Hello Santa!

Yesterday we bundled up in warm clothes to brave the winter snow storm we have been having. All for the new adventure of...meeting Santa! I think I was more excited than anyone else about this. We drove over to the Cedal Hills Mall and met up with Kelsey and Jayden there...then in we went!
Luckily we got there early so the line hadn't had a chance to grow too long. Even standing in line was fun. All the moms were chatting and all the kids were staring. Rylend was smiling at everyone and completely enjoying all the attention and "aw how cute!" comments coming his way. Then our chance came.
We went up to Santa and Daddy held Rylend in his lap to meet him. Rylend just stared like "whats up with all the red?" until Santa pulled out a teddy bear and started playing. Rylend loved it and started to giggle and smile.


So onto Santa's lap he went!
I was actually nervous to see how he would react. Like most of you know, the first Santa visit usually seems to consist of pure terror and crying...
But here my kid is, cuddled onto Santa's lap, smiling for everyone! There was alittle knob on the chair that he was FASCINATED with, so we had to keep diverting his attention back to us...but other than that he was happy and content with the whole experience. When we picked him back up, he wouldnt stop staring at Santa, like "Hey wait..I forgot to tell you what I want!" Shane did call it though...we got one pic where he is staring RIGHT at the big white beard like "WHAT is that??" Ha!

hear about those calendars?

Ok, I need to do a Jenni rant.


Have any of you heard about those calendars made by the mormon guy? You know...he made a calendar taking pics of hot young men who just returned from their missions and BOOM...huge controversy! He got excommunicated and the calendars are all over the news. NOW he does it again...except with hot mormon moms. And once again, it hits like wildfire across the news. "Will these moms be kicked out of their church" blah blah

SIGH

When interviewed, one of the moms was asked how she felt about the possibility of being excommunicated. her reply was along the lines of "well if it happens it happens. " with a shrug and a smile

Ok, honestly!

ONE: Why is this even on the news?? Woo...so some guy decides to make calendars with concenting adults that know what they are doing...and he gets excommunicated for his choice. NOT the first time this has happened. I have this feeling that he KNEW it would happen, and that if he contacted just the right people he could get the unneeded and rude attention for the church that he wanted. i mean come on, the news wouldn't have known about the "scandal" of these calendars unless someone had told him...and it just feels too simple. When you see him smiling and being all cool, you know this hasnt hurt him...ge is getting better business than ever!

TWO: In my oppinion, these models also do not care. Obviously shown by the woman who just smiled and shrugged away the possibility that she could be kicked out...and the coolness of the calendar maker... How can they rant and rave about how they might be excommunicated while at the same time they claim they dont really care? They dont realyl believe, thats is clear. If you have a testimony and faith in something, ANYTHING, you dont do something you know is wrong and shrug it off like nothing as happened. They know the teachings of the church...

THREE: There are many LDS models and actors out in the world. There have been for a long time and there will be for a long time to come. They dont flaunt it. And they do their job. Yes, modeling means you cant always wear "modest" clothes. And acting means you cant always be "molly" or "peter" (sorry...mormon slang...er..."very mormon") But they still live their LIVES in their belief. No one is perfect and no one can ever EXPECT perfection. So I say la de da to the fact these returned elders and mothers have decided to do this. I know that I have no where near the ammount of self esteem you ever need to model at all...
The fact that bugs me is that they made their choice to do this...then had to rub it in everyone's face. "ooo I modeled for a calendar...I dare you to kick me out."

Im sorry people, but you dont dare God.
He will always take you up on it...and not in the way you thought.

Though I dont flaunt it much...I DO believe in this church. I am so happy I was able to get married in the temple and that I know what I do. That the Prophet is on this earth today and that we have the priesthood. I have seen it in action and know how true it is. Faith is a hard thing to have, especially today. Times are way hard and temptation is rampant. People dont LIKE it if you believe and they swerve away from truth like it were a disease. I am no missionary, no saint. I am not perfect and I hate preaching and driving people nuts. But I do firmly believe this faith.

