggled all through our songs. but were quiet. rylie was really only happy if we were swinging her around like a bell. so she was the entertainment while we were trying to sing something spiritual haha.

other than that we played a lot with grandad and grandma. the kids finally got over their colds. mostly life was pretty good. i got to catch up with my old friend kate. she is doing good and has a son that is 6 months old ish. he is a cutie. we discussed how much life changes after kids and now its weird and so different to hang out with old friends who dont have kids yet. just a very different lifestyle and very different priorities. its interesting to see and i can attest to that. life is crazy different after a baby. let alone the 2 i have.

which brings me to my next tid bit. we found out around thanksgiving that we are expecting baby number 3! we are super excited and a little nervous to be outnumbered by the kids. but its going to be great. i will keep updating on that as well. only 1 baby in there! but baby is so small now that there is not much to report. baby and mom are happy and healthy! lets see if i can keep up with my healthy eating and exercise. i lost 25 lbs over the summer only to gain it back with baby weight. haha. hopefully it will come off easily if i keep up my good habits. this pregnancy has been the best so far out of all 3. i have not been super sick like i usually was. i am a little nauseous especially in the morning, but other than that i am mostly okay. see lifestyle change for the better is a good thing.

on christmas eve we had alicia and brandon watch the kids as the rest of the family went to an escape room. it was so fun! we were locked in a room and a "psycho killer" was after us. we had an hour to escape. it involved a lot of teamwork and using things in weird ways. bones and chains and locks and safes. mom saved us with her mushroom clue. and we got out with 6 min to spare! we only had to ask for 1 clue, but it was more of a reminder of something we had already found so i dont think it counts. haha.

rylie has taken a couple steps on her own when practicing with grandma grandad and i, but hasnt gotten the courage to do it on her own yet. we did celebrate her first birthday in colorado. that will come in another post.

ryker has come such a long way in his language. he talks in phrases now which is a huge plus for us. only when he is really upset and already crying does he forget to use his words to tell us what is wrong.

justin was here in north dakota working while we were partying in colorado. he got a lot done but definitely missed family. we missed him to. we were so excited to get him back for christmas.

dad and rylie cuddling on the couch. rylie loves to twirl her hair when she is sleepy. so adorable

i think this was a ryker special? he focused in on her and everything

cant get enough daddy cuddles. whenever one is cuddling, the other needs to also. what are we going to do with 3 of these?!?!?!

in progress of the busy board we made ryker and rylie for christmas

ryker and grandad playing together

ryker trying to take a selfie with an old camera phone.

in the morning before grandad went to work they would play a little. this is everyone crawling up the stairs. still a favorite of rylies. she is quick, and she knows when you arnt looking to make a break for the stairs. 

playing the piano with aunt licia

we decorated sugar cookies with my friend kate. we gave rylie one and she promptmly undecorated it by eating just the frosting and getting is all over herself. im not even mad. she is just so cute. 

ryker loved santa

rylie loved him more

this is the happiest faces we ever got from these 2 all night. 

ready for church!

love that smile! she sure loves grandma

he looks like such a big boy! he is a big boy! its crazy how much he has grown. 

an old photo i found of my family all napping together. arnt they cute. 

sometimes eating makes you so sleepy

shockingly my uncle mike didnt make ryker scream and cry. i was stunned. but they seem to be having fun together. 

my mom was having ethan try on some sweaters for christmas but didnt want him to see, so she had him try them on backwards and put the hood on. result was a hilarious conversation and some weird fitting, but in the end they were good choices. 

ethan and fallyn were wrestling on the floor. im so glad that as adults we still play as children. 

so happy dad is back!

our little shepard

christmas eve devo. 

with the whole fam

and the beautiful pianist. 

our family of shepards for the nativity reinactment

joseph with some swag

ryker turned into a holiday christmas angel half way through

always a pretty angel

both angel and christmas cupid delvering the message to merry

our gorgeous inkeeper

great wisemen doing wise things ;)

the best joseph and mary we have ever had. 

trying to fulfill prophecy and be with child

please let us in!!!

the new baby jesus!

alicia and brandon as our wisemen

letting baby jesus drink the mur was maybe not so wise. haha. 

great job team. another succesful year

santa busy board gift and stockings waiting for kids in the morning!

deitrick christmas be ourselves before we woke up all the aunts and uncle. 

great book!

thanks aunt tricia and uncle brandon! they love them!

justin getting all nostalgic over the ornament of the year.  

lining up for christmas morning

we went to a nerf battle. it was an hour of nerf war and it was so fun!

my cousin katelynn got married the week after christmas. so happy for her! they are adorable. 

so precious. i love her and hayden together. 

at the ring ceremony

big boy eating breakfast 

she misses her cousin lottie

our christmas card this year

this was back at halloween, but this is our family with all our costumes on. rylie and i as biker chicks and justin and ryker as lumberjack

family at thanksgiving

this is the photo we gave my parents to announce our pregnancy. it was hilarious. thanks rach for taking the photos while we were in utah. beez and carlee were real mad i lied to them. but i like what rachel said. she mentioned that i am free to announce my pregnancy however i want and its not considered lying. im using that. and that is what helps me sleep at night haha. 

rylie dancing to grandma playing christmas songs

rylie walking on her own! it will come so soon!

singing happy birthday to auntie fae!

for some reason he thought it was the funniest thing to rub noses with grandad. it was hilarious to watch. 

