Santa's coming

I had to take the kids to see Santa because Ryker had to tell him that he wanted a transformer. I don't know how he even knows what a transformer is but he really wants one for Christmas. Gage didn't care to sit on Santa's lap until I told him he would get a candy cane if he did. And of course he didn't smile for the picture. Oh well, maybe next year he'll be a little more excited about Santa.

Happy Birthday Abe

Today my best friend in the world turns 31! Happy Birthday to the best dad and husband in the world. We love you!

Man, he's sexy in his new helmet!


Saturday we went to another trials bike competition where Abe took first place again. And this time he got a little trophy to prove it. Way to go Abe.


I took this picture today because I noticed how pretty my little bushes are getting with the changing season. The kids in it are pretty cute too.

Lake Powell...again

Last weekend we did a quick trip to Lake Powell. We packed a lot of fun into two days. We hiked to the top of hole in the rock(which I've never done before), saw Rainbow Bridge, played in Escalante, cliff jumped, swam, camped.....etc. September is the best time to go to Powell. The weather isn't too hot and the water is still warm. Thanks Mark and Teri for taking us. We had a great time!

Ryker cliff jumping :)


The whole gang at Rainbow Bridge


My cute boys


James and Ivy


Family shot at Rainbow Bridge. We left Gage behind again. Thanks Nat and mom for watching him.


James and Ivy cliff jumping


Abe cliff jumping


Me cliff jumping

Happy Birthday Ryker!

I can't believe Ryker is four years old today. Ryker is seriously the coolest kid ever. Here's a few of the many things I love about him:
-He talks nonstop to anyone who will listen.
-He makes friends everywhere we go.
-He makes me laugh hard every single day.
-He's so sweet! I trained Ryker (and I encourage all of you to do this with your children) to tell me I'm pretty and skinny when he was little and he still tells me those things along with "Your the best mom in the whole world." I haven't told him to tell me these things in a really long time, but he still does and most of the time it's out of the blue.
-He's the best big brother to Gage.
-He's not afraid to try new things.
-He is such a happy and excited person almost always.

We love you so much Ryker!!


One day old


First birthday


Two years old


Three years old


Four years old

Summer Happenings

We have had one busy summer. Here's a few pictures of what we've been up to.

Every year Abe's family does a family reunion with just girls. It's the best idea and this year we had it at Abe's Aunt's house in Las Vegas. Doesn't get any better than a weekend in Vegas with just girls.

Grandma Baker, Ivy, Me, and my mother-in-law Teri.

Boating at Pineview

Mark and Brighton


Abe and Gage


Uncle Brady


Ryker and Brighton

Abe competed in a trial's bike competition and took first place in his division.



My cute little niece, Naomi, was born on August 18th. She is beautiful and has lots of dark hair.

Lake Powell

We went to Lake Powell back in June, but I'm just now getting around to posting a few pictures. We had another amazing trip! This year we cordinated with my uncle to go at the same time. So we had two houseboats, 28 people on ours, and 22 people on my uncles. There were 24 kids in all. Warning pictue overload.

This is Abe's second attempt at jumping his $8 D.I. bike into the lake. He landed on his face on his first attempt and hurt his ear and bruised his entire right thigh, but yet still had to do it again to get the landing right. I know, crazy! And yes, that's a life jacket on the handle bars.


Here's our whole gang.


Family shot. We didn't bring Gage this year, and I was so glad we didn't, although, I did miss him a lot towards the end of the trip. It was so nice to be able to do whatever I wanted and not have to worry about him.


Gosh, could this kid get any cuter!


The three daredevils. Ryker, Allie, and Collin. Ryker loved tubing!


Ryker skiied a few times, and did really well.


Ryker and some of his cousins.


My brothers trying to make sure the houseboat doesn't blow away during one of Lake Powell's awesome storms.


Ryker helping pump the sewage. Gross!!


Ryker and Abe. This was one of the few times I caught Abe holding still. I swear he just goes all day. I don't know where he gets his energy.


We brought visqueen to make waterslides. The kids loved it.


Abe doing his zipline that he spent hours setting up. This was the first year we tried to do a zipline. Next year will be better.


Our sweet set up. There were these cool pothole things that were like mini sandboxes for the kids to play in, and the rest was slickrock. Perfect!

Camping

The past two weekends we have been camping. We camped at Bloomington Lake two weeks ago with Abe's family, and last weekend we camped at Washington Lake in the Unitah's with my family. Both trips were lots of fun.



Gage and his cousin Hazel


Canoeing on Bloomington Lake




Provo Falls




Ryker and Brooklyn in front of Washington Lake


Gage and Uncle Todd. So sweet!

Mom of the Year

Isn't that what you feel like when your child looks like this.

The reason Gage's eye looks like this is because he got a mosquito bite close to his eye. This also happened a couple weeks ago so I called the doctor and he wanted me to bring him in. Apparently he's allergic to mosquito bites. While I was there he was nice enough to do his eighteen month check up.
Here's his stats:
Weight 25 lbs (40%)
Height 33 1/5 inches (85%)

4th of July

We had an excellent 4th of July. This is one of my favorite holidays. I started the day running my very first 5K. I don't like running, but I'm still glad I did it. I seriously don't know how people can run marathons. I'll stick to the 5K's. Then we went to the Kaysville parade and carnival. After naps we had a BBQ at my parents house and then went to the fireworks. My brother brought his fire pit so we could make smores (which where soooo yummy), but a fireman came and told us we had to let it burn out. Who knew you couldn't have a fire on the soccer field :)

I loved watching my kids and nieces and nephews at the parade. Last year Gage was just a baby and Ryker was off-roading with Abe, so this was the first time they really enjoyed a parade. I thought it was so neat to watch all the kids put their hands over their hearts when the flag went by.


Ryker and his cousin, Collin, in the helicopter.



Wow, a descent family picture. That doesn't happen very often.

We had a great time in Powell a couple weeks ago. I'm just waiting to get all my sibling's pictures and then I'll post.