And the fact that it is getting attacked more and more...and people will so willingly throw it away with a shrug...and that people LIKE attcking it more than ever...

ever hear of signs of times?
i think we are getting there people.

8 months old!

It has been a long time since I last posted. What with chasing after this little boy and trying to keep my home in order, I just havent thought much about this blog. But for you all to know, we are doing great. Money is tight...very tight. But we are happy and still have enough in our bank for bills.

Rylend...
Wow this kid is amazing. I know you read about my saying that all the time, but it is true. I cant believe my little man is 8 months old now! He is an EXPERT at crawling. I love it when he gets excited and speed crawls to us...so cute! He has also taken to standing up against EVERYTHING. Even if it is too tall or short...he finds a way to use it to stand. He hasnt really tried to walk along things much. When he does, he gets stuck and falls over...which is cute too. When we try to help him walk, he always ends up and dropping to his knees like "hey, crawling is easier!"


A couple weeks ago two more teeth came in. Now he has his top two and bottom two...like a little turtle! There is a gap between his two top teeth and his smile is even CUTER now...if that is possible! Along with that, his vocabulary now consists of " mama" "dada" "hi" "baba" and "nana"
Shane and Rylend have a cute little game they play now too. Shane will shake his head back and forth, yelling. Then he stops, looks at Rylend...and Rylend does it back...then looks at Daddy. Now its gotten to the point that RYLEND starts the game with almost anyone..play with me!
We just had to pack away his beloved walker. It has risen as tall as it will go...and he is too tall for it. He isnt happy...but it was making it so he was walking funny and wasnt helping anymore. Sigh...


Along with all of this, Rylend laughs even more now, pays SO much attention to everything I am just waiting for him to say something like "mom, no...THIS is how you do it!" and almost everyone who sees him falls inlove. I can see why. God must have really loved us to send us this child. He is so smart and funny...though I do hate waking up at 7 am every day...dealing with his whines and woes because thats the only way he can communicate...not being able to just go somewhere...I would NEVER trade it in EVER for anything else.

Christmas is in just a few weeks. I cant wait to see him open his presents and experience the holiday. We will only be able to buy him one gift it looks like...but that doesnt matter. Even watching him open that one gift will be amazing.

Momma's boy

So, like I have said before, Rylend says Mama. He will say Dada when he sometimes feels like it too. Lately though, it seems to all be about mama. Whenever he is tired, unhappy, hungry...etc...he cries for mama until I get him. No one else....Each kid seems to go through stages like this, and mine is entering the mommy only one. I love it because he wants me and just being in my arms makes him calm down and cuddle now. But at the same time...it gets frustrating. I havent just had a real ounce of ME time in some time now. I need a small break...but hate leaving my little boy. He is just too precious.

Here is a video we got of him last night. Shane was getting him in his pjs for bed, and Rylend wasnt happy that DADDY was doing it. Right before we started recording, he had yelled out "MA MA!" loud and clear...it was very cute. I recorded a bit just for the memory...then we cuddled together for some time before he went down for bed. My little boy....

Round round round round...he gets around!

In the last few days, Rylend has discovered he can crawl further than just he living room. Now I set him on the ground to play, and when I check again, he is gone. He has discovered the bathroom...dining room...his room...our bedroom. Today it got really quiet and I went to find him. He was all the way in our room, IN the closet, playing with some hangers that had fallen down. Little sneak!

He has gotten so good at crawling too! Now the only time he falls down is when he sees something he wants and lunges for it! And let me tell you...when he sees something he wants...he WILL lunge for it! This kid is amazing. We all said he would be crawling by Halloween and look...still has a few weeks to go!

Here is a small video I got of him. Hope you like!

6 months and 1 week old!

Wow! I can never seem to get on here as often as I want to. Even now this cant be a huge update post, but I want to let everyone know that things are going GREAT! Rylend is so big now! For Christmas Grandma Mason got him a pair of pajamas...and after seeing him, she realized they definitely will be too SMALL by then! They are 12 month!! So she gave them to us early. I am actually really happy she did. It has been getting pretty cold here, and the pjs she got Rylend are so warm! Life saver, let me tell you. Sometimes when he sleeps he kicks all his blankie off...then wakes u at about 4 am screaming because he is cold....and the only way to calm him is to give him is bottle about....2 hours early lol.