Happy late Thanksgiving

so i may or may not be a month or 2 behind, but we went on a big long fun trip, so i have some catching up to do. I will try to keep it simple. 

November wasnt too bad. mostly we were getting ready for our trip to Denver to be with family for the holidays. we decided that it was easier on the kids to only round trip once (13hrs each way) instead of twice within a month. and we definitely didnt want to buy 3 plane tickets around the holidays. its already pricey coming out of North Dakota. so i stayed with the kids in denver from thanksgiving through the new year. it was so fun to play and have their help. Ryker and grandad are now best friends and grandma is the best shopping buddy. he had a blast and is still sad when we wake up in the morning and they are not here. 

we traveled down the day before thanksgiving. it was a crazy trip and traffic was horrid, but at least the weather was good. we made it home around 5 and then let the kids settle down before going to bed early. thanksgiving day was the usual fun. we sat around in the morning helping finish bake and preparing things before heading over to the church and eating around 3. then after dinner was partially digested, we resumed the pie eating contest and all other pies. it was so great. i love my family. we spent time playing and finishing some minimal christmas shopping on black friday. played more on saturday before justins flight. 

the next week carlee became my road trip buddy because i wanted to make a trip out to utah and idaho to see some friends since i was closer now and had the time. i was so very grateful for her help. we drove all day monday and stayed with aunt heidi in salt lake. tuesday carlee saw some of her friends and i visited with rachel and her son luke all day. so great to see them. she is doing great. expecting baby number 2! congrats to her. ryker and rylie were both a little sick with a cold so they were not too happy, but were trying to deal with it. we tried to keep things mellow. we went out to dinner at costa vida with our old college friend Ryan. it was tastey! but poor ryker was just feeling miserable. he didnt want to eat anything and after trying to snack on some oranges he threw up in my lap and we decided it was time to head home. 

wednesday we were going to go up to idaho, but with the kids being sick we decided to have a mellow day in utah. so i spent the day with the kids trying to help them feel better. thursday we drove bright and early to idaho to see jaxson and christine and there little girl qora. she is so precious and small and perfect. we kept the kids a safe distance away, but i loved saying hi. we then saw Livia for a few hours. she is also expecting. this is her first! congrats to her. then in the evening we went out to dinner with crystal and her family before heading home for the night. so good to see everyone! i know it was a short trip, but it was so great. next time justin will come to and say hi. haha. 

i think i will end it there. the rest of our vacation and christmas i will get to next time. 

i wanted to cuddle with justin. apparently while kids are awake thats not okay

rylie still trying to get up on everything

her new high chair!

i made these fun little desserts for a stake activity i had for my calling. Poor woman was gluten and dairy free. but i think this dessert turned out awesome!

smiley rylie!

heling dad fix the hinges

ryker wanted to paint so we used some water. water color right?

new car seat on a cold sunday morning

its hard to tell, but she is licking the stove staring at the cookies baking inside. its histarical

helping dad set up the tree so he has some christmas stuff when he is home alone for 3 and a half weeks

i dont know how much this is helping

but we gotta help just like dad!

loving the movies on our trip!

eventually they both slept

selfie by rylie

cuddling with grandad

playing peek a boo with aunt licia

he wasnt super interested in getting dirty for the pie eating contest. he got a little stage freight 

but more than willing to eat it with a fork not in front of everyone

fae ethan alicia and carlee showing us how its done

success

having so much fun with grandad

updated family photo

while we were getting settled in the downstairs room we found out that after the rainstorm a few years back that flooded everything, this corner of the room had sunken down. not good. it was letting a breeze in and such. so now that we knew the problem was there! justin and dad helped put up a temporary solution will we moved out of their basement and they could fix it haha. 

another ryker selfie

road trip to utah!

ryker liked the camera. also goldfish as shown here

and his shoes?

so carlee didnt have any sunglasses. i let her borrow mine while she was driving because thats important. then i remembered ryker has a pair that he plays with but would totally fit. so i tried to wear them and ryker promptly wanted to play with them. 2 min later i look back and he was alseep with them on. darn kid. 

at friend livs apartment napping because we are so sick and dont sleep well at night. 

rylie didnt nap well either while she was sick. but she did with aunt carlee!

ryker and rylie play ing peek aboo with each other. its adorable

the box rylies carseat came in. like cats they love tho boxes more than the toys. 

quality video by miss rylie

hello from our road trip to denver

video via ryker about our utah road trip i believe.