Let me tell you, Rylend seems to have set a goal to progress faster than his age in almsot every way possible. Starting to fit into 12 month clothing. Two CUTE little teeth (when he smiles, he flashes them at you. I love it!) Saying Ma and Da...when he feels like it. When you ASK him to talk, he laughs at you. He mostly seems to chatter when he is waking up in the morning. AND...yup you guessed it...he is crawling! He is actually getting pretty good at it too. He still loses his balance and "belly outs" sometimes...but let me tell you..this kid is MOBILE! All day I am pulling him away from the computers, the DVD player, the DVD shelf...Yesterday I finally had enough. I took all wires on the computers and put them in a box (haha foiled little boy!) then I vacuumed like mad, got and Craigslist...and found a TV stand that has DOORS. YES! I totally love it too. That has lessened my need to chase a SMALL bit...but dont get me wrong. I love that he is mobile. So strong!



Also Rylend has been introduced to the sippy cup! Oh man. My friend Kelsey and I put him in the stoller and walked over to Albertsons. While we were there I decided to get a cup for him. Well, I picked it out, then handed it to him to play with while we finished out shopping. Ha! When I looked down, he was holding it up, with the lid over thats over the mouthpiece in his mouth! He knew EXACTLY what to do! When we got home, I put some very watered down apple juice in it...gave it to him...and he went to TOWN on it! Its his favorite thing now. Whenever he is playing, he MUST have his cup near him. Its so cute!


As for Shane and I...Shane got his promotion at work, with new hours too. Its nice because he should be home around 1 or 2 every day...but sucky because he has to leave at about 4 am AND doesnt have tons of overtime like he did before. But it should give him some sort of raise too...so yeah. And for me...I have been getting more into photography. I have taken Kelsey's pregnancy pics, couple pics of Zach and Kelsey, Katie's (Zach's little sis) senior pics.....and I wanna take some for my sister in law Sammy...I just need to find out if she still does. So yeah, I am happy. I love doing photography. And occasionally working on my book...occasionally. Its hard when everytime I sit down to write and little baby behind me starts to throw a fit...sigh. Motherhood! We all love it, regardless!

Words!

So, I am laying in bed with Rylend like we do every morning. Its so great to take that time each day and just cuddle. Well, he is playing with my hair as always and all of a sudden starts:

"Ma ma ma ma ma ma. Ma. Ma. Ma ma..."

It was so cute! I responded with a "ma ma" and he looked at me all wide eyed like "wow you can say that too!" then he started on it again. "mama. ma. ma. mama mama. ma ma ma ma..."

Now when I come into the room and look at him, he gets all excited and starts saying it. Sometimes its just his lips moving with no noise, but then the word comes out and he says it a bit...then moves back to going after one of his toys or rolling or trying to crawl (SO close! Just has to figure out how to move his arms without bellying out)

My little boy is getting bigger and bigger! Its so fun to watch!

Oh, and here are two pics of him when he tried bananas the other day. We had just gotten back from the beach so he was super tired...hence the cranky and blank looks. But you can see his little teeth in one! Yay!



(And had to put this up...I love it! (from when we went to the beach))

My poor boy!!!

So, as I said already, last friday Rylend started getting his first tooth. WELL! Yesterday as we are on our way home form the islands (will post blog about that visit later with pics) I let him bite my finger and....ANOTHER toother! YUP! BOTH of his front lower teeth are coming in. The tips have both cut their way through and now are just coming up slowly. Poor boy...teething tablets help but still, he isnt all that happy right now.

Its cute when he smiles big though. You can see the tips.

My boy...he is getting big!!

5 months have flown by!

I have so many videos and pictures I still need to post on here. but for now, I am just going to write. I can hardly believe it that Rylend is already 5 months old. (to be exact...5 months and 9 days!) He is growing so fast and learning so much! He loves to be in his walker, exploring everything he can get into. When we put him down on the floor to play with his toys, he rolls everywhere. Then he will get up on his hands and knees, no problem, and look around. He tries so hard to crawl and almost has it! He is such a determined little boy, wanting to get on to the next stge before he has finished the one he is already on. If you hold his hands and help him stand, he will take his little baby steps, walking wherever he feels like at the moment.

And his talking! No, no words yet. But even without real words thi kid communicates like nothing else. His little coos, squeals, grunts, grumbles, squeaks...it is so easy to have a conversation with him.

He has moved on in food too! Yup! So far Rylend has explored both carrots and peas. I have videos of that I will post when I have more time. He seems to like anything he can eat. He made a few faces when we gave him the peas, I think just because he had just gotten used to the carrots. But after that..he ate his whole bowl of them. And I have also moved him to formula. I started to dry up naturally and it was getting harder to feed him. He has taken to the formula happily and still gets his cuddle time with mommy. When he sees a bottle, even across the room, he wants it! And in his walker, he will walk to his high chair then start ramming it and reaching for it. He knows food...

Rylend is so amazing. How he "reads" his books. He blows raspberries too! So cute! How he leans to the person he wants and gets SO excited when he finds out they want him too. How he talks to his toys, grabs his feet, watched everything SO closely then starts to laugh for no reason. Life is so amazing with him around!

And today! I am feeding him in the morning then he goes to bite my finger like usual as we cuddle. And guess what I feel! YUP! The tips of a little tooth. His lower left front tooth to be exact. The sharp little tip is barely sticking out of his gums, but if you can con him into letting you look, you can see it! So amazing! It makes me kind of sad, knowing that he is entering another stage in his life. Teeth! He is fussier than usual and I feel bad that I cant make it better for him. But I know Rylend is such a tough little kid, he will get through it and find out how exciting this new object is!

I look back and cant imagine my life without everything I have now. Money is tough. Living isnt always easy. Family cant all be close and friends grow apart. But when I wake up next to my loving husband, when I hold my perfect son...those things make all the cons of life seem so minimal. Sure, we have our tough days. Rylend can sure get on my last nerve. And irritation is easy with someone you live with. But I love them both more than life and am SO HAPPY that I am sealed to them for eternity. Moments like this, when I turn around and see my son smiling up at me...they are what makes life worth it all.

bath time and FEET!

Rylend has decided that he LOVES his bathtime!! He will sit in his tub and talk to the bubbles....leaning forward to them and smiling. We now have a rubber ducky for him and he of course bites it...then gets distracted by the bubbles and lunges for them. Its wayyy better than when he used to cry every bath...now its a fun game. So playful!


Just about a week ago Rylend really discovered his feet. The pictures below are after a bath. I laid him down to go get his pjs and when I got back...he was so immersed in playing with his feet I just HAD to take pictures!! Now...they are one of the ONLY things he seems to want. When I feed him he ALWAYS has to have at least one of his feet in hand. I have always loved it when babies play with their feet, so I am TOTALLY loving this!

oh yeah...I am now 22!

Oops..ok...on August 31 I turned 22. Yay! Well, it was a nice birthday. We went to church...then had dinner with Shane's family at CHANGS MONGOLIAN GRILL!!! Other than Sushi Town, Chang's is my other FAVORITE restaurant. It is soooo good. Its one of those places that you dish up your food, then they cook it right in front of you. Mmmmm so good with plum sauce. If I had the money, we would eat there at least once a week.
Its kind of sad, thinking about birthdays. Remember the times when you were young and you could literally FEEL the day coming the whole month before? Like, the air seemed to glitter and everything seemed so much more brighter and exciting as you felt the day come closer. Then when it finally hit, you would wake up so excited. It was your birthday! No chores for the day, a party, cake, presents, friends...it is so hard to describe the feeling of those days. Now...its the same old day. No butterfly anticipations. No glittering light or huge birthday bash. We still did the cake, but the presents were gone. The party was just family. The day was just another day with taking care of my family, going to church...I woke up and just went "oh, its my birthday" then shrugged. Dotn get me wrong. I still had a great day. We all had fun together and all...I just miss the carefree its my day the world is amazing birthdays of childhood. Ah...being an adult...

(Here we are on my birthday, just before we left for church.)

play time!

Rylend has discovered the joy of...books! I was sorting through some of my books and he just HAD to have one of HIS books to "read" too. This is a cute one...each page has a little mirror on it so he can see himself...and he LOVES it! He also loves Brown Bear Brown Bear and basically any other book you will read to him. He gets so excited and sits there with his mouth gaping open. Then he will look first at the left page, then the right page, then wait for you to turn it! Like he is really reading hehe. He is such a smart little boy. Maybe he will be a book worm like his mommy...and a gamer like his daddy....



It has also become a game for me to "chase" him out of the kitchen. When he is playing in his beloved walker, he will walk it into the kitchen then go reallllly quiet, watching for me. I will look around the corner and say something like " hey you shouldnt be in there!" and he will smile all big. Then I will push him out...and a bit later...the game is back on. He almost lives in that walker now. such strong little legs!

MY boys

So this post is mainly just about my two boys. Let me tell you, they are such best buddies! Whenever Shane comes home from work, Rylend gets super excited and only wants his Daddy's attention. And when Shane has his late days, Rylend gets all restless because Daddy should be home by now! Its so cute how much Rylend loves his Daddy. Shane is so good with him too! The love to play around..."rough house" and (meaning rolling on the floor together or tossing in the air) but their favorite thing....computers. Rylend loves the computer! When he is in his walker, he always walks to a computer and stares at it. And the other day I had him playing on the ground while I was checking my email...and he got SO MAD because I wasnt holding him infront of the computer. As soon as I picked him up, he started to smile and stare at the screen. Rylend loves to sit on Shane's lap when he is playing a game and watch the action. And recently he has discovered the keyboard...which means he wants to "type" all the time. Its really cute!! Here are a few pics of him typing and of him watching a game with Daddy.



And here are some pictures of the boys playing together before bedtime.



I love my two boys SO MUCH! This little family of mine...I would never trade it for anything!

waking smiles

I love my little boy. Whenever he wakes up, as soon as he sees me, he gives me the biggest, happiest smile. It makes me feel so loved! Then I always hold him to a mirror to "say good morning to himself" and he gets SO HAPPY! I managed to snap a pic of him waking up after nap one day. Here you go!




Also, Kelsey had her baby shower on the 24th. Here are some pics of us three at it. It was a lot of fun. Very relaxed, sitting out on a back patio with some other women and babies, and eating snacks. I wish my baby shower had been more relaxed and fun like that. Oh well! We have more kids yet to create! I cant wait for Kelsey to have Jayden. He is gonna be a cutie!

august camping trip

This last weekend (August 22-24) we went camping with Shane's family over at Spruce Run. It was a lot of fun. His siblings are very entertaining, not to mention I get that much needed break from always holding my boy since they all want to cuddle him too! On saturday we drove out to Canon Beach and spent most of the day there. Rylend loved watching the waves and playing in the sand. He thought the sand was the most amazing thing ever and spent a large chunk of time staring at it, "talking." Then he tried to eat it...Shane tried hard to not let him, but somehow he got sand anyway. Kids are good at that. We also made a sand sculpture of a monkey. I did the face...very proud! haha. Overall it was a very nice camping trip. Relaxing, family time, and sunshine. Does a body good!

Rylend playing with Daddy at the camp site. Happy boy!!

Rylend's first time to the beach. He was eating his carrier...haha

Daddy showing Rylend the waves

Mommy walking with Rylend in a tidepool. He loved the water

Rylend discovering sand...on his foot. Amazing!
Eww kid. He was happy though
Here is a video of Rylend and Alexis in the sand:



Our AMAZING monkey! Yay!!

4 month old pictures!

I set up a backdrop and took some photos of Rylend. He is such a cutie! I have all of them up in my myspace album, but for those of you who do not use that site, here are my favorites!